Pop-Tart? Because I’m packed with fruit and super tasty? Thanks. “And that is?”
“Someone...” He thought for a moment, shrugged. “Not out of a kid’s storybook.”
And that, ladies and gentlemen, is what you call a third-degree burn.
Why did people always compare me to some fainting, animal-whispering princess too weak to save herself? Would it have killed someone to call me the nasty, village-destroying dragon? I had bite, dang it!
Cole stiffened. “Apologize.” That single word came with a wealth of fury. “Now.”
“But I didn’t do anything,” I pointed out.
He rolled his eyes. “Not you. Him.”
“For speaking the truth?” Greek asked, genuinely curious.
“There’s truth, and there’s the delivery of the truth. I didn’t like your delivery.”
Now Greek was the one to roll his eyes. “Please tell me you aren’t one of those people who subscribes to the ‘say something nice or stay silent’ philosophy.”
“I’m one of those people who comes in peace...until it’s time to leave everyone in pieces.”
Greek pressed his lips into a thin line. He’d just been threatened in his own backyard. Frosty’s prison rules, which all boys seemed to know instinctively, probably had a correct way to respond—and I had a feeling I was about to see it firsthand.
“You want a fight?” Greek said. “Done. But you won’t emerge unscathed.”
Yep. That.
“I want that apology,” Cole said. “To start.”
Greek looked from Cole to me, me to Cole, different emotions pulsing from him. My spirit recognized them and informed my brain. Anger, amusement, affront, remorse, envy.
Why envy? Had he lost someone he loved? Someone he’d once defended?
Surprisingly enough, he settled on amusement. “Very well. My apologies, Miss Ali. Next time, there will be no references to princesses. Only wicked witches.”
“Appreciate it.” Now, then. I brought us back to the proper track. “You must be River. I’ve heard so little about you, and to be honest, even that is starting to seem like too much.”
He grinned. “Well, there’s a little fire in you after all. That’s good.”
A little? “Baby, you have no idea.”
The grin slowly widened. “You have questions for me, I’m sure, just as I have answers for you. But first, you’re going to have to prove you are who you say you are.”
Big shocker. “I’m sure you’re not referring to a driver’s license.”
“Correct.”
“You called me by name. You know who we are,” I pointed out, “or we wouldn’t be here.”
He shrugged. “You’re still going to have to prove it.”
“We’ve got this,” Cole whispered to me.
“I know just the thing.” River rubbed his hands together and said, “You’re going to experience a little something we call Fright Night.”
Chapter 12
MY ZOMBIE ATE YOUR
HONOR STUDENT
The sea of people parted again, revealing a round chain-link fence with a dome overtop. Curiosity and dread competed for dominance as I trudged forward, Cole at my side. We stopped at the edge of the circle, looking down...down...into a pit.
There was no one inside it. But there was blood on the walls.
I frowned. “Do you make your crew members fight each other?”
River claimed the spot at my other side. “Every so often. For punishment. Mostly, though, slayers fight zombies.”
Then some of those slayer-versus-zombie battles were physical rather than spiritual. Which was totally possible. For Anima.
“You’re working with the enemy.” They were the only ones who’d found a way to make the zombies solid to flesh, using collars that emitted those electrical pulses.
Hisses all around me.
“No,” River said, and for the first time there was a dangerous bite to his tone. “We’d like to burn the company and all of its employees to the ground. So work with them? I’d rather let crows eat my internal organs.”
Nice. “You hate Anima that fiercely, but you don’t mind using their technology?”
He patted me on the head. “Using their technology is smart, angel cakes. It helps us understand what they’re doing and how we can better defeat them.”
Okay. That, I understood.
“She isn’t your angel cake, or your Pop-Tart,” Cole snapped. “She’s mine.”
Don’t laugh. Or snicker.
“Yeah,” I said. “I’m his.” And okay, I snickered. But only a little!
Cole flicked me an irritated glance. I batted my lashes at him, all what did I do now?
“I could have her if I wanted her,” River said, his ego bared for everyone to see, “but I don’t, so this argument is pointless.”
Could he, perhaps, be related to Gavin?
And, seriously. He could suck it.
“Only an idiot wouldn’t want her.” Uh-oh. Cole was getting worked into another rage. “Are you saying you’re an idiot?”
River’s brow wrinkled. “Now you’re trying to talk me into making a move?”
Boys!