Atoning (4 page)

“Chloe? You out here?” Daniel called. “Oh, hey, you there! I’m looking for my friend.”

I peered out to see Daniel hailing one of the guys in black. The guy had decided to play it straight and had come out of hiding, his hands in his pockets, just a random dude out for a stroll.

“My friend wandered off,” Daniel said. “We’re not local, so I’m worried she got lost. She’s about this tall. Blond hair. Ponytail.”

“Wearing a pink hoodie?”

“That’s her.”

“I just saw her over here, not two minutes ago. I’ll show you.”

“Thanks, I appreciate that.”

They set out toward a side street.

“Hey,” Daniel said. “While we’re at it, you haven’t seen my cat, have you?”

“What?”

“My cat. She took off, too. She’s brown, about this tall, really cute, with—”

A scream cut through the night. And no matter how often I hear that sound, I jump every time. Rae’s eyes went wild, and she started struggling as Derek pinned her to the wall. The man talking to Daniel wheeled toward the noise. Daniel shouted, “No!” and the guy flew clear off his feet—literally knocked over by that sonic boom shout, another of Daniel’s powers.

Daniel dove for the guy, and I heard the skitter of a gun hitting the ground as Daniel yanked it out and tossed it aside. The man’s partner was running to his aid when a tawny shape leapt from atop a building. A mountain lion. A hundred-and–twenty-odd pounds of muscle, fangs and claws. It fell on the second man, dropping him to the pavement.

“Good,” Daniel said between swings as he battled his opponent. “You found my kitty.”

Maya snarled at him. She easily pinned the second man while the first fought Daniel.

One thing a benandanti is really good at? Fighting. Yet it looked as if Daniel was just toying with his guy.

“Come on,” I whispered. “End it already.”

“He has a reason,” Derek rumbled beside me. Which was right. Daniel’s benandanti blood meant he had a tendency to lash out, but he’d gotten that under control months ago.

Derek’s head shot up as if hearing something again. He shoved Rae to the ground and pinned her there, and then he said to me, “Can you hold her?”

I nodded and moved onto her back, my knee against her spine, my hand on her neck. As Derek took off, I heard what he must have: the sound of running footsteps.

Daniel had been toying with his opponent to flush out the man’s allies, who were now joining the fray. I listened to the fight with relative calm. Daniel’s opponent was obviously no skilled assassin. I won’t say we were but…well, the Nasts weren’t training us for desk jobs. We all got private lessons with world-class instructors, who had determined the best mix to suit our personality and size. I got jujitsu and aikido, plus archery and marksmanship.

My dad nearly had heart failure the first time he saw me fire a gun, but I embraced the lessons because our months on the run taught me I needed to be able to defend myself, by any means necessary.

This fight was four average supernaturals against a benandanti, a werewolf and a mountain lion. Even without training, I think we could have taken them. Maya and Daniel had disabled their adversaries as soon as they heard the others coming. Then, Derek joined in, and I sat on Rae and relaxed as I listened for it to be over.

“You’ve changed,” Rae said, her first words since Derek had captured her.

“Uh-huh.”

She tried to rise. I held her firmly, being clear that escape attempts would be frowned upon.

“You’re as bad as he is now,” she said.

“No, I’m as
good
as he is. Which doesn’t mean being able to fight makes me a better person. But I’ve adjusted to the situation, because the situation is unlikely to adjust to me.”

“You’ve
really
changed.”

I have. But Derek says I’m still the girl he fell for, because when he fell for me, I’d already been evolving. So had he, learning to be less angry with the world and more a part of the world. That doesn’t mean he’ll ever be a cheerful extrovert like Simon. No more than I’ll ever be a cold-hearted bitch like… Well, Tori’s not what I thought she was at Lyle House either. None of us are. A couple of adjectives can’t define anyone. In the right situation, I can be a cold-hearted bitch. Or at least I can play the role.

“You don’t need to live like this,” Rae said. “Always on the run, always fighting.”

“We don’t.”

“Because you think you’ve found a safe place. Badger Lake. It’s not real. You know that, don’t you? It’s just brainwashing. They’ve convinced you that you’re happy.”

“I
am
happy.”

The words came without hesitation, and I paused after I said them.
Was
I happy? Yes. There’s part of me that feels I should be pacing like a caged lion, looking for a way to escape, but even Derek isn’t. That’s not brainwashing. We know we’re living in a cage, and we wouldn’t want to live there forever. But for now, it’s kind of like being in an amazing boarding school, and we know that’s intentional—Sean pampers us to show us how good Cabal life could be—but if we keep our eyes open to the truth, I think it’s okay to say “I’m happy.”

