Toxic (Denazen #2)(46)

Biting down on the inside of my lip, I sniffled. The way he had me against the tree allowed no movement. I was pinned awkwardly beneath all his weight. Even if I struggled with everything I had, I wouldn’t get free. Time for a different tact. “Please…”

“Hold still,” he mumbled, tugging my arms tighter. There was a chance he intended to rip them clean off.

I did exactly as he asked.

Another sniffle and a soft whimper—a real one that time. My left arm was on fire. I let my shoulders shake slightly and inched my right hand out from under me. It hurt like hell, and I had to gnaw on the inside of my lip to keep from screaming.

“Oh, cut the crap, kid. I didn’t hurt you.” He didn’t sound sure.

Perfect.

I shook a little harder and for good measure, added some more sound effects.

The guy seemed to buy it. “Hey, look, everything will be fine. No one wants to hurt you.” I wasn’t sure if he actually believed it, or he was just that good a liar, but it didn’t matter. He was distracted, and that’s what I was aiming for.

Right arm free. There was a branch to the left next to my hip. Just a few more inches, and it’d be in my hand. “You wanna kill me,” I whined. “Do all sorts of experiments to see what makes me tick.”

I must have stumped him because he hesitated. “Experiments? Um, we’re not like Area 51, kid. We’re trying to help.”

Help. Yeah. And I was the Dalai Lama in drag. More sniffles. “You—you swear?”

One.

More.

He loosened his hold. “Yeah.”

Inch.

My fingers closed around the branch, and I twisted hard. The wood broke free from the trunk, and I focused on the memory of the metal piping in the hotel basement Ginger had Alex and me scrub as part of our detention duty. The rough bark smoothed out and evened, becoming cool to the touch. The moon danced from behind the clouds, and the stick-turned-thin-metal-pipe gleamed in its light.

“Liar,” I spat, twisting. The pipe flew up—a projectile with all my strength behind it, aimed at his head. I had to bite my tongue to keep from yelping when something stretched in a way nature hadn’t intended, and a sharp pain shot from my elbow to my neck. The metal connected with an echoing zing, sending Mr. Clueless stumbling backward.

He would have hit the ground if someone hadn’t been standing there to help him.

Kale caught the man, bare fingers wrapping tight around his neck. In one graceful turn, he slammed the suit into the tree behind them. Crumbling on impact, the body dissolved into a billion ash-like particles that scattered away in the breeze.

Kale brushed the dusty remnants of the man from his hoodie and closed the distance until there was only about half a foot separating us. Maybe less. Icy blue irises filled every inch of my vision. “Did he hurt you?”

His voice was calm, but there was an edge to it. Tension. Shoulders taut, he kept his arms board straight and his eyes on me. Twice I could have sworn his fingers twitched.

“I’m fine,” I whispered, dropping the pipe. The metal clattered against a rock and rolled before falling silent on the ground between us. It ended up in a perfect horizontal line, and I couldn’t help admiring the irony. Lately the universe seemed intent on throwing things in our way. “You?”

He moved closer. “They’re ill-equipped to deal with me. None of them are wearing safe suits.”

I swallowed. In my mind there was a flashing neon sign above Kale’s head that said, Do Not Touch. Still, I almost did it, anyway. For a second, I didn’t care what would happen. I just wanted to feel his skin against mine—even if it was the last thing I did. “Dax?”

Sleeve pulled over his fingertips, he brushed the hair from my face. “Being away from you made me uneasy. I left him to find you.”

I wanted to argue that leaving Dax alone to find me wasn’t the right thing to do, but it was pointless. If I wanted to be totally honest with myself, had I been with anyone other than my mom, I would have done the same thing.

Something moved in the brush beyond the picnic tables. Sleeve still secured over his skin, Kale took my arm and started walking down the path toward the cliffs. “We should find Alex and the others. There are seven Denazen men in this park right now. More are likely on the way. If they know I’m here, I have no doubts they’ll come better prepared.”

“Seven? Are you sure? How do you know?”

He shrugged. “I saw them. There are seven.”

Someone stepped onto the path in front of us. “Seven Denazen men. That’s not including—”

Then another someone. “Sixes, yeah?”

“I swear,” I mumbled, stopping short. “I must have been Jack the Ripper in another life. I’m being punished.”

“Nice to see you again, girly,” Able said. The gash on his head had been cleaned and left to the open air. It went from the tip of his ear and disappeared under his hairline just above the right eye. A swell of pride filled me—I’d gotten him good. He saw me looking and tapped the side of his head. Without his usual, taunting smile, he said, “I owe you for this.”

Kale stepped in front of me, the corner of his lip curling up. He looked between them, eyes falling on Able. There hadn’t been much time before the accident for Kale to study the twins, but somehow he could tell them apart. “You were driving the van.”