"I tried to call you. I texted you and left messages, but you never replied."
"Yeah, I was in southern Colombia. No reception."
"I can't even being to understand how or why you ended up down here. I have so many questions." She glanced over her shoulder. Took a deep breath. "Ever since you vanished, I tried to find out where you went and if you were okay. I got ahold of Shelton and your dad talked to me and told me you were fine. Anyway, since you were gone, I started hanging out with Nyte and Ash."
"You hung out with them? As in friends?"
She nodded. "I was lonely. You were gone, and things at school could never be the same after running from those hellhounds, and almost dying and—well, Annie and Jenny would never understand, even if I could tell them."
The demonic hunger in me twisted my insides. My eyes closed. When they reopened, I saw Katie's delicious aura hovering around her. No! I squeezed my eyes shut and slammed the door on the ravenous feeling. With some effort, I picked up the trail of the conversation again. "Please tell me you didn't talk to Ash and Nyte about the Overworld."
She shook her head. "No. In fact, Ash and I started hanging out more. He's really smart, and cute without all that nasty Goth makeup."
I let out a sigh of relief. "Thank god you didn't tell them anything."
"I didn't, but someone else did. Right after Coach Burgundy and Brad and all those others were killed—" she shuddered. "It was so horrible. Then the huge garbage truck slammed into the police car you were in, and everything happened so fast. You and Elyssa vanished and Ash and Nyte were worried sick about you."
I felt terrible. Not that I'd had much of a chance to call anyone and let them know I was okay, but I knew exactly what it was like to have someone you care about vanish from your life. "Are they okay?"
A fresh tear sparkled in her eye. "These new people showed up at school. I didn't trust them one bit after knowing what you told me about vampire recruiters. They held after-school club meetings, supposedly about finding your true self and the meaning of life, or some crap like that. Ash and Nyte went to one, thinking it would be a big joke. Somewhere along the way, they found out these people were vampires recruiting for Maximus."
My heart sank. Apparently, my attempt at stamping out Maximus's recruiters from my high school hadn't paid off. "Please tell me you stopped them from going."
"At first they laughed about it. Then one of the vampires grew out his fangs and punched a hole through a desk. Most of the people there were like Ash and Nyte—you know, the ones Nathan and his goons call nerds and losers. The ones who want a miracle to make them look cool."
"Oh, god." A sick feeling ballooned in my stomach. "What happened?"
"The vampire told them there was a serum they could take, but it was in limited supply. He took them all on a tour of the Grotto and then down to Colombia."
"And you came with them."
Katie grasped one of my hands and shook her head. Amanda's yelling echoed down the hall. The raucous music still hadn't stopped.
"I let them go, Justin." She sobbed. "I tried to stop them, but they wouldn't listen. And the worst part is—" she hiccupped and wiped at the tears rolling down her cheeks. "I really like Ash. We sort of went out on a date. He told me I shouldn't settle for a weakling like him. He told me that when he came back, he'd be super strong and immortal. And then he'd be worthy of dating me."
I groaned. "I know, I know." She leaned down and whispered. "Then the strangest thing ever happened. Mr. Turpin, the English teacher, came to me and offered me a chance to save them. He said he could get me to Colombia, but that I'd have to spy on Maximus for him all while pretending to be one of his recruits."
"Son of a bitch!" I wormed against my restraints.
"His real name is really weird. Underborn, or something like that." She looked over her shoulder and turned back to me. "He has other people here working for him too."
"You can't trust him," I said. "The man is an assassin." Underborn wouldn't stick out his own neck to rescue anyone. He obviously intended for Katie to