And through the inferno leaped a coyote as big as a Great Dane.
That, Sam thought, made it easier.
A flash of green-white light erupted from his upraised hands and the coyote dropped to the floor. An eight-inch hole was burned clear through his body.
A second flash, like a thousand flashbulbs, and the front of the cabin blew apart.
The sudden vacuum swallowed some of the flame, not all, just a pause in the inferno and Sam was moving, dragging Astrid by the arm, Astrid dragging Little Pete in turn. The others shook off their shock and followed.
They advanced through the hole in the cabin and the coyotes surged forward, a mass of dangerous teeth beneath cold, focused eyes.
Sam let go of Astrid, raised his hands and the light exploded again. A dozen coyotes caught fire and fell or writhed or ran screeching into the night like mad sparklers in the retreating gloom.
“Pack Leader,” Lana warned in a voice reduced to a croak by the smoke that swirled around them. She was leaning on Edilio’s arm, the two of them safely out of the cabin but far from safe on the lawn.
The cabin fell with a crash behind them and burned like a bonfire. The orange light revealed a hundred staring, uncomprehending canine faces. Their eyes and teeth shone.
Pack Leader stood out from his pack, facing Sam, bristling, fearless.
Pack Leader barked a command and the entire pack moved as one, a wave of snarling fury.
Sam held his hands high and beams of purest green-white light fired. The first wave of coyotes caught fire instantly. They turned in terror and raced back through their brothers and sisters, setting off complete panic.
The pack turned tail and ran into the night. And Pack Leader was no longer fearless, no longer leading, but following, racing to keep up with his beaten army. Some burned as they ran and set alight dry shrubbery.
Sam lowered his hands to his sides.
Astrid was beside him.
“Dude,” Quinn said in an awestruck voice.
“I don’t think they’ll come back,” Sam said.
“Where to now, man?” Edilio asked him.
Sam stood gazing out at empty desert, so dark still that it swallowed all the light of the burning cabin. He wanted to cry. He hadn’t known he had that much anger inside. It made him sick. His mother had done her best, she wasn’t to blame. He wanted to throw up.
Astrid saw that Sam was in no condition to talk, so she said, “We’ll head back to Perdido Beach. We’ll go back, and we’ll make things right.”
“And Caine will just step aside,” Quinn said. “No problem, la di da.”
Astrid flared. “I’m not saying it will be easy. It will be a test for us.”
Edilio shook his head. “Isn’t going to be a test. It’s going to be a war.”
“Sun will be up soon. We’ll be able to see something,” Drake said.
“See what?” Panda whined. “There’s nothing but desert out there.”
“Caine says he’s probably staying close to the barrier, to find his way back.”
Panda sounded nervous when he said, “Caine thinks Sam is coming back?”
Panda was still sulking about his sprained ankle and almost useless, so Drake had grabbed two other Coates kids. The first was a fat Chinese-American kid called Chunk. Chunk was a low-level bully, not someone Drake would normally have hung out with. Plus, he would not shut up but chattered away, mostly bragging about what bands he’d seen in concert and what movie stars he’d met. Chunk’s father was a talent agent in Hollywood.
If there still was a Hollywood.
The other kid was a girl, skinny little black girl named Louise, one of the drivers. With Panda semiuseless, Drake needed a driver.
After the Andrew poof, Caine and Diana, along with the creepy little nerd, Jack, had gone to deal with Frederico and try to get things back under control at Coates. Caine had sent Drake off with orders to see if he could find Sam.
Drake didn’t like having to follow this order. He was sleepy and, as he pointed out to Caine, there was a lot of emptiness out there, let alone at night, so how was he supposed to find Sam, even if he was still following the barrier?
“There’s a road goes up Piggyback Mountain,” Caine said. “Remember? The field trip? You can see for miles.”
So despite it still being dark, and despite the fact that Louise was a much crazier driver than cautious Panda, and despite Panda’s whining and Chunk’s babble, they had driven up Piggyback Mountain and after a time found the lookout.
