The Calling (Darkness Rising) (33 page)

“What’s up?” Corey said.

“Nothing. Just … the Froot Loops are mine.”

“Not if I get them first.”

After breakfast, Rafe distracted the others while I led Daniel into the garage.

“It’s about Rafe, isn’t it?” he said as we settled on the garage steps.

I nodded. “I have to talk to you and you’re not going to like it.”

He exhaled. “Yeah, I already know what it’s about.”

“You do?”

“I’m being a jerk to him. He tried to talk to me about wrestling at breakfast, and I blew him off. We all keep complaining that we don’t know him, but when he tries to get to know us, we shut him down. I’m sorry.”

“That’s not—”

“I have nothing against the guy. I don’t know why I keep…” He rolled his shoulders and rubbed the back of one as he made a face.

“Bad sleep?”

“Yeah. But we’re
all
stressed and worried and tired, and that’s no excuse for being a jerk to Rafe.”

I stretched my legs, then took a deep breath and said, “Actually, I might know what’s setting you off with Rafe. That’s what I wanted to talk about.”

He didn’t answer, and when I glanced over, he looked shocked. Shocked and … something else. Before I could get a better look, he turned away.

“I don’t have a problem with Rafe, Maya.”

“Well, I do,” Sam said as she opened the door.

Daniel clambered to his feet.

“You
do
have a problem with Rafe, Daniel,” Sam said. “We all do.”

“This is a private discussion,” Daniel said.

“Not if it’s about Rafael. Everyone’s pussyfooting around and I’m tired of it. The guy is an asshole and—”

She followed our gaze and turned to see Rafe standing behind her, arms crossed.

“What?” she said. “You don’t think I’d say this to your face? I will. You’re a self-centered jerk, Rafe Martinez. You’ve got everyone convinced that you sacrificed yourself for Maya and Daniel, but that’s crap. You didn’t let go. You slipped. Maya wanted to believe there was more to it, so she convinced Daniel—”

“She didn’t convince me of anything,” Daniel said, his voice low. “I was there, too, Sam. He let go.”

“So? He’s not actually dead, is he?”

Rafe sputtered a laugh. She glowered at him, then at Corey, who’d joined them, grinning as he heard. Even Daniel had to wipe away a smile.

“What?” she said. “He isn’t.”

“The, uh, fact that he survived his heroic sacrifice really shouldn’t be held against him,” Daniel said. “Look, I’m fine with Rafe—”

“No, you’re not. Heroic sacrifice or not, he’s still a jerk. He waltzed into Salmon Creek and stole Maya.”

“Stole?”
I said.

“It’s not your fault. You two are both skin-walkers. It’s animal magnetism. You can’t help yourself.” She glared at Corey, who was cracking up behind Rafe. “Stop that. You know it’s true. Maya’s too smart to fall for an arrogant, self-centered—”

“Enough,” Daniel said.

Sam sighed. “I know you’re trying to be fair, Daniel, but you need to stand up for yourself, not let this smirking bad boy wannabe waltz in and—”

“Enough!” Daniel’s roar made everyone stumble back. He climbed the steps and stopped in front of Sam. “I don’t know what your problem is, Sam, but you’ve now insulted everyone here except Corey.”

“Oh, she already zinged me,” Corey said. “I started rubbing my temples and she suggested I don’t really get headaches. It just hurts me to think.”

“It was a joke,” Sam said, flinching under Daniel’s scowl.

“Inside,” he said. “Everyone. We need to leave. Now.”

“But—” I began.

Only Rafe heard me. He tapped Daniel as he passed. “I think Maya still needs to talk to you.”

Daniel turned.

“I do,” I said. “It’ll only take a minute.”

“We’ll talk on the way,” he said. “We really need to get going, and if Corey’s getting a headache—”

“It’s not bad,” Corey interjected. “I’ll be—”

“You won’t be fine. We need to look after that first. Now, everyone, grab your stuff and let’s go.”

After they’d gone by, Rafe came back to me, still standing on the garage steps.

“When we reach the highway, say you need a pit stop,” he whispered, lips at my ear. “I’ll distract the others and you can take him aside.”

“Thanks. I know you’d rather I didn’t tell—”

“I’ve gotten used to the idea. And you want to tell him, which is more important.”

Corey shouted, “Come on, you two,” and I hurried in to make sure he took his pills before we left.

W
E TOOK THE TRUCK
. Corey’s mom’s SUV would have been more comfortable, but also extremely recognizable with the police logo. Not that it mattered, since we were already being tracked, but I could hardly say that.

Daniel drove. I rode shotgun. I’d tried to get Sam to take that spot, so her leg would be more comfortable. She’d refused. We opened the window into the topper, though, so we could talk, and left the curtains open.

We took the worst of the back roads. Again, that wasn’t necessary. Again, I couldn’t say so.

Daniel was driving along an empty dirt road when a service truck pulled out in front of us. He eased off the gas.

