In Lakewood, a small town with a reputation of crime, gangs, outcasts and violence, Lana Takumi is an orphan and a gang member disguised in ripped jeans of her late mother and old flannels of her late father. She feels stuck in an endless cycle of b...
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L A N A
I HAD FIGURED OUT threethings tonight.Firstly, The Wraths seemed like a dangerous gang from the sound of it. Secondly, I felt out of game not knowing their tactics and their gameplay as they had been out of town for two years. Lastly, Jada was scheming something extra secretive tonight, once again leaving the rest of the gang out of it. Even me. She never left me out of it.
Hidden in the shadows, I moved after the girls striding through Alley two, Jada leading them through the dark. Lakewood was dominated by shady alleys everywhere you looked, but there were in total four main alleys where most of the gang stuff went down. Also, alley five that nobody knew about except for The Sirens. That was where our secret base was located.
The girls rounded the corner and continued down the alley that eventually landed them behind the Laker, an old shut down factory that was turned into the main hangout place for all the teenagers in Lakewood. While the girls waited for The Wraths to arrive, I secured my foot on the usual hole in the wall and hoisted myself up before squatting down. With one swift movement, I leaped off the wall and my hands gripped the thick tree branch to the willow tree in the garden of house number nineteen. I swung my body around and landed on my butt on the surface of the ragged branch, still concealed beyond the shadows.
The wind howled past me, sharp and frigid while autumn leaves slipped off the branches to land gracefully on top of the pile gathered around the tree's thick stem. The sound of cars roaring through the highway came from my left.
Just before The Wrath stepped into view, Jada looked up and shot me a quick "get ready" look before pressing three fingers against her thigh. She didn't normally do that because she knew perfectly well that I was already on my spot. That was the look she gave me when there was a trick up on our enemy's sleeve, and she had already started scheming against it.
I was the one who got straight As and Bs in pretty much all the subjects, but it was Jada who was the genius from the four of us. She was the brains of the gang, always one step ahead of the game.
So no, Jada didn't recruit me when I was fourteen because I was a science girl. She didn't believe in the book smart bullshit. She believed that whatever you learned by reading books, you could learn it a hundred times better out on the streets.
Once, I asked Jada about why she recruited me despite my cerebral palsy. She smiled and said, "I don't look at weaknesses. Instead of paying attention to what you can't do, I focus on what you can do. You're a skilled climber, watcher, and listener, Lana. That's what I look at."
Then I knew. Jada recruited me because of my climbing skills. To always be there but never be seen.
"I need a spy. A liar and a thief. A secret weapon. You will be hidden. Hidden in plain sight. My left hand," she said to me the night she first talked to me about joining The Sirens.
