Chapter IX
"What are your names?" She asked as I handed her a towel. Zu climbed up from where she had been digging in the back and produced a paint splattered sheet.
"It's alright; you can talk to me..." The girl said.
"Be quiet," I hissed, already regretting the decision. Zu put a finger to her lips, going for the more polite approach. She tossed the sheet over the girl's head, and then we both climbed back into our respective seats.
Just in time too; the boys had come back. I heard their voices talking outside the car and I wondered once again if it was the best idea to help this girl.
"—I swear to God it was her, Liam!" Chubs tense voice cut through. He rolled open the back door and sat down next to Zu. "And look, I told you they'd beat us back. Suzume, Aspen, did you guys run into trouble?"
The drivers door opened and Liam's worried blue eyes and ashy blonde hair came into view. He let out a relieved sigh.
"Thank God," he said in relief. His Southern accent was always stronger when he was worried, I noticed. "Come on, come on, come on, get in. I don't know what's going on but I don't want to stay long enough to find out. The skip-tracers were bad enough—"
"Why won't you just admit that it was her?" Chubs snapped. I looked at Liam in surprise.
"What do you mean, 'her'?" I asked.
"Because we ditched her days ago, that's why—"
Liam cut his sentence off when a female voice yelled,
"Ruby! Ruby!"
My eyes flashed and I stared at Zu.
"What in the world?" Chubs said, staring out of the window at the shine of a gun. "Is that what I think it is?"
A gunshot rang through the night; Liam and I locked eyes, terror reflecting in both of them. Another rang out, narrowly missing the car.
"Stop!" The woman screamed. "Don't shoot—!"
"LEE!"
"I know, I know!" The engine sputtered to life, and the squeal of the tires wasn't far behind. "Zu, Aspen, seatbelts!"
"Why aren't you telling Chubs that?" I argued, strapping the belt over my neck.
"Because Chubs is literally a grandpa living in a seventeen year olds body, he doesn't need me to tell him it!"
"What, and I do?"
"Idiots, this isn't the time for argument!"
"Right, right," Liam said. "Girls, did something happen back at the gas station?" The urgency was in his voice. Not panic; at least, not yet. Chubs was... a slightly different story.
"Oh, my God, more skip-tracers? What, were they having a freaking convention? You realize what would have happened if we'd been caught, right?" Chubs railed. I couldn't help but agree. I mentally smacked myself. How foolish could I get? This girl had led adults to us, the main danger for kids now, whether her intention was deliberate or not. "And they were shooting at us! Shooting! With a gun!"
"Typically that is what people shoot with nowadays," I said dryly. Zu giggled at my comment.
"Well I'm glad you find it amusing," Chubs huffed. "Do you know what happens when you get shot, Suzume? The bullet rips through—"
"Chubs!" Liam and I said in unison.
"Settle down, okay? We're fine. That was a little bit closer than I would have liked, but still. We'll just have to make better mistakes tomorrow, right ladies?"
Chubs let out a strangled groan and I smiled slightly.
"Next time maybe we should all go in one group to get food. You guys aren't hurt, right?"
The conversation lulled until Liam said,
"Did it sound like they were looking for someone to you?"
"No, it sounded like they were shooting at us!"
"I heard another kid with them," I said softly. "It seemed like he was working with them, though..."
"Let's just forget about it for now," Liam sighed. "We have a number of things to worry about, but let's just try to focus on finding East River— hey, I can't see out the back window when you—" Liam's words choked off as he did a double-take.
Betty lurched to the right as he spun around, taking the wheel with him. Chubs let out a strangled noise as the car careened toward the right right of the road, and I screeched as my head smacked into Liam's shoulder.
Liam slammed on the brakes and I gasped as my seatbelt locked across me. The girl flew forward and ended up right next to Chubs, who immediately glared at her.
Liam has gone pale and was opening and closing his mouth; me and Zu both have her equal looks of exasperation. The girl started pulling at the door handle, but of course it wouldn't budge.
"Girls!" Liam cried. He gave us both accusatory looks. I had the decency to at least look guilty, but Zu just glanced down at her lap like a perfect little angel.
"We all agreed— no strays. That's why we didn't take the kittens!"
"We should've kept the kittens," I muttered.
"Oh, for the love of..." Liam slumped down in his seat, pressing his face to his hands. "What were we going to do with a box of kittens?"
"Maybe if that black heart of yours hadn't been willing to leave the to starve, we could have found them new, loving homes."
Liam gave me and Chubs looks of pure amazement. "You guys are never going to get over those cats, are you?"
"They were innocent, defenseless kittens and you left them outside someone's mailbox! A mailbox!"
