Toxic Read online

  Alex gave them a side-glare once-over. The guy’s version of checking out the competition. “You work for Cross?”

  Able nodded like a dashboard bobblehead. He circled Alex, eyes narrow, but to my surprise, didn’t try to restrain him. “You’re not 98.”

  “Sorry, no number here. Name’s Alex Mojourn.”

  Aubrey frowned and folded his arms. No attempt at restraining me, either. Their lack of aggression made me nervous. It wasn’t right. “That’s—”

  Able didn’t seem to share his brother’s disapproval. He smiled, winking at me like we shared some big secret, as a crack of thunder sounded above. “Disappointing? Yeah. Could be fun, though.”

  “I’m guessing you’re Sixes. Is that your gift? Annoying people to death with your yapping?”

  Alex rubbed his ears and scrunched up his nose. “Dudes—she’s got a point. The whole freaky exchange? It’s getting old.”

  For a moment, no one said a word. The four of us stood there, simply staring at one another. The calm before the storm. The last few, tense moments before the birds hit the building. My heart hammered, and my muscles itched to run. The fact that they still hadn’t made a move had me tweaking like a junkie, and I knew it wouldn’t last. Something was about to go down. I could see it in their eyes.

  They had the advantage because we had no idea what they could do. My gift was non-aggressive, and I’d bet nine of my ten toes they knew that. If you wanted an apple and had an orange, I could help you out. Beyond that, I was pretty useless. At the moment, anyway. Supposedly I would develop mad skills as a result of the Supremacy drug, but other than a few weird occurrences—things I’d been writing off as figments of sleep deprivation—there hadn’t been any signs of uberness.

  Alex, on the other hand, wasn’t as useless. He was a telekinetic—meaning he moved things with his mind. That might present the twins with a bit of a challenge, but probably not enough to be of concern. They had to be packing serious mojo if Dad sent them in hopes of snagging someone like Kale.

  After what seemed like forever, Alex was the one who made a move. I didn’t have time to be annoyed because he grabbed my arm and steered me around them. “We’re leaving. Tell Cross to suck me, will ya?”

  He got four steps before turning on his heel and bolting toward the street, almost ripping my arm out of its socket in the process.

  Behind us, one of the twins let out a high-pitched scream, followed by a double dose of creepy laughter. Oh, yeah. Leave it to Dad to find the crazies.

  Crashing through the gate and into the front yard, we raced across the street. The motion sensor light next to Old Man Philben’s mailbox flickered to life, shining a spotlight on our path. He’d put it in right around the time he started telling the neighborhood about his alien abduction. Apparently, E.T. was interested in the contents of his red-white-and-blue bird-shaped mailbox.

  Alex waved his hand in a frantic motion. Behind us, several of the neighbors’ garbage pails flew toward the corner of the old house where Able and Aubrey were rushing the gate. The pails collided with the twins and knocked them to the ground in a symphony of clattering metal and stinky garbage.

  I tried to stop, but Alex nudged me forward. “Won’t stop ’em for long. Keep going!”

  We rounded the next corner and ran like hell. By the time we made it halfway down the third block, it hit me. Something about this was wrong. I stopped short and ducked behind the side of Marlow’s Jewelry Store, dragging Alex with me. “Why were you at the construction site?”

  “What? Why the hell does it matter now?”

  “Why were you there? I haven’t seen you in months—smart move, by the way—then you just show up? Better yet, why did you follow me?” I poked him hard in the chest. Those creepy twins had approached the whole situation much too casually. Like they had an ace in the hole. An Alex-shaped ace. “Are you with those guys?”

  He peeked around the side of the building. When he pulled back, his eyes were wide. “Are you asking me if I’m trying to snap you up for Daddy? Are you high? I’d never hurt—”

  Fists curled tight, I decked him. My knuckles clipped the edge of his bony jaw, sending a thousand prickles of pain shooting through each finger, but it was worth it. He’d been about to say he’d never hurt me. So he thought watching him gut Kale wouldn’t hurt? Still, after all that, the possibility that he was working with Dad—for Dad—made me sick. We’d had our differences, an even mix of lies and misunderstandings, but we’d meant something to each other once.

