Fractured (21 page)

He shook his head. “We checked this morning. Because of the outcry over the attacks, the city announced that the shelters will remain open through the weekend while they try to solve the crime.”

I sighed. “Fine. I’ll take tonight off.”

“Excellent decision, Captain. I will see you in Pre-Calculus.” Malachi stood up, shouldered his backpack, and walked away, looking unfairly amazing in the morning sunlight. Laney came skipping up to him, wearing a skirt so short it had to be in violation of the dress code. Together, they walked into the school. I jammed my keys in the ignition, ready to attempt escape.

But Diane, Jen, Ketzler, and Nancy the evil probation officer had all been hovering the past few days. I had to show up for school. If I showed any signs of “emotional distress,” as Ketzler had called it, they might cancel my visit with my mom, which was scheduled for Monday. I ripped my keys out of the ignition and shoved them in my backpack.

By lunchtime, I had drawn up a new plan to make the most of the extra days we’d been given, listing new places to patrol, new neighborhoods to cover. I also wanted to cultivate a few contacts within the homeless community, just to see what we could find. Feeling a little more energized, I headed to lunch.

Tegan and Jim were already at the table. Over the past few days, he’d been glued to her side during school hours. I was still worried about him losing his focus, but he’d been totally sober and completely professional as a Guard every night, so whatever he had going on with her was either helping him … or motivating him. Plus, Tegan looked better than she had a few days ago, and I was relieved that she was turning to someone other than me for support.

“We’re changing the theme,” I heard her say to him. “It was
Tangled in the Stars
, but in honor of Aden and Nadia, it’s going to be
Memories and Moments
. Laney and I thought it was important to make them part of it.”

I was pretty sure Jim had no idea what she was talking about, but he nodded along while he stared at her mouth. I set my tray down and elbowed him hard in the side.

“I guess they didn’t have proms at Bishop MacDonald?” I commented.

Tegan laughed. “Poor boy. No girls! This must be a nice change of speed for you.”

Jim grinned. “You have no idea.”

Jillian set her tray down and smiled over her shoulder at Levi, who was laughing with Ian about something as they piled their trays with bread and pasta. “Oh! Is that the new poster? I’m surprised it came so fast.”

Tegan held the glossy paper up for her to see. “Yeah, they were really nice about letting us change the theme so late in the year. They’re going to rush the order as soon as we okay this sample.”

Ian dropped into the seat next to mine and glanced at the poster she was now waving in his direction. “Shiny.”

Tegan scowled. “You have zero appreciation for art, Ian Moseley.”

Malachi and Laney arrived as Levi squeezed himself next to Jillian and kissed her cheek. “It looks great,” he said, but he was looking at her, not the poster. “Greg reserved a stretch SUV yesterday. He knows a guy and got us a huge discount. Anyway, we’re all set.”

Laney smiled up at Malachi and scooted closer as he sat down. “Do you know what prom is?” she asked him.

“No,” he answered, looking over at the poster.

I turned toward Ian, in dire need of distraction. “You have a game this afternoon, right?”

He set his milk and orange juice at ten and two. “Yeah. First one without Aden.” His voice was sad. “We haven’t practiced all week, either, what with the wake and funeral.”

“You’re worried.”

He nodded. “Greg is good on the mound, but the Veterans team has a lot of good hitters this year.” He pushed his messy hair out of his eyes. “I don’t really even want to play,” he said quietly. “It won’t be the same without Aden in the dugout. But I want to win. For him.” He fiddled nervously with his milk carton. “Hey, can you come?”

My mouth dropped open to refuse, but then I remembered Malachi had insisted I take the night off. Maybe I’d take the afternoon off, too. “Yeah. I’ll try.”

His dimples were really kind of stunning. “Awesome. Maybe we can meet up after the game?”

I turned my head to see Malachi staring at me while Laney yapped on about tuxes and after-parties. She laid her hand on his arm, and that made my decision for me.

“I’m free,” I said to Ian, savagely hoping that my next words hit my Lieutenant like an elbow to the gut. “And I’d love to.”

After a terse meeting with Malachi and Henry in the parking lot after school to go over the new patrol routes, I headed for the baseball field. If not for Malachi’s insistence that I take a night off, I’d be on the streets tonight, hunting the Mazikin. It was where I was supposed to be. But then I reminded myself that the Mazikin knew exactly where to find me, and where to find my classmates, and that being here might be just as important.