Rae kept going on about brainwashing and the evil Cabals. I let her, because, as long as I didn’t argue, she thought I was listening and hoped I’d “escape” with her. I wasn’t listening, though. I was focused on the others as they disabled their attackers. The second the fighting stopped, the thump of running footfalls followed. Derek appeared in the alley mouth, blood on his T-shirt.

“Not mine,” he said, catching my look of alarm.

As he walked over, Daniel appeared, Maya beside him. Rae saw Maya and let out a shriek that had me scrambling to cover her mouth.

“She’s with us,” I said. “She’s a skin-walker.”

Rae’s expression said she had no idea what that was and didn’t really care, because there was a mountain lion padding straight for her. Maya surveyed me, looking for signs of injury. Then she lowered her head to peer at Rae. Her lip curled in a snarl, showing off fangs as big as my forefingers. She stretched out her oversized front paws, claws flicking out like switchblades. 

Rae yelped. I tried not to chuckle. A wolf is an impressive sight, but a mountain lion at close range is terrifying, especially when she’s showing off her weaponry.

Maya leaned against me, and I gave her a quick scratch behind the ears. Then, she bounded off.

“Back in five,” Daniel said, and he went after her.

It really would only be a few minutes before she returned. While the shift from cat to human is as physically demanding as wolf to human, Maya gets a pass on the pain and agony part. She used to lose consciousness. Now it’s more of a trance state, which still means her shift is much easier than Derek’s. He tries not to grumble. He still does. I don’t blame him.

“You’re making a mistake,” Rae said as Derek hauled her up.

“You can tell us about it in a few minutes,” I said. “We need to get farther from those guys before we chat.”

“And if you try to call for help?” Derek said. “I’ve got a sock that’ll fit in your mouth. Been wearing it all day.”

I texted Maya, and we arrived at Daniel’s truck at the same time. She was still catching her breath. She might be spared the pain of the transformation, but she still has to deal with the aftereffects.

Maya and I patted Rae down. She had a cell phone. We left it behind. We also made her leave her jacket and sneakers, which were the most likely places to hide a transmitter.

Maya climbed into the truck bed with Daniel. Rae sat in the middle of the front seat. I drove. Derek rode shotgun, which made it easier for him to subdue Rae if needed. It wasn’t needed. She sat quietly until we got out of the city and pulled onto a dirt road. Then, she said, “What exactly do you plan to do with me?”

“That depends. I thought you were being held captive by those guys, so this was supposed to be a rescue mission, but, obviously, I was wrong. You were trying to kidnap
me
.”

“For your own good.”

“Naturally.” I pulled into a wooded lane leading to a trail. “Just like with the Edison Group. You tried to keep me in the laboratory for my own good. How’d that work out?”

Silence. Then, her voice lowered. “I made a mistake.”

Derek snorted. When she turned to him, I said, “Glaring at him isn’t going to help your case. He’s the friend who stuck by my side. Just like Simon and Tori. Yes, Tori. The girl who nearly got me killed at Lyle House turned out to be a better friend than the one who pretended she
was
my friend.”

“I was.” There was no anger in her tone, no defensiveness. Her voice was soft, almost inaudible. “I was your friend, Chloe. I made a mistake. I want to fix that.”

“Yeah,” Derek said. “By kidnapping her again. Either you’re a whole lot dumber than I thought—”

“I’m not stupid, Derek,” she said, anger flaring. “I admit I made a mistake, and now I want to fix it by rescuing Chloe.” She lifted a hand as I opened my mouth. “I know you think you don’t need rescue, but you do.”

I looked at Derek. He rolled his eyes.

“All right,” I said. “Let’s get out and talk.”

“We have a problem,” Maya whispered as we headed into the forest. The trail was closed at dusk, but there was no one to enforce that. It’s Canada. They expect you’ll understand that the rule is for your own good, and they leave the rest up to you.

The guys walked behind us with Rae between them. Maya had suggested she and I go on ahead to find a good spot to talk, but it seemed the person she wanted to talk to first was me. She passed over her phone, text messages displayed.

When I read them, I cursed under my breath.

“Uh-huh,” she said.

9:47. Moreno: Hey, movie’s over, Miss Maya.

9:52. Moreno: OK, I give up. Where r u? 5 sec to reply or I come hunting.

9:53. Moreno: Maya? Answer. Now.

9:54. Maya: Sry! Didn’t u get txts? Had problem. Jerk talking in movie. Guys abt to cause scene. C&I got them out. Pizza.

