Chapter Fourteen: No More Playing Nice
“Why did I let you talk me into this?” I growl as Ketchup drags me along behind him. The shrub he just pulled me behind scratches up my bare arms.
“Because you wanted to know what was on Isolde’s phone, remember?” Ketchup says happily.
I groan when he nudges me to get up again. Not only am I still recovering from my hunger, I’m ridiculously sore thanks to David’s relentless ballet expo last night. Not to mention more endurance training this afternoon. Why on earth is he so determined to make me hold various random positions for so long? I’m not a flamingo! My legs protest as we break into a jog to dart between two apartment buildings.
In reality, we’re probably attracting more attention doing this thing Ketchup’s way than simply walking up to her apartment. I thought for sure he’d insist on black ski masks and turtlenecks, but we just look like a couple of dorky teens running around in jeans and t-shirts playing hide-and-seek or something.
A minute later, Ketchup darts for the door on Annabelle’s building and ushers me inside like the entire police force is on our tails. I’m not prepared for Ketchup pinning me against the wall as soon as the door closes. I get half a muffled word out before his lips are on mine. I don’t know what this is about, but I return his kiss without hesitation, slipping my fingers into his back pocket while he’s too distracted to notice. When he finally pulls back, he’s not only grinning, he’s laughing, too. At me.
“I can’t believe you just went along with that,” he laughs. “Just walking up would have been much less suspicious.”
Rolling my eyes, I shove him away from me. “You think? I puzzled that out before you even mentioned this dumb idea.”
Ketchup laughs again. “Then why did you let me drag you around through bushes?”
“Because you’re a dork, and I embrace that.” I take a step away from him and pull out the lock picks I swiped from him while we were kissing. “Plus, now I get to be the one to open the door.”
The surprise on his face is laughable. I dart out of his reach and hustle up the stairs, even though my body is very unhappy with me at the moment. I reach the second-floor landing before he catches up with me and tries to get the picks back.
“You don’t even know how to use them,” he argues.
Spinning out of his grip and into the hallway, I say, “Oh, don’t I?”
I have both picks inserted into the lock before he reaches me. I do more fumbling than Ketchup ever would, but the lock clicks a few seconds later. He smirks at me and twists the doorknob. We’re both inside the dark apartment before anyone has a chance to notice us hanging around. Ketchup rounds on me. The picks are out of my hands and back in his pocket before I have a chance to complain.
For a moment, I think he’s irritated at me, but his narrowed eyes are full of heat, not anger. I stare up at him, suddenly finding it difficult to breath. He leans in closer, nestling his lips next to my ear. “Is it weird that I think watching you break in here is about the sexiest thing I’ve ever seen you do?”
I swallow hard, failing to stop my hands from pressing against his chest. “Yes.”
Ketchup chuckles. The feel of his chest rumbling against mine does things not conducive to this mission. “At least you’re honest,” he says before pressing a kiss to the curve of my neck.
My hands curl around the fabric of his shirt, doing nothing at all to dissuade him. “I already knew you were weird, though, so I’m totally okay with it.”
“Mmm, good to know.” His lips move down my neck slowly, and I begin to think finding the phone was not his main motivation for this little field trip. I’m not even sure it’s mine anymore.
“Um, shouldn’t we, uh, do what we came here to do?”
“Indeed,” Ketchup says, “I suggest we start in the bedroom.”
I almost agree, but then I remember how much time Zander spends here. That kills the mood in an instant. “Yeah, sure, the room where Zander and Annabelle have spent the night more than once. Ugh, no thanks.” I wriggle out of Ketchup’s grip, grossed out by the mental image I just gave myself.
Ketchup tries to shake it off as well. “Do you think they’re actually sleeping together?”
“I do not want to know. Let’s just find this phone and get out of here before one of them comes back.”
Sighing, Ketchup nods, and we both start looking. Despite what I said, we aren’t too worried about Zander and Annabelle showing up early. Both are spending the evening training with David. I don’t know what they’re up to, but I sure appreciate a night off. It’s been non-stop since David instituted his new round of training.
Ketchup’s mind seems to be on the same track as mine when he says, “So what’s up with David’s sudden interest in your dancing?”
His words hit a sour note with me. Dancing used to be my escape, but now David is ruining it. Mostly ruining it, anyway. That last dance… it’s not something I’ll forget any time soon. I don’t really feel like talking about that, though.
“I don’t know. He thinks because I dance better than I train, there must be some mystical secret in my dancing that will turn me into an uber-Godling or something. Maybe he’s right, I don’t know. It’s really getting on my nerves, though.”
“Yeah, mine too,” Ketchup grumbles.
I feel bad for him, but there’s nothing either one of us can do about David’s intrusion. Despite the fact that I still think David is about the biggest prick I’ve ever met, he’s helping me… a lot. My control over my hunger has improved drastically since he started his modified training. I feel like I’m almost back to normal, which is kind of scary. I move to the next room as I consider how much I’ve improved over the last week thanks to his updated methods. The effects of my new hunger even seem to be getting better. All the other stuff, I’m not so sure about yet.
Reaching for the nightstand drawer, I hesitate a moment. A nightstand might be where people keep things I don’t really want to see. I have to look, though. My eyes are half closed as I pull the drawer open. When I finally dare to take a look, all I see are some loose papers and Annabelle’s iPod.
