Sidekick Returns (12 page)

The crystal juggernaut gathered speed as it rocketed down the hill. Flash-mobbers rolled and dove out of the way.

Then, without any thought, I was running after the float again.

‘Hold on, Bremys!'

It wasn't a long hill, but it was steep. This could only end in disaster.

A woman suddenly grabbed my arm, yanking me to a stop. ‘Oh my God!' she shrieked. ‘A head! Her head came off!' I snapped my gaze to follow hers only to see one of the Bremys' heads flying into the sky! No! It couldn't be. She had been decap— Wait. It was only her wig.

‘You're not helping!' I screamed, yanking my arm back.

This was horrible! Even if all the people on the street managed to get out of the way, the me-s on the float were done for—at the bottom of the hill, the street ended in a T-shaped intersection—and the float was headed straight for the sheet metal wall of a factory right on the other side. The wall looked flimsy enough. There was probably just a parking lot on the other side, but it wouldn't matter with the speed of the impact.

I had to do something! But what?

I took off following the path of the float. I knew I'd never catch it in time, and even if I could catch up to it, what was I going to do? I kept running anyway, knowing it was hopeless. No one could stop its momentum now. Not me. Not any of the people on the street. Not even the police in the cruisers that I could now see fishtailing to a stop in the street below. No, no one could help those poor souls now. No one but …

‘Ryder!'

Chapter 15

‘Look! It's Ryder!'

Soon everybody was screaming her name.

Down the street, nearly at the bottom, I spotted Ryder perched on an old balcony of a building. All the angry emotions I had been holding melted away in relief. None of that mattered now. Ryder would stop the float. Ryder would protect all the Bremys. Ryder would save the day. The float raced towards the end of the street, but just as it passed the building before Ryder's position, she launched herself into the air.

‘Yeah!'

Her long dark form flew through the sky. She would land right on the top tier of the crystal float. I had no idea how she could land these types of jumps, but this was Ryder, and I had seen her do incredible things, amazing things. I—

Suddenly, a collective scream ran through the crowd.

‘No!' I yelled, hands flying to my mouth. ‘No!'

Ryder hadn't landed the jump. I watched her skid across the top—past Big Shot who was reaching for her while trying to hold on himself to a ledge—and then I saw her fall off the other side, her limp body hitting one of the tiers of the float, before tumbling down to the street below.

I stared in horror at her prone body. After an agonising second, she moved an arm to push herself up. She was alive … but the float! The people on the float! In seconds, it would plough into the wall of the factory!

Oh God, no. I took in the entire ghastly sight before me, but none of it registered anymore. It was all unfolding like a scene in a movie. The faces of bystanders were twisted into screams, but I couldn't hear anything over the sound of the blood rushing in my ears. One of the Bremys tumbled from the float onto the street. A small crowd swallowed her up, making it impossible for me to see if she had … what had happened. Just moments left now … moments until all those lives …

I slowed my run, waiting for the impact. The crowd had repelled away from the soon to be crash site in a circle, like water from a dropped stone.

Suddenly a thunderous groan of metal tore through the screams. My eyes darted around the street. What was happening? I ran down the hill, trying to get a better look through the people. It was … the wall … the wall was folding back on itself!

I ran closer. I couldn't see how, but the wall
was
tearing back, making room … but it didn't matter. The float still wasn't going to make it through. The hole wasn't big enough. Not by half. It was impossible. The side of the float would still hit. It would fishtail. Flip. Crash.

The float hurtled into the intersection, feet away from disaster.

This was it.

Then, just as the front of the float raced over the remaining few feet … the last half of the wall gave way! The crystal monster raced through the hole to the other side. Unbelievably, within seconds, the bumpy terrain slowed the float to a stop. Cheers welled up from the streets.

‘Did you see that?' a woman shouted. I turned to look at her, but I never met her eye because all I saw—over the woman's shoulder, standing in the distance—was
him.

My father. Atticus St. James.

He stood completely still in the swirling crowd, wearing an exquisitely tailored suit and overcoat. Perfect. Handsome. Untouchable.

Chills raced over my arms and back, now damp with sweat—which was strange because something very hot was rushing up from my chest towards my face. Something angry. Maybe even something a little like rage.

