Page 115 of The Eleventh Hour

Dane is staring, his eyes wide. “It worked. Holy shit. It worked.”

Gideon looks around. His gaze lands on Titan, and I get a sense of helpless rage. He lets my jaw go and steps back, looking around wildly.

“Help her, Gideon,” I say again. Louder, more demanding. “You’re the only one who can.”

He looks at me, our eyes meet, and then he vanishes.

Dane grips my shoulder. “Come on, I have an idea.” He leads me through the crowd until we get to the staircase. Our movements are slow, hampered by people who can’t function, who can barely think, and those who are so shocked they aren’t thinking at all.

Dane pushes on the door and comes up across Astaire. The bouncer turns and looks down at us with a frown.

“Jax is missing, and the cops aren’t looking,” Dane whispers.

Astaire heaves a sob and wipes his eyes. “I know the boss was bad, but he was good to me, and I could feed my family because of him, never asked anything of me that wasn’t honest. But Jax, she’s good in her heart and always looks bad. Go! Be quick. Find her.”

We pass through the gap in the doorway and sprint across the road. The police have arrived in force, blue and red flashing lights illuminate the shard. Someone should have seen us, but by some miracle, no one calls out, so we keep going.

“Where should we go?” I call out to Dane.

He stops jogging and looks around. For the first time in forever, he looks helpless and like the kid we found.

“I don’t know. Maybe we split up?”

I feel something cold touch my hand and look down. A flicker of black light, and I smell smoke.

“I know where we need to go,” I say quickly.

I follow the smell of smoke, ignoring Danes’ whispered protests until we get to the park. I jump the fence and head deep inside until we get to the playground.

The smell of smoke intensifies. All around us are wisps of colour, rainbow halos, and black smoke. I have never seen anything like this. I slow to a stop, watching the ghosts of Hurricane writhe in their unease.

“What is going on here?” Dane asks.

I press my hand to my chest, and I find myself staring at a woman who looks vaguely like Jax.

“You can’t leave. You have to stay. It’s out of order.”

Her words make no sense, but when Dane flies backwards and cracks his head on the playground, I cry out. I try to move, but I can’t. It’s like my body has turned to stone.

“You have to not be with her, not until it’s time,” the woman whispers gently. Then she extends her arm, throwing me harshly.

“WAKE UP!” she screams. “WAKE UP. WAKE UP. WAKE UP. WAKE UP.”

I hear the words when my head cracks into the metal pole. I hear the words in my mind as the world goes black.

My last thought is of Jax and how sorry I am that I’ve failed her. I wonder if she will come and haunt me as a ghost.

Jax

Phil drags me into the building. He’s stronger than he looks, I’ll give him that, and even my violent thrashing hasn’t been able to free me. He’s sweating profusely, and his clothes are almost as disheveled as Titan’s were.

But it’s the choppy breathing, the way he keeps scrubbing at his face, and that mousy brown hair of his that really tells me how bad this is going to be. I’ve seen addicts on the edge like this, twitching as they come down, unable to sleep, no money to get more. Emotions all over the place. Dangerous.

Out of the corner of my eye, I see Joe Hinklestein crouch low in the garbage. He peers at me with a face that’s white as snow.

“Help me,” I mouth.

He looks up and points to the streetlight through the window. I almost sob with disappointment. He doesn’t understand. Damn it.

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