that my ability to sense was becoming so natural that I could all but ignore it if I wanted to, however, at the moment that fact was furthest from my mind.
I ran to the door holding it open for Taron and we jogged down the hall, my pulse hammering alongside my mantra: please just let us get there in time… please let nothing have happened…
As I went to turn toward the main entrance, Taron called from behind me. “This way,” he said, zipping his jacket. “They will be there already, we’ll take a car, it’ll be faster.”
We ran down the side hall and out of one of the back doors to the parking lot behind Lorcan.
“Which one?” I asked, seeing a line of four St Brigid’s vans lined up along the building.
“Doesn’t matter, all the keys are in the glove boxes, just get in the first one.”
I opened the passenger side door to find a pile of paperwork and old binders cluttering up the front seat. “What the hell? Whose stuff is this?” I asked, trying to shove it out of the way.
“How am I supposed to know? Everyone uses these, just get in the back,” he growled, as he started the ignition. “Hurry up!”
I got in on top of the mess, crawling over it and through the gap between the two front seats. After reaching over and closing the door behind me, Taron took off out of the parking lot, the momentum throwing me into the row of seats behind him. I righted myself and leaned forward into the gap I’d just crawled through.
“Can’t you just drive through the grass?” I asked as we turned onto the road. “His dorm’s right there, it’d be quicker.”
“Not without drawing attention.”
“OK, then can we at least-?” but I stopped, as we suddenly made a wrong turn. “Wait, this isn’t right!” I grabbed Taron’s shoulder shaking. “It’s back that way.”
“Srian,” Taron ordered, in what I can only assume was Gaelic.
“Wha–”
Before I could finish, a pair of enormous arms came around behind me, covering my mouth and pinning me against my seat. As I struggled vainly to get free, I saw Taron watching me in the rearview mirror, a disgusting grin framing his face.
“I told you not to thank me.”
25
“Goddamned, dirty, back-stabbing, rotten son of a bitch!” I screamed against the gigantic calloused hand covering my mouth.
I could tell that the guy playing the part of the human seatbelt wasn’t a Holder, but when it came to the art of restraining he definitely knew what he was doing. His left arm was like an iron band around my arms and chest, trapping me against the seat, while his right hand was smashed so hard against my mouth I couldn’t even loosen my jaw enough to try and bite him. The only things I had that were free were my legs, and I made full use of them, slamming my feet into the back of Taron’s seat, his side, his right arm, and any other part of him I could reach. With any luck he’d swerve and hit a tree and I’d be able to make a run for it before he got me too far away from the school. As I looked around, however, I realized we weren’t even near the edge of campus.
Then I remembered: the charm. No one could take me off campus or out of any other buildings without my permission. I’d been stupid enough to leave Lorcan of my own free will, but no way would Taron be able to get past the school gates. Unfortunately, he knew this too, and had planned accordingly.
We pulled up to an old building on the other side of campus that I’d never seen before. The doors and windows were bricked over, and even though the shrubs and trees surrounding it had been kept neat it was clear the building hadn’t been used in a long time. Taron parked the van along the back wall, next to a large pile of broken bricks that had been chiseled away from one of the doors. As soon as Taron came around and opened the back door, I felt the presence of another Holder there waiting for us. It was an ability I’d never felt before, and it was coming toward us from the inside the building.
“Scaoileadh dá béal,” Taron ordered the guy holding me, as he pulled a rag out of his pocket.
Before I even had a chance to realize that the nasty sweaty palm was