"That's a compliment coming from you," Luke quipped.
Cranston turned around and flung himself at the window. The glass crashed at the same moment Cal fired off a shot. It struck Cranston in the shoulder, but the werewolf secretary was already half transformed and loping off across the yard. Cal turned to his men and jerked his head toward Cranston. "Get him!" The two suits took off out the window.
The pursued and the pursuers disappeared into the night, and I collapsed against the nearest bookcase. I ran my hand through my tussled hair and shook my head. "Can't we go anywhere without somebody trying to kill us or frame us for murder?"
23
"This isn't over yet," Luke interrupted my moaning.
I cringed. "Don't tell me. The whole city is going to learn we shot the secretary to their lord and they're going to come after us with pitchforks and knives."
"Other than the pitchforks and knives, you're probably not far off," Stacy spoke up. She slipped back onto her edge of the desk and flung off her mask. "With my father under Cranston and Lance's control we'll be accused of high treason. If you'll all remember, Cranston was sent by High Lord Simpling to help my father."
"Like hell I'm going to be accused of shooting him when I meant to kill that bastard," Cal growled. He pocketed the gun in his goofy costume and looked at our late companions. "And how the hell did you two end up with my guards?" he wondered.
"We found your guards partaking of the food in the dining hall. They are covered in your scent, and our questioning them about your whereabouts reminding them of their duty," Alistair explained to him.
"And one nose led to another mess," Baker spoke up. He strode over to the window and looked out. The commotion of the broken glass hadn't disturbed the ruckus of the party in the ballroom further down the house. He glanced over his shoulder at Luke. "Can't you stay out of trouble for one second?"
Luke shrugged. "I'm popular with our enemies."
I folded my arms and glared at my mate. "And speaking of our enemies, when the hell were you going to tell me about you and Lance?" I growled.
His good humor slipped off his face and he turned away. "When the time was right."
"I think that time was a few weeks ago," I argued.
Luke's voice was so soft I could barely hear his reply. "It's not something I'm pride to tell anyone," he answered me.
"Brooding later, getting out of here now," Stacy piped up. She nodded at the window and gave one of Cranston's men on the ground a good quick. He groaned, but didn't wake up. "Somebody's going to notice all this mess and ask questions."
"Do we have to worry about these idiots killing themselves?" Baker wondered.
Stacy shook her head. "I doubt it. With Cranston leading them these guys were here on official business and their accounts of our fighting them will be useful to Cranston's cause."
"So the guys we wish were alive are dead, and these guys we wish were dead are going to live?" I surmised.
"Unfortunately, yes," Stacy agreed with me.
"What are we gabbing around here for?" Leonor interrupted us. She grabbed an arm from Stacy and Cal, and herded them toward the study door. "Let's get out of here before we're answering questions nobody wants to be hearing."
Luke grabbed me, and Alistair and Baker followed us. We stepped into the hall and Leonor took a hard right out the rear door to the gardens. There were dozens of guests strolling along graveled walks through a menagerie of bushes made of animals and bubbling fountains. There was even a large hedge maze with thick walls of bushes. We hurriedly strolled a few dozen yards from the house and stopped near the opening to the hedge maze.
It was there where Cal's two guards found us, out of breath but with enough air to tell us more "wonderful" news." "He eluded us with his lack of scent and returned to the house," the largest of the guards reported to Cal. "We watched him hurry to up to the host and tell him something that alerted the man."
"How did you know to go back to the house?" Cal asked them.
The man frowned and shook his head. "At some point he got back his scent and we followed that from the driveway through the front doors."
Cal turned to us. "Cranston talking with the host means bad news for me, and worse for you people." he commented.
"So where do we go from here?" I asked the large group.
A commotion from the door we just left answered my question, especially when Cranston, followed by his now-conscious patrol, broke through the door. I could smell the men from where we stood, telling me they'd also somehow found their scents again. Cranston glanced around and his sniffer caught us. He turned to his followers and pointed a finger. "There they are!" Cranston yelled.
