The Fog Diver by Joel Ross

Author:Joel Ross
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2015-03-24T16:00:00+00:00

24

“SHUT YOUR FACE!” a voice breathed as the hand dragged me into an alley.

The attacker had struck without warning, like a coil of Fog thickening suddenly into a driftshark. At least this was just a person. Half blind with fear, I stomped with my heel, aiming for the knife wielder’s foot.

I hit the cobblestones instead, and pain burst through my leg. So I lunged backward, but the attacker sidestepped and my head smacked the wall. I slumped sideways, seeing double. Two walls beside me, two skies above me, two Lorettas in front of me.

“L-Loretta?” I stammered, rubbing my aching head. “What are you doing here? Where’s Perry? Where’s Swedish?”

“What do you think I’m doing here?” She grinned crookedly. “I came to buy some pretty hijabs, like Hazel.”

My fear edged into anger. I wasn’t good at fighting, but I wasn’t afraid of it, either. Especially after she put her knife away.

“Where is Hazel?” I demanded, stepping closer.

“Whoa, there.” Loretta raised her hands in surrender, though her fingerless gloves only made her look even more thuggish. “Me and Swede came over together.”

“Together?”

“Uh-huh.”

I glared. “You and Swedish?”

“Yeah. And Perry’s nowhere. Well, he’s somewhere, but not here. He doesn’t even know we’re here, not yet.”

“You came with Swedish? Why?”

“Well, I kind of, um . . .” Loretta toed the ground. “I got to thinking about what he said? About me being worse than he thought? And, um—yeah.”

“Yeah, what? Last I saw, your thugs were trying to stomp him.”

Her broad face broke into a smile. “You should’ve seen him, Chess! For a sweet guy, he really knows how to handle himself. He mowed down a couple of Perry’s best hitters before you could say ‘cockroach relish.’”

I rubbed my head again. “And then what?”

“Then I fought Swede down the block, and maybe I could’ve stabbed him in the knee, but I didn’t.” She considered. “Of course, he could’ve broke my arm and he didn’t, either. So I thought, you know, he still likes me.”

I blinked at her. “Because he didn’t break your arm?”

“Ain’t that sweet?” she said, sighing.

“It’s adorable,” I said.

“And anyway, here we are.”

“No,” I said. “Here you are. Where’s he?”

“With Hazel and Bea. They’re hiding.”

“What? Why?”

“You can’t drop Hazel in a crowded street and think nobody’s going to notice! Dressed like that? The boys started swarming like flies on a skinned rat.”

“Oh. So they sent you to look for me?”

“That’s right,” she said with her gap-toothed smile. “Nobody notices me. I ain’t pretty like Hazel, or big like Swede. Me and you, Chess, you know what stands out about us?”

“What?”

“Nothing.”

“Yeah,” I said.

“Except . . .” She peered at the hair falling over my face. “I bet your eye’s messed up. I’ve never seen it.”

“Good.”

“What is it, an empty socket?”

“Maybe.”

She made a disgusted face. “I bet it’s gross.”

“It’s hypnotic,” I told her. “Are you going to take me to Hazel?”

“Of course I am! What do you think? C’mon, stop wasting time.”

She led me past a few round buildings with kangaroo-hide walls, and I felt a slow simmer of suspicion.

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