Arnie knelt, and peeled up his shirt . . . and four sleepy bunnies tumbled out, thought about it a moment, righted themselves, and hopped away. Jill, who had taken bunny duty over from me, set down the fifth, and it hopped after the others. Mongo, visibly tired for perhaps the first time in his entire life, sat down with a gigantic sigh, his tongue hanging out. I meant to sit down, but I pretty much fell, and Mongo immediately curled up against me, and I put my arms around him. “The best dog in the universe,” I said, and he licked my face. (Mongo would never be too tired to lick someone’s face.) I wondered how Jamal and Paolo were.
I wondered where Takahiro was.
I woke up enough to climb through the fence—completely cold now, although the edges of the hole were crumbly, like burned string—and then Arnie was carrying me piggyback after all. Somebody’s belt was holding me loosely against him while he held my legs. I wanted to tell him to put me down, but I was too tired. I kept seeing a shining silver wolf with blood rivering down his body. “Taks,” I murmured. “Takahiro.”
“Hey, hon,” said Arnie. “Just a little farther.”
He let me down gently, finally, with my head on my knapsack as a pillow. Some pillow. I had pulled myself up on my elbows to see if there was something I could do about the fact that apparently someone had filled up my harmless knapsack with blunt knives and old broken bits of storm drain when Jill knelt beside me with a wet plastic bottle. “We only had one bottle of water,” she said. “This is Goat Creek, but the guys say it’s safe to drink.” I drank most of it, not having been aware of being thirsty. It made me aware that I was hungry, but I didn’t care. Nobody died of hunger on the first day anyway.
Takahiro . . .
I wasn’t going to be able to sleep with my head on pieces of broken drain. But here was Mongo, settling down against my chest, and someone else—Athena—at my back. I could hear everyone else making themselves as comfortable as they could.
Takahiro . . .
But I was warm now. And I was so tired even the jagged chunks of whatever weren’t going to keep me awake.
I don’t know how long I had slept when I sensed something looming over me. I didn’t have time to be frightened, because Mongo was awake, and I felt his tail thumping, and heard his little moan of welcome. Athena gave a squeak of surprise or courtesy, got up, and lay down again next to Mongo. And then something huge and warm and furry was lying down behind me. A head bent over me, and a tongue about the size of our kitchen table licked my face. I threw myself over on my other side to face him. “Takahiro.”
As I turned around I felt something falling over, away from the leg it had been leaning against. I sat up long enough to reach down and pick up my algebra book. I had a crick in my neck already that was so painful my head would probably never stand properly upright on the end of my neck again. The algebra book couldn’t possibly make it any worse. I put it under my knobbly knapsack and lay down again, facing Takahiro. Mongo laid his head in the little soft place between my last rib and my pelvis, and I wrapped an arm around as much of Taks’ ruff as I could reach. Sleeping with my boyfriend, I thought, and almost laughed. We’d only kissed for the first time yesterday.
CHAPTER 14
I WOKE UP SURPRISINGLY WARM AND COMFORTABLE and . . . peaceful. I thought I could smell coffee. And I had the oddest sensation that Mom was nearby. I had a vague recollection that something really dreadful had been happening, but I shied away from remembering and concentrated on feeling—safe? What was that about? Why did I want to think about being safe? But I shied away from whatever it was again.
That was coffee I was smelling. I didn’t mean to speak out loud—and spoil everything—but the feeling that Mom was standing by my bed holding a mug of coffee was so strong: “Mom?” Except this wasn’t my bed I was lying on.
Something, or rather someone, stirred. And I snapped back into reality. The reality of lying on cold hard bumpy ground with a pillow made of corners. The reality of being curled up against someone’s chest. Um. Someone’s naked chest. Takahiro was human again. Oh . . .
I raised my head cautiously. Takahiro’s eyes were blinking open. He saw me and smiled. There was something like a blanket draped over us but I was still, um, rather intensely aware of the full length of Takahiro’s body pressed against mine, although I was still in all my (filthy) clothes from the day before. I had one hand curled up under my chin and the other over Taks’ shoulder. I went to touch his chest and . . . oh. I didn’t mean to move away from him, and I didn’t move very far, but far enough to see what my hand was touching: he had the most awful scar: three ugly, grotesque starbursts of raggedly healed flesh: one just above his left nipple, one just below his sternum, and one over his right ribs. “Oh, Taks . . .”
“Yeah,” he said. “I guess I have a problem, next time the doc tells me to take my shirt off to listen to my chest.”
I stroked the starburst over his heart and realized I’d started to cry. “Oh, hey,” he said, “don’t cry. I’m fine—genki desu.” He started to struggle up to one elbow, and winced. “Well, almost fine. It still kind of hurts, but only a little. Really. And Mongo is the best. If he hadn’t got me out of the way of that second . . . Hey. Maggie. Please don’t cry.”
I gulped and nodded and gulped again and got the hiccups. How dreeping romantic is that. He patted me on the back and said, “We’re alive, we’re fine, we’re free, and you’re a hero.”
“You’re a hero,” I said, still staring at his chest.
“Ja, okay, we’re both heroes,” said Takahiro. “And Mongo. Live heroes. Those are the best kind.”
There was the crunch of approaching feet. I looked up. Even having (mostly) remembered where we were and (some of) what was happening and that (presumably) we weren’t safe yet and there were (probably) some very-pissed-off cobey units chasing us, I was still expecting it to be Mom. It wasn’t. It was Val. But he was carrying two big plastic cups of steaming coffee.
He sat down beside us, and as we both sat up I realized it wasn’t a real blanket over us, it was one of those crinkly plastic emergency blankets over two sweatshirts and a jacket. Both of us were moving cautiously for our different reasons, but my algebra book had been good for the crick in my neck, or maybe that was having Taks back. I almost started to cry again as I said to Val, “Look—”
Val was already looking. “Hurt?”
Takahiro gave a half nod. “A little.”
“Even for a werewolf that is a great deal of damage. You are very brave. And very foolish.”
Takahiro raised one shoulder in a careful shrug. “There wasn’t like a lot of time to think. And Mongo helped. It got us out of there. All of us.”
“It did indeed,” said Val. “I thank you. All of us thank you.”
“So desu,” said Takahiro. “S’okay. You’d’ve done the same.” And he grinned.
Val laughed. “I would perhaps like to think so.”
I drank half a pint of coffee in one gulp. I could feel my brain trying to plug itself back into its sockets. I was probably imagining the short-circuit noises and the burning smell. “Val, Mom’s not here, is she? I know. It’s crazy. I just keep feeling as if she’s right behind me or something.”