Page 36 of Violet Spark
I took off the glove. Turned my hand over.
Purple slashed across my hand.
Yuuup. Never mind what Brayden had gotten into.What had actually gotten into me?
Now that I examined the hue more closely, it was a little deeper than the pomegranate freezie mix was. My skin had not been stained by freezie mix. No such luck. Whatever Brayden had been hiding had fallen off the shelf, broken open inside the mixer, and seeped into me when I’d cut my hand on the mixer bar.
I’d been infected with something—some kind of energy goop?—being developed by BantaMatrix. And then I’d gone and flaunted my wound all around the valley. Evil Dane even had a pic of it on his phone. And Daddy Alling had been soooo insistent about having his doc look at it.
The glove wasn’t souped.I was. With purple power.
The good news was that neither one of those corporate assholes had to kill me over it because the goop was probably toxic and I was going to catch some brand-new kind of cancer, grow another head or two, and then die on my own. So there was that.
My phone chirped. I looked at the screen.
Tell no one.
With my pulse slamming wildly through my veins, I checked my rearview mirror—nothing—before typing,Who is this?
Jacksalot probably.
My phone chirped again before I finished.Live your life as if nothing is different for now.
That was hilarious.
Too late,I tapped back.Dude just tried to kill me
I stared at the three dots of doom, then my phone chirped again.I didn’t try to kill you. But with the way you drive, I’m surprised you didn’t wreck your car and kill both yourself and other drivers. You are a menace. Your license should be revoked.
Dane?I tapped out and then stared, holding my breath, at the three dots while he wrote back.
How’d he get my number?
Can’t talk now. Local law enforcement at the site. I have to deal with our mutual friend to control the situation.
The mutual friend had to be Brayden. Someone must have called the cops.
You don’t want to kill me?
No.
I couldn’t believe him…could I? He’d pulled a gun on me, after all.
Although…he hadn’t done that until I’d popped open Brayden’s car with my purple power. Almost popped Dane with it too. Definitely popped his car.
Okay, obviously Dane knew something about what was happening to me. Knew more than me, which pissed me off.What do you want from me?
I want to talk. Don’t experiment. I’ll come find you when I’m done here. And for Christ’s sake, observe the speed limits. And stop signs.
My brain was buzzing.
Huh. Maybe he wasn’t corporate. Maybe he was government. Like from one of those shady divisions that had no credibility, unlimited resources, and worked out of some Langley basement or else he’d have agents crawling all over the valley to neutralize the situation or some shit like that.
A government agent could get my number, no big deal.
You’re really not going to kill me?I typed again. Had to be sure.
Go home. I repeat: tell no one. When I’m done here, I’ll come for you.
