Josh ran through the rain, not caring where he went. He just wanted to get away from Charlie. She followed him for two blocks, calling for him to stop, but he lost her by getting on a hoverbus and then, just as the doors were closing, pushing his way off through the back door. The last he’d seen of Charlie, she had her face pressed against the bus window, yelling his name.
His heart was pounding, and he felt like he might throw up. Charlie had used him to pay Clatter for her Z. If what she said was true, soon enough Clatter would demand that he do the same thing. And all this time Charlie had been telling him not to mention Z to anyone on the team. She really played me, he thought.
He looked around, trying to get his bearings. He had run eastward away from Three Sisters Square and was now a block away from Midcity Park. He could walk through it, exit through the south end, and be only a couple of blocks from his house. But how could he go home when his best friend was missing? His whole life had been sent into a tailspin.
The rain had chased most people out of the park, and the ones who remained were mainly Dusters (who never seemed to notice the weather), Boarders using the empty paths as raceways, and the occasional person walking a dog.
He stuffed his hands into his pockets, and his fingers landed on something small and hard. He pulled out the tablet of Z and looked at it. He started to throw it onto the ground, but found he couldn’t do it. Despite the hatred he had for Z at that moment, the memory of how it helped him be a better player—and how it made him feel good even when he wasn’t playing—made it impossible for him to just let go.
Instead, he took it.
As he kept walking, his mind slipped into a comforting fog. The part of Josh that worried about everything disappeared and was replaced by a feeling of invincibility. Nobody could hurt him. They would be afraid of him. The world around him became all about sensations. The rain on his skin. The smell of the air. The sounds of cars honking and voices chattering like birds. All of it swirled around in his head like a storm.
A Boarder whizzed past him, the wheels of his board clack-clack-clacking on the pavement. They tossed up water behind them, and the spray caught the light from the streetlamps and dazzled Josh’s eyes. The Boarder laughed, the sound rolling through Josh’s head like waves. He laughed too. Everything was okay now. Charlie didn’t matter. Scrawl didn’t matter. Firecracker didn’t matter.
Nothing mattered.
The peaceful feeling lasted until he reached the center of the park, where a group of Zooeys was dancing in the rain beneath a streetlamp. The frantic, pounding beat of techno music filled the air as the rabbits, cats, and kangaroos bounced up and down, their paws waving wildly and their heads going back and forth. Watching them, Josh began to feel afraid. The music seemed to wrap around his heart, replacing its steady pumping with jerky, painful lurches.
Anger bloomed in his mind, expanding like a flower opening to the sun. The Zooeys had ruined his moment of happiness. Their thumping music and frenzied dancing pulled at him, trying to drag him into the dizzying chaos. Josh fought it off, resisting. He had to make it stop.
With a roar he charged into the group, pushing bodies to the ground and trying to find the source of the tormenting music. Frightened Zooeys screamed and crawled away from him as he yelled at them to shut up. He grabbed a lion by the throat and pulled him close, so that their faces were almost touching. He could feel the lion’s heart beating like a drum in his mind, and smelled the stench of fear. “Where is it?” Josh shouted. “Where is it?”
The Zooey shook his head. “I don’t know, man. I don’t know!”
Josh shoved the lion away. Now the Zooeys were in a circle around him, staring in terror. He whirled around and around, daring them to come closer. “I’ll kill you!” he screamed. “I’ll kill all of you!”
And he really did want to hurt them. He ran for them and they scattered, fleeing into the dark. Watching them go, Josh began to laugh. They’re afraid of me, he thought with delight. They’re afraid of me. It made him feel strong. No one—nothing—could harm him.
“Hey!” a voice called out.
He turned to see three Boarders behind him. One, a boy wearing a T-shirt that said BOARD > BORED on it, shook his head. “That wasn’t cool, man. They were just having fun.”
Josh growled. The boy stepped back but didn’t run.
