Toxic (Denazen #2)(44)

“The guy you like?” My mouth fell open. Had to give her credit. It took some serious balls to say that. That, or stupidity. “The guy who made it clear he already has a girlfriend? That guy?”

Her annoyed expression melted into smug satisfaction. “In case you haven’t noticed, Kale likes spending time with me. Maybe your girlfriend status isn’t as solid as you think.”

“Kale is being forced to spend time with you. There’s a difference.”

She folded her arms and sat back down. With a flip of her hair, she said, “It didn’t feel forced earlier. Ginger gave him the choice to do something else or hang out with me and practice. Thousand guesses what he picked.”

I snorted. “Practice. Of course he chose that. Ginger told him you’re here to help, and he actually believes it. He wants to learn to control his gift and be done with you, so things can go back to normal.”

I heard the words and even managed to make myself sound totally sure of them, but a little tingle in the back of my brain started poking. They always looked so cozy. Close. Maybe Kale did enjoy spending time with her.

No. That was crazy thinking.

“Hey, whatever you need to tell yourself. Seems to me he likes the new normal just fine.”

“Jam a sock in it,” a cranky voice snapped.

When I turned, Ginger was standing in front of the cell doors with one of the officers that brought us in. Her lips were pressed in a thin line as she slammed her cane into the ground twice, then banged it against the bars.

The officer unlocked the door and pushed it open, stepping aside.

“Thank you, Larry. Give my regards to Lillian, will you?” Turning to us, Ginger snarled, “Get out to the car. Now. Someone my age is supposed to be in bed by seven p.m. Instead, I’m dragging two trouble-making kids out of jail.”

Without a word, I slipped past her and all but ran for the door. Ginger was mostly bark, but there was enough bite in the old woman to have even someone like me worried. She wasn’t the kind of person you wanted to piss off.

“It was Denazen,” I said after Sira—another one of the Sanctuary Sixes—pulled the car from the police lot. “I saw them. Betting they called the cops as a distraction.”

“Which would be exactly why you were all told not to leave the hotel after dark.” Ginger twisted in her seat. “Does that sound familiar?”

I sighed. Normally my first instinct would be to tell her she was overreacting. It was a party. What harm ever came from a teenager sneaking out to a party? But with everything going on, I should have used more caution. Should have known better. I didn’t know if Kiernan had been caught, so I didn’t ask, but Kale was a different story. “Is Kale okay?”

“He’s back at the hotel.” She whirled around to glare at Jade. “Did you stop to think what might happen if you got separated?”

Jade paled. “He didn’t—”

“Nothing happened,” Ginger snapped. She held the redhead’s gaze for a moment before turning around in her seat. Over her shoulder, she mumbled, “But this whole thing could have easily been a disaster.”

We drove the rest of the way in silence. The car pulled up in front of the hotel as Alex’s friend, Dax, Mom, and Kale came bursting from the front door.

“What’s wrong?” Ginger asked, slowly extracting herself and her cane from Sira’s front seat. I hadn’t noticed at the police station, but the tips of her light blue slippers ended in a pair of beady eyes and a bright yellow beak. The smallest of the Angry Birds.

Dax hesitated and shook his head, eyes on me. “Just got a text from Alex. He was at that party.” He clicked a button on his key fob, and the white Chevy on the other side of the lot flashed its headlights and beeped twice. “They chased him into Memorial Park.”

A lump formed in the pit of my stomach. “They? Who, the cops?” Alex had a bad rep with the local PD. One more infraction, and he was going to land in serious hot water.

“They as in Denazen.”





16


Kale sat up front with Dax, while Mom, Jade, and I squeezed into the backseat. I’d expected an argument from Ginger when I flew across the lot to Dax’s car without so much as a word, but she’d stayed silent and disappeared inside the hotel. I bet it was because of something she’d seen. We were all supposed to be at that park. If we weren’t, we would have never gotten out of the parking lot. It would have been comforting if I didn’t know her so well. Even if one of us was slated to bite the big one, she would have let us go simply because it was meant to be.

When we got to the park, Dax rounded us up. He looked at Mom, brows raised, but said nothing.

It was weird. She nodded and tapped her hip as the smallest hint of a smile shadowed her lips.

We split up in hopes of finding Alex faster. Mom went with me and Jade, while Dax took Kale. I was pretty sure if it was anyone other than Alex, Dax might have suggested he and Kale go separately, but I think he was worried about what Kale would do if he found Alex first.

I was a little surprised at first that we’d split. Of all of us, Kale had the only offensive ability, and it made more sense to stick together. It might have made searching slower, but it would be safer. One could argue that Jade was invincible, and Mom was nearly as big a badass as Kale, but it seemed like we’d gone off to battle without any weapons—until I saw the subtle bulge beneath Mom’s shirt. She was carrying.