"Adam?"
His head popped out from behind the dumpsters, his face swollen as if someone had kicked his ass. And maybe they had. It wasn't like him to call me to come rescue him. We were partners, lovers, boyfriend and girlfriend, and I was happy to do it. But Adam was the kind of guy who liked to do things himself and, the longer I stood there, the more I realized how weird it was.
"I'm not okay, Cass."
I went to him, because that's what friends do. More importantly, it's what lovers -should- do. The dumpsters were scentless, having long since been left to rust to pieces behind the abandoned theater. I sat down beside him, careful not to cut myself on the broken glass. It was clear that whoever had been drinking in this hidden nook, smashing bottles had been their favorite pastime. Idiots.
Adam wrapped his arms around me and clung to me. "We have to get out. We have to get out of here before it's too late. I have to run, Cassie. I have to run and I have to run. I have to run."
I ran my fingers through his dark, silky hair and to try to calm him. His voice shook like a leaf in a hurricane and he was repeating himself. My man smelled like a distillery and I felt his emotions ping throughout my body. And I was thoroughly unprepared for what I felt, what I instinctively knew was going on inside of him. Adam was terrified.
"What scared you so bad?" I whispered.
He shook his head. "Allison's still inside me. I killed her. I killed her but she won't die. God, I killed someone and I wanted to. I wanted to do it so bad and I'd do it again in a heartbeat. Something's wrong with me. I'm going to Thomaston. They have doctors at the PTB Alliance building over there, ones that can fix your brain when it gets all messed up. I'm going to Thomaston and then they'll put me somewhere where I'm safe."
My third cousin worked at Thomaston as one of those doctors and that was exactly what he did. He worked with superheroes after they'd experienced trauma, the sort that left a stain on your psyche. And all he did was gently remove it, tuck it into the back of your mind so you'd be able to cope with it. He was a few years older than me, but we'd been good friends growing up.
"I'll get you to James if you can just slow down a little bit. We can get you back into the building here, report the murder to Scribe," I said.
Adam shuddered. "Scribe knows. He covered it up for me, said that I owed him for it and that I was supposed to meet him for something secret tomorrow morning. You don't have to come with me. I can go alone. I can walk a really long way."
He sounded like a child bragging about a stick that they'd found on the ground; the biggest stick in the world. I kissed his forehead and held him as best I could. It was like trying to hug an elephant, but I still tried. "I'm coming with you and I'll let the others know. You come home with me, okay? We'll do it quietly and we'll get out of there before anyone knows we've been in. Maybe Edwin will let us borrow is car."
What was I pledging myself to? Adam was a murderer with no real cause to have done it, not if Scribe had covered it up. And what the hell was going on there? He wasn't supposed to do things like that, even if it was for the benefit of the Alliance. That wasn't his job.
But it was someone's I was close to.
"Hold on a second," I told him, dialing Nate.
There was a brief pause, and then, "Hey. Your parents are going nuts because you left. You okay?"
"For now, but Adam's not. You know anything about that?"
Another pause. "I've heard a couple of rumors wandering around the building but nothing solid. Do I need to know what's going on?"
"Yeah. You do. Can you meet me in my room in the next hour? Or are you out on the ambulance?"
He snorted. "For you, Cassie, the world."
And then he hung up. I looked back at Adam and nodded. "We sneak in through the roof, if you're up for a flight."
"I'll do what I can," Adam said, idly wiping his nose.
His sleeve came away soaked with blood, as if he'd dipped it in red paint. I gasped and turned on my phone's flashlight, grabbing his chin to look him over. His face wasn't just dark with punishment, it was covered in crimson. If that nosebleed was any indication, he'd been damn near hemorrhaging for the past however long.
Nate would know what to do with him better than I would, but I still pinched his nose and made him tip his head back.
"That's completely pointless," he said, his voice stilted.
I shuddered. "It's all I can do. You aren't flying. I'll hotwire something and the Alliance can just pay for it later. You'll die if you take off."
"Pronbab-bee," Adam shrugged.
I left him there to try to stem the flow while I headed back around to the food court entrance. Due to the recent outbreak of horrors against the poor mall, Harcourt had seen fewer customers than usual. The news had been trying to encourage people to visit, but it clearly wasn't working. A dozen cars sat in the parking lot, most of them older than I was.
That would play to my strengths. I'd