They had been there for a while, listening to coyote howls from down in the valley, Drake threatening to punch Chunk if he didn’t shut up about how he had met Christina Aguilera one time.
Drake was steaming, unhappy to be up here in the middle of nowhere, with no food or sodas or anything, just a bottle of water and these idiots.
“So what happened with Andrew?” Louise asked during one of Chunk’s rare silences.
“He ditched, man. He cut a hole,” Panda said.
“I still got more than a year, I’m only thirteen,” Louise said, like anyone cared. “Someone will come rescue us in a year, right?”
“Sooner would be better,” Drake drawled, “what with me having a month.”
“I got till June,” Chunk said. “You know what that makes me? I’m a Cancer.”
“Got that right,” Drake muttered.
“Sign of the crab,” Chunk added.
“I have to go,” Drake said. He climbed down out of the SUV they were in and walked to the edge of the lookout, up to the railing. He started peeing over the side and that’s when he saw it. It looked like a match being carried through the night. Impossible to tell distances.
“Chunk! Get the binoculars.”
Chunk came hustling up a few seconds later. Drake had watched as the tiny, flickering light went racing in zigzags far below.
Chunk said, “This is like being up in the Hollywood Hills, you know? Up on Mulholland Drive, which is where all these famous actors and stuff live. One time I went to this guy’s house, he was, like, a director that my dad reps, right? And—”
Drake yanked the binoculars from Chunk’s hands and tried to capture the spark in his field of vision. Almost impossible. He would catch it and then lose it. Even when he managed to follow it for a few seconds, he couldn’t make anything out, it was just an orange flame wandering through a featureless void. But it was almost surely moving too fast to be carried by a person, even a fast person.
Then the spark stopped moving. And gradually Drake realized the flame was growing.
He peered intently and thought he could make out some kind of structure, like a house or something in the spreading glow.
Panda had limped over to join them. Drake handed him the binoculars. “What do you think that is?”
Panda peered through the binoculars and at that moment there was a flash of light and he tore the binoculars away and yelled.
The second flash was even clearer, and now there were sparklers making light trails through the darkness of early morning.
Panda looked again. “There’s some kind of house…and a tower or something. And there’s, like,…like dogs or something.”
A third blinding light and now even more of the number of crazily weaving sparklers.
“I don’t know, man,” Panda said.
“I think maybe we just found what we were looking for,” Drake said.
Chunk, scared, said, “You think that’s this kid you’re trying to catch? Dude’s got the power, man. Like in that movie—”
Drake yanked the gun from his belt and said, “No, Chunk: this is the power. And I’ve got it.”
That shut Chunk up for a few seconds.
“The fire is spreading,” Louise pointed out. “It’s probably all dry down there and bushes and stuff catching fire.”
Drake had noticed the same thing. He glanced back in the direction they’d come from, tried to make sense of the topography. “Coates is back that way. The barrier i
s over that way.” He pointed. “There’s no wind, so the fire is going to climb the hill. Which means they’ll be coming this way, toward Coates. They’ll pass down below us.”
“What are you going to do, shoot them when they walk past?” Chunk asked, eager and afraid.
“Yeah, that’s right, three thousand feet down this hill and I’m going to shoot them with a handgun,” Drake said sarcastically. “Moron.”
“So what do we do?” Panda asked. “No wonder Caine’s scared of this guy. Dude can do all that?”
“That’s a four bar, right there, I bet,” Chunk opined. “I seen all kinds of stuff at Coates with Benno and Andrew and Frederico, none of them could do that kind of stuff. You think he can take Caine down?”
Drake spun and smacked Chunk in the mouth with the back of his free hand. When Chunk staggered back, Drake moved in and kicked him in the groin.
Chunk grabbed himself and fell to his knees. He whimpered, “Why’d you do that, man?”
“Because I’m sick of listening to you,” Drake snapped. “I’m sick of all this powers crap. You saw what we did to freaks at Coates? Who do you think it was that took care of that? All these kids with their stupid so-called powers. Starting fires and moving stuff around and reading your mind and all? Who do you think it was grabbed them one by one in their sleep and beat them down and when they woke up their hands were setting up in a block of cement?”
