Run (8 page)

TOP TEN WAYS TO EMBARRASS A KID IN A WHEELCHAIR

10. Buy him a pogo stick.

9. Ask him how often he has to have his tires rotated.

8. Tell him you'd like to borrow his chair to guarantee yourself a good seat for
Cats.

7. Attach a bumper sticker that reads Warning: I Break for Orthopedic Surgeons.

6. Totally fawn over him, and tell him how sorry you feel for him.

5. Totally ignore him and pretend he doesn't exist, like everybody else does.

4. One good shove down the handicap ramp.

3. Invite him to visit the top of the Statue of Liberty.

2. Ask him, You must really feel like a loser during the national anthem, huh?

1. Say something anything of a sexual nature, implying that it's not just his legs that are permanently limp.

I can't believe I am even capable of coming up with these things. It makes me sick. I make me sick.

How am I going to do this? Why are they making me do this?

And then the world went surreal on him. Because Gaia was not Gaia.

ED ROLLED HIS CHAIR OUT OF HIS
eighth-period class and into the crowded hallway. He'd made it back to school in time for the chem exam, which, unfortunately, had been even more difficult than he'd expected. With all of the insanity running through his head, he'd be lucky to pull a C plus. Of course, in light of what was happening to Gaia and Heather, not to mention Sam, a C plus didn't sound too terrible.

The good news was that the morning's searching had yielded major information.

It was the noise. A noise he knew.
Or used to know.

He'd sat there in George's study for over an hour, viewing the video e-mail of Sam over and over. Just as he was about to pack it in Ed had noticed a noise in the background. It had been there all along. He couldn't imagine how he'd missed it, unless his eyesight was shutting down from all the staring and his ears were taking over. But as soon as he detected it, he recognized it.

Wrrrzzzzzzzz. Clank. Wrrzz.

It was a noise he himself had made for years. A noise he'd never make again.

And he knew there was only one place in New York

City where that noise could occur precisely the way it sounded in the background of the e-mail.

Wrrrzzzzzzzz. Clank. Wrrrzzzzzzzz . . . "Ed, man! Totally nice ride. You got serious air on that one, dude. Is this the most bodacious ramp in the city or what? Let's see it again. Go for it!"

Wrrzz. Clank.

"Yeah, Ed knew the noise.

"He pushed aside the memory and gritted his teeth at the way the crowd in the hallway parted for him.

At least it meant getting to a private place to use his phone faster, although the chances of Gaia being home were slim to none. If the girl was going to insist on being the reluctant superhero, the least she could do was invest in a cell phone.

"Ed rounded a corner, and there she was. Right in the middle of the jostling, locker-slamming crowd. No dialing necessary.

His smile was automatic. (Not to mention the reaction from a more southern portion of his anatomy.) He waved,
relishing
the way he could see her eyes burning like blue flames, even from this distance.

"Good news," he began, but the rest of his greeting caught in his windpipe. She was striding -- no, more like stomping -- in his direction. Panic engulfed him. What had happened? Had Sam been hurt? Worse thought: Had she?

She stopped about a foot in front of him. And then the
world went surreal
on him. Because Gaia was not Gaia. Everything about her said hatred -- the rigidity of her shoulders, the tightness of her face.

"Hey," she barked. Yes, barked. It was a horrible sound, one he couldn't reconcile with the sexy, slightly raspy voice he loved hearing over the phone every night.

He stared at her, peripherally aware that people were slowing down, glancing their way. They were curious, but not committed just yet. School was over, after all. There were soccer balls to dribble, lattes to drink, boyfriends to kiss.

"Hey . . . freak."

Okay,
now she had their attention.
Ed opened his mouth to say something but hadn't the slightest idea what that something should be. His eyes slid over her carefully. Was she bruised? No. Drugged? Didn't seem to be. Brainwashed? Not likely.

What was going on?

"She said it again. "Hey, freak."

"Ed wished he could make himself meet her gaze. "Something I can do for you?"

A strangled sound came out of her mouth. It took him a second to understand it was supposed to be laughter.

"I doubt it," she said. "In fact . . . "

He noted that her fists were clenching and unclenching.

"In fact, I doubt there's anything you can do for any girl in this school."

This earned her an "ooh" from the onlookers, and she let her eyes fall purposely to his midsection. Ed felt scalded by the heat of them. His heart hit the badly scuffed floor. She couldn't possibly have just said that.

"So am I right, Ed?" she prodded. "I mean, we all know you're paralyzed from the waist down, but I'm curious. Does
anything
still work?"

