I thought of Min's kiss. "Three weeks and four days."
Cal raised an eyebrow. "That's pretty precise."
"Well, that's when I first..." My voice faded. It didn't seem like a good idea, telling them about Min. "Who are you guys anyway?"
Lace snorted. "Dude. We're the guys who saved your butt. You almost got flattened by that worm, remember?"
I swallowed, watching as two angels lifted a third onto the platform. He was bleeding from a huge gash on one leg, black water dripping from the wound. He didn't cry out, but his face was knitted in pain, his teeth clenched.
And I'd been about to fight that thing alone?
"Uh, thanks."
"Uh, you're welcome." Her eyes narrowed. "Have you got any girlfriends? Any roommates? Cats?"
"Cats?" I thought of Zombie's strange gaze. "Listen, I don't know what you're talking about. Or what that thing was! What's going on here?"
"He doesn't know anything, Lace," Cal said. "Just bag him and let's get moving. That beastie's only wounded; it might swing back around."
The woman stared at me for another moment, then nodded. "Okay. So here's the thing, Moz. Old-fashioned folk remedies aren't going to keep your head together for much longer. Very soon, you're going to do unpleasant things to your friends and neighbors. So we're taking you for a little trip to New Jersey."
"New Jersey?"
"Yeah, Montana's full." Lace smiled, pulling a small, thin object from her cargo pants. A needle glistened in the darkness at its tip. "This won't hurt a bit, and you shouldn't be there more than a week or two, thanks to your esoterica friend. Got to admit, she kept you in pretty good shape."
"Hey, wait a second." I backed away, holding up my hands. "I'm not going anywhere. I've got a gig next week."
"A gig?" Lace glanced at the guitar on my back and shrugged. "Cool. But I'm afraid you're going to miss it. We need to train you."
"Train me for what?"
"Saving the world," Cal said.
I swallowed. "You mean Luz is right? There really is a struggle?"
"She told you about the...?" Lace's voice faded, and she closed her eyes, sniffing the air. "Hey, Cal - did you feel that?"
I had. My magic powers were spinning. I took a step away.
"Not so fast, Moz!" Lace grabbed my arm, thrusting the needle closer.
As I pulled free from her grip, the ground broke open beneath us...
Columns of flesh tore themselves up from the concrete of the platform, rings of teeth flashing in the darkness. One whipped past me, leaving my jacket sleeve in ribbons. I was already running, dodging through the flailing tendrils, stumbling over broken concrete.
The angels fought back, swords whistling through the air around me, as deadly as the gnashing teeth.
I jumped from the platform, then glanced back. Lace was spinning in place, her long sword slicing low through the air, cutting through columns of flesh as they thrust up from the ground. Black water spewed from the ragged stumps.
My hands reached for the neck of my Strat again, itching to pull it off my back. I was dying to run back and rejoin the fight, but I shut my eyes, yanked out the garlic, and bit straight into an unpeeled clove.
The burning sharpness cleared my head: I didn't want to be part of any struggle. I didn't want to go to some camp in New Jersey. All I wanted was to stay here, be in my band, play gigs, and get famous!
I turned away from the battle and dashed down the tracks, running back toward Union Square Station. As I passed the gash in the tunnel, a storm of rats spilled out, headed back toward the fight. I danced like a barefoot kid on hot asphalt as they swept past.
Finally the lights of the station glimmered in front of me. I leaped up onto the platform and kept running, climbing stairs and slanting tunnels until I'd dashed into the open air.
My pockets were heavy, jingling with enough change to catch a taxi out to Brooklyn. I had to tell Min what I'd seen. The enemy was just like she'd said: something monstrous. There really were angels, and they were recruiting, taking infected people away to... New Jersey?
Whatever. The struggle was real.
I hailed a cab and gave the driver Minerva's street name. When he said he didn't go to that part of Brooklyn anymore, I leaned forward and bared my teeth, asking him to reconsider. He turned, met my demented rock-star gaze, and changed his mind.
Once the cab was speeding up the Williamsburg Bridge, climbing away from the earth, my nerves began to calm. I was headed toward Minerva, to safety. I'd escaped the angels, and as long as I stayed out of the subways, they'd never find me again...
Then I remembered that my guitar case and amp were back there, underground. I sank down into the vinyl seat, eyes squeezing shut.
The amp didn't matter - I didn't need it anymore - but the case. If the angels came looking for me, they'd find it on the tracks. Inside was a polite note, asking anyone who found this guitar to please call Moz at this number. Big Reward!
And, of course, the note gave my address as well.
21. THE RUNAWAYS
- MINERVA-
I pulled out Astor Michaels's birthday present right before midnight, just like he'd told me to.
It was wrapped in silver foil, my own face gazing back at me in the candlelight, blurry and twisted. Zombie jumped up onto the bed and sniffed the package, then looked up at me, his little face worried.
Astor Michaels wasn't family to me and Zombie - and now Moz. He was more like a distant relative, part of the clan who spelled their last names differently. It made him smell funny.
"It's okay, Zombie. Astor's going to make Mommy a rock star."
When I pulled on the red ribbon, its knot only tightened, so I lifted the box to my mouth. The ribbon tensed for a moment as my teeth closed, then relaxed, like a chicken when Luz broke its neck.
Teeth were useful for all sorts of things these days. Mozzy could open beer bottles with his.
I slid the box out from its wrapping, checking the clock. Ten seconds.
I counted down, hoping the present wasn't something heart-shaped. Eww. Astor Michaels knew I was with Mozzy. He'd spotted it faster than anyone else, except maybe smelly Alana Ray - and Zahler, of course, who Moz had told before he'd even called me. (Okay, really it was only Pearl who didn't know. Poor little Pearl.)