Kate Brian - Endless

“Rory, what are you getting at?” Tristan asked. “What did he do?”

“There’s something weird going on with him and Pete,” I said, and then it hit me. I looked over my shoulder at Joaquin. “Yesterday, when Liam and I came here, he freaked when we thought Pete was about to wake up. And the other day, at the bridge, Pete turned around and left as soon as he saw Liam. They’re hiding something.”

“It’s a little thin, Rory,” Bea said.

“But he did jump at the chance to leave the beach when Kevin asked, and where the hell is Kevin now?” Joaquin put in.

Tristan’s face turned hard. “Where’s Kevin, Liam?”

“I told you, I don’t know! Why don’t you call him and find out?” he said, gesturing at Tristan’s radio.

“I think I will.” Joaquin lifted the walkie-talkie to his lips and pressed it to speak. “Kevin? You there, buddy? Over.”

He released the button. Nothing but a low, distant hum of static. Everyone eyed Liam, who was rapidly turning white.

“Anyone seen Kevin? Over,” Joaquin asked.

Silence.

“Dorn,” Tristan said. “Lock him up.”

Liam made a move like he was going to bolt, but there was no getting around Dorn, whose massive hands came down on his shoulders and dragged him backward.

“No. You can’t do this!” Liam shouted. “I have rights.” He looked around desperately. “Don’t I? Don’t I have rights?”

With one swift motion, Fisher had the door of the second cell open. He held it while Dorn tossed Liam inside and then closed it with a clang. Liam practically threw himself at the bars. Bea glanced around at the crowd. Everyone was looking disturbed or unsure or murderous or a combination of the three.

“Maybe I should clear the room?” she suggested.

“Good idea,” Tristan said.

Bea managed to gather everyone back through the door and into the hallway, herding them up like cattle. When the door closed behind her, only Tristan, Dorn, Krista, Joaquin, and I were left. Liam’s pleas fell silent. He sat down on the cot. The bed squeaked beneath his weight, and he leaned his head against the bars, scowling across the way at Pete.

“I can’t believe this is happening,” he said.

Pete was as still as stone.

“Just tell us where you went after you left the Thirsty Swan,” I said, lifting my shoulders. “How hard is that?”

“I went to find Lalani,” he snapped, his eyes flashing. “Satisfied now? Can I go?”

“How?” Joaquin asked.

“How?” Liam repeated.

“Yes, how?” Krista asked, tucking her hair behind her ears. “No one can see half a foot through the fog. How were you going to find her?”

“Carefully?” Liam shot back in an uncharacteristically sarcastic tone.

“Did you find her?” I asked.

“Yes,” he snapped. “And you were wrong, by the way. She does remember her brother, and she’s wondering where the hell he is.”

Tristan and I locked eyes. So the Tses weren’t just a blip.

Liam shot me a disgusted look and turned away. “I’m not saying anything more to you.”

“Liam—” I started.

“No!” he snapped, shoving himself to his feet. “I trusted you. You made me trust you! And you lied to me! And now you throw me in here? Who the hell do you think you are?”

His hand shot through the bars and I jumped back. Joaquin grabbed his wrist and twisted until Liam’s knees hit the floor, his face contorted in pain. I pressed myself back against the wall, gasping for air as Joaquin leaned in toward the top of Liam’s bowed head.

“You even try to touch her again and you’ll be sorry.”

Krista and I looked at each other, stunned.

“Dude,” Tristan said. “Release.”

Joaquin gritted his teeth but let go of Liam’s arm. As he stood up, Liam drew his hand into his chest and held it there, curling in on himself like a startled snail pulling back into its shell.

“Maybe…maybe we should go get some air,” Tristan suggested, looking around at the rest of us. “Go outside and talk this through?”

“Strategize,” Dorn said, his eyes like slits. “I like it.”

“We can’t just leave the two of them in here together,” Joaquin pointed out.

“I’ll stay,” Krista offered, holding her chin up bravely. Even pale and sweaty, she still managed to look like a supermodel.

Dorn clapped her on the side of her arm, and she staggered sideways into the bars of Pete’s cell. “If you need us, you’ve got your walkie.”

Krista nodded, tugging it out of her dress pocket and cocking it at him like a gun. “I got it.”

As I followed the guys out of the room, I looked back over my shoulder at Liam one last time as he gripped the bars and glared at Pete, the fury plain on his face.

Outside the wind was whipping furiously. A pair of women walking out of the beauty-supply store screamed as a scrap of wood shingle came flying at them. They clung to each other and ducked, just narrowly avoiding some serious head injuries as the scrap slammed into the front window. A few visitors sat inside the picture window at the general store, staring out at the horizon, the pads of one man’s fingers pressed into white dots against the glass. When I turned to look, I saw slate-gray storm clouds gathering over the bay.

We hadn’t gotten one full day of sun. Not even a day.

“This is not good,” Tristan said, pausing next to the swan fountain at the center of the park. Even its shallow water was rippling in the wind. Bea, Fisher, Lauren, and a crowd of other Lifers huddled under the awning of the bike shop, watching us, waiting for direction. “It’s starting to feel like the Jessica time around here.”

“Dude, please. This is nothing like that,” Joaquin shot back.

“Are you kidding me?” Tristan demanded, his long blond bangs blown back from his face. “You just nearly broke some kid’s arm when we have zero proof that he did anything wrong.”

“Oh, so you would have rather let him get his hands on Rory?” Joaquin replied.

“Well, if you want me to kick the ass of every guy who puts his hands on Rory…” Tristan said, getting right up in Joaquin’s face.

“Step back, Tristan,” Joaquin said, pushing Tristan backward.

“No. I don’t think I will.” Tristan shoved Joaquin with both hands.

“You guys. Don’t!”

But it was too late. Joaquin pulled back and threw a punch at Tristan’s face. I screamed as it landed with a crack across Tristan’s jaw, sending him reeling sideways into Dorn’s chest. Dorn caught him, and I expected him to hold Tristan back or get between the two of them, or at least hold Tristan back, but he merely turned Tristan around and gave him a little push, sending him back for more.

“Dorn!” I shouted.

He gave a little shrug as Tristan threw himself at Joaquin’s midsection. Joaquin was flipped off his feet and hit the walkway on his back. For a second he lay still, his eyes wide open, gasping for air. Tristan had knocked the wind right out of him.

“Tristan! Stop!” I shouted as Tristan straddled Joaquin and cocked his right fist. He froze, and I wrapped my arms around his shoulders, pulling him away from Joaquin. “Get off him! He can’t breathe!”

The wind flung my hair across my eyes and into my mouth as I dragged Tristan away. Dorn knelt down and helped Joaquin sit up, and he finally sputtered and coughed, dragging in a long, ragged breath with his hand to his chest. The clouds had moved in fast, blocking out the sun and casting everything in their dull gray shadow. A circle of crows cawed merrily overhead as if beckoning the storm our way.

Joaquin took a few deep breaths, looking up at me as he struggled to get control. He grasped Dorn’s arm and staggered to his feet. “I’m going to see if I can track down Kevin,” he said, then turned to Dorn. “You, don’t let the new kid out of his cell.”