“That is highly unlikely,” Madison said. “This part of the city has been hit often, and Grayson has ten teams just in the immediate area.” She peered at something behind me. “I wish the scrabs would take out that skyscraper, honestly. It’s super ugly.”
Nearby, a woman with a stroller spotted us, stopped dead in her tracks, and then turned and ran in the other direction.
“Wow,” I said with a laugh.
“The news has been telling people to leave if they see us in an area, because it probably means a scrab attack is coming,” Noah said, and I realized he was talking to his phone camera.
Right. We were the crazy ones who stuck around. Several other people seemed in a big hurry to leave the area, but others were ignoring us, sitting at the outdoor tables in front of cafés or pausing to text.
“That’s, like, the fifth one,” Priya giggle-whispered to Zoe. I followed their gaze to where Edan was leaning against a tree, one foot propped up on the trunk. He had his sleeves rolled up, his tattoos more visible than usual. He tugged on the wrapping of a small piece of candy, his hair failing in his eyes.
“Fifth what?” I asked.
“Girl checking him out,” Priya said. She nodded to a group of girls across the street, maybe a couple years younger than us, casting very obvious glances in his direction. Edan was pretending not to notice.
He tugged harder on his candy. Maybe he really hadn’t noticed.
“Is that . . .” I squinted at the tattoo on Edan’s right shoulder. “Is that a Hufflepuff crest?”
“Yeah, it is,” Priya said approvingly.
Laila leaned closer to me, following my gaze. “I have never found that boy more attractive than I do right now.”
“Ugh, being in Hufflepuff is embarrassing,” Zoe said. “I don’t know why you’d tattoo that on your body.”
“You shut your mouth about Hufflepuff,” Priya said. “We are lowkey the best house.”
Zoe widened her eyes like she disagreed. She took another look at Edan. “He really is super hot, though, isn’t he?”
Priya made a sound of agreement.
Edan’s hand slipped off the candy, flew backward, and he whacked himself straight in the nose. The watching girls giggled.
“And so smooth too,” I said dryly.
Archer was staring straight ahead with a frown, and Priya said something to him I couldn’t hear.
“I have a bad feeling,” he said quietly.
Behind me, tires screeched. Edan straightened. I whirled around.
Down the street, about a block away, two black vans came to a sudden stop. Grayson bolted out of the first one, recruits pouring out after him.
Grayson yelled something in French before switching to English. “RUN!” he yelled. “IF YOU’RE NOT A RECRUIT, RUN!”
21
At first, everyone in the area froze. Then they were all in motion at once—running, bumping into each other, dropping shopping bags on the ground.
“That way!” Grayson yelled to the civilians. He said something in French, and then pointed in our direction. “Go that way!”
“Oh shit,” Noah breathed.
The French team across the street ran to Grayson. Julian was halfway between him and us, shouting something to him.
There were still no scrabs. Not that I could see.
“Guys, we need—we need to be getting ready,” Noah stuttered. He grabbed his weapons pack off his back.
He was right. I grabbed my own pack and pulled out my leather armor. I strapped the first one to my left arm with shaking hands. It covered from just above my elbows all the way down to my fingers, with straps beneath to keep it in place. It was hard to secure with one hand, especially when I was trembling.
“I’ll do that one,” Zoe said, grabbing the right one. I gave her a grateful look as she quickly strapped it into place.
I pulled out my baton and unsheathed it to reveal the blade. I touched the handles of the two machetes sticking out from the harness on my back. I could grab them quickly, if I needed. I also had a Taser attached to a belt on my waist that would briefly stun the scrabs.
“Julian!” Madison yelled.
“Do you feel that?” Priya said.
Rumbling. The ground was moving beneath my feet.
Julian was still in the middle of the street. He opened his mouth like he was going to yell something.
A scrab sprang up from the earth.
Dirt and rocks flew through the air, obscuring my vision for a moment. When it cleared, all I saw was the scrab where Julian used to be. It bellowed, showing off a mouthful of fangs.
And then they were everywhere. They exploded up from the ground one by one, so many I lost count. They were all covered in dirt. One only a few yards away had bugs crawling all over its dark gray skin.
Screams sounded from every direction. I heard gunfire.
The scrab directly in front of me lunged, and Madison took a swing. Laila shot her Taser, and the scrab convulsed.
“Where did—”
“Behind—”
“HOLY SHIT!”
A body flew over my head. The recruit hit the ground, motionless.
Claws swiped through the air and I gasped as I stumbled backward. The scrab was charging me, black eyes fixed intently on my machete.
Patrick rushed at it from the side, blade pointed at its neck. The scrab threw his arm out. Patrick went flying.
I ducked as the scrab aimed its claws for my face again. I scrambled across the ground and popped up on its other side, thrusting my blade into its side as hard as I could. It screamed.
“Clara, move!” someone yelled. I darted away. A shot rang out. The scrab screamed again, blood pouring out of its neck.
“Cuidado! SCRAB!” I whirled around to see the ground starting to come apart beneath Dorsey’s feet. A member of one of the Mexican teams was yelling at him from a few yards away.
I yanked Dorsey’s shirtsleeve, pulling him out of the way just as the scrab burst up. We both stumbled, and he hit the ground. The scrab took off toward the Mexican team. The guy who had been yelling pulled a second machete from his pack. His
