Shattered Grace (Fallen from Grace) (53 page)

Amanda was very … observant. “I’m fine.” What else could she say?

Amanda stopped walking, and pulled Grace around so she was facing her. “Like hell you are, but whatever. We all have our demons.”

If she only knew
.
Grace made sure to look her in the eye. Lies were more believable when someone’s not looking away. “I’m fine, honest.” Amanda’s mouth open and closed a couple of times, but then she clamped it shut. She seemed to have gotten the hint.

Everyone around Grace seemed to be in an extra good mood, and extra loud. It was driving her nuts. She was in hyper-aware mode and every loud noise had the hair on her arms standing on end. The angst was giving her a nervous twitch. Her food went severely neglected, again.

The rest of her day was like that. Someone dropped a book from their desk in fifth period, and Grace almost had a coronary. Not because of the loud noise, but because she instantly thought
Danger!
and nearly went all Chosen krav maga on the student. Grace played it off as trying to be helpful by picking up the book, but she wasn’t so sure he bought it. Blowing her hair away from her forehead, she sat back in her seat.

The end of sixth period couldn’t get there fast enough. Bouncing from foot to foot, Grace waited for Amanda at their lockers. “Hey.” Grace’s body sagged as soon as she saw her. She had to get Pandora somewhere other than here.

“
Hey. Guess what?” Amanda said with a slight grin. “I got an interview for a job at Robintino’s. It’s in a half hour.”

“
That’s great!” They needed to hurry this conversation and leave, because Grace’s skin was beginning to crawl.

“
So,” Amanda said. “I’m going to walk to my interview and I’ll walk home when I’m done.”

“
No!” Grace said quickly, grabbing Amanda’s arm. She took a deep breath, looked at her hand, and let go. “Just take my car. I can get a ride with Quentin again.”

Amanda’s eyebrows scrunched up in question. “Are you sure? I feel bad taking your car so much lately.”

“
I’m sure,” she said, as she pulled the keys from her pocket and held them out to Amanda. Grace didn’t want her walking. Not today.

“
Okay.” Amanda took the keys from Grace’s outstretched hand.

“
I’ll see ya when I get home. I have something I have to take care of.”

When Grace reached for the door handle leading to the school parking lot, the foreboding was stronger than ever. On the other side of this door, something bad was waiting for her. Casting her gaze upward, she said another prayer. As ready as she’d ever be, she sucked in a breath and walked out.

Outside, the sun was blinding. She held up a hand to shield her eyes and immediately searched around. There were no Shadow Hounds, and no freaky guys dressed in black. Nothing. She sucked in the warm air, and let it out easy. Grace found Quentin’s car parked in its usual spot. She was still mad at him, but knowing nothing was wrong made her smile as she headed toward his car. Students piled into the bus parked at the curb, clearing the area in front of it. Unfortunately, the freaking bus wasn’t the only thing parked there.

Darius was.

The feeling was back. Panic-stricken, Grace stared helplessly at Quentin’s car, because it was too far away; she couldn’t make it. Darius’ gaze followed, and when his face came back around, his eyes were narrowed and softly glowing red. Frantically, she looked around for a way out and noticed Zeke’s car parked several feet in front of Darius. Hoping he was inside it, she took off running. Déjà vu skittered across the forefront of her mind as she jumped in the passenger seat, and slammed the door. Breathing heavy, she turned to Zeke.

“
Whoa, are you okay?” Zeke asked, using the steering wheel as leverage as he craned his neck to see what was wrong.

Immediately, Grace slammed her palm against the lock on the door, then looked at Zeke. “Can you give me a ride?” She couldn’t keep the panic from pouring out in her voice. “Pl—” Movement caught her eye before she had a chance to finish. From the passenger mirror, she saw two guys in front of Darius’ bike. A third stood to his side, talking. It was the same guys dressed in black that she’d seen in the parking lot before. Grace swiveled back to Zeke. “Please!”

“
Of course.” He put the car in gear and pushed the gas. “Where do you need to go?”

“
Anywhere, just away from here.” Just get me out of here, she screamed inside. Crap, Pandora
.
She chewed at her lip and tapped her foot rapidly against the floorboard. There had to be a way to get Pandora from her car. Oh, God, if they were able to find Pandora, they’d also find Amanda. Think, Grace, think. The only noise in the car was the incessant
tap
,
tap
,
tap
of her foot as they drove otherwise silently down the road. Grace realized where they were as familiar businesses zoomed by.

“
Is Latté Da’s okay?” Zeke asked.

“
Yes.” Latté Da’s was perfect. Robintino’s wasn’t very far from there, so she could get Pandora.

Waiting at the stop sign for cars to pass, Grace anxiously wanted to point out the parking space further down Orchard Street. “Hey, there’s—”

The car rocked as two guys opened the rear doors and threw themselves in the backseat. Zeke yelled as Grace scrambled for the door. One of them reached around her seat, pinning her with one arm, and covering her mouth and nose with the cloth-filled hand of the other.

Clawing at his arms, she tried to loosen his grip. Wildly, she kicked at the dash, desperate to get away. She reached again for the door handle. The panicked adrenaline coursing through Grace’s veins had her screaming and panting against the cloth, even though in the back of her mind she knew she shouldn’t be breathing in. Zeke continued to shout, but she couldn’t make out what he was saying. There were sounds of bone hitting skin. They were hurting Zeke. Silently, she wished he’d stop fighting.