“Afraid a snake’s going to jump out at you?” Ketchup asks with a laugh as he passes by me to check the closet.
I choose to ignore him rather than admit what I was really worried about. Pushing aside some of the papers, I don’t find anything useful. It’s not until I try to push the drawer closed again and it catches that I think to look a little harder. I squat down beside the bed and peek at the bottom of the drawer. I don’t find a phone, but I do find a curious, plain manila envelope taped to the bottom.
“Ketchup,” I call out, “come here. I found something.”
Careful not to tear the tape, I remove the envelope from the bottom of the drawer and hold it in front of me. I hesitate to open it. As upset as I was the night Annabelle disappeared, I’ve moved on. I don’t know that I’ll ever completely trust her, but I believe she’s with us. What if this ruins that? Even more than what it would do to our deal with the Eroi, I hate thinking of what it will do to Zander. My fingers flip back the flap, and I find myself praying it won’t be evidence against Annabelle.
When I finally manage to get the papers out of the envelope, I’m not sure what I’m looking at. The first article shows a business-looking guy, and all it talks about is his work in computer systems. I flip to the next page and am even more confused. An obituary?
“Is that the guy from the article?” Ketchup asks.
“Yeah, I think so.” I flip through the rest of the pages and quickly realize there’s a pattern. Some random article about a man or woman, and then their obituary. “They’re all dead.”
“Who are they?” Ketchup asks.
I shake my head, not recognizing a single one of them. “Did Annabelle… kill them?”
“Did Zander?” Ketchup counters.
I honestly don’t know. Did these people deserve it? What if they’re Eroi? What if they’re Godlings? I drop the papers into my lap and look up at Ketchup. “What do we do with this?”
He shrugs. “I have no clue. It’s not really useful unless we know who these people are and why they were killed.” He takes the papers from me and pulls out his phone. “I’ll take a picture of each one so we can look into it more later.”
“Did you find the phone?” I ask.
“Sorry, nada. They must have it with them.”
“That’s risky to take it with them when they’re training with David. What if he found it?”
Ketchup snaps picture after picture with his phone, but he still manages to say, “I’m sure they’re smart enough to lock it up in the car or something. David won’t find it. Even if he did, I’m positive Isolde is smart enough to make sure it doesn’t lead back to her.”
“True.” That actually makes me feel a little better. When Ketchup hands the papers over to me, I stick them back in the envelope and secure it to the bottom of the drawer. Ketchup helps me up as soon as everything is back in place.
We don’t bother playing 007 on the way back to the car. We’re already late for Laney’s party, anyway. I don’t feel much in a party mood at the moment, but I know she’ll be upset if we don’t show up. Ketchup seems even less thrilled about the party. I’m sure putting up with Laney’s constant freaking out while I was out of school made him want to hang out with her even less. Trying to make up for it, I snuggle against his shoulder. His sour expression mellows, and he draws me in closer.
By the time we pull up to Laney’s house, we’re both in a better mood. Maybe whatever Zander was hiding isn’t as big of a deal as we thought it was. Nothing has started falling down around my ears so far. Maybe I should just trust him to handle it.
The gate to the backyard is propped open, but before we start through it, Ketchup pulls up. “Dang, I left my phone in the car. I’ll be right back.” He drops a quick kiss on my cheek before dashing back to his car.
Since I don’t feel like bursting into the party solo, I lean against the side of the house to wait. I close my eyes for just a minute. Tonight’s activities were pretty draining. I know Ketchup will be back in just a minute, but another voice startles me out of the moment.
“No, I haven’t had many chances to talk to her lately,” Noah says in a hushed but forceful tone. “She’s still weak physically, and she’s back to work. Add in her training, and the fact that I can’t get more than five seconds alone with her without Ketchup crowding in… I’m doing the best I can.”
He stops talking, presumably listening to a reply. I’m completely stunned. Who else could he be talking about but me? That feeling of something not being quiet right my first day back at school returns like a punch to the gut. Why is he so keen on talking to me without anyone else around? What did he say about my training? He shouldn’t know anything about that!
“I know we don’t have a lot of time, but you have to trust me. I know her. I know what she’s capable of. I know where her loyalties lie better than you ever will.”
If he says anything else, I miss it, because about that time, Ketchup starts jogging back from the car. He opens his mouth to say something, but I frantically wave at him to be quiet. Thankfully, he’s familiar enough with all this cloak-and-dagger craziness not to question me. He slips up next to me soundlessly, but when I try to listen in again, all I hear is the faint melody of Laney’s favorite band drifting from the back of the house.
Ketchup looks down at me, not sure if he’s allowed to speak, but clearly confused. “Noah,” I say. “He was on the phone with someone, talking about me… talking about my training and running out of time and where my loyalties lie.”
“What?” Ketchup demands.
I can only shake my head. “I don’t know. What was he talking about? Who was he talking to?”
Ketchup doesn’t have any of the answers, but he is positively livid. Looking down at me, I know before he says anything that there will be no point in arguing with him. “No more playing nice with Noah. I wanted to put an end to this the day you went back to school. No more, Van. We’re finding out what Noah is hiding, and we’re doing it my way.”