Under My Skin (Wildlings) (20 page)

"What's going—?" I start.

But then I see them. A half-dozen men in dark suits are waiting for us, holding Tasers in that classic pose I've seen on way too many TV shows and movies like
Men in Black
. I don't know how many times we killed ourselves laughing over that movie. Turns out it's not so funny when it's happening for real and the weapons are aimed at you.

How did this become my life?

The day started bad with the news about Dillon and that business with Erik at lunchtime sure didn't help.

Now it feels like the ground's disappearing underfoot.

"Joshua Saunders," one of the men says. "FBI. We have orders to take you in. Surrender yourself and no one has to get hurt."

I don't see Matteson or Solana or any of the agents I'd recognize. These are all strangers, their eyes hidden behind mirrored sunglasses.

I have a wild impulse to change into the mountain lion, to just take off and leave them in my dust. But then I remember Chaingang's advice.

Don't ever change where they can see
.

And I remember what happened to Elzie's friend Danny, how easily they took him down, even in his Wildling shape. Yeah, supposedly it was put on, but it still showed me how easily it could happen for real.

Marina grabs my arm. "Oh, Josh ..."

I shake off her grip. Moving away from my friends, I drop my backpack on the pavement and put my hands in the air. I step forward and it's like I've hit the slow-motion button on an old VCR. I'm being careful to not make any threatening gestures, but they open fire with their Tasers anyway. Three of them.

I hear the
whuft
of the nitrogen cartridges in the handsets as they're discharged.

One. Two. Three.

I lose count.

But I can see the darts coming for me, trailing tiny electrical wires.

My body jumps involuntarily as the electricity hits me.

Every nerve feels on fire.

My vision strobes.

There's a high-pitched whine in my ears.

And then it all goes black.

Marina

When I see Josh jerking on the ends of those Taser wires, I almost lose control and shift into my Wildling shape. Not that a sea otter could do much good against six FBI agents. But that isn't the point. For one moment, I'm purely in my animal brain, seeing a pack mate in need and desperate to help and I just know I have to do
something
. I can't bear seeing Josh go down, twitching on the pavement like a landed fish.

I don't know how he keeps from shifting into his animal form. I wouldn't be able to stop myself. Maybe the Taser charge is too strong. I smell the charge in the air, the electricity arcing through his nervous system, burning as it goes ...

Desmond grabs my arm as I lunge forward.

He isn't stopping the Wildling in me. He's stopping the girl whose skin I wear. I'm stronger than him, though he doesn't know it. Faster, too. I know I could shrug him off and attack the agents, but there are too many of them and I don't want things to escalate. If I attack, it's possible some of the other kids might follow suit and then more people will be hurt.

So I let Desmond hold me back while I helplessly watch Josh twitch on the ground. It's all I can do not to run and throw myself on top of him to protect him from the FBI.

There aren't a lot of students around the front of the school at this time of day. Most of them just stand around in shock, but several have their phones out, recording the action. While some of the men in suits run up to Josh, a couple of the other agents try to grab those kids and confiscate their phones, but there are too many of them. As soon as the FBI agents begin their approach, the kids scatter in all directions. I know what that means. In minutes, Josh's capture will be on the Internet, where it'll go viral.

Didn't these stupid agents even consider that? The PR fallout is going to be huge because people aren't going to see brave FBI agents taking down a fierce and dangerous Wildling mountain lion. They'll see bullies in suits Tazing some helpless school kid.

No—not just some kid. They'll see Josh. My friend, whom I never even told that I'm a Wildling, too. And it's all because of Desmond and his big mouth.

I have to contain my frustration and anger toward Des, though. There's something more important to worry about. Once this incident goes viral, the FBI will immediately go into denial mode. They'll hide Josh somewhere so deep and far from view that we'll never be able to find him. Whatever we do to help him, we'll have to do it fast.

We watch as two of the agents grab a now-limp Josh under the arms and drag him down the walk to a black van parked at the curb. The other agents get into a pair of black SUVs parked in front of and behind the van. Moments later, the little cavalcade pulls away.

