Page 26 of Circle of Death
I kick the broken glass away from Margo and drop to my knees. I pull her onto my lap and turn her face toward me.“Margo! What happened?”I run my hands over her neck, her back, her legs. No marks. No wounds. I put my arm under her shoulders and raise her partway up. Her chest is moving, but barely.
Suddenly, there’s a deep voice from the entryway. “Sorry, boss.”
I swivel around, shielding Margo with my body.
It’s Jericho. He’s pulling a respirator off his face. “I was mixing some knockout gas downstairs. I guess some of the vapors came up through the parlor vents.” He waves his hand in front of his face. “Should be gone now. Short half-life.”
Across the room, Bando shudders and staggers to his feet. Jessica coughs and raises herself onto her elbows. Burbank blinks and wipes the drool off his chin.
I can feel Margo stirring in my arms. She shudders, then slowly lifts her head.
“Wow,” she mumbles. “That was some cocktail.”
CHAPTER 28
“I’M FINE,” SAYS Deva. “You should get home. Really.”
“I know you’re fine,” says Maddy. “I need the air.”
It’s no more than a dozen yards from the street to Deva’s front door, but Maddy insists on walking her anyway. As soon as they pulled up, she understood why Deva asked to be picked up near school instead of at home.
This is the first time Maddy’s seen where Deva lives. And it’s depressing. Deva’s house is a battered brownstone across from a massive abandoned public housing project—a haven for squatters and worse. It’s one of the many pockets of the city that the restoration has skipped over or ignored.
Most apartments in this sector of the city have only one or two working lights. Everything else is dark. No traffic lights. No streetlights. The small patches of greenery are overgrown with weeds, and bins of refuse fill the yards. In this part of town, garbage doesn’t get collected; it gets burned. The acrid smell hangs in the air. Maddy can hear the echoes of guard dogs barking down the street.
Deva is clearly embarrassed. “I’m sorry that this is me.”
Maddy brushes it off. “Are you kidding? You should see some of the placesI’velived.” She squeezes Deva’s arm. “They’ll get to this block eventually. You’ll see. Just be patient.”
Deva reaches for the doorknob.
“Deva, wait.” Maddy doesn’t want to ask, but she has to. Deva turns around.
“Did you know?” Maddy says.
“Know? Know what?”
Maddy folds her arms over her chest. “About my powers. About what I did. About who I am.”
Deva glances down for a moment, then looks up to meet Maddy’s eyes. “Of course I knew,” she says. “I was there. In Times Square. That day. I saw you. I saw the whole thing. Lightning bolts and all.”
Maddy gets a twinge in her belly. She runs her fingers along a rusted railing. “Why didn’t you ever say anything?”
Deva takes a step toward her. “Because I didn’t want you to think that’s why I wanted to be friends.”
“Are you sure it’s not?”
“Yes,” says Deva firmly. “I’m sure. It was never about that.” She leans in and cracks a smile. “It’s because you let me cheat off your Criminal Procedures quiz.”
Maddy laughs. True or not, she’ll take it. “Okay,” she says. “That’s definitely a solid basis for a friendship.”
“So, we’re good?” asks Deva.
“Absolutely,” says Maddy. “I’m sorry. It’s stupid. I just had to ask.”
“No problem,” says Deva. “I wouldn’t want you to feel I liked you for the wrong reason.” She moves a step closer.
Before Maddy realizes what’s happening, Deva moves in tight and kisses her on the mouth. Gentle, but passionate. Maddy freezes for a second, then starts to pull away. Then her arms wrap around Deva’s shoulders and she starts to kiss back. Her heart is racing. She’s surprised. Excited. Confused. Has she been missing signals this whole time? Or maybe ignoring them?
