POSSESSION, Book 1 in the Possession Trilogy

Chapter 14

14.

“No,” I said, backing away.

Baldie’s face broke into a cruel smile. “Where’s Jag?” He scanned the crowd, his plastic grin cemented in place. I edged into the mass of bodies, pretty sure I could lose this guy in a footrace. Baldie flipped out a red iris recognizer and activated it. I squeezed my eyes shut and shoved my tagged wrist in my pocket as I turned and ran.

Screams and pounding feet echoed around me as the Baddies scattered. Yeah, the glare of a recognizer has that effect. People bumped into me, and I opened my eyes. An unearthly crimson glow illuminated the street in front of me.

My dad had told me about Moses parting the Red Sea so the Israelites could pass through on dry ground. That’s what I thought about as I pushed through the crowd. Miraculously, they cleared a path. I ran through the gap, willing it to close behind me so Baldie couldn’t follow.

Jag and his friends were gone.

The buildings along the unmoving sidewalk were dark and the sky bled that unsettling shade of charcoal. What if I couldn’t find Jag? Sleeping alone in the forest in the Goodgrounds was one thing. Sleeping alone in the Badlands with a maniac Greenie after me was quite another.

Deciding alone was better than caught, I joined two guys as they sprinted toward the stream.

“Vi!” Jag stepped forward and pulled me into a doorway on the outskirts of the city. Sloan and Indy had disappeared.

“That bald guy is here!” I crumbled into him.

“Shh!” He peered around the corner. The light grew brighter, turning his face the color of blood.

He pushed me further into the shadows. The bricks were cool and biting, even through my thick shirt. Jag stepped in front of me, the red light almost upon us. Recognizers can’t detect temperature, only irises and electronic devices. I could only hope Baldie wouldn’t pass by close enough to pick up the barcode in my tag.

“This is bad,” Jag whispered. Without warning, his body pressed against mine, all the way from foot to shoulder. “Don’t move.” He looked over his shoulder, the red light pulsing now. My heart sped up. I closed my eyes and inhaled sharply. Both good things.

Because he kissed me. He wrapped his arms around my body and rubbed my back. The tag was sandwiched between his stomach and mine, also good. His body heat combined with mine, and everything felt too hot.

Maybe the temperature rose when he ran his hands through my hair. Or maybe because of the salty taste of his lips on mine. He kissed me long after the danger from the recognizer had passed. I had no complaints. In fact, I kissed him back, my free hand automatically moving to touch his cheek.

When he stopped, I took a deep breath.

“Nice,” he said breathlessly.

Yeah, that didn’t even begin to cover it.

“I think it worked.” Jag moved to the corner of the doorway. I forgot about the red light of death. What did he mean by “it worked?”

“Come on.” He stepped into the street and squeezed my hand hard. “Can you run?”

“Do you think I arrived on a hoverboard?”

He cocked one eyebrow before leading me through darkening neighborhoods. He turned down a deserted sidewalk with a small screen at the end.

“Hey.” I slowed in front of the terminal. “This sidewalk used to move.”

“Yeah,” he said. “That’s why I was in the Goodgrounds last time they caught me. You saw the picture.”

I frowned. “That one with all the Goodies around you?”

“Yeah.”

“Did you get the tech to fix this?”

“No. Come on, my place is just down here.” He turned toward a single-story house with a sliver of golden light falling through the crack in the door. Jag suddenly stopped at the top of the steps.

“Oof,” I said as his muscled arm whacked me in the ribs.

He pushed lightly on the door with two fingers. It swung in too easily, revealing a long hall with all the lights on. Bright tech lights. Voices floated toward us, soft and slurred.

Jag didn’t breathe. “Stay here.”

“Yeah, right.” I clutched his arm as the white spots crowded in my vision from the increased tech.

Jag’s eyes softened and his lips turned upward. “What? You’ll miss me too much?”

Blushing, I looked away. The darkness seemed thicker since I’d been staring at the lights.

“Vi, this is my house. It’s fine. My roommates are just having a party.”

“You’re wrong. You go in there, you won’t come out.”

He smiled, the way a parent does when their child says they’ve seen a ten-foot monster covered with brown fur.

“I gotta have my phone. I’m dying without it. We need supplies for the trip to Seaside. I’ll be right back. Promise.” He wrenched his hand out of mine and stepped through the door.

That’s pretty bad. You should never go into the light. Especially tech-induced light.