Wayward Son - Rainbow Rowell Page 0,89

were so many goblins.

So many trolls.

I killed them.

A gryphon. A diphthong. An aspssasin. And I …

They’ve got Agatha. They took Penelope.

There’s no magic here, but that’s okay—there’s no magic left in me.

I’ll take one more when I go. When I get up. And go down.

I’ll take at least one more.

For Agatha. And Penelope.

For …

“Simon…”

Baz!

62

SHEPARD

The vampire who bit me is definitely dead. And probably everyone here would be more horked off over that if Baz didn’t just grab the leader of the Next Blood by the neck and rip off half his jaw.

The rest of the San Diego vampires are emptying their clips into Baz and Lamb—and, incidentally, each other. Lamb’s crew hadn’t been taking any of this seriously; a few of them had even headed back up the hill after the Speakers were officially turned over. But now they’re running into the mob with their mouths open and their fangs all the way out.

I feel weak as shit and woozy, but I drag myself back behind one of the Mercedes G-Wagens. Penelope’s in the other one. I lie on my belly and army-crawl between the SUVs, hoping the guns are pointed in any other direction. I’m halfway to the second Mercedes when it literally bursts into flames. I leap up into a run, yanking one of the back doors open. Smoke pours out. And then the blond girl. Then Penelope. They’re alive. They’re … surprised, I think. I untie their hands. But their mouths are glued shut, and I can’t get them open.

Penelope reaches frantically into my pocket and pulls out my Swiss Army knife, holding it up to her face.

I try to keep my hand steady. I try to ignore the blood.

63

BAZ

Go ahead and shoot me. This isn’t my favourite shirt.

These vampires don’t know what to do. I’m biting off pieces of their president and CEO. He’s very strong. But I’m also very strong, and very angry, and very determined to tear him into pieces, even if he can grow them back like a starfish.

Let’s tear each other into pieces and see what grows back. I won’t miss this suit.

Lamb is trying to restrain me. Go away, Lamb. Brutus. Betrayer. Vampire.

“Baz!” he shouts. “We can still save ourselves!”

Ha! There’s no saving me. Everything I am is already gone. My teeth are like knives. I use them.

“Baz! Listen to me!”

One of the vampires jumps on my shoulders. Lamb sighs and pulls him off. “I guess we’re doing this.…”

Lamb fights like someone who’s stayed alive for three hundred years.

Lamb isn’t afraid of machine guns.

“Baz!”

That wasn’t Lamb.…

I let go of Braden (some of him still sticks to me) and spin around—

Simon Snow is getting up on his knees.

Simon Snow is alive.…

Somewhat.

“Simon!” I scream. “Stay down!”

Of course he doesn’t listen.

SIMON

Baz is fighting twenty-six vampires, and I’m getting up to help.

I’m probably going to get shot again.

Before I get the opportunity, one of those expensive Land Rovers catches on fire. The vampires scramble away from it. One of them has a metal cane. The telescoping kind. I snatch it and drive it through his heart. It’s not a wooden stake, so maybe it won’t do the trick. I’m prepared to keep trying.

Penelope was in that car. I try my wings. They work. Ish.

I spear another vampire.

And Agatha.

I bring the cane down on someone’s back. It feels like hitting a brick wall with a lead pipe.

I’m just warming up to avenging their deaths when Penelope and Agatha themselves walk out of the flames, holding hands, both of their mouths bleeding—looking like their own bloody ghosts.

Penelope raises one hand and screams, “Swords into ploughshares!”

The machine guns fall into the sand. She’s turned them into … ploughshares, I reckon. My cane changes, too. Which seems fair given the circumstances.

“Penelope Bunce,” Baz says, his eyes lit up with wonder.

The vampires seem confused, on both sides.

I look down.…

A ploughshare is basically just a really wide axe head. It takes two hands to swing it.

BAZ

Penelope Bunce is a fierce magician, I’ve never minded saying it.

She’s just escaped from handcuffs and a flaming car. She’s casting spells without her wand in a dead spot. Harry Houdini himself couldn’t top it.

And she’s got Agatha—alive.

“Basil!” Bunce shouts. “There’s magic!”

She’s pointing at something in the distance. A line of trees? No, it’s moving. Are those people?

The vampires have turned on each other again. One of Braden’s friends is charging at me. I whip out my wand and point it at him. “Off with your head!”

Nothing happens.

But I feel it. The magic. I feel it