  Then he had to go and try to kill my boyfriend.

  He shook his head in surprise and touched his face. “Fine. I deserve that. But right now—”

  “Screw you.” Now wasn’t the time to lay into him, but my mind kept coming back to what happened at Sumrun. The image of Alex standing over Kale was burned into my brain, and no amount of time would wipe it away. Plus him showing up the exact moment I fell from the crane? Way too convenient. A small, logical part of my brain told me it’d be impossible for him to have known I’d lose my immunity to Kale—much less the moment it would happen, but I didn’t trust him. There was more to this. Had to be.

  “This part of the plan? Steer me into a dark alley and wait for them to come along and scoop me up?”

  He threw his hands in the air and kicked the side of the building. “You pulled me into the alley.”

  I glared at him but said nothing.

  “I’m trying to help you.” He looked like he might explode. I’d seen Alex lose his cool several times, and it wasn’t pretty, but this screamed borderline unhinged. His face turned scarlet, and each fist, balled tight to the point his knuckles almost glowed in the dark, shook in frustration. “Ginger told me to go to the construction site, okay? She said you needed me.”

  “Bullshit,” I snapped. “Why would she ask you for anything? You tried to kill her grandson.”

  “For fu—that wasn’t—”

  Something moved at the other end of the alley, followed by a duet of dark chuckles. Alex didn’t wait. Without apology, he shoved me toward the street. No need to tell me twice. I might not have wanted him within forty feet of me, but if it was a choice between that and visiting with Dad—he won hands down.

  “Head for Parker Avenue—the business district,” I huffed. “We can lose them there.”

  We raced across Mill Street and cut through the Food Smart parking lot to Parker as the sky opened up again.

  “Move!” Alex snapped in between gasps. “Faster!”

  Because I wasn’t already moving as fast as I could? Moron!

  I hadn’t been to the heart of the business district all summer. A bunch of the old crew used to come down on weekends and jump the buildings. The ones on the edge of the district—the few remaining low-rent apartment complexes and office buildings—were right on top of each other. Easy to jump. Starter flys, we’d called them. The ones in the center—the factories and warehouse distributors—were slightly farther apart. More of a challenge. Last time we’d all been out here, Gillman swore he was going to jump one of the buildings in the center. I wondered if he ever actually went through with it.

  I stopped at the edge of the Janseck factory to catch my breath, but Alex wasn’t having it. He yanked on my arm and shoved me in the direction of the tall, familiar building across the street. “Come on. My old apartment building usually keeps the door on the roof open. We can slip in and hide.”

  After dark, the traffic was minimal—not that the business district made the top ten hot spots of Parkview any time of day. We raced across the road and around to the back of Alex’s old apartment complex.

  The ladder for the fire escape wasn’t down, and we couldn’t reach it, but that was easy enough to fix. A simple wave of Alex’s hand, and it came crashing toward us—complete with clanking metal and an echoing scream.

  Why not just send up a flare or use a megaphone to announce our presence? Starting up the ladder, I hissed, “Be a little less stealthy, why don’t ya?”
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br />   I pulled myself over the edge and climbed onto the roof. The wind whipping across my shoulders sent an icy chill down my spine, making me sorry I’d tossed my hoodie on the way up the crane.

  “There.” Alex flew across the roof and pulled up on the door handle. “Um…”

  “‘Um’ doesn’t sound good. Why are you ‘um’-ing?” I took a step forward. “Don’t ‘um’!”

  Someone had pissed in karma’s cereal and blamed it on me. Tonight nothing seemed to be going right.

  Alex gave one last, violent yank on the handle. “It’s locked.”

  A metallic clatter behind us caught my attention. I didn’t dare peek over the edge. “Gotta go.” I took off across the rooftop, Alex on my heels, as Able’s voice rang out.

  “Hide and go seek, yeah?”

  “Woo-hoo!” His brother let out a chilling cry as footsteps thundered behind us.

