Vagabonds

Chapter Ten: Flying and Falling

"Stupid streetlights," Eliza growled as she squinted at the blurry sky, trying to see through the haze of the city's illumination. But it was no use. She weaved her way through the middle of town, growing more and more impatient with every block. Everything was quiet, almost creepy in contrast with its usually bustling daytime cheer.

But in the distance, a loud crush of bodies spilled out of Mr. Tim's 24-hour Pizza.

Eliza pedaled over, senses humming.

Everyone at Meru knew to stay away from Mr. Tim's after ten. It was where the trainee soldiers hung out when they were kicked out of Howl, most of them drunk and irritable after a day of being pushed beyond their limits. Tori liked to sneer that she couldn't go near the place without a chorus of catcalls, but even she didn't dare test the theory.

Eliza took a deep breath.

She wouldn't forgive herself if she didn't investigate.

Carefully, frayed nerves jacked up to eleven, Eliza wheeled forward. Her eyes scanned the crowd, passing over chiseled jaws and buzz cuts and tattoos without any real interest. Maybe in another life, in another burst of rebelliousness, Eliza would have shoved into this crowd and tossed her hair, asking for trouble.

But tonight she was after a different sort of mischief.

"Where are you?" Eliza whispered, glaring at the crowd, the sky, the moon. Why would the boys have come into town at this hour if not to get a snack? They might be wildly strange, but they were still boys. And boys had to eat.

Right?

Eliza shook her head. Maybe she'd finally lost it, thinking that the alien shadows might want pizza....

But she waited. Glared.

There!

A figure appeared between two clusters of heavily muscled privates, standing out like a greyhound among bulldogs. His brown hair was jagged, his sweater and jeans hanging off a frame so narrow he looked like he'd been stretched. But it was the way he moved that attracted Eliza's attention, so fast that Eliza wondered if there was a strobe light on him. He didn't seem to pass through air so much as jump through it, his hand disappearing in one part of the world and reappearing in another.

The boy turned, holding a pair of pizza boxes aloft with a wide grin.

He was wearing goggles.

Eliza squinted. That was strange, even for Mr. Tim's at eleven o'clock. And they weren't just the regular goggles that students wore during chemistry lab. They were opaque, huge, taking up most of the boy's face. They shimmered orange despite the hazy white of the streetlights.

Remembering that night outside the base, Eliza held her breath.

As if his eyes were made of mirrors...

Was he the one who had found her in the forest?

The boy was skipping away from the cluster of soldiers, toward the bridge that ran over the Scott River. Moving slowly, careful not to take her eyes off him, Eliza leaned Tori's bike against a tree and followed. She scurried through the park, avoiding the treacherous circles that the streetlights made. But as the road narrowed into the bridge, it grew harder to keep herself hidden. The boy seemed to twitch so much that Eliza was terrified he'd turn and see her. Realize he was being followed.

And then what?

Only one way to find out.

Eliza waited behind a thick sycamore, taking deep, steadying breaths. Gathering the tattered edges of her courage, she clenched her fists. Straightened into her tallest, most intimidating posture.

And leapt out from behind the tree.

The boy was gone.

Eliza ran to the bridge, scanning the night. But there was no sign of the tall, twitchy creature and his pair of pizza boxes. She spun around, raking her gaze through the clouds and the dark river and the lights of Scottstown.

Nothing.

"Urg," Eliza sighed, letting her head fall back. She slapped her hands to her face, raking them down her cheeks, frustration bubbling up from her stomach like acid.

She'd failed.

Again.

How could she go back to Meru now?

"What's a girl like you doing out at a time like this?"

Every hair on Eliza's body prickled at the slurring voice, accompanied by heavy footsteps. Slowly, Eliza turned, pulse beating against her eardrums.

Three privates were wobbling toward her, two supporting each other. The other, the strongest looking of the bunch, was looking at her the way a cat looks at a mouse.

Like prey.

Eliza backed away, her knees hitting the low barrier of the bridge.

"I love being so close to the prep school," the strong one said to his drunk companions. "Something about girls in uniform just revs all my engines."

"You see girls in uniform every day," mumbled one of the pair, leaning against his friend.

"You know what I mean, Ted. Nothing compares to a checkered skirt."

"Leave me alone," Eliza said, wishing she hadn't left the bike in the park. Wishing she'd watched her surroundings or been smart enough to bring a weapon.

"Aw, come on love. We're just having a bit of fun."

The largest of them was stepping toward her, his hands held out in friendly supplication, revealing an enormous dragon tattoo curled around his wrist and forearm.

"Leave. Me. Alone."

Her voice was a snarl, but still he drew closer. The river whispered below them, a ten-foot drop behind Eliza with unknown depths.

"Hey dude, maybe we should —"

As the man closest to her glanced behind him, Eliza made a run for it. Exploding off the railing, she lunged for the space between the burly one and his two drunk friends. She moved fast.

But he was faster.

Wrapping a forearm around her waist, the strong one swung Eliza's body into his. Eliza opened her mouth to scream but a hand clapped over it, muffling her. Her body was electric with fear.

"You're a fighter," the man whispered in her ear, making her skin crawl. "I like that."

Then you'll love this, Eliza thought before biting down on his fingers. Hard.

His scream split the night. Eliza tasted blood. He stumbled back and Eliza peeled away, but the man wasn't done. He grabbed her elbow, spinning her around. She heard the crack before she felt the slap. A blinding pain radiated along her jaw, down her whiplashed neck.

"I'll teach you some fucking respect!"

One of the drunk soldiers had grabbed his friend and was trying to hold him back. But Eliza wasn't about to stick around to see if he could. Backing away from the soldier, Eliza lifted one foot and stepped onto the railing. Throwing a glance over one shoulder, Eliza peered down at the dark water, hoping, praying it was deep enough.

Suspecting that it wasn't.

"Dude, calm the fuck dow—"

The soldier broke free.

Eliza jumped.

The air whistled by her head, terrifyingly fast. She took a deep breath, wondering if her cellphone would survive the plunge, realizing that she probably had bigger things to worry about.

Picturing broken legs and knees smashed on shallow rocks, Eliza tensed her body for impact.

And then a strong shoulder slammed into her stomach, lifting her away.