Bedlam Boyz(79)

She put her hands on his shoulders and her other vision peeked in a moment later. He's hurt on the inside, bleeding. No broken bones, but I'd better stop that bleeding. Relief swept through her as she realized that he'd be okay. And then she called the magic out from that tiny safe place where she'd hidden it away from sight, freeing it to run through her. She could feel it skittering down her arms beneath the leather jacket, tickling her hands. She knelt closer over Mike so her body would shield the light, closed her eyes, and let the magic flow through her.

From a distance, she could hear Stephanie's voice. "Oh my God, Mike!" And Bert: "Kayla, is he okay?"

Kayla didn't answer; all of her concentration was on the magic, caught up in the healing.

"Hey, girl, is he okay?" an older voice asked, rough with concern. Someone grabbed her shoulder, pulling her back. Magic flared, bright enough that Kayla could see it through her closed eyes. She damped it immediately, knowing that she'd done what she needed to.

He's okay, he'll be all right.

She opened her eyes and saw Steph staring at her, a last hint of blue fire reflected in the other girl's eyes. "Kayla, what . . . ?" she began, and then stopped.

"It's okay, he's okay," Kayla said quickly. "Mike's gonna be fine."

The driver of the car shook his head. "I must be seeing things . . . hey, kid, you all right?" he said to Mike, who was sitting up slowly with Bert's help.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Mike said, then glared at the driver. "Jesus, man, can't you watch where you're driving? You could've killed me."

"Yeah, well, you should look before you run into the street! Goddamn kids," the driver said, then sighed. "Listen, kid, here's my business card. If you decide later in the day that you're not all right, get yourself to a hospital. Don't worry about it, I'll pay for it. Just don't tell my insurance company, okay?"

Mike stood up slowly, a little wobbly on his feet, and Kayla and Bert both reached out to steady him. "Yeah, sure."

"You sure you're all right, Mike?" Steph asked.

He nodded. "Yeah, yeah, I feel fine. Just a couple bruises maybe, that's all." He glanced in the direction of the school. "Hey, look at that!"

Kayla turned and saw the row of students staring and pointing at them through the chain link fence. Great, she thought. That's all I need now. I know Steph saw the magic, and the driver, though I don't think the driver believed in it. Mike was too out of it to notice anything, but who knows how many of those kids saw what I did.

"We'd better get out of here before the principal shows up," Mike said. "How 'bout we skip on the burgers for lunch? Somehow I'm not all that hungry anymore."

"Good plan," Kayla said, and they headed back onto the sidewalk, climbing the fence to get back into the school. She saw Steph watching her as she jumped down from the fence, and looked away, not wanting to answer the questions in Steph's eyes.



No one commented on it, though, and by the end of the day Kayla had almost forgotten the incident. Each of her classes was more fascinating than the last, and she'd met a dozen interesting people ranging from the quiet Sandra to Mike's best friend Steve, who described himself as a computer hacker and offered to take Kayla on a guided tour of the AT&T network. Mike had to one-up that offer by saying that he'd teach Kayla how to pick locks and get herself out of a pair of handcuffs, to which Steve said that he figured he'd break Bank of America's security codes by next week and wouldn't that be a fun place to check out?

Kayla was laughing so hard at their attempts to impress her that it took her a few moments to notice the two businessmen that were loitering just outside the school's wire fence. Loitering and watching them. A moment later, Kayla noticed their ears.

Their long, curved, pointed ears.

"Uh, excuse me, guys," Kayla said. She walked quickly into the closest building and stood there for a moment, leaning against the row of metal lockers. It's the elves. They know I'm here. What am I supposed to do now?

As if for an answer, Kayla saw one of the business-suited elves walk into the building, scanning the hallway. He saw her, and for a brief moment, they stared at each other. Then Kayla turned and ran.

She didn't hear footsteps running behind her, but a split second later there was the startling crackle of displaced air and then the elf was standing ten feet ahead of her, right in the middle of the only doorway out of the building. He smiled at her. Kayla didn't lose a step, but slammed into him at full speed like a high school football player. The elf had time for one startled expression on his finely-chiseled features before he was knocked flying. Kayla heard him crash into a locker as she fell, then she rolled to her feet and kept going.