Horror filled him as she came closer. She placed one hand on each of his chair's armrests and smiled wickedly. "Aren't you going to tell me?" she asked in a seductive tone he might have liked under different circumstances. "Or am I going to have to find out for myself?"

This piece of cruelty was rewarded with another "ooh." Ed's brain vaguely registered that not one single son of a bitch in the crowd was making an attempt to defend him. But he didn't actually care about them. He cared about her. Too much.

And she was destroying him. Why?

His voice decided to work without his permission, and he heard himself say, a bit pathetically, "You're enjoying this, aren't you?"

"Yes," she assured him, still smiling. "I like torturing you. About as much as I like lox."

Lox.

"Like lox?"

"Hate them."

His heart surged. This wasn't real. She was faking. He pulled his eyes to hers at last. And she answered him. It wasn't a word, or an action, or even an expression. It was something deeply unnameable in her eyes.

This was her next test. For some inexplicable purpose, the kidnapper wanted her to hurt him.
So be it.
He'd play along.

Unfortunately, one of the male spectators chose that moment to get righteous. He stepped forward and said, "Leave him alone."

Ed wouldn't have believed it, but in that second he could actually
see
her resolve falter. One word from a pseudo-Samaritan and she was ready to crumble -- her belief in this heinous charade was that fragile.

He felt her begin to back away, and he knew he couldn't let her. Too much was riding on it. Sam's life. More important, possibly
her safety.

So Ed lifted his chin. "You wanna know if it still works?"

She blinked, clearly taken aback by this reaction. He kept his eyes glued to hers.
Don't quit, Gaia. I understand. Don't back down.

One corner of her mouth twitched.

"Yeah," she said, her reluctance audible only to him. "I wanna know if you're still man enough to do it."

"Well, that depends." Ed reached forward, catching her around the waist and pulling her onto his lap. "Are you woman enough to make me want it?"

The crowd's "oohs" rose to a crescendo now, and the applause that erupted froze her.

"C'mon, Gaia," he urged, knowing she had to bring this full circle to satisfy the kidnappers. "Make me."

"Fine, I will."

""Fine. So do it."

Fine.

She leaned toward him -- somehow the movement was at once gentle and violent -- until her mouth was dangerously close to his.

"Principal!"

Suddenly the crowd scattered like rats, leaving Ed unkissed and alone in the hall with Gaia, who was sitting sidesaddle across his thighs. Now that they were alone, she made a move to exit his lap, but didn't get far.

"I think maybe you should get off me now," Ed suggested calmly.

"I'm trying!" Gaia snapped in reply. The zipper on the outer pocket of her cargo pants was caught on his sweater, and she was struggling to disengage herself. "I promise you this is not what I want to be doing right now."

He chuckled. "Yeah, you just keep telling yourself that, Gaia."

Ed could hear the principal's footsteps approaching the corner of the deserted hallway. Gaia let out a little yelp of frustration.

"Scared?" he baited.

"Annoyed," she said. She let go of the zipper and met his eyes for a second. "And very sorry," she added under her breath. "Not scared."

She tried jerking her leg sideways, and wound up straddling him.

"We might want to wait until
after
the principal's come and gone," he said.

The sound of the principal's whistling floated toward them. "I really think you should get off me, Gaia."

"Hey, nobody told you to put me on your lap," Gaia said calmly. She stopped struggling. Was she just going to let them get caught like this?

"Well, nobody told you to seduce me in the middle of the hall!" Ed said, trying to push her off him. She really was stuck.

"As a matter of fact," she hissed, lowering her face to his until their noses were touching, "you're wrong. Somebody did."

Then came the principal's booming voice. "Mr. Fargo! What is the meaning of this?"

Suddenly his head contained more than its allotted share of blood. Ed toyed with the idea of making a joke -- something about extra credit for biology class -- but decided against it.

"Miss Moore, kindly remove yourself from Mr. Fargo's. . . er . . . lap."

"If you get me a scissors, that just might be possible," Gaia said.

Sarcasm. Ed closed his eyes. Good strategy, Gaia.

Principal Reegan gave them his patented I'veseen-it-all-already-so-don't-even-bother stare. "I'll inform Ms. Strahan that she can expect you both in the detention hall," he said. He turned on his heel and walked off.

"Good one, Gaia," Ed said with a sigh.

Gaia stared after Reegan. "Do you think that means he's not going to get me a scissors?"

Heather Gannis was nothing if not brave. She proved that every day, didn't she?

BY THE TIME GAIA AND ED ARRIVED
at the detention hall, Ed had a hole in his sweater, and Gaia had a chunk of blue cotton sticking out of a zipper on her thigh. Apparently it was a slow day for the school rebels. The place was practically deserted. Of course, Robbie Canetti was there because Robbie Canetti
was always there.

