Damage (27 page)

“I’m going to go north for a few minutes and catch the main highway south,” Penny says. “I think the way I came is safe. I didn’t see anyone coming or going.” She grabs a red scarf and a fatter blue one from the passenger’s seat and turns to press them into my hand. “Here. Wrap one of these around your neck and one around Dani’s. I know it’s not much, but it will help you warm up.”

I don’t feel cold anymore, but I do what she says. I wrap the soft blue scarf around my neck with clumsy fingers and then ease the red one around Dani’s throat. Penny starts the car and turns around, heading back the way she came. I breathe easier with every foot she puts between us and the mess on the side of the road. Thank God she didn’t notice the dead man. I don’t know what I would have told her.

“Where’s Barrett?” Penny asks, concern for her husband in her voice. Even if she’s planning to leave him, it seems like she still cares. “Is he okay?”

Is he okay? I don’t know and it seems wrong to lie. So I don’t.

I tell her everything, starting with what Dani and I found out on our own and adding all the things Dr. Connor explained. I tell her about her brother trying to kidnap us, the attacks by the things in our heads, the terrorist group with their guns, and our super-healing powers. The only thing I leave out is the most important thing—that Dani, at least, has learned to control her overactive imagination and turn it into a weapon. It seems best to keep that a secret right now. We don’t want to make anyone afraid of us. I can see only one way that would end. Badly.

Penny takes it all in without saying much. Afterward, she drives in silence for what seems like forever before she finally responds. “I think we need to talk about this more when Dani’s awake.”

“But it’s true,” I say. “I promise it is. Dani will tell you the same thing.”

“I believe you. Barrett told me this afternoon that he was part of some very … unethical experiments.” Her tone turns cold. Whether she still loves her husband or not, she seems appropriately disgusted by what he did. “But I … I just want to wait until Dani’s awake, okay? I need to hear her side of things before we make any big decisions.”

She doesn’t believe me. It’s what I expected, but still … it hurts. And it scares the hell out of me. If she refuses to believe me, then Dani and I are still in danger. We can’t go back to Madisonville. Not ever. And Penny will—

“But I don’t think it’s a good idea to go back home tonight,” she says. “We don’t want to be anyplace that Barrett or these people might think to look for us until we make sure you and Dani are safe. I’m going to call one of my old work friends. He might be able to help us find a place to stay for a few days. We’ll call your parents and let them know what’s going on as soon as we know where we’re headed.”

My shoulders ease away from my neck as she slips in her ear piece and dials. It isn’t a long-term solution, but it’s enough. And maybe Dani can convince Penny I’m telling the truth.

I glance down at her. She’s definitely just sleeping. Her breath is long and even and her eyelids flutter when I brush a piece of hair from her cheek. Her impossibly soft hair. I keep my fingers where they are, smoothing through her tangles as I listen to Penny’s end of a conversation.

She tells some guy named Gerard about the investigation into her husband’s work and North Corp. She says she doesn’t know who she can trust anymore, and that she needs a safe place to keep two teenagers she believes are in danger until she can figure it out. She doesn’t say anything about imaginary enemies or psychic powers, but she doesn’t seem so worried anymore about getting Dani to a doctor, either. She merges onto the freeway headed south and zips through the first big town without bothering to exit and search for a hospital.

Maybe she believes more of my story than she’s letting on. Or maybe she’s too scared to stop. I’m just glad she hasn’t noticed my missing finger or I’m pretty sure we’d be on our way to the nearest emergency room. There are time limits for things like reattaching missing digits.

No, not missing. Gone. That finger is gone. Forever. It’s going to rot on the side of the road. By spring it will be nothing but bone. Still, I can’t bring myself to care that much. It’s only a finger. I’m still alive. Not like that man I killed, the man I murdered, shredded like some kind of animal.

“Okay, we’ve got a destination.” Penny pulls me from my thoughts before they can eat me alive. “My old supervisor is a really good guy. I trust him. He has a place we can stay in the city, not too far from Times Square. He’s going to have a doctor meet us there, but I can pull over on the way if we have to. Just keep an eye on Dani and make sure she—”

“I’m fine.” Dani is still scary pale and she doesn’t try to sit up or move her head from my lap, but she’s awake. Awake! I squeeze her shoulder, so grateful to see her eyes open that my arm shakes.