This was him. All of it. It was his doing.

A slow smile spread over his face, before he gave me a brief nod. He then led me with his eyes back towards the scene below. I couldn't help but follow his gaze. There were still too many people. I couldn't see what was happening, but—

Ryder! I had forgotten about Ryder! I spared a glance back to where my father had been, but he had disappeared. I ran over to the group that had gathered around the spot where Ryder had fallen. I tried to shove my way through the bystanders, but they were pushing back and away, making it difficult to find a way through. Something was wrong.

‘Get off of me!'

I elbowed my way to the front of the crowd just in time to see Ryder slapping away the hand of a man who was trying to help her to her feet. He took an uncertain step back as I moved forward. ‘Back up!' I shouted. ‘Give her space!'

The few remaining onlookers shuffled their feet, but didn't move. Vultures. I made a half-run at a few, which sent them scattering. I wheeled back to Ryder, bending to grab her arm. ‘You okay? That was a tough fall—'

She jumped to her feet. ‘I said don't touch me.'

I stumbled backwards before catching myself. ‘Ryder. It's me, Bremy. I'm here to help.'

She scoffed then strode towards an alley.

I froze, uncertain for just a second, before I trotted after her. ‘Look. It's okay. Nobody expects you to be perfect.'

She didn't answer. In fact, she didn't even break her stride.

‘Wait!' I called. ‘We have work to do. My father's here. This was all him. We need to regroup. Let's find Choden, and—'

She stopped and spun on me, blue eyes flashing. ‘When are you going to get it?'

I stepped back. ‘Get what?'

She narrowed her gaze before turning again. I stood rooted to the spot for a moment, watching her stride away. More heat rolled in a wave over my body. ‘No. No way.' I darted after her, pushing past the throngs of people into the deserted space between buildings. I didn't stop until the shadow of the towering walls fell over me. Where had she gone? I scanned the alleyway as a biting wind tunnelled its way through the buildings, bringing tears to my eyes. There!

I spotted her sleek form scaling a fire escape ladder.

‘Hey!' I shouted up to her. ‘I want to talk you!'

She didn't even look down.

‘You owe me an explanation!'

She continued climbing—multiple steps at a time—towards the top.

‘You can't just leave!'

Her body suddenly froze. I waited, feeling each beat of my heart in my throat.

Finally her cool voice cut through the silence, echoing over the brick. ‘What do I have to say to get rid of you?' I tried to answer, but my chest felt like it was collapsing in upon itself.

‘Do you want me to say that I used you to get to your father?' She waited a moment before continuing. ‘I did.' She paused again. ‘Do you want me to say that I regret you being hurt?' I closed my eyes. ‘I don't.'

Silence fell between us as she mounted the lip of the building.

When I looked back at her again, she was almost gone. I couldn't let it end this way. I wouldn't. ‘We're not done here!' I shouted up at her.

She stopped and looked down at me one last time. ‘Yes, we are.'

***

I didn't go to The Pink Beaver that day. I spent the rest of the afternoon wandering the streets trying to figure out all that had happened. I'd had near-death experiences before, but I had certainly never witnessed
me
dying nearly twenty times over!

The float had obviously been a message from my father, but I had no idea what he was trying to say. Maybe that he wanted to see me die twenty times over? Probably. And then there was Ryder. Her message had been pretty clear.

After some aimless wandering, I went back to my apartment, got into bed, and curled up into a ball. It was all too much. Today had confirmed that my father was, in fact, playing some sort of dangerous game. Choden was right. And I knew in my gut this was just the beginning. Sure, I had been feeling like I was in over my head for the past couple of months, but now I felt like the water was about twenty thousand leagues deep.

I couldn't face my father without Ryder. But Ryder didn't want to face my father with me. No matter how you looked at it, the game had begun, and I had already lost.

I hugged my thin pillow to my chest. Yup, all by myself with a pillow for company. I hadn't felt this alone since the day I left home. I needed Jenny. She was the one person in my life who had always made everything okay, bearable, and now I had no one I could rely on like that. Maybe if I could just explain everything to her, we could face my father together. She was the only person in the world who could even begin to understand what I was going through.

