Lyssa hesitated before she took it. “You were telling Eddie about a house?”
“Some ladies were there.” Jimmy stopped, swallowing hard. “They were scary. They separated me from my mom, then c-cut me.”
Eddie watched rage flit across Lyssa’s face, quickly swallowed into a flat mask. “Show me.”
The boy pulled up his sleeve, revealing a thick white bandage wrapped around his forearm.
“They used a black knife.” Jimmy shuddered again, and gave Eddie a desperate look. “Then licked off my blood. It was. . g-gross. They said they’d kill my mom if I didn’t find you.”
“Those women knew you would,” Lyssa said, her eyes glowing faintly in the darkness. “It’s okay, baby. We’re going to get your mom back.”
She pushed off the step, fingering the still-unread note. “Eddie, wait here. I’ll get you some clothes.”
Without another word, she walked into the darkness of the subway tunnel and was swallowed up almost immediately by the endless shadows. He couldn’t even hear her feet on the gravel.
“How did you get here?” Eddie asked.
“Two men drove me back into the city. They’re waiting above.”
“And because those ladies have your mother. . they don’t think you’ll go to the police?”
Jimmy looked scared. “It was the police who drove me.”
Cold sweat broke out over Eddie’s body. “They took orders from the women?”
“Yes.”
“Do they know how to get down here?”
“I don’t think so.”
He stood and stared into the darkness of the subway tunnel. “I need you to be brave again, Jimmy. Can you stay here?”
The boy hugged his dog tighter. “No. I need to help.”
“You are.”
“No,” he said again, more firmly, rubbing tears from his eyes. “I have to be there.”
Eddie stared at him. “How old are you?”
Jimmy straightened. “Twelve.”
Twelve was still a kid. Twelve years old meant he should be nowhere near this kind of danger.
But he was also old enough for heartbreak. Old enough to start living with regret. Making a kid feel helpless was another kind of crime.
“Lyssa’s word is final,” he said. “You know that, right?”
The boy nodded. Eddie walked back inside the workers’ station for his backpack. All he needed was his wallet and cell phone.
“Come on,” he told Jimmy. “Let’s go find her.”
They walked fast across the uneven ground, flashlight beam swinging wildly across the shadows. Squeaks echoed off the walls, and the air smelled like rotting garbage, accompanied by the occasional whiff of feces.
Jimmy gave Eddie a sidelong look. “Are you Lyssa’s boyfriend?”
His heart squeezed. “I hope so.”
“You don’t know?”
“Do I have to go through you first?”
“Maybe. I like her.”
Eddie smiled to himself. “I’ll arm wrestle you for her heart.”
“You’re bigger. That’s cheating.”
“Can you blame me?” He heard voices ahead of them, and saw the reflected flicker of fire against the tunnel walls. “Wait.”
“It’s okay. I know them.” Jimmy began to lurch ahead, but Eddie grabbed the back of the boy’s sweatshirt.
“Wait,” he said again, firmly. “Give me the flashlight, and stay back.”
The boy’s scowl wasn’t quite lost in the beam’s glow, but he lingered in the shadows as Eddie strode across the rough gravel. He listened for Lyssa’s voice, but all he heard were men laughing coarsely, and the hum of a radio.
“Jimmy,” he said, over his shoulder. “What did that note say? The one you gave her?”
The boy hesitated. “No message. Just a piece of fur stapled to the paper.”
“Dammit,” Eddie muttered, and began running — right into a tent city that reminded him of some apocalyptic way station for humanity. When and if the end of the world came, this would be what it looked like: homes made of cardboard and trash, and broken furniture that held up nothing but air. Fires burned in barrels, and a few men were huddled around them.
They stared at Eddie with surprise and wariness as he approached, clutching that blanket around his waist.
“Lyssa,” he said sharply. “Did she pass through here?”
A tall black man blinked heavily at Eddie. “Like a bat out of hell. She mentioned a naked man might come this way. Left money for clothes, but there’s not much to give you.”
Eddie gritted his teeth. “I’d appreciate anything you can spare, sir. I can pay, as well.”
“Hmm,” he said, just as another old man saw Jimmy and bared his teeth in a brutal hiss that sounded like the death throes of a decrepit snake.
“Fucking little thieves,” he muttered, coughing on a snarl. “I’m ready for you and that dog.”
The boy sputtered. Eddie stepped in front of him. “You touch this kid, and I’ll break your arms off.”
“Hey, now,” said the black man, holding up his hands. “No need for bad feelings. Mack, maybe you should go sit down. Take a load off your bad back.”
The old man, whose skin was the color of snow and ash, made a wet grunting noise and gave them all a dirty look. He didn’t leave the circle of heat but looked down at the flames with a stubborn jut of his chin.
Two minutes later, Eddie was forty dollars poorer, and dressed in jeans that were loose in the ass and short in the leg. His red sweatshirt smelled like mildew and concrete and made his skin itch.
“Lyssa said to tell you not to follow,” said the black man, rubbing his knee with a wince. “But that she knew you would, and that she was sorry for trying to get a head start.”
“I bet,” Eddie replied.
“Women,” he added. “They’re killers.”
Chapter Eighteen
Handcuffs were cold, even on dragon skin.
Lyssa’s glove was still in place, but the soft portion covering her wrist had ridden down just enough for the metal to rub against her scales. She ignored the sensation, watching red taillights and the two police officers riding up front, who did not speak to her or talk with each other.
It was still night, which surprised her. Time never meant much underground, but this day had been one hammerblow after another.
Life hates the complacent, her mother had told her. Almost as much as the complacent hate living.
Are you talking about me? Lyssa’s father had asked, grabbing his wife around the waist. If I’d been complacent, I’d never have caught you, darlin’.
Her mother had a beautiful laugh. Sometimes it was hard to remember what it sounded like.
You knew this would happen, thought Lyssa, wishing her mother were here. You knew you weren’t the last of your kind.
You knew someone would come for you, one day.
And if not you, then me.
Lyssa wore Eddie’s jacket, and it felt like a suit of armor. His warm, smoky scent still clung to it — and her — and she breathed deep as she listened to the radio crackle, and the squeak of the vinyl beneath her, and the jangle of handcuffs.
Eddie, she thought. Eddie, don’t look for me. Jimmy, don’t tell him anything.
Stay away. Please, stay away.
The two police officers had done their best not to show her their faces. Only during that initial approach on the sidewalk had she gotten a good look at them. The driver was middle-aged, white, with a downturned mouth and milky blue eyes. His partner was Latino, young and handsome, and six inches shorter than Lyssa. He kept giving the other man nervous looks.