9:55. Moreno: OK. Where r u?

She’d dragged out the conversation after that, taking longer to reply. She’d said we’d gone for pizza, and she had no idea where, because Daniel had seen a sign on the way in, but, when we went back, it was out of business, so we’d driven around and around…And all she knew was that we were having pizza somewhere in North Bay. Give us a half hour, and we’d swing back and meet them.

Moreno grumbled, but he trusted Maya. The problem was that we couldn’t trust him.

“Someone knew we were at the movie,” I said. “And the only people who knew are Moreno and Luke.”

“I know. I really don’t think…” She inhaled and put her phone away. “Moreno is a mercenary son of a bitch, so he should be at the top of my list…”

“But he’s not.”

She made a face, fidgeting with the zipper on her sweater. “Logically, I know there’s no reason to suspect Luke any more than Moreno. Probably less, because Moreno is head of security. If he wanted to sell us out, he has everything he would need to do it, and the only thing stopping him would be…”

“Loyalty to your father.”

“Loyalty from a guy who, I suspect, is only loyal as long as it’s in his best interests. My gut says to trust him, but my head says,
hell, no
. I’ll keep putting him off, and we’ll see how it goes.”

We found out why Rae and her mother hadn’t come to Badger Lake. It seemed someone had gotten to her and convinced her that the Cabal was evil and Badger Lake didn’t exist, at least not as Sean had sold it to her. I wasn’t surprised. It’s not like Cabals are known for altruism, especially this one.

The Nasts were the Cabal that had kidnapped Simon and Derek’s dad, Kit and held him captive, interrogating him about the Edison Group while Derek and Simon ended up at Lyle House. Which should make it seem as if brainwashing really had been involved in our decision to trust Sean. The truth is that Kit had been remarkably unwilling to hold a grudge. The Nasts had treated him well enough and he
had
worked for the Edison Group, so it was perfectly reasonable that they would kidnap him to learn more. It was just business. I suppose that says a lot about the supernatural world. Yet Kit’s experience also meant he hadn’t been about to trust the Nasts without a whole lot of negotiations and background checks on Sean. Rae’s mother wouldn’t have gone that far. She’d been told “Nasts = bad,” and they’d run.

The people who’d saved her and Rae from the Nasts had continued to be helpful. They’d backed off for a while, after letting Rae and her mom know they were there for support. Then, they’d come back, admitting they were concerned about the rest of us. They hated to get involved—they feared the Cabals—but it was their duty as supernaturals to help these innocent teens escape the tyrannical Nasts. And as much as they’d love to do it themselves, they really needed Rae’s help. She’d never gotten over what happened with the Edison Group and had told her mother many times that she wished she could do something to make up for her mistakes. Now she finally could.

“You realize they’ve fed you a complete line of bullshit,” Maya said.

Rae turned a cool look on her. “I’m not actually talking to you. I don’t know you.”

“Oh, sorry,” Maya put out her hand. “Maya Delaney. Seventeen. Grade twelve. Skin-walker, as you saw. I love animals, science, track-and-field and long walks in the rain. Well, no, actually, I hate the rain. It’s a cat thing. But while I might not have as good a sense of smell as Derek here, mine’s not bad, and it’s particularly attuned to the smell of bullshit. I’m guessing, though, that yours isn’t quite as good. You bought their story, right?”

Rae bristled. “Of course I did. Because it’s true.”

“No,” Daniel said. “It just has enough of a ring of truth to make it believable. Everyone knows the Nast Cabal is capable of exactly what you’ve been told. You want to believe it, because you want to make up for what you did to Chloe. But take a good look at their story, Rae. They’re saying that Chloe and Derek have been brainwashed into thinking they’ve got it good in Badger Lake. Yet, according to them, we’re living in some kind of institution, our parents dead or missing from our lives. Doesn’t that sound exactly like the lab Chloe
escaped
? What amount of brainwashing could make her accept that life? What amount could make Derek accept it?”

Oh, and another gift that benandanti get? The power of persuasion. Daniel knows how to formulate and deliver a good argument, and his powers give him an extra boost that ensures people listen. Rae didn’t cave immediately, but when he asked her for more details, she gave them. He teased out everything these people had said about us, and then he poked holes, gently but convincingly, through the fabric of their story, until there was nothing left but shreds.

“So, you’re telling me I’ve done it again,” Rae said quietly. “First the Edison Group tricks me into thinking Chloe is better off with them. Then, this group tricks me into thinking she’s better off escaping to
them
.”