"That's our cue to run!" Luke commanded us. He pulled me into the maze while everyone else scattered to the other three corners of the gardens. Cal took his guards with him, Leonor was dragged off by Stacy, and Baker and Alistair paired for the last corner.
We split our enemy's forces into four groups, but Cranston decided Luke and I were the meatier targets. He led one of his guards into the maze after us. Luke had to pull me along because my damn dress kept tripping me. I risked a glance over my shoulder and my eyes widened when I saw Cranston and his guard half changed into their werewolf forms.
"Luke, we have two furry problems!" I yelled at him.
"Then let's get two furry solutions!" he called back. His hand holding me lengthened and hair burst from his skin. I followed suit and felt my body shift and change. My dress tore open as my muscles expanded and my limbs lengthened. I fell on all fours and loped beside Luke. Our only advantage was our head-start into the maze, but they followed our scents like the wolves they were.
We were a few turns ahead when a voice above and ahead of us interrupted our running. "You two look like you could use some help," someone spoke up. Luke slid to a stop, whipped his head up and growled, and I followed his gaze. Emily, in her human form and chewing gum, sat atop the bushes like the Cheshire Cat from Wonderland. She sat up and smirked at us. "Don't be like that. I'm here to help," she whispered.
"Help yourself," I mumbled.
Emily frowned. "You don't have time to argue with me." She dropped down close to us, and Luke snarled. She held up her hands. "Trust me or let them catch you," she put forward. He stepped back and she rolled her eyes. "I don't like you, but I don't like Cranston, and this is my chance to get back at his not letting me capture you."
We heard the pounding of the pads from our pursuers. Another minute and they'd be on top of us. "Well? Which is it?" she persisted. Luke continued to frown, but didn't growl. She stepped forward and snatched pieces from each of our costumes. Then she jerked her head behind her. "Take the left route and I'll take the right with these." She held up our shreds. "That will give you a better chance, but the rest of it is your problem."
Luke eyed her very carefully, and gave a nod. "Thank you," he replied.
She scoffed. "I don't want your thanks, I just want that Cranston taken down a notch. Now get out of here."
Luke sprinted forward and I ran after him. The way ahead branched out like she said it would, and Luke took the right direction. "But she said the left!" I reminded him.
"She can take the left," he told me.
We raced through the maze zig-zagging around corners and down short straights. Our path took us farther away from the house and I was relieved to neither smell nor hear any signs of being followed. After ten minutes of running we reached a dead end with freedom from the maze just on the other side. Luke stopped and looked at me. "We have to jump the wall," he ordered me.
I cringed, but nodded. "I'll try," I replied.
"Don't try, do," he persisted. He focused his attention on the wall of shrubbery and hunkered down. His legs tensed, and in a blink of an eye he sprang upward and landed cleanly atop the bushes. He turned around and looked to me. "Hurry before we're seen."
"Don't rush me," I hissed. I hunched down so my belly touched the ground and my eyes zoomed in on the spot beside
Luke. I rolled my eyes when my tail wagged, but I ignored it and tensed my leg muscles. With a great leap I jumped up and sailed over the top of the walls.
The only problem was I forgot to jump forward far enough to land beside Luke. My front paws hit the top, but my back legs scratched at air until my stomach hit the side of the bushes. I whimpered and tried to pull myself up, but my body was a little too heavy. Luke grabbed the rough of my neck and yanked me onto the top. We had a grand view of the grounds, but didn't see our enemies nor our friends. Luke jumped off the wall, and I followed. He led us across the final twenty yards of grass to the rear fence.
I looked up at the eight-foot tall, spiked metal bars and cringed. "I don't think you can pull me over that," I commented.
"Don't have to." He nodded toward a nearby tree who's branches stretched over the fence.
We jumped and clawed our way up the trunk and onto one of those limbs, then tiptoed across to jump the long distance to the ground on the other side of the fence. I breathed a sigh of relief, but only got that short break before Luke was off again. He led me through the nice streets and back into the less hygienic ones. I caught up to him and looked around.
"Where. . .now?" I gasped.
"Now we get back to the apartment," he replied.
