Early to Death, Early to Rise - Kim Harrison [43]
“Grace, tell her to wait!” I said. “Ron isn’t here! We’re okay!”
“Got it!” she sang out, and in a flash of silver she zoomed away.
Ron isn’t here, is he? I questioned myself. Grace was. She’d been keeping an eye on Paul. Was she still, or had she shifted over to spy on me again? The seraphs were watching. Nothing like a little pressure to bring out your best, I thought, grimacing.
Barnabas came up beside me, and as we started forward, Nakita and Shoe vanished deeper inside the building.
“Damn it!” I shouted, not caring if God himself heard me. I was mad. I didn’t feel very good from my flash forward. And now Nakita was going to scythe Shoe and turn all our efforts into puppy presents on the rug.
I jogged toward the long rows of windows, gasping when I stumbled. Barnabas caught my elbow until I found my balance. The open window wasn’t that far above the ground, but Barnabas unexpectedly boosted me up and, in a sliding sound of crashing chairs, I landed inside the school, arms and legs tangling.
This is so not cool,I thought, trying to get up and finally having to accept Barnabas’s hand. But my ungraceful entrance had stopped everyone, and both Nakita and Shoe were staring at me instead of each other. Grace giggled while I adjusted my clothes and directed Barnabas with a nod to cover the second door into the hall. Somehow Nakita had gotten in front of Shoe and was blocking the first door. Grace, unseen by Shoe, hovered over him.
It was a chemistry lab, dark but for the light coming in from the outside security lights. There were six long benches with sinks and little spigots for the Bunsen burners. A skeleton grinned at me from the corner, and I stifled a shiver. “Nakita,” I said, still embarrassed from my entrance. “Let me talk to him. I can save him.”
“So can I,” Nakita said as she shifted her feet to find her balance. “It will be a lot faster, too.”
“I told her!” Grace chimed out. “She called me a firefly.”
Shoe looked both angry and bewildered, and from the second door, Barnabas said loudly, “The seraphs have granted her a chance, Nakita. Let her try.”
Feet spread wide, Nakita tossed her hair defiantly, but when Grace cleared her throat to make a sound like a wind chime, Nakita grudgingly added, “Talk to him, but if a black wing shows, I’m scything him.”
“Scythe me?” Shoe was starting to look nervous as he eyed her sword. “What the hell are you doing? Who are you?”
“Madison is how she was christened,” Grace sang merrily. “When she’s angry her eyes tend to glisten. Lives she does save, no thanks does she crave. It’d be easier if you crapheads would listen.”
Jeez, does she sit awake at night thinking these things up?
“Uh,” I started, but Shoe was staring at me, finger pointed.
“You were at the mall,” he accused. “You’re that girl Ace was talking to. You like him?” Shoe relaxed into a cocky stance. “Go for it. He’s an ass.”
“No, it’s you I wanted to talk to,” I said, but he’d turned away.
“That’s a new one,” he said sourly as he started for Nakita and the door, only to stop short when she began swinging her sword.
“Talk to Madison, or I’ll cut you down right now,” she threatened.
“Nakita…” I complained.
But Shoe was backing up. “What is wrong with you?”
“Nothing,” Grace said cheerfully. “She’s here to help. Really!”
“One more step,” Nakita begged him, her beautiful face going savage. “Just one more, and this farce of trying to change fate will be over. Talk to Madison. She’s trying to save your worthless life. I’m simply trying to save your soul,” she finished bitterly.
Clearly unnerved, Shoe glanced first at Barnabas by the back door, then at me by the open window. “Shoe,” I said, capturing his attention. “I know about the virus.”
“Yeah?” he said bitterly. “Ace talks too much.”
“It’s going to get out and shut down the hospital,” I said, trying to keep him focused. “People are going to die.”
Shoe shook his head, glancing at Nakita as she