“It’s okay,” I said. “It looks legit.”

“So did the fire-and-rescue—”

The truck swerved suddenly, swinging around until it blocked the road.

“Reverse!” Corey yelled.

Daniel had already put the truck into reverse and it was spinning backward. Then he hit the brakes hard enough to send everyone flying.

I looked in the side mirror to see two vans blocking the road behind us.

“They’ve boxed us in,” I said.

Rafe was on his knees, peering out the rear window on the topper. When he turned, I could see genuine shock in his eyes.

“They didn’t trust you,” I murmured.

“What?” Daniel said.

“Nothing, just—Is that a lane? There! Go down there!”

He did, but as he turned into the lane, I realized it was a driveway.

“Doesn’t matter,” Daniel said, hitting the gas. “I’ll get us as far as I can.”

As he rocketed along the lane, I scanned the surrounding forest for any opening big enough to drive through. There wasn’t one. Just narrow tracks, ending at a cottage, trees hemming in all sides.

“We’re going to have to run,” Daniel said. “Everyone out! Into the woods! Split up!”

As we scrambled out, I yelled, “Sam! She can’t run.”

Daniel swore and raced around to the rear. Corey and Rafe were helping Sam down.

“Go,” she said.

“Corey and I can carry you,” Daniel said. “Just grab on—”

“Then three of us will get caught instead of one. Go.”

She pushed Daniel. When he hesitated, she shoved him hard enough to knock him off his feet.

“You know it’s the right thing,” she said as he scrambled up. “They won’t hurt me. Without you, I’m the only benandanti they have.”

We didn’t know that, of course. But she was right that we’d never escape carrying her.

“We’ll come back for you,” Daniel said.

“After you have backup, please. No offense, but you guys aren’t up to fighting these people.”

Daniel nodded. “But we will come back.”

“I know.” She hugged him. It was an awkward, one-armed embrace that caught him off guard. She pushed him away before he could say anything. Then she turned to me. “Look after him. Don’t let him do anything stupid.”

“I will.”

When I looked for Rafe, he wasn’t there. Then I saw him jogging back from the woods.

“Debugged,” he said to me.

Daniel gave us a look, but I couldn’t explain then.

We ran into the forest just as the service truck was on us. Kenjii brought up the rear, herding us. When a man shouted, she wheeled and snarled. Then she charged.

“Kenjii, no!”

The shot hit her square in the chest and she reared up, toppling over backward and hitting the ground, and if Daniel and Rafe hadn’t both been holding me back, nothing would have stopped me from going to her. But they held me and all I could do was fight and scream at them to let me go, until Daniel said,

“It’s a dart, Maya.” He pointed at her, struggling to rise. “Just a tranquilizer dart.”

That stopped my heart from pounding, but it didn’t mean I wanted to abandon her. They had to drag me away, Corey helping, until I heard someone say, “Load the dog in the back with the girl,” and I knew there was nothing I could do.

So I ran, stumbling at first, still seeing Kenjii lying in the dirt, struggling to rise. Daniel kept me upright and kept me moving.

“They aren’t following us,” Corey said.
“Why
aren’t they following us?”

“They know it won’t be hard to find four kids tearing through the woods,” Rafe said. “Daniel’s right. We need to split up. Better than that, we need a target. One person to make more noise than all the others put together. That’d be me.” A wry smile my way. “I’m good at causing trouble.”

“It’ll work better if there are two targets,” Corey said. “Rafe and I go separate ways. We make noise. You two keep going. We hope that splitting their attention means no one gets caught.”

“I’ll do it,” Daniel said.

Corey thumped him on the back. “I know you would, but you and Maya are our best chances of getting help. Don’t worry—I don’t plan to get captured. We’ll meet you guys…”

“At the ferry,” I said. “They won’t expect us to follow the same plan.”

“But how would they know what we had planned?” Corey said.

“They must have planted bugs,” I said quickly. “Maybe in the house or in the truck. We’ll meet at the ferry. They won’t expect that.”

Before they left, I took Rafe aside. “Will you be coming back?” I whispered.

“They double-crossed me. I don’t know what that means for Annie.” His eyes darkened, but he shook it off. “I can’t trust them. Better I come with you, and try to rescue her.”

“Good. I mean—”

“I know what you mean.” He turned to leave, then came back with a folded note. He shoved it in my pocket. “Just something I was going to give you before I left.”

He jogged away. Then Daniel and I took off. We moved as quickly as we could, making the least amount of noise possible.

“They know everything,” I said finally. “The St. Clouds. They—”

“—had Rafe bugged. He told you.”

I glanced back, but his face was expressionless. Intentionally expressionless.

“The St. Clouds caught him coming into Salmon Creek,” I said. “They have Annie. They used her to get him to trap us. But that’s not what happened here. He was supposed to get us to Vancouver so they could grab us there. Once we arrived, I was going to turn on him, say I knew he was working with them. We’d take off. They’d think he’d done the best he could. That was the plan.”