I didn’t look back as I raced for the door, and neither did Elsie, leaping several feet ahead of me to wrench the door open and start across the cuckoo-burdened lawn. Our approach had been quiet, careful, and masked by Mark’s presence. None of those things were on our side now. As we ran, the cuckoos turned to track us, snapping out of whatever fugue they’d been wrapped in and beginning to move forward.
“It’s Sarah!” I yelled. “They’re following Sarah!”
“Great observation! Keep running!”
The car was still parked in the middle of the street, exactly as we’d left it. Elsie pulled one of the back doors open and I thrust Sarah inside, not bothering with the seatbelt as I shoved her across the back seat and started to slide in beside her. That’s when I froze.
The cuckoos from the lawn were bearing down on us, their faces twisted with fury, their eyes glowing white. Annie, Sam, and Mark were nowhere to be seen. If we drove away now, we’d lose them.
“Artie! Get in the fucking car!”
I twisted to look at my sister, who was gesturing wildly for me to get in so she could start the engine. We had Sarah. We were saving Sarah. If we tried to wait and save the others—if that was even possible at this point—we’d lose her, and if Mark could be trusted, losing her meant losing the world.
This was what we’d been training for since we were old enough to understand what it meant to fight. This was what we’d always known was coming.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered, and slammed the car door.
I was still buckling my belt when Elsie hammered her foot down on the gas, sending us rocketing forward, into the front ranks of the charging cuckoos. I realized what she was going to do almost too late, and threw myself to the side, holding Sarah’s body in place with my own. I didn’t see the impact, or how many of the cuckoos she hit, but I felt it, a shuddering jolt that traveled through my entire body even as the car was spinning into a full turn and we were racing away down the street.
“How big is she broadcasting?” demanded Elsie. “Check her eyes!”
I peeled myself off of Sarah and forced her left eye open. A pale blue iris greeted me, the pupil so small that it was virtually a pinprick. “I don’t think she is,” I said.
“Good. Hold on.”
Elsie has never had a lot of respect for the rules of the road, but normally she at least drives like she doesn’t want to go back to traffic school. Apparently, having a swarm of cuckoos chasing us meant all bets were off. I yelped as the car spun and I was slammed against the door. I yelped again as I dove across the backseat to stop Sarah from hitting her head on the window. I didn’t know exactly what was going on inside her head, but I couldn’t imagine that a concussion would make things any better.
“Slow down!” I shouted.
“No!” she yelled back. If anything, she accelerated, heading for the woods faster than I had realized her tiny car could manage.
Something crashed into the roof of the car. Elsie screamed, as much in rage as fear, and slammed on the brakes.
Antimony flew through the air in front of us, propelled by the physics of our sudden stop. Sam was there before she could hit the road, snatching her under one arm and leaping straight up, into the trees. I blinked, my heart pounding, and struggled to say something more coherent than a wheezing moan.
Sam dropped back down to the road, Annie in his arms, and set her feet onto the pavement. He was back in what I always thought of as his “natural” form, although his tail was held low—a sure sign of tension in the normally genial fūri. The pair approached the car, Annie climbing into the front while Sam opened the door next to Sarah.
“Mind if I move her over?” he asked, before doing exactly that. I was still gaping at him, too startled to speak. He raised an eyebrow. “What, did you think you left us to die? Because that’s pretty shitty, if it’s the truth.”
Elsie shook off her shock and punched Annie in the arm. “What the fuck,” she demanded.
“They caught on,” said Annie. “Could you drive, maybe? I want walls. Big, thick, secure walls. Also, the parents, probably pretty mad, and coming