Bedlam Boyz(80)

Can't believe it. Elves invading my new high school, and it's only my first day here! She dodged into the next building, running past the startled faces of other students, then through the open double doors and past the library.

The main entrance to the school was just ahead, and the parking lot behind it. Kayla went through those gates as though all the demons in hell were hot on her tail. Well, at least one of them is! She stumbled to a stop in the parking lot, looking around quickly.

Ten feet away, she saw Elizabet's VW, parked with the convertible top down. She ran for it. Elizabet smiled as Kayla flung open the door and dived into the passenger seat.

"So, how was your first day at the new high school?" Elizabet asked cheerfully.





Chapter Sixteen


"Drive, drive, let's get out of here!" Kayla said, glancing back to see whether the elf was following her. She couldn't see him, but . . .

"It wasn't that bad, was it?" Elizabet asked, turning the key in the ignition and slowly backing the VW out of the parking spot.

"Yes, it was! It was awful!" She stopped, realizing that they were talking about different things. "I mean, school was fine, great, but . . . but . . . what were you doing around lunchtime, like a few minutes after noon?"

"Sleeping," Elizabet said, the VW slowing to a stop at the next streetlight. "I work night shift, remember?"

"Oh yeah, that's right," Kayla said. "Well, it's kinda like this. . . . "

"You got yourself into trouble," Elizabet said. It wasn't a question, it was a statement. "On your first day at your new high school, you got yourself into trouble."

"Well, not exactly school trouble," Kayla said, wondering exactly how she was going to explain this. "Not like getting sent to detention or anything like that. I got into, well . . . another kind of trouble."

"What do you mean by that?" Elizabet asked, glancing at her and raising one eyebrow.

Kayla glanced out the car window, wanting to look at anything but Elizabet's face. She didn't want to see Elizabet's annoyance with her, or the disappointment that she knew was there, that her ward couldn't even get through one day at school without getting into trouble. . . .

The light changed to green, and the VW started forward. Kayla saw a green BMW that looked like it was going to run the intersection. . . .

A green BMW, with the pointy-eared businessmen in the front seat.

"Oh no, it's them!" Kayla shouted, pointing through the windshield. "The killer elves!"

"Kayla, that's a remarkably childish way to try and change the subject," Elizabet said. "You're really—" Her words were cut off by a squeal of tires as the green BMW skidded through the intersection just behind them, missing the little VW by a few inches. Elizabet swerved their car sharply, barely missing an old Volvo that was trying to make a lane change.

Kayla glanced back to see the BMW scream through a tight U-turn, accelerating after them. "Elizabet, get us out of here," Kayla yelled, hanging on to the dashboard.

For an answer, Elizabet gunned the engine, the VW seeming to leap forward past the other cars on the road. Kayla looked back again to see the BMW deftly dodging two cars in a near collision to stay close behind them.

"Hold on, child," Elizabet said calmly. Without warning, Elizabet yanked the steering wheel hard, bringing the VW to a sharp stop and spinning the tail end of the car around in a perfect circle to face in the other direction. She floored the gas again. Kayla saw, through the BMW's windshield, the wide-eyed faces of two elves in business suits as the BMW went past them in the other direction. She turned to see what they did, but the BMW was lost in traffic within a few seconds, apparently unable to make an emergency turn to follow them.

Elizabet drove in silence, making several more turns through small residential streets, before taking them back to the 101 Freeway.

Kayla was still trying to catch her breath. "Elizabet, that was . . . that was scary," she said at last.

"My younger brother used to race stock cars in the seventies," the older woman said. "I learned a few things from him. And now," she said in a voice with a lot more edge to it, "I would like you to tell me exactly what happened to you at school today. Everything."

"Okay," Kayla said, a little meekly. At least we're away from the killer elves—now all I have to deal with is Elizabet.



Enrique Ramirez glanced around the empty hallway outside the high school gym, before fishing in his jeans pockets for some coins. He dialed the pay phone quickly.

"Hey, Carlos, mi amigo . . . yeah, yeah, I'm fine . . . listen, got some news for you . . . that little white girl, the bruja. Well, she was here at the high school today. A kid was hit by a car, everyone's still talking about it, and listen, you'll never guess what I saw her do. . . . "