  “Jump!” Alex screamed as he sprinted ahead and leapt from the ledge.

  I stopped short—just in time to watch him sail through the air, over the gap between the two buildings, and slam against the edge of the one next door. But he caught the rim of the ledge and managed to haul himself over the side.

  Acid bubbled in the pit of my stomach as I backed up to gain some momentum.

  “Come on! Don’t you wanna—”

  Alex was stronger and taller. Longer legs. If he missed the roof, there was a good chance I would, too.

  “Play? Yeah,” the other finished.

  They were almost across the roof and moving fast.

  Too fast.

  Screw it. I’d take my chances with gravity. Pushing off with my right foot, I sprang forward. The rain-slicked surface caused me to slip, hampering my speed. As the tip of my sneaker curled around the rim of the ledge, I shoved off as hard as I could and soared over the gap. The chill of rain-soaked clothes and cool September air against my skin was replaced by a healthy coating of nervous sweat.

  I knew halfway through the jump that I wasn’t going to make it. There just hadn’t been enough power behind my push-off. Not nearly enough speed in my sprint. Instead of zooming closer to the rooftop, I started sinking down. Under different circumstances, I’d rag on myself. It’d been a seriously lame jump, and I could have done way better. Now, though? There was a scream building as my pulse thundered between my ears. This made twice in one night I’d taken a header from high up. Either fate was trying to tell me something, or the universe had a really sick sense of humor.

  Thankfully, telekinetics weren’t without their uses. One second, the edge of the building was going up—as I went down. The next, it was going down—as I flew up.

  The air expelled from my lungs in a single, painful whoosh as I crashed onto the tar-coated roof at Alex’s feet. Gasping, I let him drag me upright and forward as the first of the twins landed behind us with annoying grace. Seconds later, the other touched down beside him.

  There was no time to freak. Like freighters, they charged before we had time to blink, scattering us apart. One of them—I had no clue which—hauled Alex back by his neck and tossed him into what looked like a giant air conditioner. There was a sickening crack and an audible wheeze as the breath was knocked from his lungs. A well-placed knuckle to the stomach, and Alex crumpled like wet tissue paper.

  Something stirred in my gut. There were no leftover feelings for him, but seeing someone toss Alex around like a Frisbee made me slightly ill. Possibly because in the back of my head, I wanted to be the one doing it.

  The other brother stood over me, smiling. Odd thing to notice, but he had a chip in his front tooth, and his nose looked slightly out of joint. He must have broken it at some point. Bones were like paper. Once you crumpled it up, no matter what you did to smooth it out, it was never quite the same. Might be the only way to tell Tweedledee and Tweedledum apart when they weren’t speaking, which didn’t seem to be often.

  “Not sure what the fuss is about. You’re a tiny little thing, yeah?”

  Cold tar and gravel dug through my jeans, sending prickles throughout my entire body as I scooted backward on my butt until I hit the ledge.

  Able—yeah, it was Able—leaned forward, smile growing wider. With one hand braced against my right shoulder, he pinned me back against the ledge and chuckled. “You’re gonna love this.”

  Bringing his other hand up, he extended a long, black-tipped finger and placed it at the edge of my collarbone. There was a look in his eyes—like he’d checked out and someone else—something else—had checked in. Something insane.

  I wriggled, trying to slip free, but it was no use. His hand against my shoulder locked me securely in place. With a twitch of his lip, he moved his finger over my bare skin, tracing the outline of my shoulder and making several small semicircles before stopping just above the armpit. Even though I was already soaking wet and freezing, his finger sent chills through my body—not the good kind. They dove deep into my core, numbing my insides.

  His touch was wrong. Sick. It left my stomach churning and sent an army of goose bumps marching up and down my arms. A wave of nausea hit me, followed by a strong blast of vertigo. In front of me, the outline of his face grew watery, then snapped into extreme focus. Like someone had over-sharpened the entire world around him. Everything was too vivid—almost painful. Another flash, along with a sharp jab of his finger into my soft skin, and everything boomeranged back to normal.

