Over My Head

  "What happens if I don't?" I ask.

  "Don't what?"

  "Save the world. Wake it up. Whatever it is that these guys think I'll do. What if they've got the wrong guy?"

  "They don't."

  "How can you be so sure?"

  "Because the more I get to know you, the more I understand why you were chosen."

  Considering all the weird stuff Solana's been telling me, I don't suppose there's any point in continuing to deny what's under my skin. But what he and everybody else doesn't understand is that it was purely random. When whatever it was shuffled the deck, some people turned into birds or otters. I pulled the card that says mountain lion. Lucky me, one of the major arcana of the animal people.

  "I wasn't chosen," I say. "It just happened, that's all."

  "Do you really believe that?"

  That's when I realize that there's no point to this conversation. Nothing that I say will change his mind about my so-called destiny.

  I open the door, half-expecting him to stop me. But he doesn't.

  "I need to think about this," I tell him.

  But I'm just being polite. It's say that or tell him I think he's as deluded as the rest of them.

  "I understand," he says.

  No, you don't, I think. You don't have a clue.

  But I get out and nod, then shut the door. He waits until I'm back under the palm in the yard beside Ampora's house, then he starts up the car and pulls away. He's probably only going around the block or something, but I don't care, so long as I don't have to listen to him anymore.

  But it doesn't matter. The things he told me keep running through my head for the rest of the night.

  I'm standing at the end of the driveway when the front door opens and Ampora comes out with her sisters. Their dad left for work earlier, but I made myself scarce when he came out. Ampora makes the girls wait by the door while she comes over to me. Her sisters are so cute. They look like twins—just like Marina and Ampora do. I give them a wave and Ampora frowns at me.

  "I didn't think you'd still be here," she says.

  She's looked out the window from time to time throughout the night, so I know that's a lie, but I don't call her on it.

  "I told you I would," I tell her.

  "Right. I forgot. You're the big hero."

  I don't bother responding to that.

  "At least you didn't get beat up again," she adds.

  "Funny."

  "No, I'm serious. Someone really went to town on you. What makes you think it'll be any different when the Kings come down on you?"

  "It'll be different," I tell her. "Trust me."

  She makes a dismissive sound. "Why I should I?" she goes on. "And I don't know why you're here. I don't need your help."

  "I know you don't. I'm just here to make sure nothing happens to your sisters."

  "So what are you—a boy scout looking for another merit badge? Or maybe you think it'll score you some points with your BFF Marina?"

  God, she's a bitch. "Let's go," I tell her. "Otherwise the girls will be late."

  "And what about after school?" Ampora asks. "What about tomorrow, and the day after that, and the week after that? Are you planning to play bodyguard for the rest of their lives?"

  "Hey, I know it's not a perfect solution. I have to figure something out. But today I'm just concentrating on getting your sisters safely to school. Can we agree on that much?"

  She shrugs. "Whatever."

  She makes a beckoning motion with her hand and the girls skip down the driveway to join us. I sit on my haunches so that I'm closer to their height.

  "Hi," I tell them. "I'm Josh—a friend of your sister Marina."

  They tell me their names, then Suelo tilts her ear to her shoulder and asks, "Are you her boyfriend?"

  Ria punches her lightly and they both giggle.

  I smile and shake my head.

  "Are you Ampora's boyfriend?" Ria asks, and they giggle some more.

  "I don't think Ampora likes me very much," I tell them.

  "Don't feel bad," Ria tells me.

  Suelo nods. "Ampora doesn't like anybody much."

  "Except us," Ria tells me. "People in families don't have to like each other, but she really likes us."

  The mountain lion in me senses Ampora's tension, but I don't look in her direction.

  "Of course she would," I tell the girls. "Who wouldn't like you?"

  That makes them giggle some more.

  Ampora clears her throat. "Let's get a move on."

