Plus One by Elizabeth Fama

Author:Elizabeth Fama [Fama, Elizabeth]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Juvenile Fiction, Action & Adventure, General, Family, Siblings, Love & Romance, Fantasy & Magic, Social Issues, Dating & Sex, Dystopian
ISBN: 9780374360078
Google: KZvmAgAAQBAJ
Amazon: 0374360073
Barnesnoble: 0374360073
Publisher: Macmillan
Published: 2014-04-08T04:00:00+00:00

Thursday

7:00 p.m.

Day Boy had left the car unlocked. We tumbled into the back seat and sat on the floor, scrunching low, our backs against the doors, with our feet practically in each other’s faces. I was sobbing out loud now, barely able to catch heaving gasps between sputtering, deep-throated moans. Day Boy was breathing hard but quietly. He shut off Premie Gort and shoved him under the front seat. He let me cry for no more than a minute, and then he said, “You have to stop now.”

“Ciel,” I blubbered.

“Quiet!”

“He was on the boat…” Convulsive breath. “Poppu! It was Ciel…”

He leaned forward so that his face was closer. “Do you hear me? Shut up.”

It was so unexpected, like he’d slapped my face. I sprayed a cough and gulped breaths in and out, but there were suddenly no tears. He had no idea what I’d just been through. He had no right to bully me. He was such a controlling, condescending ass.

I leaned forward, too, so that my nose was practically touching his, my chest still heaving. “That was my brother on that ship, screwing me over! My own brother! Don’t you tell me what to do ever again.” I threw my back against the door and clamped my mouth shut, air blasting in and out of my nose like a charging bull’s.

“That’s better!” he said, energized, almost triumphant. And then he actually smiled. “The wrath of Plus One I can handle. Bring it on.” He leaned back against his door, sliding down as low as possible, put his finger to his lips, and whispered, “But quietly.”

Flashing lights lit up the windows as a squad car drove slowly past—painfully slowly, with its spotlight swinging back and forth, surveying the lot. I wiggled myself to a nearly lying position, tucking my knees under his bent legs. If I could have become part of the floor I would have. I closed my eyes and concentrated on slowing my breathing, realizing that he had shut me up just in time.

* * *

And so we stayed motionless, undiscovered, for two dark, cramped hours. Day Boy whispered questions about what exactly had happened on the dock, and I whispered answers.

“Do you think Ciel set you up?” he finally asked.

“What do you mean?” It was obvious to me that Ciel’s gang—whatever it was—had planned to kidnap the Paulsen baby at the hospital. I had thrown a wrench in the works by accidentally taking Fitzroy in place of Ciel’s daughter. Ciel was just trying to get Fitzroy before the Paulsens did. Yes, of course Ciel set me up, I thought. He had set me up the moment he embraced being a Ray and left our family. He had set me up to nurse Poppu to his death—to be utterly alone in this world.

Day Boy said, “What I mean is, would Ciel have called the cops?”

I was quiet as I thought about this. It was true that the police had arrived almost exactly on cue for the meeting; they had dispatched a helicopter; this wasn’t a crime they had just stumbled upon.

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