It had been hours since Egon dropped me off, and I still hadn’t heard from Kathryn’s parents. I felt like lying in bed and crying myself to sleep. But I couldn’t. I had to do something. Then I remembered Tammy’s Amplifier. Maybe it had answers to this whole mess.
I got up and dug through my purse, but I only found one Amplifier. Mine, in the hidden pocket. I searched my gown—nothing. I grabbed my purse again, ripped it open, and dumped it on my comforter.
“Where is it?” I screamed, sitting angrily on my bed. Just then, I heard my phone ring. I had left it in the kitchen when I came up to my room. I looked at the clock. One-thirty in the morning. I heard footsteps coming toward my room and my heart froze.
“Baby?” Dad stuck his head into my room, holding out my cell. “It’s Bobby.” He sat down beside me and put his arm around me.
“Bobby, how is she?” I asked, terrified of what I might hear.
“Kitty overdosed. Psychedone 10.” Bobby’s voice was thick. “She fractured her skull when she fell. They aren’t sure she’s going to make it.”
My chest seized, and a single loud sob escaped my mouth. “Bobby, no!”
I leaned against my dad and felt him trembling, but quickly realized it was me. My whole body fluttered with helplessness. With rage. Images of Kathryn’s bloody head hung in my mind. I felt like an invisible blanket had separated me from everything that’s fair in the world. My dad pulled me close. “You okay, baby?”
“No, Daddy.” I looked up into my dad’s eyes, then buried myself in his arms and totally fell apart.
Chapter Twenty-three
Justice League Move Over
I strode down the hall, alone without Kathryn, and feeling very dangerous. I hadn’t made it to the Academy all weekend, and I needed exercise. Something strenuous, like slamming an evil bozoid into the wall hard enough to leave a moosh mark.
Tammy Angel.
Chew said it was him. Meaning Scallion. Of course she wouldn’t know a Knight’s true identity. She would assume Scallion was a guy. But I knew otherwise. I would find Angel and force her to reveal her identity to the whole school. And maybe learn something about Nicolaitan, so I could pluck off his arms and legs like a bug.
Yeah, I was feeling pretty nasty. PMS would have been a major improvement to the mood I was in.
“Hey, Peroxide.”
The disgustingly familiar voice broke my concentration. I really hated that voice. What an unexpected stroke of luck. I turned and glared.
Tammy Angel and the Red Team surrounded me. How thoughtful. An early practice session. Suddenly my day was just a little cheerier.
“Ooh,” Tammy said, “Peroxide’s an unhappy girl. I understand your best friend overdosed and busted her head on, of all things, a toilet? You know how shocked we all are. And just so you know, we think that Kathryn being a user is, well, uncool.”
A powerful mental surge whipped uncontrollably through my body. A fireball of psychic force rocketed down my arm, but I quenched it. As much as I knew I’d enjoy it, sending the Red Team into oblivion with a Mental Blast would be considered bad form by the Kilodan.
Tammy was as cool and beautiful as ever. So was Boot. But Agatha was visibly on edge. Maybe I could push her over it. “You should be proud, if what Rubric said is true,” I lied. “He told everybody you sold it to her.”
“Oh, Art Rubric!” Tammy started to laugh. “Give me a break. Everyone knows he’s the dealer. He doesn’t have the brains to blame somebody else.”
“He doesn’t need brains. We all saw you fall on your butt last night. Bloodshot eyes. Talking like your mouth was full of marshmallows.”
Tammy looked confused. “What are you talking about? I never fell.”
“Too high to remember? What happened to ‘Users are Losers’? I suppose you don’t remember stumbling out of the bathroom while Kathryn was in there unconscious.” Agatha’s face became a mask of fear. That was all I needed.
“Stop the lies, Peroxide.” Tammy faked a yawn. “You’re boring me.”
“I’m not boring Agatha, though, am I? Tell me what you saw last night, Chew. What happened to Kathryn?”
“I can’t. He’ll kill me!”
“That’s a merry-go-round ride compared to what I’m planning.”
“Shut up,” Tammy snapped.
“Did I strike a nerve?” Time to see what was on their minds. I couldn’t scan Tammy. She would sense the psychic energy and know I was a Psi Fighter. But someone without Mental Arts skills wouldn’t notice anything but a totally lame assault. “Let me strike another one.”
I grabbed Agatha by the arm and was jolted as though I had clamped onto a hot wire. Scanning minds was like touching a high voltage electric fence. As I pulled on Agatha’s memories, frightful visions of a skull-faced figure flashed across my mind. I released her arm. She was stupid enough to be fooled by Angel’s disguise, but I wasn’t.
Boot squealed mockingly, “Oh, please, no! Don’t squeeze my arm, too, you big bully.”
“Was that supposed to scare me?” Agatha snapped, obviously as a show for Tammy and Boot. “Because it didn’t.”