Unbound (46 page)

I looked up just in time to see Ethan pulling into the driveway. I ran to the door and frantically waved him in. Seeing my panic he ran to me.

“What’s wrong?”

“Pricolici.” I started to feel terrified again.

“Where?” Ethan pulled his gun from his side and looked out the window.

“It ran away.” I looked out the window too. “It jumped over the fence.
Over
it, Ethan. That’s taller than me.”

Ethan took in the magnitude of what I said and turned back to me. “What did it do?”

“Nothing. It just looked at us—me and Hunter I mean— and took off.” I shuddered. “It seemed like it was leering at me though.”

“How?”

“It showed its fangs before it left.”

“Where you inside?” Ethan put an arm around me.

“Thank God, yes. Hunter was barking at something so I came to see what was going on.” I took the gun from his hands and looked at it. I’d never fired a gun before. “It was huge, like on steroids huge.”

“The alpha dog,” Ethan speculated.

“And,” I gave him back his gun, “it had yellow eyes.” Ethan looked out the window again. “Does that mean something to you?” I was getting worried now.

“No.” He put his gun away and wrapped both arms around me. “It might to Isaac though.”

“Ok,” I said, pulling away from him. “I’m starting to
really
hate these things.”

Ethan laughed. “Me too.”

“Can we run an errand?”

“Sure.” He raised an eyebrow. “Uh, where are we going.”

“This hole-in-the-wall place that sells fireworks.”

“Ok, but why?”

“I’m going to make a bomb,” I said casually as if I said I was going shopping for shoes.

Ethan looked at me sideways. “And you know how to do that?”

“I have an idea.”

“Alright. And you’re making a bomb because…?”

“To ward off Pricolici. It’s not an actual
bomb
bomb. I just need something that will make a small enough of an explosion to ignite Vesta Powder.”

“Like a smoke bomb.”

“I like the way you think,” I said, smiling. Hunter ran to the door. Ethan and I both rushed over. This time it really was a squirrel. I wondered if the cute, little, fluffy tailed rodent would become a demon dog snack. “Is it going to come back?” I asked quietly.

“I don’t know.”

“Is it safe to leave the house? I mean, can it break in?”

Ethan tapped the glass. “I don’t think so. This is pretty thick. But I guess it’s possible.”

“Then I think we should take Hunter with.”

“If you want to,” Ethan said.

“I do.”

“Ok, let’s go.”

I would think I’d believe that anything is possible with everything I’ve witnessed in the last week. But it was still hard for me to believe that someone as wonderful, agreeable, brave and hot as Ethan was mine. I entered the address Harrison had given me into the GPS. It would take us about forty minutes just to get there.

“Sorry” I said, realizing how long this trip was gonna take. “You don’t have to go if you don’t want to.”

“I don’t mind. I like driving,” Ethan said with a smile.

“Liar.”

“What else am I gonna do?” he asked.

“I just feel bad making you come with me everywhere.”

“I’d rather come with you, Anora. Especially after a big ass Pricolici just showed up.”

I sighed, “I know, and I really appreciate it.”

“But?” Ethan asked, knowing that I wasn’t done with my train of thought.

“But is this how it’s always gonna be? Can I never do anything on my own ever?”

To my surprise, Ethan looked pleased. “No, just for now. There’s still a lot you need to learn.”

“I know,” I said and flipped open the heavy BOS I decided to bring hoping to find something useful. We drove the first half without speaking; I was busy reading and Ethan had Def Leopard turned up. I could feel his eyes on me.

“What?” I asked, looking up to see him looking away really quickly.

“Nothing,” he said, staring intently at the road ahead of us. I kept my gaze on him for a few seconds. I swear his eyes had a sparkle to them.

We definitely weren’t in Syracuse anymore; we exited off the Interstate onto some bumpy, rarely used road. The barren landscape slowly became more and more wooded. We slowed to a stop in a small gravel parking area. I unbuckled Hunter and took him over to a grassy spot. Ethan walked around the car, taking in our surroundings.

The screen door to the ram-shackle building creaked open and snapped shut. I looked up to see a middle aged man with graying long hair rushing towards us.

“That ain’t no drug sniffing dog there, is it?” he asked in a deep, hoarse voice.

“Uh, no,” I said, taken aback by the man’s sloppy appearance. His long hair stuck out wildly around his wrinkled face, he had on a faded red flannel shirt, worn and dirty green, stripped pajama pants and had on a battered pair of flip-flops, despite the cold.

“Ok good,” the man said, relaxing considerable. “‘Cuz we don’t got any here.” He looked from me to Ethan. “Unless you-”

“No,” I interrupted. “I was, uh, actually wondering if you had any fireworks.”

“Oh, yea,” the man said and laughed, but his laugh turned into a horrible cough. I hoped my face didn’t convey how gross I thought it was. Ethan stepped next to me and placed his hand on the small of my back. “Follow me,” the man said after he recovered. “The name’s Jones,” he called behind him as he opened the screen door. The place smelled disgusting, like fried bologna and cat urine combined with smoke and dirty hair. I shortened Hunter’s leash, not wanting him to pick something up off the littered floor.

Jones led us through a horrible cluttered living room, down a hallway and into the basement. The air was damp and musty down here and the stink of the house hung heavy in the air.

