Over My Head (Wildlings) (16 page)

I point the gun at Chico and I hear the sudden shuffle of the other Kings as they get ready to blow me away.

"Hold up," Chico says to his men. "We don't want a war with the Ocean Avers over this."

"Oh, you've got a bigger problem than that," I tell him.

His eyebrows raise in a mocking look and I decide that's where I'll shoot him. Right between those cocky eyebrows and the grin.

"Killing my man here," I tell him, "you've just bought every Riverside King a death sentence."

Chico shakes his head. "What? You're going to kill all of us? I give the word, you're not even walking out of this room,
ese
."

I don't bother answering. He doesn't know what he's facing. I'm fast enough that I can probably take out half of them before they finally get me. And I'll start with Chico.

Except I never get the chance.

Marina

I ask Mr. Goss why we're going to the office but he just barks "No talking!" at me like we're in gym class. We make the rest of the trek from the bleachers to the office in silence. Ampora is fuming at my side and I can't figure out why she isn't worried about the girls like I am. I'm going to die if someone doesn't tell me something soon.

When we get to the office we're told to sit in the row of chairs across from the counter. Ampora waits until I sit down, then leaves an empty chair between us. The school secretary, Mrs. O'Shay, looks at us from behind the counter with a sad look in her eyes and the weight of my worry feels like it's going to crush me.

"Why won't they tell us anything?" I whisper to Ampora when Mr. Goss leaves.

Ampora turns to look at me. "Are you really that stupid?"

I give her a blank look in return. Why isn't she worried?

"Just let nothing have happened to the girls," I say.

There's finally a flash of worry in Ampora's eyes, but no sympathy in her voice.

"We're here," she says, "because you went loco on me out on the football field and somebody squealed."

"Is that all?"

I could almost hug her, I feel so relieved.

"I don't know about you," she says, "but if I get suspended my ass is grass. Papá is going to be so pissed off, and of course he's going to blame me, even though you're the one who started it."

I'm barely listening to her. The girls are okay. For that I'll happily trade a suspension, Mamá's disappointment and my probably being grounded for the rest of my life.

"Girls," Mrs. O'Shay says. "Principal Hayden will see you now."

She motions toward his office door.

"I am so not taking the fall for this," Ampora whispers to me as we walk into the principal's office.

Principal Hayden sits with his fingers steepled, elbows on his desk. He watches us come in and nods toward the chairs on the other side of his desk. We wait, but he doesn't say a word. He just watches us. Now that I know that this has nothing to do with my sisters, I'm content to wait it out. My Wildling nature has taught me patience, but I'm surprised that Ampora's just as ready to wait him out as I am. The hardest thing for me is to keep from smiling because Des has copied this pose a hundred times in the past.

"I know what you think," he finally says. "Anybody over twenty-five doesn't have a clue. But just because we don't say something, it doesn't mean we're blind to what's going on."

He falls silent again, this time giving us an expectant look.

"Is there a point to this?" Ampora asks before I can speak.

He nods. "Families are supposed to look out for each other."

"I don't see how that's school business," Ampora says.

"It becomes school business when verbal sparring escalates to physical confrontations."

I clear my throat. "Ampora had nothing to do with it," I tell him. "I'm the one who got angry and started pushing her around."

"I repeat," Principal Hayden says. "Do you really think we're unaware of what's been going on between the two of you?"

I shoot Ampora a quick look. She's got her hard face on—the angry mask she wears to keep the world at bay. I'm so familiar with that mask—and so sick of it—but I've long since given up trying to get through to her that we're not enemies. I didn't reject her and Papá. I left with Mamá because
she
needed me more. But Ampora never even tried to understand.

"It's no big deal," I tell Principal Hayden before Ampora can make this worse for us. "It's just—you know. Sister stuff. We don't take it seriously."

"And is that how you feel about it, too?" he asks Ampora.

She shrugs. "Sure," she says. "Let's go with that."

Principal Hayden sighs. "You know school policy about fighting on campus?"

