The Byways by Mary Pascual

The Byways by Mary Pascual

Author:Mary Pascual [Pascual, Mary]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00


FOURTEEN

All Our Own Words

The band came back on stage, playing fast and frenetic, and the feel of the club amped up, the charge becoming a current. If she wasn’t leaving until the morning, she might as well enjoy being in a club. She pulled Jesse to the floor. A million thoughts flew through her mind, and she danced wildly, until the strangeness was just a new buzz under her skin. Weirdly, it was more fun than she’d had in a long time.

They left after the band’s second set. People in the club were forming into groups again, and it seemed more serious this time. Jesse saw something in the room and said they should go.

He paused outside the door, scanning up and down the alley and then looking up at the sky. “It’s gotten really dark tonight. We should hurry.”

She wasn’t done teasing him. “Can’t cats see in the dark?”

“Yes, but so can other things.”

Well, that was an unsettling tidbit. “So . . . where are we going exactly?” she asked dubiously. “We’re not just going to walk around all night, are we?” She could probably go back to Kelly’s, if she had to, or maybe up on the roofs.

“Oh no,” he said. “I know someplace we can crash for a bit. Get some sleep, get some food. Sorry, I should have mentioned that.”

“Someplace warm?” She struggled into her hoodie again, still high from the club.

“Yes.” He laughed.

“Sounds great to me.”

They made a game out of it, walking the quiet alleys. They were still wary of strangers, still scanning ahead, but it was so late, they assumed most of Doc M’s clients would be sleeping off their medications of choice by now. They became silly, making each other laugh with exaggerated sneaking motions and dramatic pauses. They swung on the ends of fire escapes and half walked, half danced down the paths. One long stretch smelled like alcohol—before they saw the drunks.

Jesse stopped and assessed the passage. CeeCee squinted too; it was darker than most, but she could still see a path between the bodies slumped on the ground. Not one of them stirred. She wondered how many of them might be helping Doc M. I’m standing right here, she thought, smirking into the dark.

Jesse interrupted her thoughts. “We can go around, but this is faster,” he said. “Where we’re going isn’t far beyond this.”

“Do you think they’re asleep?”

“Probably.”

“Race, then?” she challenged.

His teeth flashed in the dark, and he was off, dodging and weaving around the sleeping men with the grace of a dancer. Not all of them were asleep. One or two sluggishly raised hands or jumped, startled after he passed. CeeCee sprinted after him, knowing she wasn’t half as graceful, but she’d always been fast—like a runaway train to his cheetah.

He still beat her, though, laughing at the end of the alley, barely visible in the dim.

She was almost out when she tripped over one of the drunks. She hit the pavement hard, sprawled halfway over the drunk’s legs.



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