Prom Nights from Hell(50)
«Actually, I'm not even vaguely interested. I don't know what you're planning, Plant Boy-«
«Gardener,» he corrected, going a touch red.
«-but if you need to know where I'm supposed to be picked up by the Overseer, then you have to keep me alive, right? So you can't exactly threaten me with death.»
«Not death, no. But pain.» He addressed the man. «Go get me my tools, Byron.»
As the man left the room, Sibby said, «I'm not going to tell you anything.»
Deputy Reynolds circled around so he was leaning over her chair, his back to the window.
«Listen to me-« he said, his heartbeat slowing down suddenly.
Miranda did a round-off, smashing through the window feet first, then knocked him unconscious with a side kick to the neck before he could turn around. She bent to whisper, «Sorry,» in his ear, decided as punishment not to tell him about the aspirins, grabbed Sibby, sprinted to the car, and stepped on the gas.
Chapter Seven
«He didn't even know you were there,» Sibby said. «He never even knew who hit him.»
«That was the idea.» They were parked next to an abandoned Amtrak maintenance building on an old part of the train tracks that was completely hidden from the street. It was the place Miranda had started coming seven months earlier to work out all her new crazy energy and try things she couldn't practice anywhere else-Roller Derby was great for speed, balance, gymnastics, and shoving moves, but you weren't supposed to use advanced judo. Or weapons.
She could make out marks from her last crossbow exercise on the side of the building, and the piece of railroad track she'd tied in a knot the day after Will rejected her was still lying on the ground. She'd never seen anyone else here, and she was sure she and Sibby would be pretty much invisible as long as they stayed parked.
«Where did you learn to knock people out like that?» Sibby asked, sprawled out over the backseat. «Can you teach me?»
«No.»
«Why not? Just one move?»
«Absolutely not.»
«Why did you say you were sorry after you hit him?»
Miranda swiveled to face her. «It's my turn to ask questions. Who wants to kill you and why?»
«Gods, I don't know. It could be a ton of people. It's not like that, how you think it is.»
«What's it like then?»
«It's complicated. But if we can just hang out until four in the morning, there's a place I can go.»
«That's six hours from now.»
«That'll give me time for at least ten more kisses.»
«Well, of course. What else would you do while someone is trying to kill you besides go out and tongue tango with as many strangers as possible?»
«They weren't trying to kill me, they were trying to abduct me. It's totally different. Come on, I want to do something fun. Something with boys.»
«Or we could not do that.»
«Look, just because you are a founding member of Down with Fun Inc. doesn't mean that the rest of us want to sign up.»
«I am not a founding member of Down with Fun Inc. I like fun. But-«
«Funkiller.»
«-somehow the idea of wandering around while 'a ton of people' are trying to kidnap you, doesn't sound fun to me. It sounds like a good way to get into the Guinness Book of World Records under 'Plan, comma, World's Most Stupid.' Plus innocent bystanders could get caught in the middle when the ton of people find you.»
«'If,' not 'when.' And they don't care about anyone but me.»
Miranda rolled her eyes and turned back around. «That's why they're called innocent bystanders. Because they were standing by you and accidentally got hurt.»
«Then you should definitely get away from me. Seriously, although there's nothing I'd rather do than sit parked in a homeless person's bathroom for six hours with only you for company, I think it would be safer for both of us if I take my chances elsewhere. Like at that ice cream place we passed on the way here. Did you see the lips on the guy behind the counter? They were mythic. Drop me there and I'll be all set.»
«You're so not going anywhere.»
«Really? Because that sound you hear? Is me reaching for the door handle.»
«Really? Because that sound you hear? Is me engaging the child lock.»
In the rearview mirror, Miranda saw Sibby's eyes blaze.
«You're really mean,» Sibby said. «Something horrible must have happened to you to make you so mean.»