Inquest (19 page)

My vision
blurs and the hulking figures closing in on us advance in a split
second. Hardly inventive, they’re going to come straight at me in a
pack as soon as Celia is in the car. Polo Guy will get to me first.
He’s a lefty. Pocked Face and the Asian guy next to him will strike
next. By then Celia will have the Bronco backed into the aisle. My
eyelids flutter and I lose the glimpse before seeing the
others.

Five feet to
the car.

I transfer my
bags to Celia’s arms and help her settle them in the back. She
climbs into the driver’s seat looking outwardly calm. Only I can
see her fingers twitching.

“I’ll see you
later, then. Call me tonight if you want to see a movie, or
something.”

Celia offers
her own bubble reply, closes the door and starts pulling out
smoothly. She gets halfway out of the spot before I sense Polo
Guy’s presence. I drop into a tuck and feel the wind of his arms
swooping over my head. Missing like that would have unbalanced most
people, but the Strength in his front leg alone is enough to keep
him from tipping forward.

Until my leg
sweeps out faster than he can react. His head cracks audibly
against the pavement and rebounds for another hit. Looking away
from his glazed eyes, I spring back up with my arms crossed in
front of my chest, only to throw them away from me as I reach full
height. The sides of my hands plow into Pocked Face and Asian Man
before they can react with their own undoubtedly fine-tuned Speed.
I can feel their vertebrae quiver under the force.

Both men drop
bonelessly.

The other
three are only steps away. From behind the truck I can see Celia’s
head jump over to the passenger’s seat. I dash to the Bronco and
slide in before the two men I knocked out hit the ground. Rubber
burns as I jam the gas pedal down. We’re turning a corner way too
sharply before I look back and realize they aren’t following us.
Not with Celia in the car with me. My speed drops only enough to
let me pull onto the main road without rolling.

Only seconds
passed between putting Celia in the cab and jumping in myself, but
I feel as if I have just run a dozen marathons. Celia, though, is
texting away on her cell phone.

“What are you
doing? You’re not telling Milo about that are you?” I ask. It’s
shocking how shaky my voice is.

Celia sends
her message and flips her phone closed. “Tell Milo? Are you kidding
me? If he finds out about those Guardians, he’ll be glued to your
side thinking he can protect you somehow. I’d really never see him
then, and as great as I think Milo is, he’s obviously no match for
those guys.”

She
understands. I don’t know why Milo can’t see the truth as easily.
“What were you doing then?”

“Just texting
Milo that we’re heading back to the motel. He wanted to know when
we were done so we could meet back up. I told you, he only leaves
your side to avoid dress shopping and to sleep.” Her phone chimes
with what I suspect is an answer from Milo. Celia checks it and
sinks into her seat. “He’s on his way.”

I feel as
relieved as Celia looks. Whether Milo can protect me in some way or
not, I feel safer with him near me. Very near me. My speed picks
back up with the promise of Milo’s arms slipping around me.

“You handled
that really well, Celia. I was worried you were going to freak
out,” I say.

She leans her
head back, and says, “Yeah, well, you get used to it after a
while.”

“What?”

Celia cringes.
“I…never mind.”

My fingers
grip the steering wheel harder than necessary. Eventually somebody
is going to tell me what drove them from their home in Ohio to the
Southwestern desert.

Chapter 16

Demands

Milo is
waiting for us when we reach the motel. Sitting on the hood of his
Corolla with his arms crossed over his chest, his stance perks up
when we pull into the parking lot. He’s on his feet and at my door
before I shift into park. As he pulls my door open I have to keep
myself from simply collapsing into his arms. Instead I hop down
daintily and wait for him to offer me a place against his chest. I
don’t have to wait very long.

It feels so
good to press my body against his after the day I’ve had. Warm,
strong, gentle, he holds me tightly, one of his hands drifting up
to wind into the hair at the nape of my neck. I pull against him
even tighter. Only the sound of Celia folding the seat down to get
to our bags in the back reminds me of her presence. Apparently it
reminds Milo too. He pulls back slowly, but lets his hands slide
down to my hips instead of dropping away completely. Our eyes hold
each other and I’m positive he can see my chest pulsing in and out
more quickly than it should. Maybe I should care about that, but I
just don’t. The corner of his mouth twitches and starts to turn
up.

