Toxic (Denazen #2)(63)

“What, exactly, did she say when she called?” I’d made sure to sit in the front seat. I didn’t trust myself to sit in the back with Jade and not strangle her. The entire walk to the car, she’d made snide comments about my hair—which was still a funky shade of green. If it wasn’t for the fact that everyone was watching, I’d have hauled off and decked her, not that it would have done any good. Kicking the ass of someone you couldn’t actually hurt was pretty pointless. But I was willing to give it my all. I was nothing if not determined.

Alex pocketed his keys and came around to the passenger side of the car.

Hands on hips, Kiernan said, “Not much. This is Rosie we’re talking about. Queen of the cryptic and annoying. She just said something was wrong and get back ASAP. She sounded scared though.”

“Something’s so not right about this.” I pulled off my shoes. Kiernan had convinced me to wear heels, and with my swimming head and unstable equilibrium, it’d been a miracle that I hadn’t face-planted yet. I wasn’t taking any chances. The heels fell to the pavement with a subtle clomp, and I started for the door, but Alex stopped me.

“Don’t you think you should wait out here?”

I looked around. Kale was glaring daggers at Alex, who was staring at me like I’d lost my mind. Jade was eye-humping Kale like a lovesick puppy while Kiernan looked ready to kick her ass.

Seriously. Worse-timed drama ever.

“Why the hell would I stay out here?”

“Maybe we should split up? A few of us go around to the back?” Kiernan turned to me. “Ginger gave you the compactor door key, right? You and I could try to get in that way while the others try the Dumpster door.”

“Yeah, but—”

“We stay together,” Kale said, taking the lead.

No one argued—including Alex. You couldn’t dispute the facts. And the facts were, Kale was trained for this kind of thing. Breaking and entering. Sneak attacks. All-around ninja stuff. Alex could name each member of every nineties alternative band ever formed. Kale could kick all their asses. It just was what it was.

We found the main doors open, which might have been simply odd anyplace else, but at the Sanctuary? It was freaking scary. Because Denazen was a constant threat, Ginger went to extreme lengths in regards to security, and I was pretty sure after the van thing, she’d beefed it up even more. The hotel was normally locked up tighter than Scrooge McDuck’s money pit.

Kale stopped just inside the door, staying perfectly still.

“What is it?” I whispered.

After a few moments passed, Kale said, “Something is wrong.”

“Wow,” Alex hissed. “Figured that out all on your own, did you?”

“Where is everyone?” Kiernan grabbed my hand and squeezed. “Because this is seriously squicky…”

Kiernan’s hand. That was it!

Although it irritated me to do it, I grabbed Alex’s hand. “As cheesy as this is gonna sound, everyone join hands.”

Alex looked from my face to our tangled fingers and smirked. “As much as I like this, I’m thinking now’s not the time to sing ‘Kumbaya.’”

Kale growled.

“Idiot. Kiernan can make us all invisible. We can move through the hotel and check things out without being seen.” I turned to Kiernan. “Right? Or is it too many people?”

She winked at me. Since coming to the Sanctuary, Kiernan’s ability had gotten a little stronger. When we’d first met over the summer, she could only blend in to her surroundings if she was still or moved slowly. Now she had much more range of motion.

“Nah. I’m awesome like that.” Everyone’s hands linked, there was the slighted hint of a ripple in the air, and Kiernan smiled. “We’re good to go.”

As we made our way through the lobby, around Rosie’s desk, and down the hall, I tried not to think about Kale holding Jade’s hand. It was out of necessity—that was all. There were more important things to focus on. Like the complete and total lack of light and the eerie silence that filled the air.

Part of me wanted to think we were overreacting. Just a power outage. Rosie had just called to ruin our night. We’d find her sitting in the kitchen with a cup of coffee and a magazine, and she’d say, Sorry. False alarm. Happened all the time. She lived to find new ways to annoy me. Kind of like the way I’d loved to piss Dad off. It was more than a hobby. It was a way of life.

Another part knew better.

We reached the end of the hall where it opened into the common room and froze. Thanks to the emergency lights lining the ceiling, we could see it was a wreck. The TV was on the floor, shattered—again. This was crazy. At this rate, we would singlehandedly keep Samsung in business! The coffee table was broken, too, splintered bits and pieces all over. The lounge chair was tipped on its side, and the couch was knocked up against the far wall, cushions strewn around the room like discarded toys. It looked ten times worse than when Kale and Alex went at it—and that was saying a lot.

Kale sighed. “Dez?”

I swallowed. The dark in his voice made me nervous. “Yeah?”

“Get back, please.”

And then hell broke loose.

Kale released Jade’s hand, which broke the connection to Kiernan, rendering him totally visible. Diving for something on the floor—one of the severed table legs—he swung up into the darkness. The bone-crunching thunk echoed through the room as the wood connected with something.