Into the Woods: Tales from the Hollows and Beyond(150)
Author: Kim Harrison

"Get him!" Zach exclaimed, and the guy with the chain staggered to his feet. Head hanging, he came at Jason, the chain whirling. Grace winced when Jason reached for it, the chain wrapping his hand and probably bruising if not breaking a knuckle or two. Thinking he had him, the man grinned and yanked Jason forward into what would be a bear hug.

His face grim, Jason went, but the man was falling even as his arms reached for him, his mind shocked into a temporary state of nonfunctioning through the chain itself. "Damn, that hurt!" Jason said half to himself as he was almost pulled down by the man, shaking his hand to disentangle the chain from himself.

All through this, Grace kept moving forward, Hoc at her heel. Zach stared as the last of his buddies fell. She shrugged and held out her hand as his eyes came to her. "It’s up to you, Zach. Ready to grow up and find out how powerful you are, or do you want to stay here and impress your friends with making the lights glow and warming up their beer?"

Zach took one gasping breath of air. Hoc jerked when he turned and ran back into the building, and Grace grabbed his ruff, stopping him. Fine. She could use a little stretching of her legs.

"Stay," she said, letting go. "You too, Jason!" she shouted, her adrenaline pounding through her as she jolted into motion, following the panicking kid.

"Are you serious?" Jason shouted from outside, but she had halted just inside the door. It was dark and chilly, the thick walls keeping out the heat. There was more graffiti, and the place smelled like urine. Sun spilled in the far side where huge bays gaped open to where the granite had been brought in to be cut, and a scuff pulled her eyes to the stairway snaking up to the roof.

"Run from me, you little ant piss," she muttered, angry now as she took off after him. She thundered up the metal staircase, blowing into a heated fog Zach had made from the water spilled through the ceiling.

"Nice!" she shouted at him, listening to his running steps as she gently warmed the mist until it rose. "I’m telling you, Zach, you’re a natural at this, probably get yourself into the elite. What I’m wondering is why you’re still running from six months of flirting with girls just like you. You aren’t alone. It’s an entirely new world. Damn it, will you stop for a minute?" She hesitated at the top of the stairs, not wanting to run into a nasty surprise in the next room.

"I like my old one!" he shouted, and she nodded. Third office on the left.

"Then you can come back to it," she said, catching her breath as she inched down the hall.

"After you burn me!" he screamed. Zach was trapped with nowhere to go, and he knew it. His subconscious was fighting against him, putting him somewhere he couldn’t run from. She’d done the same thing after two weeks of hiding. She liked her life, but something in her still wondered what might have happened if she had just kept running.

"I can’t argue with you," she said softly, knowing he could hear her when his feet scuffed from the third room. "If you aren’t honest with them, they’re going to burn every last nanometer of brain that can throw energy. Why would you want to do that? We’re not the enemy."

Senses alert, she peeked into the next room. It was empty. She stared at the wide window and the drop beyond. Had he jumped?

A soft pad of feet behind her was too small a warning, and she cried out when he hit her from behind, instinct shifting her erg balance until his blast of energy faltered and died. She managed to turn as she fell, and she hit the floor hard, her breath knocked out of her as Zach landed, pinning her there.

"I’m going to kill you," he snarled, his eyes wide, panic making him face drawn and ugly. "I’m going to kill you and anyone else they send after me. You’ll never find me!"

Her breath finally came in. Eyes narrowed, she wiggled, finding he had pinned her securely. She couldn’t move. She wouldn’t have to. "Wrong on all three counts," she said, her back hurting. "I’m sorry, Zach. I did try."

Teeth clenched, he flooded her with energy, trying to stop her heart.

Expecting it, Grace nevertheless gasped, her heart pounding and her head exploding in pain. Lungs on fire, she felt the waves of his energy coursing through her, going askance to her own rhythm. The discordant flow crested, worsened, and she struggled to match it, feeling her body start to warm and the tiny capillaries in her lungs begin to explode.

The pain of that galvanized her, and aching, she began to shift the balance of her body to match his, equal the pressure he was applying and match his energy flow, resonating to his own pulse. Changing hers to match his snuffed the threat and filled her with a sense of well-being, almost euphoric. As if like magic, the pain vanished. The heat in her fell to nothing, and she exhaled it in a breath of steam. Her eyes opened to find Zach’s.

He stared, wide-eyed, knowing something had shifted.

If he had been schooled, he could kill her still, but he wasn’t, and something in her raged as she decided she couldn’t allow him entrance to the Strand, the elite be damned. She could forgive a lot in the fear collectors engendered, but he wasn’t suited to the rigorous morals of the Strand. He could not be allowed to keep his talents. Damn Jason and his offer.

"Get the hell off me," she snapped, angry at herself and smacking him smartly on the cheek as she shoved him away.

"Wha-a-a?" Zach stammered as he slid three feet, shocked that he hadn’t downed her.

Grace stood up, pissed. Yes, she’d promised his mother she would take care of him, but screening possible recruits was her job, damn it. It wasn’t a collector’s responsibility to simply bring in throws, but to scare them into the worst place they’d ever been to see the way their moral compass pointed. Now she knew. Zach would misuse his gifts, give them all a black name. She didn’t care if the Strand was willing to overlook his moral faults. She wasn’t.

"Trying to kill me was rude," she said as she felt her middle. Nothing felt ruptured, and the blood she spit out was probably only from broken capillaries. "You really thought you would be better than me?" Zach stared up at her, still on his ass with his legs askew. "I know everything about you, you little ant piss."

The jingle of Hoc’s collar grew louder, and she shifted from the door, knowing that Jason wouldn’t be far behind. He’d given her room to work-to flush her own career down the can-and now that her evaluation was done and her decision had been made, he could interfere all he wanted. It would be her testimony at his hearing, and no one else’s.

Zach scooted back, his gaze darting behind her. "How did you do that?"

"Balancing your resonance to someone else’s is first-year stuff," she said, edging farther into the room, knowing if he tried to flee, he’d run right into Jason. She almost hoped he would.