I sat in the stands with Tegan, Jillian, and Laney, scanning for threats or suspicious characters, following their cues for when to cheer and keep silent. I’d been to plenty of games with Nadia last year, because she’d been dating Greg at the time. Sitting on the hard metal benches as the chilly breeze tied my hair in knots made me miss her so much it hurt.

Tegan had her slender fingers wrapped around a hot chocolate. She got me one, too, and handed it over with a calculating look. She leaned around me. “Hey, Laney. Did he say yes?”

Laney gave me a sour glance before she answered. “He said he’d think about it, not that it’s any of your business. I think he had to ask his host father.”

Oh, God. Laney had asked Malachi to prom. I took a quick gulp of hot chocolate and winced as it burned my tongue and seared its way down my throat.

Tegan giggled as she looked down at her Styrofoam cup. “Did you get him to come out with you tonight?”

Laney sniffed. “He studies really hard. And I think he has some sort of after-school job.”

Tegan looked at me out of the corner of her eye. “On a Friday night?”

I hadn’t been happy that Malachi would be out patrolling tonight; he hadn’t had a night off since Tuesday, and I suspected he hadn’t sleaped that night, either. He was incredibly strong, but he was also human. I’d been worried about him, just like I always was when he went out in search of Mazikin. But suddenly I was glad, because it meant he wouldn’t be with her. Still, I spent the next five innings picturing him taking Laney in his arms. Kissing her like he’d kissed me. I couldn’t shake the urge to snap Laney’s skinny arms like twigs.

The Warwick High School Quahogs, only a week ago favorites to take State, lost the game in spectacular fashion, 1–9. Which particularly sucked, since they were dedicating the rest of their season to Aden. Ian hit a home run in the second inning and doubled in the fourth but was left stranded. His face was grim as he and the rest of the team jogged back to the field house.

Tegan drew her coat tightly around her. “Poor Ian,” she murmured. “How’s he doing?”

I looked up to realize she was talking to me. “Um. Okay, I guess? I’m meeting up with him now.”

She gave me the oddest look. “Be gentle, Lela.”

I frowned. “Gentle?”

“Don’t break his heart! You know Ian’s liked you for a long time, right?”

I studied her face, trying to read whether this was a joke. It was hard to tell with Tegan.

She nudged me from behind as we edged along the bleachers toward the concrete steps. “You never looked at any of them, but that doesn’t mean they weren’t looking at you,” she said quietly.

She left me with those words, which bred in my head and multiplied, spreading a thick layer of freak-out over the inside of my skull. I didn’t want to hurt Ian. I just wanted … to get away. To not have to deal with my life for a few hours. Which was completely selfish because the Mazikin were out there, preying on people. By the time I reached the entrance to the field house to wait for Ian, I’d convinced myself I shouldn’t be there. I called Jim.

“Hey, Lela,” he said when he answered. “Henry and Malachi just left for the night. They’re going to hit those spots you listed.”

“Actually, I was thinking of going, too, and—”

He chuckled. “And I’m supposed to tell you to go home and get some rest.”

“Huh?”

“The Lieutenant’s about six steps ahead of you on this one, Captain. Take a night off, Lela. Things have been quiet.”

I gripped the phone hard. “Fine. What are you up to?”

“Tegan called me. She’s having a thing tonight at her house. People getting together to share their memories of Aden and the other girl who killed herself.”

Jim’s job tonight was to monitor and guard our friends. That usually meant phone and Facebook, but today was Friday. “Her name was Nadia,” I said. “I might see you there. I’m waiting for Ian.”

Jim grunted. “All right. Malachi’s not going to be happy. He wanted you to get some sleep.”

“It’s none of his concern,” I said, mimicking Malachi’s cold words from earlier. “He needs to focus on patrolling the East Side and making sure no one gets dragged away. Let’s leave him to it, okay?”

“Far be it from me to interfere.”

“Thanks. And Jim? No drinking. No … doing other things. Remember what we talked about.”

“Sure, Captain.”

Ian came out of the field house carrying a long duffel bag. His hair was wet from the shower, and he’d changed into jeans and a long-sleeved sweater that was snug across his chest and shoulders.

