Out of This World (39 page)

“One of Lalo's boys ID'd the Wildlings on Householder's detail as wolf guys from something he calls the Kickaha Blue Mountain Clan.”

“Never heard of them.”

“Yeah, like I have,” Matteson says. “Lalo says a lot of them get into law enforcement and they're loyal to a fault when it comes to their jobs.”

“Dogs, wolves,” J-Dog says. “What's the diff? We've already seen how the dog clans play the game, so is this gospel?”

“The dog clans were under a binding,” Lalo says, irritation plain in his voice.

J-Dog sighs. “Yeah, yeah. We heard. Broken record, bro. You willing to take the chance on Householder's life, seeing how you're all set on keeping the douchebag alive?”

“I am,” Lalo tells him.

J-Dog looks at me and rolls his eyes.

“We'll keep an eye on things up here,” Solana breaks in. “You keep doing the same out in the crowd. No news is good news.”

“Got it,” I say, then add to the boys, “You heard the man, homies. Eyes sharp, stay safe.”

J-Dog laughs. “Stay safe? What are you now—our den mother?”

I turn to J-Dog, but before I can say anything, I see them over his shoulder. Des and Marina, working their way through the crowd in our direction. My heart does a little jump. They catch sight of me at the same time and the welcoming smile that starts on my lips dies fast and hard.

Something's wrong with Marina. Not physically. She looks fine. Mighty fine, if you want to know the truth. Whatever happened to her in the otherworld, she got through it in one piece. But there's a big sadness in her eyes. Our gazes meet and I already know that everything has changed. I couldn't tell you how or why, it just has. As if to confirm it, I see that Des—who always seems a little edgy around me anyway—is really putting out the anxious vibe. Like this is the last place he wants to be, and I'm the last person he wants to see. Normally he's like a nervous puppy, eager to please, but as soon as he spotted me, he looked uncomfortable as hell.

And then I get it.

Cory. He must have told Marina about what went down with the dogs back at the compound. They've got a hate-on for any Aver, and if she's part of their crew now, that puts us on opposite sides.

Fuck.

I reach up and turn off my earpiece.

“Bro?” J-Dog asks.

“I need a moment here,” I tell him.

He follows my gaze. “That your girl?”

“I don't know,” I say.

I step away so that I can meet her out of his earshot. We stop a couple of paces away from each other, but it feels like we're standing on opposite rims of the Grand Canyon. Des gives me an uneasy nod, then sidles to one side and pretends a great interest in the preparations on stage, leaving Marina and I facing each other.

I want to take her in my arms, but there are too many people around, and who knows which one is going to run off and rat us out to her mother. Plus there's the look in her eyes. Even if we were alone, she might not want that.

I shove my hands in my pockets.

“Hey,” she says.

“I was worried about you.”

She gives me a small smile. “I was worried about me, too.”

“I heard you took on the big bad, all by yourself.”

“Sure,” she says. “If you can call turning invisible and shaking in my boots taking somebody on. I wouldn't have survived a minute if Josh and the dog clans hadn't stepped up to help me.”

“How'd that happen?”

“You mean, Josh? It was kind of a fluke. He didn't even know I was missing, but he wanted to see me. He just went looking and there I was, in over my head.”

She's looking at my shoulder instead of my eyes.

“No, I meant the dog clans,” I say. “Why'd they help you?”

“I freed them from the binding that this guy Nanuq had them under.”

“Good job,” I say.

She shrugs. “Anybody would have done it. Well, except
maybe Donalita. She thought they'd turn on us, but just the opposite happened.”

“Yeah, I heard about that, too.” I hesitate, then add, “I guess Cory told you about what happened at the compound?”

She drops her gaze to her feet. “He did.”

A large portion of the crowd suddenly cheers, and then I hear Congressman Householder being introduced. Right now, I couldn't care less about that piece-of-crap politician.

“I know he's on my case about it,” I say, “but I've got nothing to apologize for. They came after me and mine. They took a run at my grandma.”

The crowd's still going crazy, but we're Wildlings. We could hear each other if a jet was going by right over our heads.

“I understand,” she says. “I might have done the same thing if they came after my little sisters, or Mamá.”

I get a little flicker of hope. “So we're good?”

Maybe this weird vibe I'm getting is just because of everything she went through. But that dies with the next thing she says.

“I … not really, Theo. I just can't do this gang thing.”

“But you're part of the dog clan crew now, aren't you?”

She shakes her head. “That's their idea, not mine.”

“I can be done with the gang,” I tell her.

“This isn't really the time or place to get into it,” she says.

“We need to talk when things calm down a little.”

“I'm serious,” I tell her.