"This is all my fault," Desmond says as they drive off.

"Yeah," I tell him. "It is."

He turns to me with a hurt look, but I don't cut him any slack.

"You
knew
how important it was to keep this quiet," I say.

He nods. "Yeah. I'll take the fall for this. But first chance I get, I'm going to find Erik Gess and beat the crap out of him."

"That won't solve anything."

"No, but it'll make me feel better. He needs to know that ratting anybody out is not cool."

"Ironic, since
you're
the one who really ratted Josh out."

Desmond looks mournful, but just as he's about to say something, some of the kids who took off come drifting back. They mill around Desmond and me, jabbering like monkeys.

"Did you see?"

"Holy crap!"

"Who did they grab?"

"Saunders."

"Who
were
those guys?"

"The one who had the fight with Erik at lunch?"

"I think they were cops."

"Holy shit. I've already got thirty hits on my upload."

"What do the cops want with Saunders?"

"Too bad no one got it from the start."

"I heard he's a Wildling."

"I thought that cop was going to get me for sure."

"So now it's against the law to be a Wildling?"

"My dad'd kill me if I lost my phone. I just got it last week."

"Jeez. First Dillon and now this."

I try not to pay attention to them. Instead, I make a beeline to where I saw something fall when the agents zapped Josh. Bending down, I retrieve Josh's phone.

"What've you got there?" Desmond asks.

I hold up the phone. "It's Josh's. I saw it go flying when they Tazed him."

Desmond picks up Josh's backpack from the walk where it fell.

"There's this, too," he says.

He makes the backpack as small as he can and stuffs it into his own while I scroll through Josh's contacts. I stop when I find the one I'm looking for and thumb the call button.

"What're you doing?" Desmond asks.

"Calling Elzie."

He starts to say something else, but I hold up a finger because the call has gone through.

"Hey there, what's up, lover boy?" Elzie says.

Her voice is light and warm with humour and affection.

"Sorry," I tell her. "It's Marina. The FBI has Josh."

The change in her voice is immediate.

"What? What happened? When did—"

"Is there someplace we can meet?" I break in. "I don't want to do this on the phone."

"How about in front of the old amusement park?"

"I'll be there in ten minutes," I tell her.

"Be where?" Desmond asks as I pocket Josh's phone.

"I'm going to see Elzie," I say. "You should head home."

"What do you mean?"

"There's nothing you can do now."

"But you two can? Are you really that pissed at me? Can't you see it was a mistake?"

This is where I should be telling him about the otter in me, except I've already seen how well that went with him knowing about Josh, so, no. I don't think so.

"I can't have this conversation right now," I tell him. "I have to meet Elzie."

"I
said
I was sorry and wouldn't do it again. Josh said we were cool. What more do you want?"

"I know, but this has nothing to do with that. Can't you please let it go for now and I'll come by your place later?"

"I just don't get what the big secret is."

And then I realize that not having him come along might be the very thing that gives me away. Elzie won't out me. If she hasn't told Josh or Desmond by now, it's not going to happen.

"No secret," I say. "Come along then. But you do realize that Elzie's going to be royally pissed at you, right? Next time you need to open your mouth, think first."

"I get it," he tells me. "Trust me, this isn't a lesson I'm going to forget."

I feel like yelling, too bad you couldn't have thought of that earlier, but I hold back. Instead, I set out at a brisk jog. Screw Des. He can keep up or not.

But I don't have it in me to be mean for long. After a few blocks, I slow down so that he can catch up instead of half-jogging a block or so behind me, trying to follow. I'm not even breathing hard, but he's really winded.

"Holy crap," he gasps. "I wish I had my board. You are in excellent shape."

A few years ago, when Desmond thought his considerable charm would work on any girl he met, that might've been a come-on. Back then he was mooning over me while I was mooning over Josh. Somehow, Josh remained oblivious to it all and after awhile Des and I settled into the easy friendship we have now. The three of us are great together.