"We weren't really fighting," I say quickly. "I know I gave her a push, but honestly, it was no big deal. And she didn't do anything."

"Except call you names every time the two of you pass in the hallway."

"She doesn't mean anything by it."

"I can speak for myself," Ampora says.

Principal Hayden nods. "So give me your take on it."

She looks at me, the ever-present anger smouldering in her eyes.

"I don't mean anything by it," she says.

"I don't see it that way," Principal Hayden says. He waits a beat to let that sink in, then goes on. "The report I received of what happened on the football field tells me it was more than a mere argument and a push. You know we have a zero-tolerance policy in this school."

He gives us each a stern look, so we nod. Thankfully, Ampora keeps her mouth shut. I'm starting to get a little scared now. Sure, I'm relieved that this isn't about the Kings going after our little sisters, but I've been grounded for two weeks now and I was really looking forward to getting my freedom back. That's never going to happen now.

"I should suspend you both," he says.

"But I didn't do anything," Ampora protests.

"Not this time," he agrees. "But your ongoing harassment of your sister hasn't gone unnoticed, young lady. Some might think that she had good cause to finally strike back, even though school policy doesn't agree."

"This sucks," Ampora mutters under her breath.

I hope Principal Hayden didn't hear her—I certainly did—but like he said, he's not clueless. It's easy to read what she's thinking.

"But I'll consider not suspending you if you'll both do something for me," he goes on. "I want you to go to the guidance office and talk to Ms. Chandra about what's going on between the two of you. Starting at lunch tomorrow."

"You can't make us do that," Ampora says.

"That's absolutely correct," he agrees. "I could just give you both a three-day suspension."

I can sense all the air going out of Ampora and she slumps in her seat.

"Fine," she says. "I'll go see the shrink."

"Marina?" he asks.

I nod. "Yes sir. I'll go tomorrow."

"Excellent. Let's get this business between you cleared up. You can go to class now. Mrs. O'Shay will give you hall passes."

"This is such bullshit," Ampora says when we leave the office.

"It's better than a suspension."

She turns to me. "You know what? I
like
school. The only thing wrong with it is that no matter how much I try to avoid it, I still end up having to see your stupid face at least once a day."

Then she walks away.

Nice.

Josh

I feel light as air. Like I'm floating out of my body. The pain is gone and it's so calm drifting here. Everything's dark but it's a welcoming dark. The kind that feels like a warm bed, late on a Sunday morning when there's no reason to get up. If I just let myself go, I'll sink through the bed, deep into the ground, the ghost of a Wildling boy disappearing into the dirt, all the way down through the bedrock until whatever it is that makes me who I am is one more part of everything that is.

From far away I can hear voices—Chaingang and Chico—but I can't make out what they're saying. I just know they're angry. I don't know why. Words don't seem important anymore, it's so peaceful here.

But thinking of Chaingang brings me back to what's happening to me.

I'm dying.

Now the darkness feels like goop, like I'm swimming through mud. There's a burn in my chest where the calm was just a moment ago.

Where the bullet went through me.

Which is why I'm dying.

I think of Marina and Desmond, how I never got to say goodbye to them, or to my mom, or
anybody
.

And then that makes me think of Elzie and the last place I saw her.

I guess I should have stayed over there with her. That otherworld is looking pretty good right now: So-Cal without pollution or Kings or any of the other crap we've got here, starting with somebody blowing a hole through my chest. I remember Elzie and I play-chasing each other in our Wildling shapes, she the sleek jaguarundi and me the mountain lion. I remember us all sitting around the campfire with Cory and Rico—

Another memory pops into my head: Rico in the lab with me, missing a leg because the research freaks cut it off. But when he shifted into a snake and then back to his human form, he had both legs again …

The mountain lion roars somewhere in the darkness. A bright heat spreads through me like a fever.

Rico.

Didn't have a leg and then he did. By switching shapes. Wham—bam. Just like that.

The mountain lion roars again.

Remembering what Rico did, I decide to set the lion free.

I mean, what have I got to lose?