“Hey,” he greeted, his face brightening with his dimpled smile.

I clicked my phone off without saying good-bye to Jim, my mouth suddenly a little too dry as I processed what Tegan had said about Ian. “Hi. I assume we’re going to Tegan’s?”

He looked down at his feet. “Would you mind if we didn’t?”

If we went to Tegan’s, I could help Jim guard the others. If we went somewhere else, all I’d have to do was guard Ian, although, looking up at all six feet four inches of him, it didn’t really look like he needed it. If we were alone, I might have to worry more about guarding myself.

“Um.” I cleared my throat. “What else did you want to do?”

Without raising his head, he said, “Movie? I just … don’t want to think about anything. I want to do something fun.”

He’d echoed my wishes exactly. I didn’t want to be a friend in mourning. I didn’t want to be a Guard. I wanted to be a girl. A normal girl. One who went to movies and ate popcorn and didn’t kill people. For just one night.

“Sounds good,” I whispered.

He drove us to the mall, where we stuffed ourselves with burgers and fries. It turned out he was going to URI, too, and so we chatted about majors and classes and baseball and photography. We didn’t talk about Aden or Nadia. We didn’t talk about Malachi. I didn’t have to think about death or killing or saving the world.

It felt awesome.

He drove us to the movie theater, and we chose a comedy. I was thankful he didn’t want to watch the latest zombies-taking-over-the-world thriller, which hit a little too close to home. He insisted on paying for our tickets and bought us a bucket of popcorn. I laughed as he handed it to me. “You’re not still hungry, are you?”

He grinned. “Are you kidding? I’m always hungry. I also eat when I’m nervous.”

“Are you nervous?”

He gave me a look that said I should be able to figure it out. “Come on. I love the previews.”

We were the first people in the theater and had our pick of seats. We settled in, my stomach knotting. I was alone. In the dark. With a guy who was not Malachi.

I grabbed a handful of popcorn and shoved it in my mouth.

Ian chuckled. “Do you eat when you’re nervous, too?” he whispered, his eyes full of mischief.

People trickled steadily into the theater, which cut the tension a little. We even recognized a few of them. “I hope you’re ready for the gossip on Facebook,” I muttered, watching Caroline from my lit class, tap-tap-tapping away on her phone as she shot us curious glances every few seconds.

“Are you embarrassed to be seen with me?” he asked, slouching down and nudging me with his shoulder. “Should we have worn disguises?”

I nudged him back. “That might have been smart.” I couldn’t help but lean in. His smile was so inviting. His face was only a few inches from mine. His green eyes were bright, even in the semidark of the theater. His breath smelled like popcorn.

And incense.

TWENTY

I JERKED BACK. HIS
eyes grew wide as he registered the look on my face. “What’s wrong, Lela?”

The lights dimmed and thunderous music filled the theater as the previews started. I leaned forward and inhaled, and he stayed still for me, his expression frozen in a lopsided smile. But I’d been with him all evening, and the scent wasn’t coming from him. Which meant it was someone else inside this theater, maybe many someone elses. My fingers drifted toward my waist, where I kept my knife.
Shit.
I couldn’t take it to school with me, and I hadn’t gone home before the baseball game. I bowed my head, near enough that his hair brushed my cheek, and whispered in his ear, “Do you recognize that smell?”

Ian’s eyes strayed to the screen, but he wasn’t watching. He inhaled deeply, and then every line of his body went tense. He nodded, like I thought he might. It would have been how Aden smelled the night he became a Mazikin.

As the previews played on, I looked around the theater. I couldn’t see very well, but I could still make out a few of our classmates staring at us from a few rows back. Caroline and her friends. Could they be … ?

A few guys walked into the theater, buckets of popcorn in hand. A guy sitting in our row half-stood up, waving at them, and then he turned his head and looked at me. I nearly flinched … and when I heard the low coughing and grunting coming from behind us, I did, swinging my head around as my fingers burrowed into Ian’s sleeve. From the far left side of the room came a clicking canine laughter.

Someone brushed the back of my neck.

I jumped to my feet. The startled couple behind me stared at me like they were too scared to ask me to sit down. Ian tugged on my sleeve. “Are you okay?”