"Chubs, Aspen," Liam groaned. "Come on."
I ended up in a three way staring contest with Liam and Chubs, with Zu watching it all unfold. I had almost forgotten about the girl until she slammed her palm against the window.
"Excuse me!" She interrupted. "Can you please unlock the door?"
I stared at her. Hadn't I just risked so much to let her in the bloody car? Why did she want to leave now?
Liam turned to her, his expression serious, but not suspicious — yet. This girl wasn't really making things easier for herself, though.
"Are you the one they were looking for? Ruth?"
"Ruby," Chubs corrected.
"Right. Ruby."
"Just unlock the door please!" Ruby pleaded. "I made a mistake. This was a mistake! I was selfish, I know that, so you have to let me go before they catch up." She rambled, pulling at the door handle.
"Before who catches up? Skip tracers?" Liam asked carefully.
I looked Ruby over; her forest green uniform and mud stained shoes. Pale green eyes and wild tangled brown hair. And—
And there was a Psi number written on the canvas toes of her shoes. The realization dawned on me at the same time as Liam's; a look of horror flickered over his face.
"Did— did you just come from a camp?" My voice shook as I stared at Ruby.
Ruby leveled her gaze at me. "The Children's League broke me out."
"And you ran away from them?" Liam asked. He looked to me and Zu for confirmation; I was too wrapped up in my own thoughts, but Zu nodded.
"What does that have to do with anything?" Chubs snapped. "You heard her— unlock the stupid door! We already have PSF's and skip tracers after us; we don't need to add the League to the list! They probably think we took her, and if they put in the call that there are freaks roaming around in a beat up black minivan..." Chubs couldn't bring himself to finish.
I grimaced at his words. The Children's League was the last thing we needed. I'd heard of their charade; they weren't really doing it for the children, no, they could care less about us. They had their own agenda.
"Hey," Liam said. "Don't talk about Black Betty that way."
"Oh, excuse me for hurting the feelings of a twenty-year-old minivan."
"He's right," Ruby said. "I'm sorry, please— I don't want anymore trouble for you."
"You want to go back to them? Listen, it's none of my business, Green, but you have the right to know that whatever lies they fed you probably aren't true. They aren't our angel network. They have their own agenda, and if they plucked you out of camp, that means they probably have a plan for you."
Ruby shook her head. "You think I don't know that?"
"Then why are you in such a hurry to get back?" I asked, my eyes narrowed.
Blood rushed to the girl's face and her eyes watered slightly. Despite my suspicion, I felt sore for her. This girl was just as lost as the rest of us. She had just come from a camp for who knows how long, just to have the Children's League try to get her in their clutches.
"No, but I can't— I didn't mean to drag you into— I mean, I did to, but..." Ruby suddenly jerked away harshly when she saw Zu try to reach for her. A hurt expression covered Zu's face, but I didn't blame Ruby. Camp was scarring and of course she wouldn't want people to touch her.
"Do you want to go back to them?" Liam asked. His blue eyes were full of concern. It reminded me of when he said I needed to come with them so I wouldn't get caught. That was almost a month ago now, I realized.
"No," Ruby finally said. "I don't."
"Lee, don't you dare," Chubs said in warning. "If the League comes after us..."
"It'll be okay," Liam said. "We're just taking her to the nearest bus station."
Ruby blinked. "You don't have to."
Liam waved her off. "It's fine. Sorry we can't do more. Can't risk it."
"Yes, you're right," Chubs frowned. "So explain to me why we aren't taking her to one of the train stations, which are closer?"
Liam studied the girl. "Remind me again— Ruby, right? I'm sure you've caught on by now, but I'm Liam. The lovely lady behind me is Suzume and the other lovely lady beside me is Aspen."
I nodded shortly to her. Ruby turned to Chubs.
"I'm guessing your name isn't actually Chubs?"
"No," Chubs sniffed, taking her words as a personal insult. I shook my head at his dramatics. "Liam gave me that name at camp."
Liam smiled. "He was a bit of a porker. Turns out field labor and a restricted diet are better than fat camp. Zu can back me up on this one."
Zu wasn't paying attention though, and neither was I. I was focused on the car speeding right at us.
"Lee," I choked out. "Tan SUV. Heading straight for us. Drive."
Before I could get my last words out, a bullet ripped through the back window and shattered it.
-
hey
so like, i know it's been a bit since i updated, but i have a really good excuse. my mom had a baby on the 19th, and then right after there was birthday week. Birthday on the 24th, 25th, 26th, and 30th. One of those birthdays are mine.
anyways, happy Thanksgiving! (if you celebrated it.) i hope everyone is doing good.
that's all i have, so...
bye ✌️