Otherbound

35

The second Nolan returned home from the pool, he retreated to his room and paced, swinging back and forth on his crutches. He rarely used his crutches inside, but he had to keep moving, and pacing didn’t work as well when you had to hop.

Amara was running. And if she hadn’t been able to reach Bedam safely even with long hair, intact clothes, and Cilla’s help, there was no chance at all she could flee it without any of those things.

But Nolan had thought there was no chance of her escaping in the first place. He wasn’t sure which surprised him more: that she’d done it or that she’d succeeded.

His door opened. Pat stood in the entrance. He should probably make some kind of irritated comment about her knocking, but—

“So,” she said without preamble. “This is where you live. I still don’t see the appeal.”

Her voice was Pat’s, and so was her body. The resemblance ended there. She stood too upright, with her legs spread too wide. He didn’t recognize the look in her eyes. Her voice sounded different, flatter, with none of Pat’s posturing. The accent didn’t fit. He couldn’t place it. Something between Pat and … something else.

She wasn’t acting. This wasn’t his sister.

Nolan sat on his bed. His crutches clattered to the ground.

Pat—Ruudde—went on. “You really are just a kid, aren’t you? Look, I know it’s hard to leave your life behind. I’ve been there. Your name, your family, gone. But you’ve seen what that other world can offer. The trade is worth it. And from what I can tell …” Ruudde scanned the bedroom skeptically. “You’re not leaving all that much.”

All of Ruudde’s amiability was gone. Amara’s escape must’ve pissed him off.

“You followed me,” Nolan said.

Pat rolled her eyes and shoved the door shut. She crossed her arms in the exact same way Ruudde had in front of Amara’s cell. “I did. And I didn’t need pills to do it, either. If we see someone travel, we can piggyback along. We can hop into any body we see and remember it for later. You didn’t know any of that, did you?” Ruudde grinned. “Pills. You’re pathetic.”

That was why Ruudde had stood in front of the cell the other day. He’d waited for Nolan to arrive so he could establish a link. To Pat.

“I tossed those pills, by the way, before I entered your room. Poof. Down the toilet.”

Nolan had a few in his room, but that wouldn’t be enough. He’d go back to before. In and out with every blink. No way of communicating. And his parents—how could he explain losing the pills he had left? They’d never purchase new ones now, even if they had the money.

“I wonder how long they’ll take to wear off,” Pat mused. “Withdrawal might be nasty.”

It wasn’t right seeing Pat like that, or hearing those words from her mouth. Full of scorn. She was trapped in there. And Nolan knew exactly what that was like. His voice shuddered. “Get out of my sister’s body.”

Pat’s eyes dropped to Nolan’s legs. “The boy with no leg and the girl with no tongue. Poetic.” Nolan didn’t even realize she’d said it in Spanish until she grinned at her own words, as if she’d discovered a new toy to play with.

“Get out of—”

“Ag, shut up. What are you going to do? Hit me?” She laughed. No, he laughed. This wasn’t Pat. “I never wanted this. I thought if you took control, it would make things easier on both of us. I gave you so much time to think my offer through. And what did you do? You let her run.

“So I changed my mind. We had a good arrangement going with Amara before, and your pills screwed it up. I offered you everything, kid, and that didn’t work. So no more excuses. Here’s a deadline you can’t wiggle out of: turn Amara’s bony ass around while you still can. Then your pills will wear off, you’ll go back to watching, Amara will go back to protecting Cilla, and everyone stays safe.

“If you don’t get Amara back to the palace, I’ll make these bodies, your parents and your sister”—Ruudde plucked at Pat’s shirt—“kill themselves. Do you have any scissors handy? I can turn off the healing and show you.”

“Get—out—of—her—” He couldn’t say anything else. His brain screeched to a halt at anything past he’s in her body, he’s going to kill her, get him out get him out get him out.

This room used to be safe. Cramped and messy and hot enough to choke on, but safe.

Ruudde raised Pat’s hands in a gesture of false surrender. “I’m going. Meanwhile, you should act smart for once. For fuck’s sake. You make this so much harder than it needs to be.”

Ruudde gave a last roll of Pat’s eyes.

She collapsed to the floor.