It's all slow-mo again, but still flashes at lightning speed. It happens so fast that I don't have time to think about what I'm doing. I just do it.

I shift into the mountain lion's shape. Sudden light flares in my eyes. My claws dig into the floor as I shrug off the weight of the table and suck in a deep lungful of air. Then I shift again, remembering to bring what I was wearing back with me.

Nobody has time to react as I take two quick steps to where Chico is sitting. I pluck him up from his chair, grabbing him by the neck, and turn so that his body is between me and the rest of the Riverside Kings. Chico struggles in my grip until I give him a hard shake.

The fever's still burning in me and everything's a little blurry. The mountain lion is right in my throat, growling deep in my chest.

"My turn," I snarl in Chico's ear. "What do I pull off first? An arm? A leg?"

He's making gagging sounds. The other Kings are pointing handguns and shotguns at me, their eyes wide with shock. Chaingang looks surprised, too, but a slow smile spreads across his face.

I set Chico's feet on the ground. Before he can pull away, I grab his arm and twist it up behind his back. I grip his left shoulder with my free hand. He'd collapse if I weren't holding him upright. He gasps for air.

"Wait, wait!" he wheezes.

"Like you waited before you had me shot?"

"No, no! It was mistake."

"Doubtful," I tell him.

"No, no. I swear I—"

"Shut up! The real mistake was having one of your boys shoot me when all I was trying to do was talk it out. But now we've run out of options. Talking didn't help. And getting shot
hurt
—a lot more than this." I yank his arm up a little and he cries out.

I see a guy huddled on the floor near Chaingang, just coming to, moaning and clutching an arm that dangles at a wrong angle. Chaingang's got a tire iron in one hand, a gun in the other.

"
Madre de Dios
," Chico says in a strained voice. "You should be dead. What
are
you?"

"The guy you shouldn't have pissed off."

The mountain lion wants to stop toying with him. It wants to just snap his neck and then deal with the rest of them. I pretty much want the same thing, only I'm not sure I have the stomach for it. But I don't know what else to do. If I let them go, they'll come after me. Then they'll go after Ampora and her family. They'll go after
Marina
.

I'm not letting that happen.

I look to Chaingang, but I don't find any help there. I realize he's waiting for me to make the next decision. The problem is, I only see two options and neither of them is all that great.

Either I let the mountain lion loose to kill a bunch of gangbangers, which puts their deaths on my conscience. I still have nightmares about the woman I killed back at the ValentiCorp labs.

Or I let the Kings go and nothing changes. The Lopez family will still have a death sentence hanging over their heads.

They'll come after me, too. After my mom and Chaingang because he's here with me. For all I know, I've already started a war between the Kings and the Ocean Avers.

This so sucks.

All I wanted was for them to leave us alone. Why does that have to be so complicated?

The Kings are starting to get restless. They're looking from one to the other, getting brave again. A few moments ago, they were wide-eyed and making the sign of the cross. Now I can see they're almost forgetting what just happened and I don't blame them. I'm freaked about it, too—I think I was pretty much dead for a moment before shifting to the mountain lion brought me back. It's so much easier to just believe none of it happened.

Chico struggles a bit—testing me—and I jerk his arm up again.

"Enough of this!" a new voice says.

I turn just enough to keep the Kings in view while I glance behind me. It's the old man. He's standing up from his table, glaring at us.

Maybe I'm making the Kings a little nervous, but they're not shy when it comes to tearing into this guy.

"Piss off, you stinkin' asshole," one of them shouts.

Like all the bandas, the shouter's tatted up, big crown on one side of his neck, a cross on the other. He's wearing baggy jeans and a sleeveless T-shirt with a brown stingy brim fedora. I'm betting there are tats on his head as well.

The old man stares the banger down and asks, "Do you kiss your mother with that mouth?"

Fedora says something in Spanish and lifts his gun.

"You got a name, old man," he adds, "so I can find your grave to piss on it?"

"You don't need to know my name," the old man says. "All you need to know is that I'm from Halcón Pueblo."