Page 82 of Creatures of Chaos

A buzzing noisewakes me up in the middle of the night. I’m disoriented as I slap around my nightstand, searching blindly for the light switch on my table lamp. By the time I get it turned on I’m more awake and know exactly what woke me up.

Sliding from my bed, I rush over to my backpack and pull out the Chaos tracker. Sure enough, a set of coordinates are flashing on the screen as well as the words, “One Hour.” I go to reach for my computer before I remember I don’t have it or my phone. My grounding is officially over tomorrow, but how am I supposed to know where I’m going, or even get a ride there without my computer or phone?

Panic starts to set in when I think of Tenn. Something happened to him because he skipped a Chaos trial. He’s still in a coma, and they aren’t sure if he is ever going to wake. If I don’t figure out where this next trial is and how to get there, that could be me.

Moving quickly, I throw on a pair of jeans and a t-shirt, not even really paying attention to what I grab. I shove my feet in tennis shoes and then look out my window. I know my parents are keeping my computer and phone in the store below, but Mr.Brone just helped them install an alarm on our front door so I can’t sneak out that way. Becks and Ensley live too far away to get there in time on foot, so my only chance is to go out the window and then get into the shop from the outside. I know the keycode that will unlock the store door from the street. I just need to get down there. Once I have my phone, I can call Becks and he’ll come and get me. I just hope the trial location isn’t far, or else I’ll run out of time.

I close my eyes, not believing what I’m about to do, and I wish, not for the first time, I wasn’t magically gagged. If I could, I would wake my parents and tell them everything. Sure, they’d be furious, but I know they’d help me if they understood the consequences.

Shoving the Chaos tracker in my pocket, I open my window and look down. It’s a two-story drop, and my only way to the ground without breaking something is to scale the drainpipe running next to my window. It’s not something I’ve ever tried before, but I don’t have a choice now.

I maneuver so that I’m sitting in the window with my feet dangling out over the ground. The drainpipe is only a few feet away, so without thinking too hard about it, I grab the metal pipe and swing onto the wall, anchoring my feet against the textured stones to keep from sliding. The stitches in my hand pull as I grasp the pipe. My feet have a tentative purchase at best as I start to slowly descend. Hand-over-hand, I descend the stone wall, my shoes slipping every now and then, forcing me to dangle by my grip on the pipe. At one point, the bandage wrapped around my still-healing hand snags on a jagged piece of the pipe, and I have to rip it free, exposing some of the stitches.

When I finally plant my feet on the ground, I’m shaking from the effort, and sweat plasters the fine hairs around my face to my cheeks and brow. Now that I’ve made it out of my room, I still need to figure out how to get into the store without wakingmy parents. It feels like there’s a ticking clock hanging over my head, each second clanging loudly in my ears, letting me know I’m getting closer to missing the trial and facing whatever consequences may come.

I pull out the Chaos tracker and see that it’s counting down. I only have thirty-four minutes left to get to the location.

Panic swells in my chest, threatening to pull me under, but I bat it away. I made it through three Chaos trials on my own, or at least mostly on my own. I’m not going to miss this one even though I have no choice but to throw it. Rushing over to the store door, I quickly key in the unlock code, but rather than flashing green and disengaging, the light on the panel turns red.

No! No no no no.

A sinking feeling settles low in my gut when I realize that my parents must have recently reset the code without telling me. I rack my brain trying to think of what they might have switched it to. I try their anniversary, all of our birthdays, even the name of our first dog, but the same red light appears every time.

An engine revs in the distance and I spin, ready to defend myself. I haven’t missed the trial start yet, but now that I can’t get into the shop I know it’s only a matter of time. I check the Chaos tracker. Twenty-nine minutes. Are they coming for me already?

A motorcycle curves around the bend in the distance, its sleek chrome pieces flashing in the moonlight as the rider expertly maneuvers down the street, the engine piercing the stillness of the night.

I can feel the blood pumping through my veins as it nears and then skids to a stop almost directly in front of me. The rider is dressed all in black and his head is covered by a shaded helmet.

My body is primed to run, but just before I spin and take off, the rider reaches behind him and grabs an extra helmet, tossingit to me. I catch it before it hits me in the chest, confused at what’s happening.

“Get on,” the rider orders, but my feet are cemented to the ground.

I’m ready to drop the helmet and run when the rider yanks off his helmet and I catch a familiar scowl.

Talon.

“What are you doing here?”

“Isn’t it obvious?” he asks.

“Not really.”

“You’re still grounded, right?”

I nod.

“Thought so. I knew you wouldn’t have a way to know where the next trial is or get there. Bad things happen to the competitors who don’t show up.”

“So you came to get me?” I’m just so shocked that he thought to get me, let alone drove all the way over here, that I’m stating the obvious.

“Yes, now get on.”

“But . . . why?”

He throws his head back and groans, and then pulls out his Chaos tracker and checks the time. “The next trial is a twenty-three-minute ride away. We only have another twenty-seven minutes. Do you really want to stand out here and have a discussion about this?”

Shoving the helmet on my head, I rush to the bike, throwing a leg over the seat. A zing of awareness runs through me when I lean forward and wrap my arms around Talon’s waist, but I brush it off as nerves as he hits the gas and takes off.

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