  When I stand up, Ria takes my hand. I glance at Ampora to make sure it's not going to set her off, but she only rolls her eyes and doesn't comment. She takes Suelo's hand and we set off the few blocks to the girls' school.

  The girls chatter happily the whole way and it makes me more determined than ever to make sure nothing happens to them. I see so much of Marina's good nature in them. Marina was just like this when I first met her, even though her parents had just gotten divorced and she was still missing the sister who now hated her.

  When we get to the school I see a couple of gang members hanging by a car a half-block away. They're not wearing colours, but their tattooed arms and necks make their allegiances obvious. I point them out to Ampora and see her jaw clench.

  "I'll wait for you here," I say.

  Ampora nods and takes the girls into the school. My Wildling hearing lets me eavesdrop on her warning them not to go anywhere with anybody except for her. They're to wait near a teacher after school until she can come back to pick them up.

  I keep a watchful eye on the bandas while she's talking, but they don't appear to be paying any attention to us.

  "So now I suppose you're going to walk me to school?" Ampora says when she rejoins me. "Aren't you afraid of what people will say when we show up together?"

  I'm sure it's the other way around: she's afraid of what her friends will say.

  "I can walk a little behind you, if it makes you feel better," I tell her.

  She makes an exasperated sound. "Do whatever you want."

  "What about those guys?" I ask, nodding to the pair by the car.

  "They won't dare go in the school."

  "Maybe I should talk to them anyway."

  "Don't make things worse," Ampora says.

  She turns on her heel and walks away before I can respond. It doesn't take much to catch up to her.

  "Can I ask you something about Mexican culture?" I say.

  "Like I could get you to shut up."

  "Have you ever heard of los tíos?"

  She shakes her head. "What are they—one of your stupid surf bands?"

  "No, they're supposed to be some kind of Mexican mystery society."

  "I've never heard of them."

  We walk along in silence for a couple of blocks.

  "I could ask my father about them," she says suddenly. "Do they have something to do with the gangs?"

  "No, it's just part of another problem I'm working on."

  She gives me a glance. "I always thought you were just this quiet guy with bad taste in music and friends."

  "And now?"

  "Now I just think you're messed up."

  We walk the rest of the way to Sunny Hill without talking. I stop when we're a half-block from the front door. It seems quiet. I don't see any bangers. I don't see Chaingang in his usual spot, either.

  "Looks clear," I say.

  "Yeah, so?"

  "So go ahead to school."

  "You're not coming?" she asks.

  I shake my head. "I'm going home to grab a shower and a change of clothes. Maybe catch a couple hours' sleep."

  She studies me for a moment, then shrugs and heads off to school. I go home to do just what I said.

  I'm napping on the couch when my phone wakes me. I look at the screen. Des.

  "Aren't you supposed to be in school?" I say.

  "Dude, I could say the same thing about you."

  He's talking really quietly.

  "Where ar
e you?" I ask.

  "Boys' can. I just wanted to give you a heads-up. You know Juan Ruiz?"

  "Name's not ringing a bell."

  "Mexican kid. He hangs with Gordo and those guys."

  I sit up straight. In other words, he runs with the Kings.

  "What happened?" I ask.

  "Nothing, yet. But when Marina and I came into school this morning he made a little gun with his fingers and pretended he was shooting her."

  "Crap."

  "Yeah. So what are we going to do about it? It's starting to get out of hand, dude."

  "I know. Can you keep an eye on Marina till I get to school?"

  "Sure," he says. "What are you going to be doing?"

  "Trying to figure something out."

  I cut the connection and lay my phone on the coffee table. I want to talk to Chaingang, but I don't have his number and he wasn't at school when I dropped Ampora off. Come to think of it, he wasn't there for most of yesterday, either. That means I have to track him down the hard way.

  I grab an apple from the kitchen, then get my bike out of the garage.

  Chaingang

  It's not like I'm doing much of anything when the knock comes on my door. I'm just staring at a blank TV screen, waiting for Marina to call, trying to figure some way out of this mess. But it still ticks me off.

