“Sam,” Astrid yelled. “Quick.”
Sam thought he was too far gone to respond, but he somehow started his feet moving again and went up to where Little Pete was standing and Astrid kneeling.
There was a girl lying in the dirt. Her clothing was a mess, her black hair ratty. She was Asian, pretty without being beautiful, and little more than skin and bones. But the first thing they noticed was that her forearms ended in a solid concrete block.
Astrid made a quick sign of the cross and pressed two fingers against the girl’s neck. “Lana,” Astrid cried.
Lana sized up the situation quickly. “I don’t see any injuries. I think maybe she’s starving or else sick in some other way.”
“What’s she doing out here?” Edilio wondered. “Oh, man, what did someone do to her hands?”
“I can’t heal hunger,” Lana said. “I tried it on myself when I was with the pack. Didn’t work.”
Edilio untwisted the cap from his water bottle, knelt, and carefully drizzled water across the girl’s cheek so that a few drops curled into her mouth.
“Look, she’s swallowing.”
Edilio broke a tiny bite from one of the PowerBars and placed it gently into the girl’s mouth. After a second the girl’s mouth began to move, to chew.
“There’s a road over there,” Sam said. “I think so, anyway. A dirt road, I think.”
“Someone drove by and dumped her here,” Astrid agreed.
Sam pointed at the dirt. “You can see how she dragged that block.”
“Some sick stuff going on,” Edilio muttered angrily. “Who would do something like this?”
Little Pete stood staring down at the girl. Astrid noticed. “He doesn’t usually stare at people that way.”
“I guess he’s never seen what some creeps can do,” Edilio said.
“No,” Astrid said thoughtfully. “Petey doesn’t relate to people usually. They’re not totally real to him. I cut my hand once, really badly with a kitchen knife, I was bleeding all over and he didn’t even blink. And I’m the person he’s closest to in the whole world.”
Lana said, “Sam, can you, you know, like burn that concrete off her hands?”
“No. I can’t aim that precisely.”
“I don’t even know what can be done,” Edilio said as he fed the girl another microscopic bite of food. “You try and break that stuff off with a sledge hammer or something, or even a hammer and a chisel, it’s going to really hurt. Probably break every bone in her hands, man.”
“Who would have done this to her?” Lana wondered.
“That’s a Coates Academy uniform,” Astrid answered. “We’re probably not far from there.”
“Shh,” Lana hissed. “I hear something.”
Everyone instinctively ducked down. In the silence they could clearly hear a car engine. It was being driven erratically, revving one minute, slowing the next.
“Come on, let’s find out who it is,” Sam said.
“How we going to move this girl?” Edilio asked. “I can maybe carry her, but I can’t carry her and that block, man.”
“I’ll grab her, you grab the block,” Sam said.
“This thing is really heavy,” Edilio said. “I better not even meet the pendejo who did this. Do this to a person? What kind of animal does something like that?”
The car turned out to be an SUV. It was driven, as far as Sam could tell, by a lone boy.
“I know him,” Astrid said. She waved. The SUV lurched to a halt. Astrid leaned against the open window. “Computer Jack?”
Sam had seen the techie wizard around town but had never really spoken to him.
“Hi,” the boy said. “Oh, good. You found Taylor. I was looking for her.”
“You were looking for her?”
“Yeah. She’s sick. You know, like in the head. She wandered away from school, and so I was looking for her and—”
Right at that moment, Sam knew it was a trap. A split second too late.
Drake rose up from behind the third row of seats. He had a gun pointed at Astrid’s head, but he was looking straight at Sam. “Don’t even think about it. However fast you think you are, all I have to do is squeeze the trigger.”
“I’m not moving,” Sam said. He raised his hands in surrender.
“Ah ah ah, no no no, Sam boy. I know all about the power. Keep your hands by your side.”
“I have to help carry this girl,” Sam said.
“No one’s carrying her anywhere. She’s done for.”
“We’re not leaving her here,” Astrid said.
“The guy holding the gun makes the decisions,” Drake said, and grinned. “And if I were you, Astrid, I wouldn’t push me. Caine wants to try to take you and your little brother alive. But if you two try and do your disappearing act, I’ll shoot Sam.”
“You’re a psychopath, Drake,” Astrid said.
“Wow. Such a big word. I guess that’s why you’re Astrid the Genius, huh? You know what else is a good word? Retard.”
Astrid flinched like he had hit her.
“My brother is a retard,” Drake mimicked. “I wish I had recorded it. Okay. We’re going to climb in the truck here one by one. Nice and slow.”
“Not without the girl,” Sam said flatly.
“That’s right,” Edilio agreed.