“It was you, Drake,” Panda said, placating him. “You got them all.”
“That’s right. And I didn’t even have a gun then. It’s not about who’s got powers, morons. It’s about who’s not afraid. And who’s going to do what has to be done.”
Chunk was climbing to his feet now with a hand from Panda.
“It’s not Sam Temple or even Caine you little worms need to worry about, it’s me,” Drake said. “Mr. Laser Hands down there isn’t going to make it to where he can fight Caine. I’m going to take him down long before that.”
THIRTY-FOUR
87 HOURS, 46 MINUTES
THEY WERE SIX now. Sam, Edilio, Quinn, Lana, Astrid, and Little Pete. All plans for following the FAYZ wall home were abandoned for now. The fire, a patchwork of brilliant yellow and orange, was climbing the hills to the north, cutting them off. They could only keep moving south.
Dawn came at last, an unsatisfying gray that bleached the color from everything, even the fire.
They could see where they were placing their feet, now, but that didn’t stop them from tripping and stumbling. They were lead-footed from exhaustion.
Little Pete silently collapsed and was left behind until Astrid noticed. After that Edilio and Sam took turns carrying him on their backs, which made their progress even slower and more treacherous.
Little Pete slept that way for a while, maybe two hours, then, when the boys couldn’t manage another step, he woke up and set off on his own, and now they were all following him, too tired to argue or try to redirect him, since he was going mostly in the right direction.
“We gotta stop, man,” Edilio said. “The girls are tired.”
“I’m fine,” Lana said. “I’ve been running with coyotes. Walking with you guys is like standing still.”
“I’ve had it,” Sam agreed, and stopped right where he was, which happened to be beside something that was either a very big bush or a small tree.
“Petey,” Astrid shouted. “Come back. We’re stopping.”
Little Pete had stopped walking, but he would not come back. Astrid wearily trudged to him, every sore footstep communicating the pain she was in.
“Sam,” Astrid yelled. “Quick.”
Sam thought he was too far gone to respond, but he somehow started his feet moving again and went up to where Little Pete was standing and Astrid kneeling.
There was a girl lying in the dirt. Her clothing was a mess, her black hair ratty. She was Asian, pretty without being beautiful, and little more than skin and bones. But the first thing they noticed was that her forearms ended in a solid concrete block.
Astrid made a quick sign of the cross and pressed two fingers against the girl’s neck. “Lana,” Astrid cried.
Lana sized up the situation quickly. “I don’t see any injuries. I think maybe she’s starving or else sick in some other way.”
“What’s she doing out here?” Edilio wondered. “Oh, man, what did someone do to her hands?”
“I can’t heal hunger,” Lana said. “I tried it on myself when I was with the pack. Didn’t work.”
Edilio untwisted the cap from his water bottle, knelt, and carefully drizzled water across the girl’s cheek so that a few drops curled into her mouth.
“Look, she’s swallowing.”
Edilio broke a tiny bite from one of the PowerBars and placed it gently into the girl’s mouth. After a second the girl’s mouth began to move, to chew.
“There’s a road over there,” Sam said. “I think so, anyway. A dirt road, I think.”
“Someone drove by and dumped her here,” Astrid agreed.
Sam pointed at the dirt. “You can see how she dragged that block.”
“Some sick stuff going on,” Edilio muttered angrily. “Who would do something like this?”
Little Pete stood staring down at the girl. Astrid noticed. “He doesn’t usually stare at people that way.”
“I guess he’s never seen what some creeps can do,” Edilio said.
“No,” Astrid said thoughtfully. “Petey doesn’t relate to people usually. They’re not totally real to him. I cut my hand once, really badly with a kitchen knife, I was bleeding all over and he didn’t even blink. And I’m the person he’s closest to in the whole world.”
Lana said, “Sam, can you, you know, like burn that concrete off her hands?”
