Delinquents Turned Fugitives - Ann Denton Page 0,98

started sprinting with me in his arms.

“What are you doing?” Z huffed.

“We ruined his sleep. I nearly zapped him with light. We didn’t know he was there, but still, an apology can’t hurt.”

Z just shook his head as the Day-Glo stripes around us blurred and we shot out of the maze and back into the tunnel.

“Only you would apologize to someone who’s going to try to kill us.”

“He let us go before,” I argued.

Z didn’t quarrel, just put on another burst of speed and we flew out of the doors to the Wacky Shack. While we’d been inside, the sun had set. A small crescent moon hung like a sickle in the sky.

Fuck.

Callum wouldn’t be stuck inside that ride. He’d be free to come after us.

My emotions trilled like a pianist playing a glissando, sliding their hand rapidly over every key and ending at the base, thrumming on a low dark note.

I needed to warn the guys. But if we headed toward Malcolm, we’d only put him in danger too. Maybe it was better to stay away.

Z seemed to have come to the same conclusion because he turned north, away from the picnic tables and parking lot.

“I’m really regretting the fact that I didn’t put out right now,” Z huffed, out-of-breath after his magical exertions, as we charged away from the shack.

“Me too,” I breathed.

Z and I darted around a huge fiberglass mushroom painted in bright green and yellow that held an old trashcan in it to tempt people to throw their trash away instead of littering.

“If we make it through this … all the sex,” Z panted.

“All the sex,” I promised. Part of me wanted to laugh at his train of thought. But I didn’t want to waste my breath. We rounded another corner in the path and zoomed past the log ride.

I could hear the doors of the fun house burst open and smack the sides of the building.

I swallowed hard. Unlike us, Callum didn’t have to worry about being quiet.

Quiet only mattered if a hunter wanted to surprise his quarry.

We already knew he was coming.

Z grabbed me and the world blurred again. In the sliver of moonlight, I saw a giant wavy slide and the tilt-a-whirl. Zavier came to a stop behind the red, white and gold carousel. He was breathing hard and his eyelids fluttered closed.

I touched his cheek gently. “You have to stop. You’ll wear yourself out.”

“If I stop, we’re dead,” he contended as a sharp wind whipped my hair around my face.

“You’ll be dead if I want you dead, and no amount of your insignificant magic will stop it,” Callum’s British accent slid over us like a stream over stones, smooth and icy cold.

Holy fuck. He was fast. That hadn’t been wind. It had been him.

Norms stood zero chance.

I stared up at the pale vampire, who wasn’t nude tonight. He wore a crisp navy suit and a pale blue shirt and was handsome, not in a way that drew me to him, but handsome like a portrait, or a work of art.

I took a deep breath and forced myself to step in front of Zavier.

If anyone was going to be talking, it was going to be me. If anyone was going to be dying, it was going to be me.

But my brave front faltered when I saw two vampires step out of the shadow of trees behind Callum. My eyes flickered from them to him. He had more with him? He might negotiate, but the others …

My crew.

My emotions shifted like a continent on a fault line and hope was shoved deep underneath terror.

I could blast them all with sunlight. But I couldn’t guarantee they’d die. And if I started a war with Callum… all the news reports told me how it would end.

Pleading felt like my only option.

“Please …” It slipped out of my lips like a whisper.

Callum’s mouth twitched. “Not used to using that word, are you?”

I swallowed hard. “We didn’t know you were here.”

“Obviously.” The vampire leaned on one of the golden posts of the merry-go-round as he stared at me. “So, what are you doing here?”

“Same as you. Trying to hide from the Pinnacle.”

“Hide?” Callum shook his head. “No. I’m not hiding. I’m biding my time.” There was a fierce, predatory gleam in his eyes as he said that. Then he lifted his hand, and, as if they’d been awaiting his command, the other two vampires came closer.

Awe filled me, fluttering like moths in my stomach. How could he control