Sometimes I have to watch myself, though. I can still be caught off guard by something—like the tilt of Josh's head back dropped by a setting sun, the dying light haloing his hair. That quick grin when he actually catches a wave, or pulls off a particularly tricky lick on his guitar.

But Josh has never looked at me in the same way as he looks at Elzie and there's nothing I can do to change that. Not without maybe screwing up our friendship, the band and pretty much everything.

I should try to go easier on Desmond. I know that deep down he's even more upset with himself than I am. That's got to be hard. Desmond can't help his unbridled enthusiasm and it's a big part of why Josh and I love him.

"You should come out running with me in the morning," I say to Desmond, "instead of lolling around in bed the way you do."

He's still too out of breath to make with a smart comeback. Or maybe he's just being careful because of the way I lit into him earlier.

When we arrive at the old amusement park, Elzie's already waiting for us on a bench.  As soon as she sees us, she jumps up and starts running toward us.

The hot sunny weather we've had all week has gone grey this afternoon—just like my mood. Out past the ruin of the carnival, I can see the ocean. The wind has picked up, carrying the smell of brine and fish inland. The swells are good—not huge, like they are running in front of a storm, but solid.

I don't even feel a twinge that I'm not out there on my board.

As we approach Elzie, I think about how I've never really liked this place the way that Josh and Desmond do. Those broken down rides and abandoned buildings look lost and sad in the daylight and way too creepy at night. But right now I'm happy to be here.

No, that came out wrong. How can I be happy with Josh in Federal custody? I'm just glad to be meeting Elzie here, because maybe we can come up with a way to get Josh back.

I give Elzie a hug when we meet. As always, she looks like a million dollars. I know she shops only in thrift shops, but I
never
find things like she does.

Her usual radiant smile is replaced by worry. "Tell me everything," she says.

"It's awful," I begin.

"Hey, let's grab that bench," Desmond says. "Marina went like a bat out of hell to get here and I need to catch my breath."

Elzie fidgets on her end of the bench while Desmond and I go through what happened. Her gaze grows dark as we relate the events of the day and darker still when Desmond admits how the mountain lion remark blurted out of his mouth. I have to give him credit. He doesn't whitewash it.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" she demands of Desmond. "Can't
anyone
be loyal anymore?"

"I know, dude. I get it now. He's my best friend and I totally betrayed him. I didn't mean to. It just, like, slipped out. I'm such a jerk. You guys must hate me."

My own anger dissipated during our jog. I can't blame Elzie for being upset. I needed to vent just like she does, but now I'm feeling kind of sorry for Desmond. At least he's taking responsibility for messing up.

"We don't hate you, Des," I say. "At least, I don't hate you."

Elzie seems somewhat appeased by Desmond's obvious regret. "What happened next?" she asks.

I tell her how the FBI agents were waiting for Josh when we left the school. She jumps to her feet when I describe how the agents took Josh down with Tasers, even though he was only trying to surrender.

"Those bastards!" she cries. "I should have been there."

"And then they'd have
both
of you."

She shakes her head. "With two moving targets and civilians all around, they wouldn't have taken the chance of hitting a bystander. We would have gotten away."

"Weren't you listening?" I say. "Josh surrendered and they
still
Tazed him in front of everyone. He hadn't even shifted or
anything
."

"Yeah," Desmond adds. "And they didn't give a crap who saw."

"He's right," I say. "Kids were videoing with their phones, but the agents barely even tried to confiscate them. It was almost as though they didn't really care. The footage is all over the Net now."

Elzie frowns. "There's only one reason why they'd make such a public display of capturing him."

I realize she's thinking about Danny Reed, her friend who went to work for the FBI using the subterfuge that he'd been "snatched" to go away with them. I don't know how she can even think that Josh would do something like that, but Desmond jumps in before I can call her on it.

"Uh-uh," Desmond says. "
No way
was Josh selling out like your friend did."