Part 69 (1/2)
Her hands were shaking as she dropped to tie her laces. ”Is this really necessary? Ninja dressing didn't keep Kris and Diana from being captured.”
”I totally doubt it was the clothes that got them snagged,” Kith snorted, tying off the end of her braid with a black elastic. ”You walk the walk, you wear the cloth.”
”Excuse me?”
”You gotta dress like you do.”
”Yeah. Okay.” Communication between seventeen and twenty-seven occasionally took place in two distinct languages. Buckling on the belt pouch, she hurried out of the dressing room in time to smack a piece of chocolate away from Lance's mouth.
”Hey!”
”If you ever want to go back, you can't eat or drink anything on this side that you didn't bring with you.”
”But I'm hungry!”
Actually, so was she. ”I've got food in my pack. Come on.”
Her pack was with Diana's, just inside the front door. Claire dragged Lance through the milling crowd of mall elves, tossed him a power bar and a bottle of water, and began filling her belt pouch with preset possibilities.
”I'd send you back to Kingston if I could,” she told him, tucking a folded piece of paper behind three gla.s.s marbles, ”but with the darkside influencing the paths, I can't guarantee where you'd end up.”
”I'm willing to take that chance in order to stop Meryat!”
”Since you're the only one who can stop Meryat and since she's with Dean, I'm not. We rescue Kris and Diana, we stop the darkside, we stop its influence, I send you to the guest house, you stop Meryat, and . . .”
”We all live happily ever after!”
”Sure. Why not.” The small plastic packet of cayenne pepper got slid very carefully up against the flat side of the pouch. ”But for now, you'll have to stay here in the store where you'll be safe.”
”I'm not afraid to fight!”
”Good. If the store gets attacked, you'll have to.” Fortunately, with Arthur out in the mall, there'd be no chance of that. Claire unzipped an outside pocket on Diana's pack, reached into it, and froze as her fingers closed around air. ”The wand. Diana took the wand.”
”That's bad?”
”When she used it against a minion, it nearly killed her. If she uses it against the darkside . . .”
”But I thought she was captured?”
”So?” It took all of Claire's strength to push that single syllable out against the certain knowledge that her little sister was as good as dead.
”So if it's that powerful, then she didn't get to use it before she was captured. After, well, they'll have taken it away from her so she can't use it. Right?”
Claire actually felt time start up again. ”Right.” For the first time since the beach, she looked at Lance with something other than pique. Like he was something other than an unwanted responsibility. ”Thank you.”
His cheeks flushed under the sunburn.
”So what's the holdup?” Sam jumped up onto the top of Claire's pack. ”Why aren't we moving out?”
She zipped the belt pouch closed. ”We?”