What the—
Before I could fight through my shock, he stuck me in the neck with a syringe. The sting... I cringed, a chilling tide sweeping through my veins. I moaned and shivered, unable to fight, my muscles freezing into blocks of ice as I was dragged away.
Camilla watched with a smile of satisfaction. “Buh-bye now.”
Betrayed...mole... My thoughts broke apart.... Everything faded to black....
“It’s okay. It’s all right. I won’t let them take you.”
The soft voice whispered through my head. Helen’s voice.
“I can do more than give, Ali. Remember when I told you I can steal?”
The ice melted, my thoughts realigned, and colors returned to my line of sight. Even as I was being carried away, my mother walked through me once, twice...a third time...passing through me, as Emma had once done, but each time, Helen’s features became a little more pinched, her lips a little more blue...as if she drew the cold out of me and into her.
I tried to move my fingers— Yes! Success! My toes. Again, success.
Helen dropped to the floor, spent. Our eyes met, and I think she began to smile encouragingly. I might never know; she vanished.
Disappointment? Yes, I felt it. Rage? Yes, that, too. And I had a target in mind. Camilla. She would pay for this.
My drug-and-dragger propped me against his thigh as he opened the door of a van.
Twisting, I sucker punched him in the groin. As he hunched over, too agonized to do more than grunt, I straightened and elbowed him in the back of the head. He crashed face-first into the ground. As I attempted to race inside the club, he wrapped his fingers around my ankle, tripping me. I crashed. He was on me in a snap, squeezing my neck so tightly I knew I’d carry the bruises for days.
Rather than try to pry his fingers loose, I reached back...patted my hands over his waist...felt the hilt of a dagger. All I needed. I unsheathed it and stabbed his thigh.
He released me, writhing against the ground.
Suddenly I could breathe. I got up. He didn’t follow.
Heart pounding, I rushed back into the decimated club.
Camilla was helping her brother subdue a trio of zombies, as if she hadn’t just tried to sign my death certificate.
My rage magnified. I pushed out another stream of energy and lifted my arms, zombies catapulting into the air. Camilla paled, scanning the club until her gaze found me.
I stomped toward her. Above me, zombies exploded as I passed. Ash rained like snow. And then all the bodies were gone, the battle over.
But not the war.
“You.” I kicked the gun out of her hand—screw being wise—then kicked her in the chest. She tripped backward.
“What are you doing?” River snarled, stepping in front of his sister. He raised his fist, as if he meant to hit me. “Stop.”
Cole moved in front of me. “I wouldn’t, if I were you.”
“She’s a traitor,” I spat. “She gave me to Anima.”
She shook her head. “No. No, you’re mistaken. You were drugged, didn’t know what was happening around you.”
“How do you know I was drugged, huh? Unless you were out there with me?”
She blanched. “I saw one of the men in the hazmat suits inject you.”
“The man you told to come and get me.” I shouted, “You are the reason the zombies made it onto Mr. Ankh’s property without detection. You are the reason we found nothing but useless junk at the lab. You are the reason the assassin got free.” Dark realization pushed me to add, “You are the reason my weapons have been jamming.”
Her head-shakes became more violent.
Shock registered on River’s features, then fury. “You don’t know what you’re talking about, Bell. My sister isn’t a traitor. You’re mistaken, just like she said.”
“I’m not!” I screamed. A wave of fatigue hit me, but I battled through it. Pushing the energy a second time had been a mistake, but I couldn’t regret it.
“You don’t even look drugged,” River pointed out.
“Doesn’t matter,” Cole said. “It happened exactly as Ali said it did.”
“You didn’t see,” River insisted.
“I didn’t have to. What she says, I believe. End of.”
It was less than a minute later that the club was divided into two camps. Theirs—and ours. River, Camilla and Chance chose one side. My friends and I chose the other. The show of support nearly undid me, because I hadn’t always had it.
“We’re done here,” Cole said. “From this moment on, our association is over. We don’t want information from you, and we’re not offering any.”
River’s hands fisted at his sides. “You’re being unreasonable. Your girl makes an accusation and suddenly there’s no other side to the story? Did you ever stop and think that maybe little Miss Bell is just trying to get my sister out of the way? Your way?”
I pointed at Camilla, my finger trembling. “You’re making a fool of your brother and we both know it. At least love him enough to be honest with him.”