“So how did you find out about me?” he asked as he pulled boxes out from under the stairs. That couldn’t have been a safe way to store fireworks.

I looked at Ethan, who just shrugged one shoulder. “My brother,” I said honestly.

“Ah. What’s his name?”

“Harrison.” I wondered if Harrison was stupid enough to give his real name.

“Only know one. Tall, blonde kid?”

Yep he was. “That would be him.”

“Put this all away. It’s off season, ya know?”

I nodded, not knowing what to say. I hoped the cops didn’t bust this place while we were here. Jones pulled the final box out and stood. “What were you looking for, my lady?”

I looked at Ethan to take the lead, knowing nothing about fireworks myself. I looked around the messy basement while Ethan explained what we needed. The foundation was crumbling, the floor boards looked rotten, and there were obvious signs of water damage. I thought drug dealers were supposed to be rich.

Hunter sat obediently at my side and didn’t even flinch when someone knocked on the screen door.

“‘Cuse me,” Jones said and went up to attend to his new customers.

Ethan was still busy rooting around in the boxes. “Do you know what to look for?” I asked, hoping not to offend him.

“Not really,” Ethan confessed.

“I was thinking that maybe those things that you throw and make that loud sound might work, if you know what I’m talking about.”

“I do, but I don’t know if that would spark enough.”

“Oh,” I said, joining him.

“These,” he pulled out a package, “will work.”

“What are they?”

“Blackcats.” He grabbed another package and handed it to me.

I peered in the box and saw a particularly large firework. I picked it up. “I think we should get this too, just in case we ever need it.”

“And when would you need that?” Ethan looked at me skeptically.

“I don’t know, it just seems like a good thing to have on hand.”

“If you say so,” Ethan said and moved into the next box for another package of Blackcats. “I think this is enough.”

“Good, ‘cuz this place is disgusting. I want to get out of here.”

We emerged from the smelly basement to find Jones being haggled by an overweight boy with a mop of brown hair. Wait, a familiar looking overweight boy with brown hair. He looked over his shoulder at us.

“Hey,” he said, studying my face. “Don’t I know you?”

I smiled instantly and was about to say ‘maybe’ when I realized that I had met him. He was the fat frat boy that was friends with Mike. The one that laughed at me when I talked about my horses.

“No, sorry,” I said with an English accent. I looked straight ahead but I could tell Ethan was looking at me curiously. “I’m visiting from London, so you don’t know me. This is my first time in the United States.” Now Jones looked up at me in confusion.

“All done?” he asked, seeing our arms full of explosives. I nodded. “This way.” He held out his arm and we walked over to a cleared off kitchen table. Ethan and I set down the fireworks.

“Why are you British all of the sudden?” Ethan whispered in my ear.

“I do know that guy. He’s friends with Mike,” I said his name with total indifference. Not that I had forgiven him, because I hadn’t, but I guess that recent events made him seem so utterly non important.

“Oh, gotcha,” Ethan said.

I wasn’t sure if Jones expected me to haggle as well, but I just gave him the exact amount he asked for, wanting to leave as soon as possible. “Come on, Hunter,” I said, forgetting to be British.

“I think I do know you,” Fat Frat Boy said as we walked past again.

“No, you’re sadly mistaken.” I hoped my accent didn’t sound as fake as it was. I smiled nervously.

“You look familiar.” He eyed me up and down. “And I wouldn’t forget a pretty face like that.”

“Hey buddy,” Ethan said, sounding a little bit threatening. “She said she doesn’t know you, so back off.”

Fat Frat Boy put his hands up to show he wouldn’t go any farther. Ethan put an arm around my waist and ushered me out. Once in the safety of the X-Terra he said, “You can do a pretty good accent.”

“Thanks,” I said with a laugh, reaching around to give Hunter a pet. “I guess I kinda panicked. I just didn’t want that guy to recognize me.”

“Are you still meeting your friends at the barn?” Ethan switched the subject.

“Crap.” I had completely forgotten. It was getting close to four o’clock too. “Uh, yea. I guess we should just head there.”

The SUV bumped its way back to the highway. Ethan turned the radio up and I closed my eyes, still very tired from the longest week ever. Evil yellow eyes flashed through my mind and a blood curdling scream startled me awake. I shot forward and gasped. Ethan turned to look at me so fast that the SUV swerved a bit.

“It’s ok,” I said, rubbing my eyes. “Just another friendly vision thing.” Ethan looked from me to the road several times. “The big yellow eyed Pricolici,” I continued, knowing he was waiting for an explanation. “Oh, no!” I looked up.

“What?”

“I just realized my dad gets home around five-thirty. What if the…” I couldn’t finish my sentence.

“I’ll send Julia and Sam over to keep an eye on him.” Ethan was already getting his phone from his back pocket.

“Can they handle it?”

“Yea.” Ethan glanced at me. “Don’t let the maternal nature fool you; Julia is scary with a shot gun.”

“And Sam?”

“She’s got a good shot too. And she’s fast.”

“Ok.” I shook my head. “I don’t want to put them in danger.”

“Annie, this is what we do. And I don’t think they’ll be in danger; they can stay in the car and just watch.”

“Like a stake out?”