Happy memories of days spent by the pool, late night talks on the patio, wheelchair races through the halls, drifted through my mind. No matter what had passed between us, we were sisters—and you can't erase a shared lifetime.

I was almost asleep when a sharp rap came at my door.

I jumped to my feet like a cat, surprising myself with my agility—must be a little on edge. My eyes glued themselves to the door as I took the one step back in my apartment that I could. My heart was beating hard and fast.

I never had visitors. Queenie certainly never came to me. I always went to her. Bart rarely left the store. And I didn't really know anyone else—Ryder and Choden excepted—although it was looking like I didn't really know them either.

I chewed my bottom lip, and took a tentative step forward. What if it was one of my father's goons come to take me away? No. They could easily break down the door if they wanted to.

Oh! Maybe it was Pierce! He knew where I lived now, and maybe one of my neighbours told him my apartment number. But then again, that didn't really seem likely. Pierce was the type of guy who would call first. I hopped a little on the spot in frustration. Why couldn't Mr Pushkin just install a peephole already? I walked forward again and placed my ear against the door. Hmm. No scary breathing on the other side, as far as I could tell. Suddenly I heard a thump. I jumped straight back and smacked into the side of my toilet. This was crazy! I was going to hurt myself. I smoothed my hair down and moved back to the door. I couldn't take it any longer. I grabbed the handle and whipped the door open.

Chapter 16

Nobody.

I leaned my head out into the hall and looked from side to side.

Empty.

My eyes trailed down to the floor. Nothing … except for the package resting by my feet. A package with a gift tag that read
Bremy
.

Oh no, no, no. This could not be good. Only a handful of people knew I was here, and my father was one of them. I licked my lips. Yet another habit I really needed to break until I could afford things like lip balm. I slowly bent down, and put my hands on either side of the package. I lifted it slowly, turning my head so that my right ear tilted towards it. No ticking. Good. Good.

I straightened then stepped back into my apartment. I walked over to my bed and placed the package gently down on the mattress. We stared at one another for a while, the package and I. Me with my
I know you're up to no good
face on. The package with its blank cardboard stare that gave nothing away. Cocky bastard. It knew nobody could resist its seductive brown paper packaging.

I screwed up my lips and huffed a breath through my nose. Who was I kidding? I bent over and tore into the brown paper. Seconds later, the box underneath lay exposed. It was a garment box, to be precise. I leaned back and gave it another once over. I liked garment boxes. Ooh, and this one was from a nice store, like my old life kind of nice store. I leaned forward again and gently lifted off the top half of the box before peeling back the soft tissue paper underneath. My hand then flew to my eyes to wipe away the happy tears that I knew would soon begin to flow.

It was a coat. A cashmere coat!

I brought my hands down to the soft, soft folds and brought them up to my cheek. As I did, a white card fluttered to the floor. I bent to pick it up.
Here's to keeping Bremy St. James the hottest thing in the city.

R.

I gasped. Ricky! In all the soul-crushing confusion, I had forgotten about Ricky!

Just then another white card dropped. I reached for it, my eyes quickly scanning the gold embossed script. An invitation to the fundraiser at the museum?

A dark cloud passed over the happy sun of cashmere that had risen in my thoughts. This had my father's stink all over it. What was he up to? And what did it have to do with Ricky? Ricky would never work for my father. Not again. Not after what happened the last time. It was a strange pairing, to say the least. I mean, the only thing they had in common was … me.

Questions raced through my mind like runners on a track … runners I was about to take down with a trip wire. I was so tired. I ran my free hand over my face. So many questions. Too many questions. I just couldn't think another thought. I wrapped the coat around my shoulders and snuggled into my cot. Now was not the time to face all this. I couldn't take anymore. Not with all the Bremys' terrified faces still ping-ponging around in my head. No, now was the time to sleep in non-synthetic fibres and have expensive dreams. It had been so long since I had expensive dreams. I inhaled the sweet smell of money in the supple material. Sure, the coat had come from an evil place, not much doubt about that, but that wasn't its fault. Besides, it had been a long day. I no longer had the strength it took to be a good person. I deserved this.