“I know you think you are, but—”

“Holy SHIT!” I hear J-Dog yell behind me.

I turn, bringing my earpiece back online, and then everything goes to hell.

Even with the involuntary intimidation thing going for me, it's taking too long for us to get through the crowd. It's just too massive. I can't see over the people in front of us. Then I hear Householder being introduced. I push forward, Donalita on my heels. We reach a spot where we can see the stage just as Householder steps up to the microphone. I don't look at him. I'm too busy marking Danny's position.

Except he doesn't look particularly threatening. He's standing with Solana, the pair of them scanning the crowd. Matteson's on the other side of the stage. I spot four more guys in suits up there doing the same thing. I figure them for Secret Service.

But if Danny's not the threat, who is?

I start to push forward again. I need to get to the stage so I can get a clearer idea of what's going on. I know the assassin's going to have to come in close because Auntie Min's crows occupy every place a sniper would choose.

Almost there. I pull up the maps in my head, keeping the focus close—just the area around me and the stage. I mark the
cousins and Wildlings, but except for Danny, none of them are close enough to be a problem.

The crowd keeps parting for me and finally I'm just a couple of rows of people away from the stage.

Everything still seems clear.

Donalita taps my back to get my attention.

“Stop growling,” she murmurs. “You're freaking people out.”

I didn't even realize I was doing it.

But the mountain lion feels my tension and he's aching to wear my skin. He doesn't like the crowd. He knows we're hunting, but he's frustrated because I can't get a bead on our prey.

I start to push him down, but suddenly it happens.

A cousin appears in the press of people to the right of me, stepping directly from the otherworld to here. People stumble around, pushed aside by his appearance. I can't see his face because of the hood he's wearing. He's small, but has a highpowered rifle in his hands. Someone screams. People scramble to get out of the way.

I'm aware of everything going on in the chaos. An Ocean Aver lunging for the guy. All the security on the stage reaching for guns. One of the Secret Service guys starting for the congressman. Householder looking startled, not knowing what's going on, but aware that something's wrong.

They're all going to be too late.

I won't be. I can't get to the shooter in time, not with the press of people. But I have another option.

I let the mountain lion out and leap for the stage so that I'll be right between the congressman and the shooter.

I hear the crack of the shot.

My leap takes me directly into the path of the bullet.

Just before it hits me, I think, crap, this is really going to hurt.

Then the bullet punches into me, lifting me right off my paws, and it's like my chest explodes.

I don't have to ask J-Dog what's going on—it's all over my earpiece, everybody shouting at the same time.

“—he came from,” Tall Boy's saying. “I'm not going to get to him in—”

“Take him down!” That's Matteson.

J-Dog and I move fast, shoving our way through the crowd. I see the back of a dreadlocked kid and realize it's Josh, just as he shifts.

“—The fuck?”

“Is that a mountain lion?”

Josh leaps on stage.

The sharp crack of a rifle cuts the air.

People start screaming and trying to run away from the stage, pushing against me in a wave.

J-Dog gets swept back, unable to fight the swarm, but they can't stop me. They just bounce off me as they try to get away.

I see the mountain lion go down. By the time it hits the stage, it's shifted back into Josh.

A Secret Service man flattens the congressman behind the podium, kneels above him, gun out and pointed at Josh.

Tall Boy's on the shooter, wrestling with him. The gun goes off again, but the barrel's pointed up at the sky. Then Matteson and another Secret Service man leap off the stage to help Tall Boy.

My gaze locks on Josh. He's just lying there with an ugly hole in his chest, a pool of blood spreading out from under him.

Come on, bro, I think. I've seen you do this before in the barrio. You take the shot and you go down, but you get back up.

He doesn't move.

What are you waiting for?
I want to yell at him. Enough with dragging out the drama. Get up.

Get the fuck up!

But he doesn't so much as twitch. He just sprawls there on the wooden floor of the stage, bleeding out.

Finally I reach the edge of the stage, but before I can climb up to get to Josh, the Secret Service man kneeling over Householder points his gun in my direction.

I stop moving and raise my hands.

“Josh!” Marina screams when the mountain lion leaps onto the stage and gets shot.

She lunges forward, but the press of the crowd is too much. I grab hold of her as we get swept away by all the screaming people. Everybody's in a panic and only thinking of themselves. I see more than one person go down and be trampled. The same thing might have happened to us, but Marina gets her balance and uses her Wildling strength to become as immovable as a post.

People bounce off her, but they can't shift her. I stand behind her and we let the worst of the wave of people go by before we start inching our way toward the stage once more. It takes us a while to reach the place where Chaingang is standing, arms in the air with one of the Secret Service men pointing a gun at him.