“You tried to do the right thing,” Daniel said. “Both times. We all get that.”

Her gaze slid to Derek, who said, “After you were fooled once, I’d really think you’d do a little more digging before you let it happen again.”

Maya shot him a
you’re not helping
look.

“I’ll accept that you screwed up,” Derek said. “
Twice.
But it doesn’t mean I understand how it can happen.
Twice.
”

Maya looked at him. “From the guy who spent months in a group home run by the Edison Group and thought it was
just
a group home.”

“Hey, I figured it out. And I never did it again.”

“And you guarantee you never
could
do it again? Get tricked like that?”

Derek’s gaze shot to me for backup. I did nothing. Maya got his attention and mouthed
Just work with us. Please?
I suspected she found it equally hard to believe that Rae had been fooled twice, but making her feel bad about it would only get her back up, and, right now, we really needed Rae on our side.

“I won’t say it couldn’t happen,” Derek finally allowed. “If it did, though, I’d hope that I’d have the sense to shape up and help out the person I nearly betrayed
a second time.
”

Maya winced at the heavy-handedness of that. Clearly werewolves did not have the gift of persuasion.

“Badger Lake isn’t perfect,” I said. “We know exactly what it is, and we’ll be happy to explain it to you, but, I can guarantee, we aren’t prisoners there, and we aren’t brainwashed. We’ve all been through that sort of thing before, and we’re never going to let it happen again. Ask us anything you like, but quickly because we really need to get out of here, before your new friends find us.”

“I’d suggest we get out of here anyway,” Daniel said. “We can talk as we walk.”

We gave Rae the proof she seemed to need that our story was legit. Derek contributed nothing beyond the suggestion that we tie her to the nearest tree and leave her there. While I was the first to defend her, it wasn’t with the same conviction as a year ago. I didn’t suspect her of treachery this time, but, well, I struggled more now, with the same exasperation and frustration Derek felt. 

More than that, having her here thrust me back into those memories, and I looked at them with fresh eyes. She had been tricked. I knew that beyond a doubt. Yet she’d refused to listen to reason, and while I understood where that came from—the seemingly orphaned girl who desperately needed to belong, needed to feel as if someone cared—I look back now, and I’m angrier than I was then. I have less patience with her than I did then. 

When she was supposed to join us in Badger Lake, I’d still hoped we could be friends again. Now, being with her and Maya, and Daniel and Derek, I had to face the truth, that my friends were those who’d stuck by me—these three and Simon and, yes, even Tori. I wanted to help Rae. I wanted to bring her to Badger Lake, if that was the best thing for her. And I was sure we’d get along, the same as I did with Sam, Corey and Hayley, but it might never be more than that. Too much had happened. I forgave her mistakes, but I couldn’t trust that she wouldn’t keep making them, and that endangered all of us. So, as we reached the truck, I agreed when Daniel suggested he drive, putting me in the back with Maya. I had taken the driver’s seat earlier to shield Rae from Derek, but she didn’t need that, and I trusted he wasn’t going to do anything to make her take off.

“We need to deal with Moreno,” Maya said, raising her voice to be heard over the rumble of the truck’s tires on the dirt road.

She showed me her cell. Our half-hour grace period had ended ten minutes ago, and he’d texted eight times since. She’d started replying that we were almost done, which had worked for about five minutes. Then:

10:33. Moreno: U know I can track yr phone, right?

Maya: But u r not supposed to. Company rules.

Moreno: Not until I need to, my discretion.

Maya: Is that a threat?

Moreno: Does it need 2 b?

Maya: It’s PIZZA.

Moreno: No, it’s not.

Moreno: Don’t play the irresponsible teen, Miss Maya. doesn’t suit u.

Moreno: Five minutes & I turn on tracking.

“Ask where he is,” I said.

She did, and he replied that he was at the campsite, where we should be. We discussed our options. Then, I rapped on the divider between the truck bed and the cab. Derek opened it.

“Moreno’s had enough,” I said. “He knows something’s up. Maya and I think we should agree to meet him back at the campsite. Go in prepared for ambush. It’s that or ditch our cell phones and hope the Nasts haven’t implanted tracking devices during our medical exams.”

“Oh, they have,” Daniel said. “Guaranteed. And if anyone has access to that data, it’s Moreno.”

“That’s a ‘yes,’ then? Meet him at the campsite?”

“It’s our only option,” Derek said. “Best case, we prove he’s not the one who sold us out. Worst case?”

“Take him down and interrogate him,” Daniel said.

Derek nodded, and I returned to Maya.