“I’m thrilled
to see you two getting all gooey over each other,” Celia says
loudly, “but would someone mind opening the door so I can put this
stuff down?”

I can’t
respond right away. Milo pulls back and snatches the keys from my
hand. He wanders over to help his sister as if I’m forgotten. I
watch him unlock the door for Celia before I can move away from the
car. He waits for me at the door, giving me a little shove into the
dim room.

“So, do I get
to see the dress?” Milo asks.

Celia and I
answer at the same time. “No.”

“Fine,” he
drawls. “Did you two have fun? There weren’t any problems, were
there?”

We both
hesitate. “It was fine,” I say on top of Celia saying, “No, uh, no
problems at all.”

It sounds like
she’s trying to avoid answering questions about Milo again. And if
I recognize that, Milo won’t miss it either. We look at each other
and I see the apology in her eyes.

“What
happened?” Milo demands.

Neither of us
answers.

“What
happened?” he asks, his voice growing louder. He knows I can hold
out the longest, so he turns to his sister. “Celia?”

The poor girl
looks like she’s about to burst. She tries so hard to keep secrets,
but it obviously just isn’t her strongest point. Even though I
wanted very badly to know what she wouldn’t tell me about Milo
today, I wouldn’t have wanted to be the reason she broke a promise
to her brother. I don’t want to be the reason she breaks a promise
now, either.

I sit down on
the bed, drawing Milo’s attention away from Celia. He looks at me
expectantly. “Well?”

“Guardians
came after me in the parking lot when we were leaving.”

It looks like
he’s moving in slow motion. His hands clench. His jaw clamps down,
making the veins in his neck bulge. Furious red spreads through his
skin, shocking me with its intensity. It’s the most reaction I’ve
ever seen out of him.

“President
Howe told them to leave you alone. Were they Lazaro’s men?” Milo
asks through his teeth.

I shake my
head. “I can’t say for sure, but it seems likely. I didn’t exactly
stop to ask them where their allegiances lie.”

He growls
angrily. “Tell me what happened.”

“As soon as we
came out of the mall they started closing in on me.” My voice is
surprisingly calm. It’s really just more of what I’ve been dealing
with my whole life, I guess.

“How did they
find you? We’ve been watching so closely for spies.”

I shake my
head. “I don’t know, Milo. I’m not exactly hiding by going to the
mall. There are Guardians there all the time for security. One of
them must have called it in.”

Unclenching
his hands, he runs them through his hair in frustration. “What
else?”

“There were
six of them.”

Milo hisses
through his teeth.

“They tried to
come at me all at once, but a few eager beavers rushed in first,” I
say.

“Giving you
the chance to take the first ones out before the others got there,”
he finishes. “Celia, were you hurt at all?”

“Nope,” she
says cheerfully, “I was driving the Bronco.”

He starts to
object, but my own expression stops him. “Don’t you dare,” I
say.

“She told you
about driving in the hills, didn’t she?”

I nod. “They
weren’t there for Celia, so I got her in the car as fast as I
could. By the time she’d backed out, I had the first three down.
The others were far enough back that I was able to get to the
Bronco before they reached me.”

Celia bounces
over to her brother. “You should have seen her, Milo. It was
awesome. Scary, but very cool. She kicked the first guy’s leg out
from under him so fast I didn’t even see her move. Then with the
next two,” she says, pausing to mimic the crisscross motion I had
used, “she whacked them in the neck, and they dropped like
jellyfish.”

Milo waits as
patiently as he can through Celia’s description. He obviously
doesn’t share in her fascination. “The three you took down, were
they still alive?” he asks. The question is cold and brutal. His
tone makes me shiver.

So does the
memory of the first guy’s head slamming into the pavement. Not to
mention the other two’s necks. “I…I don’t know. They’re Guardians,
so they have Strength, but even that can only do so much.”

