Once We Were (31 page)

“I snuck out when I saw the first few police cars drive by,” Lissa said. “I couldn’t just sit there. If anything’s been proved, it’s that nothing good happens when I just sit there and let you and Eva go off on your own!”

Peter’s apartment was only a couple blocks away from Emalia’s. The police garrison didn’t extend quite that far, but it was a close thing. I scanned through the dark streets until I found the main entrance to his building. A few officers had stationed themselves nearby. Were they planning on entering? Were they already inside? If Peter and the others tried to leave, would they let them?

Jackson looked out the window, too. “We should get as far away from here as we can.”

“We can’t
leave
,” Lissa said. “What about the others?”

“You think I want to leave them behind—?” Jackson cut off, his jaw hard. “Unless you have a plan, we should go before there aren’t any more hybrids left at all.”

Addie and I were still staring at Peter’s apartment. So we were the first ones to see the small, black shape emerging from the tenth-story window. It crawled out slowly, too far away to be more than the faintest of shifting shadows. But we saw it, and our breath caught as we realized whose window it was. We’d spent enough time ducking through that window ourself, when we’d still lived in Peter’s apartment.

Addie whispered hopefully, but it was impossible to be sure. By this time, the others had caught us staring. They raised their eyes, too, squinting in the darkness.

Another three shadows emerged through Peter’s window, all much taller than the first. I grabbed the back of the driver’s seat, trying to pull myself forward and get a better view. My muscles screamed in protest. “It’s them. It’s Kitty and—”

Who were the other three? Emalia, Henri, and Peter? It made sense, didn’t it?

“Are you sure?” Lissa clambered into the front seat so she could see more clearly. “They’re too far away, Eva. I can’t—”

“It’s them,” I said. “I know it.”

“You can’t know it,” Jackson said. “They’re too far, and it’s too dark.”

“It’s them.” I reached for the car door, but Ryan pulled us back. Our ankle bumped against the seat. I winced at the burst of pain. “It’s them, Ryan. We have to—”

“Have to what?” Jackson interrupted. “Eva, you can’t even walk. Look, we’ve got the keys. Let’s get out of here.”

“No,” I said. “Not without the others.”

The four figures on the fire escape descended slowly. Soon, they’d be too close to the ground to see very far. To see us.

But someone else had seen us.

I shifted our eyes from Peter’s apartment building just in time to catch the flashing red-and-blue lights of a police car. Now it was Ryan reaching for the car door. “Everyone out!” he hissed, throwing it open.

I took one last look at the fire escape. The four people were on the move again, faster now. We had to tell them where we were before they disappeared into the darkness.

Ryan took hold of our arm. “Come on, Eva.”

I scrambled out, leaning on him for support. Jackson threw our other arm over his shoulder. Together, the two of them rushed us from the car, Lissa just a few steps ahead.

We made it to the shadow of a nearby building just as the police car cruised up, lights flashing. We held our breath until our head swam. The police car slowed as it passed our car, then disappeared down the road.

We slumped against the side of the building, breathing ragged.

Addie said.

Addie took control of our limbs, shaking off Ryan’s hand and lurching back toward the front of the car. Dr. Lyanne’s pain medication had finally kicked in a bit, but I could still hardly put pressure on our right ankle.

“Wait—” Lissa said. “What’re you—”

The key was still in the ignition. Addie started the car. The lights on the dashboard lit up. So did the headlights.

“Addie?” Jackson said.

“Shut up and give me a moment,” Addie said and switched off the headlights. Then on again. And off again.

N

I

N

A

We could no longer see anyone on the fire escape. Had they caught our signal? There were so many police lights already flashing.

We didn’t dare do it again. With Jackson’s help, Addie crawled out of the car.

“Are they coming?” Lissa called quietly.

“They’re coming.” Addie stared Jackson in the eye until he swallowed down his argument.

Ryan was still looking down the street. “I don’t think we’re going to be able to drive out of here. There’re only police cars on this road, and on the one intersecting over there. I think they’ve shut these roads down.”

Addie straightened. Jackson still had a hand under our elbow, helping us to remain standing, and she grabbed his shoulder for support as she hopped a few steps away from the car. She pointed. “I see them! There!”

The four figures were still about a block away, moving in bursts as police cars passed by, staying to the shadows. A relieved breath strained through our lungs.

“Yeah, I see them,” Jackson said grimly. “I see the police filing in, too.” He extracted himself from our grip, letting us rest against the car instead of him. “You guys stay here. They’ll never find us in the dark at this rate.”

And before anyone could say another word, he rushed off in the direction of Peter’s apartment.

“Jackson,”
Addie hissed.

“Shh,”
Lissa said suddenly. She grabbed our hand and pulled us away from the car, deeper into the shadows, Ryan hurrying to keep us from falling over. Addie bit back a cry of surprise and pain as our foot knocked against the ground.

We pressed against the wall as another police car passed, going in the direction of Peter and Emalia’s apartments. The same car as before? It parked a little ways up ahead. Two officers climbed out, bearing flashlights.

Addie whispered, searching the darkness for Jackson and the others.

Lissa’s fingernails bit into our palm. But the police officers weren’t heading in our direction. They moved down the road, the glow of their flashlights growing dimmer in the darkness.

Ryan let out a sigh of relief.

Then, out the corner of our eye, I saw five figures hurtling toward us.

Addie waved wildly, ignoring the pain in our arm. With every step, they became a little more human, a little less shadow. Soon, we could pick out the pale moon of Kitty’s face, the curve of Jackson’s jaw. The glint of a streetlight in Henri’s eyes. The swing of Emalia’s hair. And Peter, Peter hustling them forward.

“Come on,” Ryan said as they drew up beside us. “Come on, let’s go—”

Emalia’s eyes swept over us. “Thank God,” she murmured.