I skidded to a stop and my long jaw dropped open. "But Cranston already knows about that place. He sent that last message there, remember?" I argued.
Luke "Yes, and he probably ordered the place wrecked to keep us from returning, but he didn't count on one thing," Luke countered.
"What's that?"
"Our desperation, now let's go." Luke loped away. I rolled my eyes, but followed him.
24
Without a taxi and with only our noses to guide us, the trip back to the dingy apartment building took an hour. We came to the last corner and Luke stopped there. I stopped against his hip and growled at him. "Quiet," he warned me. He stuck his head around the corner and I heard his sniffer going. "It's clear, but keep your ears and eyes open. They may have that de-scenter," he reminded me.
We slunk around the corner and across the dark street to the apartment. The door hanging by its hinges wasn't even hanging by its hinges anymore. Someone had bashed it in, and didn't stop there. The crummy interior was now a wrecked crummy interior with fist holes in the walls, feet prints in the floor boards, and a couple of dead men around the front desk.
Wait, that wasn't right.
I blinked to make sure I wasn't seeing things. Yep, there really were three dead men around the front desk. They had shotgun pellets to the face and chests, and their clothes were torn. Well, except for the distinctive red armbands on their arms. Those matched the color of their blood that stained the floor around them.
"Um, I don't think I'm that desperate to be here," I quipped.
At that moment a figure arose from behind the desk and leveled a shotgun at our faces. "Not another step, ya dogs," Rick growled.
"Rick, it's us!" I yelped.
"We're Stacy's friends," Luke reminded him.
The man peered closely at us and furrowed his brow. "Prove it by getting out of those skins."
With that barrel aimed at us I barely wanted to breathe, much less de-transform. "Can't you just smell us?" I asked him.
"I'm a human, not a hairball, now get back to your human selves," he demanded.
"Did you go to the station like I asked?" Luke spoke up. "I asked you to pick up something for Smithton. Was there anything there?"
Rick paused, and he slowly lowered the gun. "Ah guess you're who ya say ya are, but why didn't ya ask me that sooner?" he scolded.
Luke breathed a sigh of relief and chuckled. "It's hard to think with that shotgun aimed at us and the evidence of your work on the floor." He nodded at the bodies. "What happened here?"
Rick sneered at the corpses. "These guys came in here after you left and tried to mess the place up. Guess they weren't expecting me to have silver in my shotgun because they dropped without a fight."
"Did you find out what they wanted?" Luke asked him.
Rick pointed the barrel of his gun at the ceiling. "There's only one thing they'd want in this place, and it wasn't the termites." He glanced past us at the door. "Speaking of which, where is she? And what about the other two with you?"
"We were hoping they'd be here already," I chimed in.
"You get into trouble somewhere?" Rick guessed.
"They almost pinned an assassination on us," Luke replied. He stretched himself and changed back into his human form. Underneath his baggy costume he wore the spandex suit. I followed his lead and showed off my own stretchy suit. It still fit comfortably as advertised, but my tender feet wished the material stretched over the soles.
Rick pursed his lips and shook his head. "That sounds like a mess. So you got separated on the run-out and haven't seen them since?"
"Exactly. Is there a place you can hide us until we hear from our friends?" Luke wondered.
Rick leaned over the desk and looked past us. "Ya might not need to do that. Here comes a messenger." We turned around and saw a young boy of sixteen hurry up the stoop and into the lobby. He noticed the bodies and stopped dead in his tracks. "It's all right, Steve, they were attacking me," Rick comforted him.
Steve's eyes narrowed when he noticed the armbands. "The reds?" he guessed.
"Yep, but have you got anything for me?" Rick asked him.
"Oh, right. This just came." Steve fished out a crumpled note and handed it to Rick. "And I've got another one. It's for some Luke guy who's supposed to be here," Steve replied. He glanced at Luke. "You Luke?"
"Yes, but who's it from?" Luke questioned the young boy.
"Miss Stacy," he told us.
I frowned and turned to Luke, who had a small smile on his lips. "How'd she know we'd be here?" I asked him.