My words have
little effect on Milo’s already tense demeanor. Celia, however,
loses all her excitement. “You think they might be dead? I…I didn’t
even…” She lowers herself back down to the bed. “Are the police
going to come after us? What are we going to do?”

“There won’t
be any police, Celia, calm down,” Milo says irritably.

“H-how can you
be sure?” she begs.

Milo’s eyes
fly to his sister’s. “We’ve been through this before, Celia,” he
snaps. “Guardians never leave their own to be found by police. They
take care of bodies themselves. That’ll be especially true when it
comes to Libby. They weren’t supposed to touch her yet.”

Neither of
them reacts to his first sentence, but I am rocked by it. They have
been through dead Guardians before?

“Anything
else?” Milo asks.

I shake my
head weakly. At least Lazaro’s men failed. Maybe losing a few of
his loyal drones will put his scheming on hold for a while.

His feet carry
him back and forth across the room three times before he stops and
faces me. Every step is brusque and measured. He’s taking command.
The realization shocks me. Where did this alternate Milo come from?
The Milo I know enjoys antagonizing Lance and his teachers, but
couldn’t care less about what’s happening around him. Milo turns on
his heel and faces me, his expression completely focused.

“Okay. This is
what we’re going to do. You should be safe enough at school, but
I’m walking you to every one of your classes from now on. After
school, we’re training. Nights are a problem. I may be able to stay
at least a couple of nights during the week, me disappearing is
nothing new, but the other nights…”

I’m up off the
bed doing my best to get in his face before he can finish despite
our height difference. “Training? What are you talking about? I
train all day at school. I don’t need more of that.”

“No,” Milo
says, staring down at me, “you don’t train at school. You pretend
you have no talents at all. You’re getting nothing out of those
classes, Libby. Lazaro has already made one attempt on your life,
and he’ll undoubtedly make more, if Howe doesn’t kill him for this.
But even if he doesn’t, Howe plans on killing you on your
eighteenth birthday, something you still have no plan to get out
of.”

“No plan? I’ll
change people’s minds, or I’ll disappear. Maybe I’ll just get rid
of all the Guardians. Then they won’t kill me.”

“Plan A isn’t
going to work and you know it. Disappearing is a pretty dismal
option, too. The Guardians will get every Seeker and Concealer in
the world to hunt you down. Going up against the Guardians is by
far your best option, but it only proves my point. In order to
fight, you need to be trained. You have to be ready for anything.
And you can’t do that tripping over things and goofing off at
school!”

“You’re going
to lecture me about not taking school seriously? You sleep through
class! I get more out of school than you do, Milo,” I snap.

He barks out a
laugh that shocks me back a step. “The only class I don’t have an A
in is Perception. What’s your GPA going to be like at the end of
the semester?”

I glance over
at Celia for some kind of support, but all she does is shrug. “It’s
true.”

I don’t even
know how that’s possible. “Well,” I splutter, “what do you expect
me to do? Pass all my classes with flying colors and prove to
everyone what a freak I really am?”

“Of course
not, Libby, but I expect you to make up for it. We’re training
after school, and that’s the end of it. Don’t argue with me about
this. You know I’ll win,” he says.

That’s a bold
statement. I don’t think I like this new Milo very much. “I’ll
argue about this all I want, Milo. I’ve been preparing for crap
like this my whole life. I don’t need this from you right now. I
can handle things.”

“So you beat
up a few Guardians, big deal. It’s not the first time that’s
happened. What are you going to do against Seekers, killers who can
see your moves before you even make them? How are you going to
survive that, Libby?”

“I…I’ll use my
other talents to tip the scales. I’ll beat them,” I argue.

“How?” he
asks, stepping closer to me.

“I’ll use…I’ll
just.” My brain isn’t working. Not with Milo glaring overhead.
Curse him for standing so close to me.

He pushes me
even closer to the edge by suddenly softening and bringing his hand
up to my cheek. “You don’t know what you’ll do. You don’t know how
to kill a Seeker.”

“Do you?” I
ask. Most of my anger has faded from my voice now, despite my
wishes.