“Where are we?” she asks.

“In Penny’s car,” I say. “She was close by. She came to get us.”

“I’m here, Dani.” Penny glances over her shoulder. Relief softens her face when her stepdaughter lifts a weak hand in salute. “We’re on our way to the city. I’m going to make sure you and Jesse are safe.”

“What happened? What did Dad—”

Penny tells her what happened and where we’re going. Dani tells her the same story I told, but Penny still seems doubtful. Even when Dani sits up and lifts her shirt, showing her stepmom her miraculously healed skinned, Penny doesn’t seem to be buying.

“I’m just so glad you’re okay,” Penny says. “But I still want the doctor to check you out when we get to the apartment. We can talk more about all of this, and your dad, and … everything else
after
I’m sure you don’t need to go to a hospital.”

Dani sighs and runs careful fingers over my hurt hand. Unfortunately, it
hasn’t
healed like magic. The skin has knit together and it doesn’t hurt anymore, but there’s still no finger there. Guess even superheroes have their limitations. My stomach growls, and dread creeps into the cozy warmth of the back seat.

Speaking of limitations …

“Can we pull over and get something to eat?” I ask. “Dani and I haven’t had much to eat all day.” On the run for our lives or not, we need food. I have to be fueled up and ready to fight if the Thing comes back. I have to make sure I have enough strength to keep it from hurting anyone ever again.

“Sure.” Penny glances in the rearview mirror. “I haven’t noticed anyone following us. I’ll take the next exit and we can get something for the road.” She turns on her blinker and eases off the highway, toward a rash of brightly lit fast food restaurants. “Cheeseburgers and fries okay? It looks like that’s all they’ve got, and it will probably be quick.”

“That’s fine.” It’s better than fine. My mouth is watering already. I can’t believe I’m so hungry, but I am. Apparently my gut isn’t bothered by the images of the dead man that keep flashing behind my eyes. At least not as bothered as my brain.

Penny pulls into the lot of the closest burger joint—a grungy-looking place called the Burger Giant with a cow wearing angel wings spinning on top of its roof—and parks a few spots down from the door. “I’ve got your meter and shots in my purse, Dani.” She fishes out her wallet and passes the rest of her purse over the seat. “Why don’t you check your sugar while I run in and get you guys some cheeseburgers. I don’t want anyone to see either of you. Just in case.”

“Okay.” Dani starts to unwrap her scarf, but Penny stops her with a hand on her knee.

“Can you both leave your scarves on? I know I’m a worry wart, but I don’t want you to go into shock and keeping warm is important. I’d stop and get you coats, but I don’t—”

“It’s fine, Penny. Don’t worry about it. We’ll keep the scarves on.” Dani puts her hand on her stepmom’s. “Thanks for worrying about us. And thank you for … everything else. I … I really … I love you. I didn’t realize how much until today. I’m so sorry that I didn’t—”

“Oh, honey. You don’t have to thank me or apologize for anything. I love you, too.” Tears fill Penny’s eyes. She pulls her fingers from beneath Dani’s to swipe them away. “No matter what happens, I’m on your side. Remember that, okay?”

“Okay.” Dani sniffs and dabs her eyes with the back of her hand.

“Just check your sugar and I’ll be right back with cheeseburgers and fries and whatever else looks good.” Penny reaches for the door. “Lock the doors behind me and honk the horn if you see anything that scares you.”

Dani nods and makes a show of looking into Penny’s purse, but stops as soon as her stepmom disappears through the brightly lit door. She sighs. “I really do love her.”

“I can tell.”

“But she’s never going to believe that I don’t need shots anymore.”

“Maybe she will. Maybe she just needs some time.” I scan the parking lot out of habit, some part of my brain not quite ready to believe we’re safe. “At least she’s not taking us back to Madisonville.”

Dani finds my hand again. “If she were, we’d have to leave.” She threads her fingers through mine and squeezes tight. “Maybe we should leave anyway.”