  The pressure on my right shoulder disappeared as Able straightened and snickered. “Was it good for you?”

  I blinked and flexed my fingers. “What—”

  He squatted in front of me and blew an exaggerated kiss. “I’m a little disappointed. You don’t look like troub—”

  I rocked back and to the side, kicking up. Jamming both Vans into his stomach, I shoved hard. “Trouble? Yeah. I kinda am.”

  With an oof, he stumbled back and cursed, almost recovering his balance just before toppling over. His glare tinted with the promise of payback, he sprang to his feet and lunged for me.

  I rolled to the side, and he missed, grasping only a handful of air as Alex’s voice rang out. “Dez!”

  A second before Able attempted another swipe, he flew sideways and crashed into the pillar a few feet away.

  Alex was on his feet and leaning against the side of the building, clutching his right arm. The other twin was nowhere in sight. We didn’t argue or wait to see if he’d come back.

  We ran like hell.

  4

  “You wanna tell me what happened at the construction site?”

  Technically Alex had saved me not once so far but twice. Funny thing was, I didn’t feel the least bit grateful. “You wanna go the hell away?”

  “I mean it, Dez. If I hadn’t been there, you’d be dead. What the hell happened?” He stopped in front of the Blueberry Bean window. The inside of the coffee shop was dark. They used to be open twenty-four hours, but last month, they started closing at midnight. Crap. Was it really that late?

  We were about three blocks from the Sanctuary, and all was quiet. I leaned against the glass. The rain had finally stopped again, and it seemed like the twins had given up.

  If only Alex would do the same.

  Begging probably wouldn’t help, but I was desperate. I didn’t have the energy to hit him again, and I felt a headache the size of Mars coming on. “Please go away?”

  Arms folded, he glared at me. Fred—the name we’d given his happy-face labret bead—wobbled as he poked at it with his tongue. A dead giveaway that something was bothering him.

  Was it too much to ask to be left alone? Maybe I did have some energy to spare. There was an itch bubbling to punch him again if he didn’t go away. With my luck, I’d end up breaking a finger on his thick skull, thus completing one of the worst nights of my life.

  To top this all off, I was going to get my ass handed to me by Mom and Ginger. Kale and I were under strict curfew because of Denazen. We were forbidden to attend the nightly parties, but I’d never let a little word
like forbidden stop me from doing what I wanted. I might not be able to go to the official Six-only raves, but once in a while, like tonight, one of the kids planned a little field trip. I wasn’t one to turn down an invitation.

  Really, it was nice to know some things hadn’t changed.

  The worst part was Kale didn’t quite get the concept of sneaking out. Without me, he’d waltz right in the front door without a second thought and get us both busted.

  Alex cleared his throat.

  He was still here. Apparently I needed to spell it out.

  Fine.

  “Are you really that dense?” I snapped as a bolt of lightning skittered across the sky. Obviously the storm wasn’t quite done with us yet. “What kind of a jackass would stand here and try to talk to me after what you did?”

  “After what I did? I saved your ass!”

  I took a step forward and poked him in the chest. “Are you serious? Are you seriously serious?”

  “I don’t know what to say, Dez.” He swiped a hand through his damp blond spikes. “Sorry won’t cut it, and that’s cool. I get it. But I wasn’t trying to kill him.”

  “Sure as hell looked like it from where I was standing.”

  “Of course it did. ’Cause you’re never standing in reality,” he growled. “Do I hate him? Yeah, I do. He’s in the way of something I want. That night at Sumrun, he was in the way of your freedom, and that’s all I cared about.”

  I had to tell myself to close my mouth. You’re going to let the flies in, Brandt used to say—ironically most of the time when Alex was involved. “My freedom? Because Dad would’ve really let me walk out of there with you?”

  “He promised he would.”

  “I’d smack you stupid if someone obviously hadn’t beaten me to it.”

  I started walking again, furious. The cool breeze, combined with my wet clothes, was giving me the shivers, and judging by the increasing thunder and lightning, it was only a matter of time before the rain came again.