  I know it's not J-Dog. He'd just walk right in, make himself at home like he always does. Anybody else … well, I can't think of anybody I feel like seeing right now, so I let it ride. Whoever's there should get the hint and take a hike.

  The knock comes again and I ignore it again.

  Then a third time—louder.

  I get up off the couch and cross the room. I fling the door open, but the "What the hell do you want?" dies in my throat.

  It's Josh standing there. He still looks like crap, face bruised and swollen. But there's something different in his eyes. They narrow when he sees I'm pissed off, but he doesn't back off one step.

  "I need some advice," he says, jumping right in. "About gangs. Specifically, the Riverside Kings."

  "Say what?"

  This, I wasn't expecting. As soon as I saw him standing there, I figured maybe he'd found out about Vincenzo and was ready to tear me a strip for keeping it from him.

  "Look," he says, "I've got a problem with the Kings, but I'm not asking for your help."

  "Good, because—"

  "But I need to talk to someone high enough up in the gang who can call off this bullshit. Can you give me a name?"

  "Back up, bro," I tell him. "I don't have a clue what you're talking about."

  His hands clench into fists, but he doesn't raise them.

  "What's not to understand?" he says. "I need somebody in the Kings with some clout, but I don't know where to start. I don't think I could even get in to talk to Fat Boy—he's their top dog, right?—so I'm looking for somebody a little further down the food chain."

  Well, at least this'll get my mind off my own problems, I think as I step aside.

  "You might as well come in," I tell him, opening the door a little wider.

  I motion toward the couch and he sits down.

  "You want a beer?" I ask.

  He shakes his head. I get one for myself. It's early for me, but I have the feeling I'm going to need it.

  "Okay." I settle on the other end of the couch. "So what's this all about?"

  Josh sighs, impatience written all over his face. "You know, I tried to do the right thing," he says. "I let Erik and his posse have a go at me and I didn't tear them apart like I could have. I just played the part of an ordinary kid. But they wouldn't let it go. They're still on me at school, so Des and I went over to Erik's house last night."

  I toast him with my beer bottle. "I can get behind that. Give him a little righteous payback."

  "That was Des's idea, but I was just going along to check things out—see if something would come to me that wouldn't make things worse.

  "I took the beating," he continues, "and I wasn't ready to have that pain go to waste by showing him my Wildling side anyway. But then Cory came along …"

  He tells me about Auntie Min's message and how the coyote kid just ghosted right though Erik's closed garage door. Damned cousins. There's so much they aren't telling us.

  But all I say is, "So you're going to bend over and be their chosen one?"

  "I only agreed to talk to her so that Cory would get off my back."

  "You remember what I told you. Go along with them and all you'll just be is a puppet with their hand up your ass."

  "Nice."

  "I'm only saying, bro."

  "Anyway," he goes on, "Des and I head for home, but—"

  "Back up," I say. "What did Cory do to Erik?"

  "I don't know. I haven't talked to him yet."

  "Okay, so you and Des are walking …"

  "And we hear Trucho Salazar's old Hudson."

  I frown. Trucho thinks it's real funny riding through Ocean Avers territory with that pimp-mobile of his. One of these days, I'm going to rip a tailpipe off his ride and shove it down his throat.

  "I know where this is going," I say.

  But when Josh continues, I realize I only guessed a part of the story.

  "The Feds are still tailing you?" I say.

  "Cory thinks they're using the GPS on my phone."

  "So they know you're here."

  Josh shakes his head. "I left my phone at home."

  I let him go on until he gets to the part about the girl.

  "Ampora," I repeat. "Marina's sister? Riding with the Kings?"

  "Yes. But it's not like you think."