My growling stomach twists into a knot. “Why? Don’t you trust her?”

“No, I do. Completely. But what about … ” Dani stares at the floorboards. “I just don’t want her to get hurt. I couldn’t live with myself if we hurt her.”

Not
we
.
Me
. I’m the one who doesn’t have control. I’m the one who killed a man.

I want to tell her that everything is going to be okay, but she’s right. Penny doesn’t know what she’s risking by helping us. Her connections at the FBI might keep us safe for a little while, but sooner or later the Thing will be back and no one will be safe.

I pull my hand from hers. “I’ll leave. You stay with Penny.”

“No.” Dani meets my eyes with a stubborn look that scares me. “I won’t leave you. We’re staying together.”

“Dani … that man is dead. And you … ” I swallow, hating to speak the words but knowing I have to. “I almost killed you, too.”

“But you didn’t, and you got control.”

I shake my head. “No, I didn’t. That was just dumb luck. I can’t promise that I’ll be able to make the dragon listen again. And next time it could do to you what it did to him. You have to let me—”

“No. We’re staying together. We’ll call Penny as soon as we’re safe.” Dani paws through Penny’s purse, finds a few loose bills, and stuffs them in her pocket before shoving the purse onto the floor. “Come on, we—”

“It ate him, Dani. In chunks.” I feel even sicker, but I’ll say whatever it takes to get through to her. She has to let me go and promise she’ll never come looking for me. “I can’t risk that happening to you. Please don’t make me.”

Dani turns to me. I expect more words, but she surprises me with a kiss. Her mouth lingers on mine just long enough to make my pulse race before she pulls back to whisper against my lips. “It’s my life to risk. And I think you’re worth it.”

“I’m not.”

“You are to me.” She kisses me again and I lose my will to fight. If our positions were reversed, I would handcuff myself to her side and throw away the key before I’d let her fight her invisible demons, and the bad guys who are after us, on her own.

My arms go around her and I pull her close, but only for a second. As good as she feels, there’s no time. If we’re going, we’ve got to go. Now. “Penny will be back soon.”

Dani nods. “Okay. Just let me pop the trunk. I bet she packed me a suitcase before she left home. If I have clothes, it will be one less thing to buy.” She leans over the seat and hits a button. The trunk thunks open behind us and Dani hurries out of the car. I follow, scooting across the seat.

She’s already lifting the trunk when my feet hit the pavement and the feeling that something’s wrong shivers across my skin, carried on a blast of cold night air. Dani’s leaning over to grab her suitcase—her back still turned to the mostly deserted parking lot—when I realize where the bad feeling is coming from.

A gray van slides into a space a dozen feet away and two men and a woman, all in jeans and black coats, step out. The men wear sunglasses even though the sun went down an hour ago, and the woman’s long red hair is pulled back into a tight ponytail. Even before they reach into their coats and pull out their guns, I know they’re here for us. They’re too sleek for this tiny upstate town, and no woman wears her hair like that unless she’s getting ready for some serious physical activity.

Like chasing down superhuman kids and shoving them into the back of her van.

“Dani!” I reach for her and she dives into my arms. I catch her and pull her behind the car just as the red-headed woman fires. Electricity arcs through the air, hitting the trunk where Dani was standing a second ago.

“Come on, this way.” I grab her arm and rush for the door of the Burger Giant. I hate to put Penny and the few other people inside in danger, but it’s the only way we’ll have a chance. The parking lot backs onto an open field and the grocery store next door is closed. There’s nowhere else to run, and there’s at least a chance the three people behind us will be unwilling—or unable—to Taser a dozen people before Dani and I figure out another way to escape.

Dani is stumbling along behind me, but before we round the front of the car, Penny pushes through the restaurant door. She’s clutching a fat brown bag in one hand and a tray of drinks in the other, but she doesn’t keep hold of them for long. Her eyes skim over me and Dani, taking in our frightened faces, before finding the people behind us. The bag falls. The drinks go a second later as she shoves her hand into her puffy white coat and pulls out a gun.