Saving Savannah

“Maybe we should get help,” I said, glancing around.

Erik opened his mouth to answer, and something shifted. The shadows near the center of the alley moved, followed by a moan in the darkness.

“It’s him!”

I bolted toward the sound, and got only as far as the length of Erik’s arm. His hand went tight, grabbing my wrist. Preventing me from continuing.

“Let go!” I hissed. “We have to help him—”

“Together,” Erik said sternly. “We go together.”

Side by side we entered the alley, staying in constant contact. The buildings were old, and close together. The lighting was awful. But right there, in the middle of the tiny street—

“Zane!”

We rushed over, to where Zane was on his hands and knees. He was holding his head. Struggling to get up.

“Zane, what happened!”

He was bleeding, I could see that much. The blood looked almost black in the half light. Shiny and slick, running down the side of his face.

“Zane, say something! Are you alright?”

From somewhere ahead in the alley, a sinist

er voice growled. “He’s okay… I think.”

I glanced up in surprise, just as Louden stepped out of the shadows and into view. He was holding something long and thin. Something that gleamed even in the darkness.

“The kid’s got a real hard head though.”

Fifty-Four

SAVANNAH

There was a second or two of absolute silence, broken only by Zane’s next groan. Then, before I could even think about what came next, everything seemed to happen at once.

Erik lunged, catching Louden off guard. The two of them fell backwards into the alley, a tangle of arms and legs, as both struggled for the upper hand.

“Julia!”

The voice came from behind me, startling me half out of my mind. I whirled, just in time to catch the back of Jarrett’s fist… square against the right side of my face.

CRACK!

“Didn’t see that one, did you?” he laughed triumphantly. “For a fortune teller, you sure are—”

I kicked backwards, hard, while trying to set Zane’s head back to the ground. Somehow I missed. Jarrett caught me by the ankle, then twisted his wrists hard… causing me to scream in pain.

“Julia!”

I heard Erik’s voice, floating to me from the other side of the alley. He was on top of Louden. He had him pinned…

But the second he heard me scream, he got up to help me.

“Erik, no! I—”

Louden tackled him before he could fully pull away, sending him chin-first to the pavement. After that I don’t know what happened. Jarrett yanked me backwards so hard by the legs, I slid a good four or five feet on the sand-strewn cobbles.