Ghost Town Page 0,44

tickets to the barbecue. People are angry. This could go bad, Claire. I don't think Amelie understands how bad."

"You think someone might try to break him out?"

"I'm pretty sure someone will. Hell, I'd have done it myself, except I was more worried about you."

"Shane, I heard what happened. He and his frat buddies pounded on a vampire, and then he killed his own Protector when he came after them."

"Yeah, well, I'd kill any of them if he had his fangs up in my face, too."

"But you wouldn't have let your friends kick some stranger's ass and rob him; I know you wouldn't. And Kyle was the ring-leader. Truth is, I don't think it mattered to him who got hurt or killed. And I'm not sure it wasn't cold-blooded murder, with his Protector."

"If you're not sure it was, then he shouldn't be in the cage," Shane said. "She's going too far. People in this town have a taste of freedom now, and they're not going to give it up that easily."

"The vampires aren't going to give up being in charge, either. People are going to get hurt if both sides keep on pulling."

Shane nodded slowly. His expression didn't change. "Our people get hurt here every day."

There was no talking to him about this, Claire realized; Shane had come to terms with a lot of things, but he was never, ever going to believe that what the vampires did to humans for punishment was right. And she couldn't blame him. She remembered how sick she'd felt, how horrified, when Shane himself had been in that cage, waiting to die. Now Kyle was in there, and his family, the people who loved him, they were feeling the same awful horror. Even if he was a total tool, this was worse than punishment. It was cruelty.

"Maybe we should try to get him out," Claire said. "Does that sound crazy?"

"Only all of it. You know what the penalty is for breaking someone out of that cage?"

"Joining them in it?"

"Bingo. And sorry, but I'm not risking it. You're not exactly escape-artist material."

She was a little relieved, actually. "Maybe I can talk to Amelie. Get her to change her mind."

"See, that's much more you. Reason Girl," Shane said. "Parents?"

She nodded and grabbed her backpack from the corner--force of habit: she didn't have school today, but the weight of the books and all the assorted junk she kept in it made her feel steadier. Shane turned toward the closed kitchen door. "Yo, undead-for-brains, we're heading to the Danvers house!"

"I heard that," Michael yelled back.

"Whole point, bro." Shane offered Claire his arm, and she took it, and they set out for her parents' house.

It was a nice day to walk, especially with Shane next to her. Well, truthfully, if it had been forty below and a blizzard, it still would have seemed like a nice day with Shane, but it really was beautiful--sunny, not too hot, a cloud-free, faded-denim sky that seemed to stretch a million miles from horizon to horizon. Wind, of course, like there always seemed to be in Morganville, but more of a breeze than a gust.

It still tasted of sand, though.

"Want a coffee?" she asked. Shane shook his head and kicked a rusted can out of their way.

"If I see Oliver, I'm going to punch him right in the face," he said. "So no. I'll skip the coffee."

"Right, no caffeine for you at all." There wasn't much else to do in Morganville besides the coffee shop, anyway. Movies weren't playing yet, and they were too young for the bars, which also weren't open yet. She was hoping to delay the inevitable bringing-Shane-to-her-parents tension, but really, there was no getting around it.

She was still working on what she was going to say to her dad when Shane said, "Huh. That's weird."

There was something in his voice that made her look up. She saw nothing out of place for a second, but then she saw someone sitting on the curb a block up, head down, shoulders shaking.

Crying.

"Should we . . . ?" she asked. Shane shrugged.

"Probably couldn't hurt. Maybe he needs help."

It was a he, after all, a college kid wearing a black knit shirt and scuffed-up jeans. Claire had seen him somewhere before. . . .

It was the boy from the Science Building. The one who'd given her the rave flyer. Alex? She thought his name was Alex.

As they got closer, she felt that stab of anxiety again. Alex was not the kind of guy to