Levitating Las Vegas(77)
Author: Jennifer Echols

The SUV was empty.

“They all got out.” Kaylee walked toward him from the driver’s door. “But this is clearly her work. She’s here at the Res, and she was angry when she got here, which is a good sign. Let’s leave Shane’s car here, for the sake of stealth. That thing would wake the dead.”

They hiked up the dirt road, passing a sad sign for a neighborhood development long abandoned:

Meadgate

The Gate to Lake Mead

Only one house in the development had ever been built, it seemed. From what Elijah could tell by its bright windows in the darkness, the house itself looked like something in a brand-new Vegas suburb. Rock music shook the foundation. Trucks and cars and Rob’s sheriff’s deputy car were parked anyhow in the dusty yard.

“This is the Res?” Elijah asked doubtfully.

“This is the current Res, so I understand,” Kaylee said. “It moves around. If it didn’t, after a few years the surrounding farmers would start to wonder where all their teenage daughters were disappearing to.”

“Like Holly’s mom,” Elijah said.

“My mother, yes.” She shook her head as they approached the house. More quietly she explained, “My dad managed to escape. He took me with him. He was pissed because my mom had taken up with Peter by then. I guess I should be glad my dad got me out, but he was a lousy father. Drunk. Trying to drown out his power. I didn’t understand that then, though. The instant I got my own power, I ran away. I lasted a few months on the streets of Vegas before the Res found me. When a kid with new power is confused and angry, the Res knows exactly what to look for and what to say to reel her in. Oh—” She tripped, and Elijah caught her elbow just before she fell. She kicked the object in the road that had tripped her. “For the love of God, those little shits have been out here setting fire to animals again.”

Elijah kept walking after her, but his gaze lingered on the singed body of the bat in the road—more than one, now that he strained his eyes to look for them. He counted five. His skin went cold with fear for Holly.

As they reached the first few cars parked outside the house, he realized he’d better steel himself for what he would find inside. “How many people are in the Res, anyway?”

“I’m not sure how many there are now,” Kaylee said. “I haven’t been here in a year. But back when I was here, there may have been thirty total. Fifteen here at any one time. They come and go because they have school and jobs. Some even have families.” She looked at him. “Fifteen is still more than two.”

“Then what’s the plan?” Elijah asked, hoping there was a plan.

“We’ll rush up and kick in the front door,” Kaylee said. “Can you do that while I cover you?” She waved her pistol in the air.

“Sure,” Elijah said. He’d kicked in Shane’s door at UNLV that morning, but it had been standing half-open to begin with. He’d never kicked in a closed door. He’d never seen it done, except on TV. He was beginning to change his mind, and Kaylee hadn’t even touched his brain. “Sure.”

“We have to surprise them,” Kaylee said. “I’ll change their minds about changing our minds. If I can strike first and paralyze them, we might have a chance against them. We can snatch Holly and run.” Probably not, Kaylee was thinking, because she wouldn’t be able to hold that many minds for long.

“Okay,” Elijah said, trying to shut out her thoughts and stay confident they could do this. But one more very strong image slipped through, one he didn’t understand at all. “Why are you obsessing about the meat freezer for the restaurants at the casino?”

Among the parked cars, she stopped and turned to him. “If you make it out and I don’t, you need to get Mr. Diamond’s body out of there before the restaurants use up all the boxes of veal cutlets.”

“You hid Mr. Diamond’s body behind the veal cutlets?”

“I told you, bodies are very difficult to dispose of.” She put her finger to her lips and tiptoed the rest of the way to the front door of the Res. She raised her eyebrows at Elijah, asking him silently what he read from the people inside.

He could sense many minds within his range, but he couldn’t read a thing. All the shades were drawn. “Blocking,” he mouthed.

That didn’t seem right to Kaylee. They shouldn’t be blocking if they didn’t know Elijah was coming. But maybe they were blocking to protect themselves from each other. She was just being overly cautious, looking for an excuse not to go in. And she would go in. She positioned her pistol at the ready and held up one finger to Elijah. One, two, three.

He kicked the door in—

—and fell through the open door before his foot even touched the surface. He hit the floor hard on his shoulder and looked up into the faces of ten people he’d never seen, three of the four people who’d tried to kidnap him in Icarus, and Rob—who didn’t take off his gun belt at the Res like he had at home.

“I can’t believe you didn’t see me,” Carter announced, pushing Kaylee through the door ahead of him. “I was behind the Meadgate sign, waiting for you guys, and then I warned the Res you were coming with my special telepathic communication device!” He waved his cell phone in the air.

“Dangermouse,” said Rob. “Welcome.” He held out his hand and helped Elijah up from the floor.

Elijah looked around for Kaylee and searched for her with his mind. She was in a group of her own, people who knew her, some who liked her, several who disliked her very intensely. All of them feared her. They touched her and kissed her on both cheeks and her forehead.

Then one guy drew her close. He looked unassuming, a few years older than Elijah, with a goatee and a vintage bowling shirt and faded jeans. But Elijah received a strong evil vibe from him, matched equally with lust for Kaylee. His name was Isaac and the Res was his. As he kissed Kaylee hello, Elijah felt her heart fluttering so fast she might pass out. She’d never been so frightened in her life. She was powerless to change minds, because April had beaten her to it.

“Hand me her Beretta,” Rob called to the group, “just in case.”

Kaylee opened her palm. Rob took the petite Beretta she offered him. He checked the safety (he was capable of doing this and not shooting a hole in the ceiling, Elijah noted) and handed the gun to Isaac, who pocketed it as if it were a pen or a dollar bill. Isaac draped his arm around Kaylee’s shoulders. Elijah felt its weight along with her terror. The group led the way down the hall and shut a bedroom door behind them.