“Kai, no!” Biz shouted behind me.
It was hard to ignore Biz’s worried cry, but I couldn’t stop now. If there was any chance I could save this idiot from breaking his neck, or the neck of some tourist taking his kids to the park, I had to take it.
A few yards from the edge of the gatehouse, I dropped to my knees and slid toward the stone rim.
The goggled man was so close I heard his cape flapping in the breeze behind him. He was still above the roof, but he was falling fast.
I reached the rooftop’s edge and braced myself against the narrow lip that surrounded it. Then I thrust my arm out to the falling man, fingers outstretched, straining to reach him before he fell past me.
His right hand latched onto mine, the glove rough against my skin. His left hand locked around my wrist and clamped down so hard I was sure to have bruises there the next day. He dropped past the edge of the building, two feet short of his mark, and all his weight yanked down on my arm.
The sudden pull nearly ripped me off the roof. I’d always been big for my age, though, and had spent time in the gym putting my natural gifts to the test. Biz needed me to watch out for her, and I’d vowed to keep myself in the best shape possible to do just that.
I threw my weight back and grabbed his right arm with my left hand. I’d stopped his fall, but he still dangled over the roof’s lip, elbow twisted at an angle that had to hurt.
“Help me,” I grunted. “Use your feet. Get up here.”
“Don’t go through.” The man’s voice was harsh and strained. “It’s my only way back.”
“Don’t listen to him, Kai,” Biz shouted. “He’s bluffing. Let him fall.”
“Get on the roof,” I shouted. “I can’t hold you like this forever.”
“No,” the man said. “Not until you promise to leave the gate for me, Sleeper.”
Despite his demands, I didn’t believe this guy was here for the contest at all. He didn’t sound angry or greedy.
He sounded terrified.
But that didn’t make any sense. Biz was right. He was bluffing. And if he wouldn’t come up onto the roof, then he’d have to fall.
“Last chance,” I said. “Get up here.”
“You have to believe me,” the man said. “Lives depend on my getting through that gate. Don’t ruin this for me.”
“You’re out of your mind.” I’d had enough of this guy. I wanted to kick his fingers off my arms and let him fall. And if it hadn’t been for all those people down there, parents and kids, normal people just out trying to have a good time, that’s exactly what I would have done.
But the tourists were down there, and I wouldn’t let them get hurt if I had anything to say about it. I dropped onto my butt and crab-walked backward, dragging the lunatic’s arm over the rough fake stone at the edge of the roof. He was heavy, but he didn’t have any leverage to fight me. The man hooked his other fingers over the roof’s lip, taking some of the weight off my arm.
Perfect.
“Gotta good grip?” I asked him and pretended to be out of breath.
“Yes,” he said and began to lever himself up onto the roof. Clearly, he was in no danger of falling.
Even more perfect.
“Good,” I ripped my hand out of his grip and scrambled back from him. He was safe from falling. Now it was time for me to run.
“You can’t,” he started.
“I can, and I will.” I jumped to my feet and raced for the tunnel. “Biz, grab my phone and get through that gate!”
My sister followed my barked orders and snatched my cracked phone from where it had fallen. For a moment, her face was bathed in the app’s golden glow, and she no longer looked anything like my baby sister. The light made her eyes deeper, wilder, and showed me something feral and hungry lurking in my sister’s skin.
A quick glance over my shoulder showed me the masked man had nearly dragged himself up onto the roof. I had a good head start, but if he ran like he jumped, I wasn’t sure I’d outrun him. A spike of adrenaline shot through my veins at the thought of losing at the last second, and I focused all my attention on the gate ahead of me. I took my breaths in a steady, even cycle and pushed myself right up to my limits.
And beyond.
My feet skidded on a layer of fine grit and I stumbled forward, my balance gone. I fell, skinning my palms on the rooftop, and landed hard enough to click my teeth together and set off a fireworks show behind my eyes. The pain knocked the air right out of me as I slid through the gate.
“Get up,” Biz shouted. “Come on, he’s almost here!”
“Let’s go,” I groaned and dragged myself onto my feet. My vision had cleared, though my knees and hands still burned where I’d skinned them. That was all right. We were in the tunnel. I could do this.
The passage took a sharp left, then another right. We’d been heading down since we’d entered the tunnel, and I had a hard time imagining where we’d come out.
Footsteps rattled down the tunnel behind us. I couldn’t see anyone around the corners we’d just taken, but I knew who it was. The masked man was almost on top of us.
“There it is!” Biz stabbed a bony finger down the hall at a narrow gate in front of us. Its bars glowed so brightly it was hard to see anything beyond them.
“You have to stop!” The man had nearly caught up to