He looked up from his notebook when Ed and Gaia entered. "Hi," he said.

Ed said hi. Gaia didn't bother. Ms. Strahan glanced at them, then went back to correcting papers.

Ed wheeled himself to the back corner of the room, and Gaia flung herself into a chair, letting it scrape against the floor loudly. Her leg immediately started to bounce up and down. There was no way she was staying trapped in this box for the next hour.

She leaned forward, pressing her elbows into her knees to stop her legs from spasming. "I have two things to say," she said, looking Ed in the eye. "One, I didn't want to do what I did out there. I really am sorry."

"I know," Ed answered seriously. "What's the second thing?"

"The second thing is that I'm outta here." She stood up and started past him, but Ed grabbed her wrist.

"I know where Sam is," he said.

Gaia froze. Relief, confusion, and disbelief rushed through her, clouding her vision. She fell back into her chair. "What?"

Ed shot his eyes toward Ms. Strahan, then Robbie. When he was sure neither was listening, he whispered, "I know where they're holding him."

It was all Gaia could do to keep from screaming. She wasn't sure if she should hug him or kill him. "Why didn't you tell me this before?"

Ed actually blushed. "You didn't exactly give me a chance back there, G."

"Where is he?" Gaia demanded, feeling a strong urge to hold him upside down and shake the words right out of him.

Clearing his throat, Ed pushed his hands against his armrests and shifted in his chair. The gesture took forever. "He's in Tribeca. I actually pinpointed the street." Ed's expression was all self-satisfaction. Gaia was leaning away from hug and toward kill, but she kept her cool.

"How did you figure it out?" she asked in a whisper. Ed leaned forward. "I just kept replaying the e-mail," he said excitedly. "By, like, the nine billionth time, I started to register this sound in the background. Over and over, this sound. And I recognized it. It's skateboarders."

"Skateboarders?" Gaia hissed, her shoulders so tense they were practically touching her ears. "Ed, skateboarders can be anywhere."

"No." Ed shook his head. "This noise was distinct. It was boards on a ramp -- an extreme ramp, with a major slope. And I know for a fact there's only one ramp like that in this whole city. I practically used to live there."

His eyes were glassy, and she could tell he really missed this home away from home.

Gaia would have loved to let him slip into a fit of nostalgia, but this wasn't the place, and it
definitely
wasn't the time.

"Ed."

"He rubbed his hand over his face. "Anyway, I heard that sound in the background, and I realized that Sam's got to be somewhere in the vicinity of that ramp. He's gotta be in one of those buildings."

Gaia stood up. "So let's go."

"Go? Gaia, we can't go."

"Ms. Moore?" Ms. Strahan warned. Gaia didn't care.

"Why not?" she asked Ed. "Because we've got detention?" She looked around the room, holding her palms out like a balance, pretending to weigh the options. "Let's see. Sam's life, detention. Detention, Sam's life." She frowned at him. "I'm going."

She started for the door, but Ed reached out and grabbed her wrist.

""Ms. Moore," came another warning.

"Ed actually yanked on her arm, tugging her backward and
forcing
her into her seat. She looked at him for a moment, stunned.

"No, Gaia. Not because we have detention," Ed hissed, his eyes flashing. "Think about it. You know the kidnapper's watching every move you make. You're at his mercy. If he figures out you're planning a search-and-rescue operation, he might just kill Sam on the spot."

"Yeah, but . . ."

""I know you want to swoop in there and rescue Sam," Ed said. "But you have to make sure you're thinking straight."

Gaia sighed in exasperation.

""Even if you could get to Sam without having the lunatic kidnapper catch on, how are you going to get him out?" Ed asked. "The guy's a mess, Gaia. He's weak, remember?"

Gaia felt as if her head were being pumped full of molten lava. She pressed the heels of her hands to her temples and squeezed her eyes shut.

"So why'd you even bother to tell me where he was?"

"Because I knew you'd want to know," Ed whispered, shaking his head. "Look, Gaia, I'm aware you're not going to let me tell you what to do. I'm just telling you what I think."

She gave the desktop a good slap. Everyone in the room jumped but her.

"Okay, I've had about enough of this, Ms. Moore," Ms. Strahan said in what Gaia assumed was supposed to be a threatening tone.

"You got something against hearing what I think?" Ed whispered with a grin.

"I've got something against being trapped in a classroom when I should be out doing something constructive," Gaia answered, standing again. "And don't ask me what, because I don't know, but I have to get the hell out of here!

"Gaia --"

"That's it, Ms. Moore."

"But Gaia barely registered the warnings. She was already halfway down the hall.