Luke shrugged. "We've been friends for a long time. I'm sure she thought I would outsmart-"
"She said you'd be the only one stubborn enough to come back here," Steve interrupted.
I barked out a laugh. "Well, we don't have to doubt it's from her," I quipped.
Steve held out a note, and Luke took it and read the contents. I glanced over his shoulder and read it myself.
* * *
Luke - We left our troubles behind and regrouped outside the maze. Callean and Leonor are going into hiding, but will provide financial support for the greens and try to free my father. Meet us at the plant in two weeks. - Stacy
* * *
P.S. To prove this is really from me, Baker sends his regards and says you two attract trouble.
* * *
"That sounds like Baker," I commented.
"And like trouble," Luke added.
"Then you might not want to read this," Rick spoke up. He pulled a crumpled letter from his pocket and held it out. "I got this from the station like you asked."
Luke took that letter, but this time he summarized the note. "It's from Brier. He says there is a Protector missing and Baker is wanted for questioning. Simpling is blaming the Green Party. He's agitating for a ban on the party, and Burnbaum has already left Wolverton to avoid arrest on charges of treason." Luke crumpled the letter and ground his teeth together. "They're closing the trap on all of us."
"Your trap's worse than your friends," Rick spoke up. He held his own note tightly between his fingers. "Cranston's called for your arrest for attempting to assassinate him."
"I wish. . ." I grumbled.
"Is it a command to the patrols or the reds?" Luke asked him.
"Both, and he's spreading your face through the news to try to get others to turn you in," Rick replied.
Luke pursed his lips. "It won't be easy hiding from an entire city to get to the plant," he mused.
"What plant are we trying to get to? A dandelion?" I quipped.
"The main plant in Mullen's district. Stacy no doubt has her suspicions about chemicals being used on her father to control his mind." He shook his head. "But I don't know
how we'll avoid an entire city to get to the train."
A grin slipped onto my face. "We can always bring back Lucretia," I teased.
His face fell and he looked to Rick. "Do you have a truck we can buy?" he pleaded.
Rick shook his head. "Nope, but he does." He nodded at Steve, who's face drained of its color.
"I-I don't want to get into too much trouble," the boy stammered.
"It might be a good idea to give these two a lift to get yourself away from here," Rick suggested. He strode around the desk, shotgun still in hand, and walked over to stand beside one of the front broken windows. His eyebrows crashed down and he frowned. "Yep, just as Ah thought. Reds are out there watching the place. Probably wondering where their buddies are."
"Then our best chance to get out of this is to use your truck," Luke told Steve. "Is there room enough in the cab for us?"
"Ah think you'd be better in the bed while he drives off," Rick spoke up. "Where'd you park the beast, Steve?"
"Where I usually do. Out back," Steve replied.
"Then ya three better go out the back way and get out of the city before the fellows in the front decide they're tired of waiting," Rick insisted. He strode past us and down a hall that led to the rear of the building. Steve followed, but Luke turned to me.
"This might not be easy," he told me.
I snorted. "Is anything we've done tonight easy? What's one more adventure for the night?" I returned.
"No, but we didn't have the entire city looking for us," he pointed out.
I smiled and bumped my shoulder against his. "So you and me versus a city? I like those odds."
He grinned and wrapped his arm around me. "I promise when this is all over I'll take us on a really long vacation."
"I've always wanted to see Ireland," I mused.
"If you two are done with your travel plans, you've got a truck to catch," Rick called from the hall.
Luke stepped back and offered me the crux of his arm. "Shall we?"
I looped my arm through his and grinned. "My pleasure."
25
We strolled down the hall arm-in-arm and followed Rick to the end of the hall where stood a rickety old back door. It stood open and showed rotten steps that led to a dank alley and a parked truck. Correction, monster truck. The thing had huge wheels with suspensions raised sixteen inches higher than it needed to be. The frame was a fortress of metal reinforced with steel, and the glass was thicker than Leonor's glasses. Steve sat in the tank-like cab and behind the cab was a long bed with high sides. Luke led me around to the rear where we found there was a flimsy strip of wood for a tailgate and a large tarp in the wet bed.