“Sorry,” I said. She didn’t acknowledge that she’d heard.
I shrugged on my backpack as I trudged forward. The streets were clogged with people, but I was suddenly aware of how alone I was. I’d never gone outside in Paris or London by myself. I’d always been with at least one team member.
But now there was no one. Even when I met up with Julian, I’d still be alone. He didn’t count anymore. He’d shifted from safe to scary.
His hotel came into view. Maybe this had been a bad idea.
The ground rumbled suddenly. I froze. The man next to me broke into a sprint and disappeared around the corner.
The scrab roared up from the ground and landed so hard the ground trembled. It shook its body, sending dirt flying through the air. I lifted my arm to shield my eyes.
It grabbed for a nearby woman, who whirled around and smashed a baseball bat against its paw. She took off.
And now I was alone for this. I’d never fought a scrab without the team before, and like Julian said, I was the weakest member. I needed someone there to watch my back.
But I realized, too late, that everyone around me had taken off at least five seconds ago, leaving me alone on the sidewalk. The scrab dropped onto all four paws and fixed its gaze on me. It had blood splattered across its snout. From its last kill, I guessed.
I ripped open my backpack and pulled out the machete and baton sword. I scrambled away from the sidewalk and into the street. I knew how bad it was when you let a scrab corner you.
It swung around to face me. It leapt forward, teeth bared, and I stood my ground, fingers tightening around the baton. If I moved too soon, it would have time to change course. Scrabs weren’t nearly as agile as we were—once they started running, it took them an extra second to get their bodies moving in a different direction.
I darted out of the way just before its claws reached me. I raised the baton over my head, jabbing it into the side of its neck.
It roared, stumbling back. I slashed my machete across its stomach, and then scrambled back as blood poured onto the street. The scrab collapsed.
Cheers rose up from behind me, and I turned to see a crowd down the block. People started down the sidewalks again, business as usual now that the scrab was taken care of.
“That was brilliant,” a young guy said, shooting me a smile as he passed.
I returned the smile. Why had I doubted that I could take down one scrab by myself? Even if I wasn’t the best on the team, I still knew how to fight these things. I was even good at fighting these things.
I yanked my sword baton from the scrab’s neck and shook off some of the blood before retracting it and putting it back in my weapons pack with my machete.
“Clara!”
I looked up at the frantic voice. It was Julian, weaving around people as he raced down the street. He skidded to a stop in front of me, looking from me to the scrab.
“Oh god. Are you OK?” He put his hands on my cheeks, and I tensed, barely resisting the urge to jerk my head away. “I’m so sorry. I should have come to get you, not make you walk over here by yourself. I don’t know what I was thinking.”
I stared at him. Julian didn’t know me at all, and I wasn’t sure if that was his fault or mine. Maybe I’d let him think I was fragile and scared. I guessed that was the version of me that he’d met that evening in the Atlanta. He’d seen a desperate, crying girl who needed help, and I’d seen a kind, generous boy who was more than willing to give it. We’d both been wrong, but I was the only one willing to look beyond their first impression.
“I’m OK,” I said quietly. Tears welled in my eyes. I wasn’t even entirely sure why. I was exhausted, and disappointed, and angry.
“I’m sorry.” He pulled me into a hug. “I’m so sorry about yesterday. I just got so mad about Edan, and my parents being in town is totally stressing me out . . .” He stepped back, keeping his hands on my arms. “Where did you go last night? Why didn’t you answer my texts?”
“We slept at the gym.” I took a step back so that his hands fell off my arms. “And I didn’t text back because you acted like an ass, Julian. You were trying to force me to go with you without explaining what was going on.”
“I wasn’t trying to force you,” he said. “I wanted to explain, but you didn’t give me a chance.”
“Go ahead. Explain.”
“Do we have to do this in the middle of the street?” His phone buzzed, and he pulled it out of his pocket and sighed as he looked at the screen. “Shit. I need to go, actually. Do you want to wait for me in my hotel room? I may be a while . . .” He tugged on his bottom lip.
“Where are you going?”
“To . . . see my parents,” he said haltingly. He really was a terrible liar.
And if he didn’t want me to know where he was going, that was exactly where I wanted to be.
“You’re the one who texted me, wanting to talk.” I didn’t have to fake my annoyance. “I’m not going to go wait in your hotel room. I need to find a hostel and figure out what to do next.”
He frowned. “What do you mean, find a hostel? Isn’t Grayson finding the teams a place to stay?”
“I’m sure he is, eventually, but I don’t want to spend another night sleeping on a gym floor. I don’t want to do this at all anymore.” I gestured to the dead