“No. I can’t aim that precisely.”
“I don’t even know what can be done,” Edilio said as he fed the girl another microscopic bite of food. “You try and break that stuff off with a sledge hammer or something, or even a hammer and a chisel, it’s going to really hurt. Probably break every bone in her hands, man.”
“Who would have done this to her?” Lana wondered.
“That’s a Coates Academy uniform,” Astrid answered. “We’re probably not far from there.”
“Shh,” Lana hissed. “I hear something.”
Everyone instinctively ducked down. In the silence they could clearly hear a car engine. It was being driven erratically, revving one minute, slowing the next.
“Come on, let’s find out who it is,” Sam said.
“How we going to move this girl?” Edilio asked. “I can maybe carry her, but I can’t carry her and that block, man.”
“I’ll grab her, you grab the block,” Sam said.
“This thing is really heavy,” Edilio said. “I better not even meet the pendejo who did this. Do this to a person? What kind of animal does something like that?”
The car turned out to be an SUV. It was driven, as far as Sam could tell, by a lone boy.
“I know him,” Astrid said. She waved. The SUV lurched to a halt. Astrid leaned against the open window. “Computer Jack?”
Sam had seen the techie wizard around town but had never really spoken to him.
“Hi,” the boy said. “Oh, good. You found Taylor. I was looking for her.”
“You were looking for her?”
“Yeah. She’s sick. You know, like in the head. She wandered away from school, and so I was looking for her and—”
Right at that moment, Sam knew it was a trap. A split second too late.
Drake rose up from behind the third row of seats. He had a gun pointed at Astrid’s head, but he was looking straight at Sam. “Don’t even think about it. However fast you think you are, all I have to do is squeeze the trigger.”
“I’m not moving,” Sam said. He raised his hands in surrender.
“Ah ah ah, no no no, Sam boy. I know all about the power. Keep your hands by your side.”
“I have to help carry this gir
l,” Sam said.
“No one’s carrying her anywhere. She’s done for.”
“We’re not leaving her here,” Astrid said.
“The guy holding the gun makes the decisions,” Drake said, and grinned. “And if I were you, Astrid, I wouldn’t push me. Caine wants to try to take you and your little brother alive. But if you two try and do your disappearing act, I’ll shoot Sam.”
“You’re a psychopath, Drake,” Astrid said.
“Wow. Such a big word. I guess that’s why you’re Astrid the Genius, huh? You know what else is a good word? Retard.”
Astrid flinched like he had hit her.
“My brother is a retard,” Drake mimicked. “I wish I had recorded it. Okay. We’re going to climb in the truck here one by one. Nice and slow.”
“Not without the girl,” Sam said flatly.
“That’s right,” Edilio agreed.
Drake sighed theatrically. “Okay. Pick her up. Throw her in the front seat next to Jack.”
Doing that took some effort. The girl was alive, but not really conscious and was too weak to move.
Quinn had gone rigid with fear and indecision. Sam could see the conflict on his face. Should he stick with Sam or try and ingratiate himself with Drake?
Sam wondered what he would decide. For now, his friend was staring wide-eyed, blank, mouth trembling, eyes darting, looking for an answer.
“It’ll be all right, Quinn,” Sam whispered.
Quinn didn’t even hear him.
Astrid climbed in. She sat directly behind Jack. “I really thought there might be some hope for you, Jack.”
“Nah,” Drake said. “Jack’s like a screwdriver or a pair of pliers. He’s just a tool. He does what we tell him to do.”
Little Pete and Lana shared the middle bench with Astrid. Edilio and Sam were in the back row. Drake pressed the gun to the back of Edilio’s head.
“Your problem’s with me, Drake,” Sam said.
“You might take a chance if it’s only your own life on the line,” Drake said. “But you won’t risk me shooting your pet Mexican here, or your girlfriend.”
They drove in jerks and starts, Jack frequently weaving off the road onto the shoulder. But they didn’t crash, which was Sam’s only hope. They pulled up outside Coates Academy.