Early to Death, Early to Rise - Kim Harrison [47]
I licked my lips, wondering if I might be able to salvage something. Shoe’s life, maybe.
“Madison! Come out and admit you lost!” Ron shouted. “There’s no shame here. You can’t expect to win when you’re trying to beat a thousand years of experience.”
This guy has an ego bigger than my old chemistry teacher’s.
“Go!” Barnabas said urgently as Shoe stared at us, frightened. “Nakita, you go with them. In case you have to…”
His words trailed off, and I met his eyes, shocked. Was he agreeing with Nakita’s position, to kill Ace if he wouldn’t change?
Nakita, too, was surprised. “You think I’m right in ending his life?” she asked, and Shoe fidgeted, seeming more concerned about not getting caught in a demolished lab than with our conversation about killing his friend.
“No. I mean, I don’t know what I believe anymore,” Barnabas said, his brown eyes solemn. “I held Madison as she lived in the shadows of the future, heard her cry from the pain of the beauty in the stars. Maybe it would be better if his life ended before he does himself so large a hurt and robs his soul of the chance to find that beauty. I don’t…know anymore. I have…doubt.” His eyes came to mine. “Please make him see reason. Don’t force me to have to make that choice.”
I swallowed, scared. Were things so wrong that an angel doubted his own mind?
“Madison!” Ron shouted.
Nakita touched Barnabas’s arm. “I understand,” she said softly.
From above us, Grace said, “Uh, guys? He’s coming over here.”
Barnabas looked at all of us in turn. “On the count of three,” he said, then took a breath. “One. Two—”
“Three!” Nakita shouted, jumping straight up to land atop the bench, screaming as she drew her sword. On her chest, her amulet glowed a sharp amethyst, hurting my eyes.
“Nakita!” Ron exclaimed, and Grace lit up, bathing Nakita in a crystalline beauty. My amulet warmed, and I knew the former guardian angel was blocking whatever Ron was trying to do as Nakita screamed at him, her sword making large circles as she advanced.
Barnabas sighed and hunched closer. “Three,” he said. “Get Shoe out of here. Talk to Ace. Please make him understand. We’ll catch up with you.”
It was all the encouragement I needed. Grabbing Shoe’s hand, I ran, trying to stay below the level of the benches. Glass sparkled on the floor, and the night air came in through the broken windows. Cars had pulled up, and flashing lights had begun playing on the ceilings.
Cop cars and alarm bells. Ohhh, I knew this song. We had to leave, and leave now. Ron’s breaking of the window had been more than noticed.
“What about her?” Shoe said when we skittered out of the room and into the hall. It was cooler out here, and darker.
I glanced behind us and sighed. “Nakita doesn’t want to kill you now. She’s after Ace. You’ll be fine.”
Breaking into a jog, we headed down the hall. “I got that part. Is she coming?”
It never failed to amaze me how people could go from fear to acceptance. Meeting him stride for stride, I said, “She’ll catch up. How did you get here? Will your bike hold two?”
Shoe pulled me into a room. It was another lab, and, moving fast, he led me to the back and the attached greenhouse. “I’ve got a car. But with the cops—”
“A car?” I interrupted him. “How do you sneak out your bedroom window, then drive a car to the school?” For all my moaning and groaning about having left my car in Florida, I’d found a new freedom with my bike. Slipping away was easier when you weren’t making noise.
“I park it in the street,” he said, flashing me a grin. “It’s not like my parents want it in the drive. They can’t get their cars out with me in the way.”
I nodded as Shoe pointed to an open window in the school’s greenhouse.
Another boom shook the school, followed by the sound of frantic radio chatter. The hoot of the fire alarm started. An instant later, the sprinklers went off.
“Damn!” Shoe said, watching the water spill out of the ceiling. There weren’t any spigots in the greenhouse, and, glad for small favors, I bent to slip out the narrow window. I could hear cops in the hallways complaining about the