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Chapter 3

"Who's they?" I wanted to know, but Mae just turned herback on me and continued her conversation."Yes, I'm sure. The car almost trampled her." She walked back to thefront window and peered outside. "I didn't think it was important. Ithought it was just an asshole who couldn't drive."I was becoming even more confused with each breath."No, not anymore. They sped off when I went to confront them." Shepursed her lips. "Are you sure?" She turned to me and smiled half-heartedly."I understand. I'll tell her." She disconnected the call and walked upto me. "Ryker wants you home. Now."She took me by the shoulders and basically forced me out the door. Ikept protesting, asking questions about what was going on, why was shespeaking to my uncle and who the 'they' were she was talking about, butit all fell on deaf ears."What's going on?""You need to go home right now. Ryker will explain everything." Sheshoved me out the door and locked it behind me. Speechless, I stood onthe curb, not knowing what the hell is happening. I turned around,wanting to confront Mae with more questions. But even the blinds inthe shop had been drawn.I knocked on the door, yelling her name, but it was as if she justdisappeared."Mae! Open the door! C'mon, I don't even have my bag!" I shouted. Iprobably looked like a lunatic.Suddenly, I felt a weight on my shoulder, like someone putting theirhand on my shoulder, but when I turned my head, there was no onethere. The only thing that was there, however, was the sling bag I hadjust been yelling about.I must be losing my mind.I adjusted the bag until it sat comfortably, then started toward myhouse, making sure to triple-check the road before I crossed it.It was late afternoon, but the sun still blazed from behind the trees.Most of the children had gone home, with the exception of a fewteenagers roaming about.My mind reeled with the conversation Mae had on the phone andher very peculiar attitude toward me. Like, what was that? Had I pissedher off somehow? Was there something she wasn't telling me? And whatthe hell was Ryker's role in this?I walked down the road close to the park, thinking over everythingthat was bothering me. My uncle Ryker had been part of my life for aslong as I could remember. I never knew my mom—she died in a caraccident when I was a year old, and Ryker never talks about her. Hedidn't know my father, and he didn't really care much. Ryker believedthat any man who would leave a woman pregnant with his child wasnot worthy of the title of father. So, it kind of irked me that he might bekeeping secrets from me. Especially since he bombarded me withcontinuous questions about my whereabouts every freaking half hour.I was so distracted by my thoughts that I hardly noticed a car rollingdown the road behind me at a snail's pace. If I hadn't looked behind mewhen I crossed the road, I wouldn't even have seen it.That eerie feeling washed over me again. The same feeling I'd hadwhen I first saw the car at the juice bar, when I saw the same car at the
bookstore.This was no coincidence.I started jogging, hoping the sedan would realize that I was on to it.Maybe it would leave. No such luck, though. As I picked up my pace, thevehicle sped up.We didn't live far from the bookstore, but it felt like miles at thatmoment.. I just needed to pass around the park, then I'd be home free.Ryker had always warned me about the vastness of the park at this timeof day, saying that strange things happened when no one was looking.But I didn't really have much of a choice. My only options were to goaround the park and have these creeps stuff me into their trunk, or tocut through the park and hope I'd lose them.The fear in my heart made my decision for me as they came withinstriking distance.I skidded to a halt and bolted into the park, hoping they wouldn'tfollow. The screeching tires and the sound of doors slamming told me Iwasn't that lucky.What was up with these people?There was shouting behind me, but I didn't want to look. I'd seenthis in movies—the protagonist being chased and looking behind her,only for her feet to betray her and for her to fall on her face, giving thebad guys the advantage of creeping up on her.There was no way in hell I would become a statistic today.I forced my feet to move faster, forced my burning lungs to take inmore air, forced my body to push past the ache in my side. At the speedI was running, there was no way they would catch up.I hoped.wo people stepped out from behind the trees, right in mypath. I didn't have time to stop. As I tried, my feet slippedand slid on the grass. Backtracking while trying to stop, I must havelooked like a gazelle on ice. My balance faltered as my feet struggled togain traction.I tripped and fell to the ground as my assailants came closer. Howhad they gotten ahead of me? Maybe there were more people in the