The overwhelming smell of ether burned the back of her throat. A tacky, sweet taste stuck to her tongue. Her watery eyes were drooping, despite how hard she fought to keep them open. She knew this was the end, for her and her friend, and it was all her fault. And Amanda had Pandora. She should have listened to Quentin. All too quickly, the blackness consumed her, swallowing her whole.

Everything … stopped.

The point of a sharp object was hammering into Grace’s head. Moving her head slowly back and forth, she tried to get away from it. “Stop.” Her throat felt like it was full of sand, scratchy. She licked her lips. They were desert dry too.

“
Grace?” a pained voice whispered. “Jesus, you’re alive.” The voice was familiar, but her thoughts were fuzzy. Whoever it was wasn’t okay. She couldn’t open her eyes to see who said her name. She fought hard against the darkness that still had a hold of her, but her eyes wouldn’t open.

Close sounds of trickling water worried her. Slowly the memories came flooding back, and she realized she wasn’t dead, and the person talking was probably Zeke, but it didn’t sound like him. Carefully, Grace rolled on her side, and her hand scraped along a hard, cold surface. Bracing both hands beneath her, she attempted to get up, but clanking metal echoed. Her hands were chained.

Rapidly she blinked, knowing she had to stay calm in order to figure out where they were. Her eyes still too heavy, and her sight was too blurry to focus. There was light, but not a lot, and not from a light bulb. The ground was cold, hard, and uneven like rock. Across from her was the outline of a curled-up body. “Zeke?”

“
I’m sorry,” the voice cracked. It was Zeke, but he was hurt.

She pulled desperately from her thoughts for something she could say to reassure him, but came up empty. “Don’t talk. I’m going to get us out of here.” Her sight slowly cleared. She was chained to a rock wall, but Zeke wasn’t. The slow trickles of water she heard ran down the rock wall behind him.

“
This is my fault,” Zeke croaked. Grace could hear the pain in his voice. His breathing was labored, and his arm cradled his middle.

“
No, it’s my fault, but don’t worry.” Grace looked around and realized they were in a cave. Grace tried to get to him by pulling away from the wall, but could only move a couple of feet. Not enough to reach Zeke, or to feel around for something to help get the shackles off.

“
I couldn’t protect you.” Zeke coughed, as his breath whistled in and out.

Grace quit breathing. She couldn’t let him believe this was his fault. Zeke sucked in a sharp breath when he tried to turn to her. He couldn’t move. “I tried fighting them off you, Grace.”

Her mind flashed back to the sounds in the car. “I know. Please stop talking,” Grace said, pleading with him. Hearing the noises come up his throat rendered her as immobile as the shackles.

“
When they dumped you on the ground—” He coughed again, his clothing scratched against the rock beneath him as he heaved.

“
Zeke.”

“
They will pay for hurting you, I can promise—”

His coughing fit continued, only this time it was wet. It gurgled in the back of his throat, like he was trying to breathe underwater. The sound scared the hell out of Grace. She didn’t know what to do, or how to get out. “It’s gonna be okay,” she tried saying reassuringly. She needed to get them out of there before the Fallen came back.

“
I’m so sorry.” His breath hissed and bubbled between each word he spoke. She wasn’t sure what a punctured lung sounded like, but she hoped and prayed the sound coming from him wasn’t from that.

“
I know, Zeke. We’re going to get out of here.” Frantically, she looked around for a way out.

“
They won’t let us leave, they’re monsters.” He didn’t sound afraid. He hurt, that was obvious; he sounded hopeless.

Grace didn’t speak any more. She didn’t want Zeke to exhaust himself further. She was comforted when his breathing evened out. For the time being, his mind was elsewhere.

The sides of her hands were raw from trying to pull free from the shackles. With one foot braced against the wall and the other on the ground, she pulled as hard as she could. It was no use. Despite her Chosen blood, she wasn’t strong enough to break the chains from the wall. She gave up, and let her arms fall to her sides. Her tired body shivered from the cold. Feeling hopeless now herself, Grace slipped to the ground, and held her face in her hands.

Long strides of movement sounded from the darkness. Someone was coming. She snapped her head up, and waited. Two glowing eyes appeared, hovering in the distance. The owner of the red orbs materialized out of the darkness as he drew closer. It was the guy from the parking lot yesterday, the one who was in the very front. “You’re finally awake.” He smiled. It was anything but friendly.

“
What do you want?” Hundreds of years of Chosen ancestry reverberated strong in her voice. She steadied herself on the ground.

“
Little girl, don’t play stupid. You know what I want.” Although he spoke softly, menace lurked behind his words. Hope flickered back to life within her at his demand. They were still looking for something, which meant Pandora was safe.

A stirring moved deep within her—a joining of mind, body, and soul as she found her center, her purpose. She no longer felt fear, in fact felt incredibly strong as every fiber in her being readied, calculating an attack. Quentin had trained her for this very moment. The just-in-case time he wasn’t around. Grace kept her eyes on the Fallen, studying how he moved, as she played for time. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”