  Up to that moment, it's been interesting, and I feel for what Josh is going through. But as soon as he tells me that Ampora is involved with the Kings, it's like a red mist clouds my eyes. That's way too close to Marina. If I had Trucho in front of me right now, I'd be doing more than shoving a tailpipe down his throat. If he so much as breathes in the direction of Marina, I'll take him apart, piece by piece.

  I realize I'm squeezing my beer bottle so hard I'm going to shatter it and cut my hand all to crap. I put it down on the coffee table with exaggerated care.

  "They are walking dead men," I tell him. "And as for Ampora, bro, I'm going to—"

  "I've been trying to tell you—it's not her fault," Josh says.

  I'm only half-listening as he finishes his story, explaining what Ampora did to get on the wrong side of the Kings, what he did to Trucho, how he watched Ampora's house all night and walked the kid sisters to school with her this morning.

  I get up from the couch. "Okay," I tell him. "Now we go finish the job."

  "No, wait," Josh says, getting up as well.

  "You don't get it," I say. "The Kings are freaks when it comes to this kind of crap. That little bitch Ampora has no idea what she's done. You diss them and they don't just go after you, they go after the whole family. You want Marina to get popped in a drive-by?"

  But like he did at my door coming in, Josh looks pissed and he doesn't back down.

  "You think I don't know that?" he says. "But if you get involved, that's going to start a war between your gang and the Kings, and a lot more people are going to get hurt. I just need to talk to somebody—stop this before it goes too far."

  I shake my head. "Nobody in the Kings is going to listen to you. They'll take you down before you can say word one."

  Josh's eyes narrow and the small muscles in his jaw pulse as he clenches his teeth. "Then I'll make them listen," he growls under his breath.

  Damn, he's going all hardcore. He actually thinks he can make it happen. This is why I didn't want to tell him about Vincenzo.

  "Seriously, man," he says. "Give me a name. You must know who's got some influence in the Kings."

  It'll be a complete waste of effort. But the whole time we've been arguing, I've been running names through my head.

  "Maybe I do," I say.

  I pick up my phone from the coffee table and punch in the
numbers for the Harley store out at the ValentiCorp complex.

  "Is Aina there?" I ask when someone answers.

  I haven't seen Aina Para since we had our one and only date—the night I got changed into a Wildling. I didn't know at the time that her brother was Chico Para, one of Fat Boy's lieutenants, just like she didn't know I rode with the Avers. She's not involved with the gang life except for that one connection, and it's not like you get to choose your family.

  I don't know if she understands why I never called her again, or if she's pissed, but I'm hoping she'll at least listen.

  "Hello?" she says when she comes on the line.

  "Don't hang up," I tell her. "It's Theo Washington. Maybe I'm the last guy you'd ever want to hear from—I don't know—but I need a favour that's going to save some lives."

  There's a long silence. I know she hasn't hung up because I can hear her breathing.

  "What kind of a favour?" she finally asks.

  "I need a sit down with your brother."

  "Oh boy."

  "I'm not going in with any animosity," I lie. "There's just a thing that's come up with some friends of mine and we're hoping to clear it up with someone who might actually listen."

  "You know I've got nothing to do with any of that, right?"

  "Of course I know that. It's why you didn't hear from me again. I …"

  It's a little hard getting into this with Josh sitting there listening, but I owe her this much.

  "I asked you out because I thought we could just be Theo and Aina," I tell her. "I didn't know who your brother was, and I wasn't planning on introducing you to mine."

  "Just so you know, I gave my brother hell when I heard that he told you to back off."

  I wonder what else those bangers came back with. Did they talk about how I'd vanished right in front of them, or did whatever Auntie Min show them just make them keep their mouths shut, period?

  "I don't blame him," I say. "I might have done the same thing if I had a sister and I found out she was seeing somebody in a gang."

  "You mean the wrong gang."

  "No, pretty much any gang."

  "Huh. Nothing about you's the way it seems, is it?"

  "Just trying to keep it real."

  "I'll give Chico a call. Can I get back to you at this number?"