carthan I'd thought? Had the car driven ahead and dropped these two offso they could cut me off?I slid backwards, trying to get away from the two in front ofme, when my theory was confirmed. My back hit something hard,and a hand grabbed my hair, yanking me to my feet. A screamescaped me as I reached up to grab at the hands entangled in myhair."You shouldn't play with the toys," the creep behind me said as hethrew me to the center of the group that had formed around me."Odd, I thought that was exactly what you did with toys." The oneguy laughed, and it gave me the creeps.Tears welled in my eyes from the searing pain left on my scalp.I risked a glance at my attackers, hoping that if I survived today, Imight identify them in a lineup, or at least give the cops something to gowith.Four men and one woman.How could a woman allow something like this to happen to anotherwoman?They were all wearing black. Black tops, black pants, and blackcombat boots. They looked like the Serpents from Riverdale, but at thatmoment they seemed more dangerous than the Archie-comicimitations.When one of the men moved toward me, a glint of something shinycaught my eye.No.A gun.I looked around to the woman, hoping my pleading eyes would playon her sympathies and that she would snap out of the spell these menhad cast on her, but my pleas were wasted on her. The woman wassporting a silver blade.Fear triggered my fight-or-flight response and since I didn't knowhow to fight, I settled for the latter.I jumped up and started running in a direction I thought held theleast resistance, but one of the assailants quickly snatched me up."Where do you think you're going?" He sneered at me as he grabbedmy arms, turned me around, and pushed me to the center again. Ilanded hard on my knees and could feel the burn of flesh being rippedfrom my hands as I scraped them on the hard ground."Aw, baby wants to play." The woman's laugh sent chills through myentire body.Tears streamed down my face as I looked up at them."What do you want?" I asked, sounding much braver than I felt."Oh, not much. Just you." One of the men knelt in front of me, grippinga lead pipe. His pupils were so enlarged that I could barely see thegreen of his irises. Something wasn't right with these people, and Iwasn't just talking about their thirst for young blood.Bile threatened to rise in my throat, but I swallowed it down. Noway in hell was I going to give them the satisfaction of humiliatingmyself.Then something else happened. Heat started radiating from myhands. At first, I thought it was from the collision on the ground, butthis didn't feel like a scrape or a bruise. This felt different.The sensation started as heat, rising from my arms, creeping to mycheeks. It was soon accompanied by a tingling feeling. Like pins andneedles.Yet, it felt different. I felt different."She's channeling!" one attacker said, but I couldn't pinpointwhich one.The heat coursed through me like a hot branding iron down mythroat."Stop her!" yelled another man.I could sense them coming closer, but I could no longer see. Blindingwhite light illuminated my hands and spread to my arms.As the heat in my body increased, the light became brighter.I could hear shouting from all around me but couldn't make out thewords, though from the tone of their voices they sounded worried andafraid. But why would they be worried? These fucknuts didn't give arat's ass about me. And they had no reason to fear me, either.My mouth moved of its own accord, forming words I had neveruttered in my life, but I still made no sound. It felt like I wasn't incontrol of my body or my actions anymore.A rapid pulsing started in my veins as the heat overtook the tingling.I wanted to scratch at my arms. To make this feeling stop. To stop thelight burning within me, so I could see again, but something told me tolet it all go. To release the power that was building inside.I sat up on my knees, lifting my hands and opening to whatever washarnessed within me."Fuck!" The shout penetrated the noise in my head as the blindingwhite light became too brilliant and the power too intense for me tocontain any longer.Pulses radiated from me as I opened myself to the sweet release ofwhat I could only assume was power. A scream so terrifying I didn'teven realize was mine echoed through me, yet my voice vibrated withthe intensity of it.The pulsing vibration exploded along with the heat. The build-upfelt like a bomb being compressed and finally giving way to the pressure.Light and heat escaped me, rippling through the park, leavingnothing in its wake.It felt glorious—the feeling of immense superiority, of not being ableto hold back, of letting go. Of giving in to your darkest desires.The power subsided, drawing back the light to within me. Theitching vibrations became a murmur, a humdrum of electricity as myvision darkened.The last thing I saw was a silhouette running toward me.