“Where’s Rebecca?” Peter’s gaze locked on ours. “Where’s my sister?”

“I—I don’t know,” Addie said.

There was a flash of something in Peter’s eyes, but he shook it away. “Let’s go. We’ve got to get past the barricade. Then find a car.”

“We’re not going to get past the barricade,” Henri said quietly. “Not now.”

I said.

Addie said. She repeated my suggestion aloud. Nobody argued.

We set off in the darkness, ducking into the shadows whenever a police car passed. Addie and I gasped air through our mouth, our ribs aching. Our arms and ankle burned. Ryan and Jackson helped us along, but it was an uneven, jolting journey.

“Wait!” Kitty said suddenly. Peter rushed to shush her, but she twisted away from him, fumbling for the bag she wore across her chest. Her camera bag, I realized. “It’s gone,” she said. Her voice was high, panicked. “My video camera—”

“Forget about your video camera,” Jackson said.

“It’s
important
!” She looked desperately toward Emalia. “Tell them, Emalia—”

Emalia hesitated. “She filmed everything,” she said softly. “The police dragging people out of the building. The initial chaos. But . . .”

“But it’s not worth getting caught over,” Lissa said. She took Kitty’s shoulder and ushered her forward. “You—”

“But it’s
there
,” Kitty said, pointing. We could just see something glimmering on the ground under a streetlight, a block away. “I see it—it’s just—”

Kitty ripped free. Darted back in the direction we’d come. Jackson ducked from under our arm and chased after her.

“No,”
Addie gasped. “No.
No
.”

But we couldn’t even stand without Ryan’s help, let alone run after them, and by the time the thought seemed to cross anyone else’s mind, they were too far away to easily reach. Peter swore.

Kitty was unbelievably fast, but Jackson gained on her. The darkness swallowed them, then spit them out again as they neared the streetlight.

We watched them reach the camera. Watched Kitty bend down and scoop it up. Jackson reached her a second after. Grabbed her. Shoved her back toward us—back toward the darkness. She disappeared.

I didn’t see the officer until he shouted for Jackson to stop.

Jackson did stop. The officer’s flashlight beam swung into view. The light struck him across the face.

Then Jackson ran.

But he didn’t run toward us.

The officer yelled again for him to stop, and now there were two flashlight beams and two officers and Jackson was still running, still running
away
from us, heading across the street.

The officers pounded after him, flashlight beams crisscrossing the ground, the air, the empty cars. Jackson was fast, but so were they.

Kitty slammed into us, gasping. Addie clutched her against our side, tried to hide her face, but Kitty wouldn’t let her.

Addie screamed in our mind. Pure sound.

They’re going to shoot him,
I thought numbly.
What if they shoot him?

Jackson had almost reached the intersection. If he managed to—

Another police car careened around the corner and screeched to a stop. Two more officers leapt out.

Jackson froze. Turned. He was more than a block away now, but I saw it like I was there beside him—the officers approaching, their skin mottled by the red-and-blue light, the first two breathing heavily, their faces red. We could feel his chest rising and falling. Feel his eyes searching for a way out. Any way out.

We felt the ground biting into our cheek when they knocked him down.

“We’ve got to go,” Peter said. We could barely hear him. We were still with Jackson on the ground, in the middle of that ring of police officers. Peter shook our shoulder. “We’ve got to go. Now. Before they start checking this street for more people.”

“No,” Addie said hoarsely. “No, we—”

“We can’t take this road anymore,” he said. “We’ll have to find another way to reach the shop.”

An officer pulled Jackson from the ground. Shoved him toward the police car. We watched just long enough to see Jackson disappear inside.

Then Peter bent down, took us from Ryan. Picked us up like we were nothing but a shattered child’s doll.

“We have to go,” he said.

W
e stayed in the attic the whole night. Peter, Emalia, and Henri sat on the couches. Gingerly. Like they thought the frames might not hold their weight. Lissa sat cross-legged in the corner by the usual pile of empty soda bottles, staring at the floor. Kitty curled up against her.

Ryan sat by the window, his back against the wall, our head against his chest, his arms around our shoulders, our fingers fisted in his shirt. For a little while, Addie cried. Almost silently, but not quite.

Police cars passed outside, throwing red-and-blue lights through the curtain into the otherwise dark attic. Ryan whispered
it’s all right, it’s all right
in our ear, sounding almost as if he believed it.

Addie’s tears dried up, leaving a cracked riverbed of weariness in their place. She pulled herself together. Shifted out of Ryan’s arms so we were holding up our own weight. There wasn’t time, now, to fall apart.

“Are you hungry?” Addie asked when Kitty came up to us. Our voice was hoarse, but didn’t break. “They keep food up here—”

Kitty shook her head and looked away. “We ate. Emalia and me. Before they came.”

I could have, should have stopped this. I could have, should have kept her safe.

“Kitty—” Addie said.

“Sorry,” she mumbled. Her eyes were bright. But she didn’t cry. I realized we’d never seen Kitty or Nina cry. No matter what happened. “For—for making him go back. For getting him caught.”

“Kitty,” Addie said, “it wasn’t your fault. None of this was your fault.”

Kitty hesitated, then shrugged. She knelt and set the camcorder in our lap. It felt heavier than it should have.

“It was on,” she whispered. “I didn’t mean to—but it was on.”

For a moment, I didn’t understand.

Then I did.

Our fingers shook as Addie pried the back of the camcorder open. Took out the cartridge with its bright yellow label. Ryan’s fingers closed around ours.

“I wasn’t pointing it.” Kitty’s voice grew high again. “I didn’t mean—maybe it got nothing.”

“I want it,” Addie whispered. “Ryan, let go. I want it.”

Slowly, Ryan released our hand.