The Chase Page 0,60

of her own blood filled her ears.

"Actually, I'm surprised you got this far. I didn't think you would-but I got your aunt and uncle out of the way just in case. An urgent message from their missing son."

I'm going to faint. I really am, this time.

Jenny couldn't keep her knees steady. He was half supporting her now.

"Shh. You don't need to cry. You've lost the Game, that's all. It's over now."

Dark. She was in complete darkness. She looked around wildly, turning as far as he would let her. If she could only see a tiny light-but there was nothing. The wolf and the snake weren't here; she would have seen their sickly, phosphorescent glow. She was alone with the Shadow Man.

And he was going to take her.

"Oh, God, where are we? Are we there already-at the base?" she said hysterically. It was impossible to tell in this complete darkness.

"No. Shh, shh, Jenny. We're going in a moment. You see, here's the way."

Then Jenny did see a light-just a glimmer. A weird, eldritch light like blue electricity. Denning a space opening in the floor behind Julian. A gap, a vortex. A hole.

No ... Jenny couldn't stand to look at the hole. She turned from it and buried her face in Julian's chest.

"It's all right. Just a little step. Then we'll be together, Jenny." He tipped her face up in the darkness, touching it with fingertips cool as marble.

His touch-so light, so certain. Commanding. As if he could see easily in this utter blackness. So cool. His fingertips traced her wet cheekbone, thumb wiping away the tears. Jenny shut her eyes involuntarily.

"Together, forever."

The cool fingertips brushed over her eyelashes, stroked the hair back from her temple. She felt one trace her eyebrow.

"It was meant to be, Jenny. You know that. You can't fight it any longer."

The finger ran down her cheek like a cool tear. It traced the outline of her lips, the join between upper and lower. A touch so light she could barely feel it. It took the bones out of her legs.

Melting, falling ...

"Come with me, now, Jenny." His fingertips brushed the line of her jaw, sending delightful shivers through her. She realized her head had fallen back. Her face was turned up as if for a kiss. "I'll go with you. It's time to concede the Game. To surrender ..."

A tiny light went on in Jenny's mind.

No wolf and no snake. And they were still in Zach's kitchen, which she knew very well. And the hole was behind Julian-and just beyond that the garage door ...

"All right," she whispered. "All right, but let go of me. I can walk."

Dee always said surprise was the most important element of any attack. Don't give your opponent a second to consider.

The instant Julian's grip loosened, Jenny shoved him.

She didn't think about it, she just pushed as hard as she could. And he was taken by surprise. Even his snake-quick reflexes couldn't save him. With a shout the Shadow Man fell backward into his own black vortex.

Jenny leaped over the hole at the same moment.

A jump straight into darkness. If she'd miscalculated, she'd knock herself out against the wall. As it was her hands struck the door, almost upsetting her backward-but she kept her balance. Her fingers closed on the doorknob, she wrenched it-then she was in the garage.

Zach's flashlight would be on the wall. At least, she prayed it still would be. She flew across the length of the garage recklessly, groping for it. Julian wouldn't take long to recover-he could be here any second -

Flashlight! Jenny thumbed the switch. She had never been so glad to see anything as she was to see the white circular beam that shot out. Light, at last, light.

She swung the beam to the wall, aiming with dead certainty at what she'd come for. The mural photograph Zach had taken of the high school cafeteria.

Julian had told her that black and white mixed make so many colors-but not in a photograph. A photograph-an image of reality-an image that included a door. The exit door that the pyramid of tables had almost blocked, a door in the shadows behind the tables. A door Jenny had been through in real life many times. But she'd never been through it-because you can't open a picture of a door.

Unless, like the mural on Montevideo Avenue, it was a door into unreality. Into a place halfway to the Shadow World, like the More Games store. Julian could make images