I yell into the forest a couple of times.
“Candy!”
When I don’t hear anything, I open the tower door.
There’s a trail of blood leading up the spiral stairs. I get out the na’at and start up.
Candy is just a couple of turns above me. She’s pale and shaking. Barely conscious.
Blood runs down the right side of her face. There’s a gash across her forehead full of dirt and clotted blood. I brush her hair out of the way to see how seriously hurt she is. As I do, she opens her eyes.
“Yay. You’re not dead,” she says weakly.
“They just took me to the principal’s office and gave me detention.”
“I’m sitting here bleeding. You can at least tell me what really happened.”
“I am. I met the head of the Wormwood faction and he locked me up.”
Candy says, “How did you get out?”
“A friend—or, well, I don’t know what the hell she is—let me out.”
“Are the faction people as crazy as you thought?”
“Marshall Wells runs the faction. You do the math.”
Her eyes widen.
“Shit.”
Then she laughs a little. Points to her bloody face and my duct tape.
“We match,” she says. “Like those old couples wearing ‘I’m with Stupid’ T-shirts.”
“That’s us. Just a couple of bleeding morons. You ready to go home?”
“Yes, please.”
I help her to her feet and take us through the wall, back to the UFO mansion.
WHEN WE GET there we both collapse.
Alessa screams Candy’s name and runs over.
I have a hard time getting to my feet, but hands pull me upright. I look around and see Brigitte and Carlos.
“Hi,” he says. “Want a sandwich? There’s turkey in the fridge.”
Brigitte grabs me in a big hug. I want to hug her back, but in my current state it feels wrong.
She takes my face in her hands.
“Jimmy, what have you done to yourself?”
“Don’t get too close. You might catch something.”
“Don’t be stupid,” she says. “You’re always beautiful to me.”