“You should leave,” said another Boarder, a girl with dreadlocks threaded through with beads in every color.
Josh laughed at her. She was weak. And she was telling him what to do.
“Maybe we should show him the way out,” the third Boarder said. Not much bigger than Emily, he was stick thin.
Josh sneered at him. “Maybe you should try,” he said.
He dashed in their direction. Unlike the Zooeys, though, they didn’t run. They met his attack, closing in as he aimed for the smallest one. As his head butted into the boy’s chest, the others tackled him. Josh fell to the pavement. His face hit the ground hard, and he felt his cheek scraped raw.
Rolling onto his back, Josh kicked and clawed at the Boarders. His fingers found the girl’s hair and pulled hard. She yelped in pain, then slammed her fist into his nose. Blood spurted out. Josh could taste it on his lips, thick and metallic. The smell, too, was overwhelming, making him hungry and sick at the same time.
The first Boarder was on top of Josh now, trying to pin his arms to the ground. Josh bucked, throwing him off, and rolled on top of him. He put his hands around the boy’s throat and started to squeeze. He saw the boy’s eyes widen in fear as his air was cut off.
Josh wanted to see him die. By choking him, he could destroy everything that was gnawing at him. His mind skipped from thought to thought, and image to image. Charlie. The burst of fire from a flamethrower. Firecracker. The melting face of a z. It was like watching a holofilm gone crazy. Only by killing the Boarder could he make it stop.
Then he was flung sideways as a shower of falling stars crossed his vision. There was a loud roaring in his ears, as if a huge unseen wave had crashed over him. He looked up and saw the skinny Boarder staring down at him. The boy was holding the end of his board in both hands and raising it up for a second blow. Josh watched as it came toward him.
Josh woke up choking. His mouth was filled with water, and he couldn’t breathe through his nose. He spat, trying to clear his throat, and gagged. A horrible iron taste coated his mouth. He wiped his lips with his hand and it came away red. That’s blood, he thought, wondering whose it was.
The rain was falling hard, and it was dark. He tried to sit up, but pain rocketed through his head. He touched his nose, and again his fingers were painted red. The rain washed away the blood, turning it pink as it dripped onto Josh’s shirt. His head swam, and he thought he might pass out, so he sat quietly, just trying to breathe.
He was also cold. The rain had soaked him, and he was shivering. He rubbed his hands on his arms to warm them, but it did no good. His teeth were chattering, clicking together in an erratic dance. He blew his nose to clear it, and a thick glob of half-clotted blood splattered onto his jeans. He tried to wipe it away, but it only smeared.
He looked around at the empty park. How long had he been lying there? Had anyone come along and seen him? Why hadn’t they helped? I could have died, he thought. Why didn’t anyone do something?
He wondered what time it was and looked at his watch. The glass was smashed, and he could just make out the numbers. It was ten.
He forced himself to stand up. Again he saw bursts of light in his head, and he almost sat down again. But he had to get out of there. He had to get home. There was something he needed to do, although he couldn’t remember what it was.
Then it came to him. What Charlie had said. About how she’d set him up to settle her debt with Clatter. As if he were just hearing the news for the first time, Josh felt overcome by shock and anger. Charlie had lied to him, and she might have gotten Firecracker in trouble as well. Josh had to find out. He had to help his friend.
He walked slowly, trying not to jar his body too much. After a few minutes he felt a little better, although he could tell that his face was pretty badly cut up. How was he going to explain that to his parents?
Tell them you were knocked down, he thought.
The story would probably keep him from getting in too much trouble tonight. Then he’d just have to figure out what to do about Charlie and how to find out what happened to Firecracker.
Something else occurred to him. Once Clatter found out that Josh knew about the Z, and about what Scrawl might or might not have done to Firecracker, it was pretty much guaranteed that Josh would be next on his list of problems to solve. Which meant one thing—Josh had to get to Clatter before Clatter got to him.