Swarm by Scott Westerfeld & Margo Lanagan & Deborah Biancotti

Author:Scott Westerfeld & Margo Lanagan & Deborah Biancotti
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Simon Pulse

CHAPTER 35

ANONYMOUS

THIBAULT THREW HIMSELF INTO THE bus seat next to Flicker and stared past her out the window. The winter sun still lay behind dark storm clouds, and the world was a featureless gray.

Flicker leaned against him, her sight lines winking out as she turned her vision off. Her other senses clouded around Thibault, registering his shape, the textures of his clothes and skin, the rise and fall of his breathing. Was she taking comfort from what she found? For him their clasped hands were the best and sanest thing in the world right now.

The bus ground on toward Flicker’s house. He was going to stay the night there, but then . . . he didn’t know what. He couldn’t live at Flicker’s forever, however much he wanted to protect her. And if Swarm was out there hunting for groups of Zeroes, the safest thing was to keep everyone separate.

“I keep worrying about fingerprints,” she murmured.

“Tell me about it.” The six of them had spent an hour wiping down the interior of the stolen car. Then Thibault had taken and dumped it a mile away from the Dish and walked back. The cops might not know what to make of a murderous mall riot, but they’d sure be interested in a car hot-wired in the parking lot a few hours later.

“Anything to preserve Nate’s spotless police record,” Flicker said.

“I’m more worried about his confidence. I’ve never seen Nate run out of steam like that.”

“We’re all a little freaked out.”

“Freaked out?” A short, harsh laugh escaped him. More like traumatized. Heads full of a horror movie they couldn’t unwatch. “When Kelsie was talking about Swarm wanting her to join him, I was waiting for Nate to step in and take it down a notch. And he just stared at her, like . . . game over. Glorious Leader, totally choking.”

Flicker pressed her lips together, and the warm cloud of her senses withdrew from him. Maybe he’d said too much.

She and Nate had a connection that went back before the Zeroes, to when they were little kids. And they’d had that near romance bubbling beneath the surface until Ethan’s voice had snuffed it out two summers ago. It was the only thing Flicker didn’t like to discuss with Thibault.

“And when she was talking about dealing with him ourselves,” he said softly, “it almost sounded like she meant killing him.”

“I was wondering about that,” Flicker said. “But then I thought, Come on, not Kelsie.”

“Yeah, sure. But remember, she grew up around criminals.”

“I guess.” She put her head on his shoulder, her senses reaching for him again. “Let’s hope we never find out what she meant.”

He nodded wearily. Bad enough to watch Swarm commit his bloody murder. But to see a friend do the same . . .

“I’ve been thinking about something,” he said. “Ren and Davey remembered their friend, the Stalker guy. So if anything happened to me, the chances of you remembering me are pretty good.”

She gripped his hand painfully tight. “Don’t, Thibault.

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