Val shook her head.
"Let's go down to the crash spot," Luis said. "I think its dark enough to keep us hidden."
"Can Dave find us?" Ruth asked.
"Sure," Luis said. "He'll know where to look. We slept there before."
Val gritted her teeth in frustration, but she followed the others as they jumped the gate on one side of the castle and crept down the rocks beneath it. There was a shadowed plateau overhung enough by another boulder to give them a little shelter. Val noticed that they'd already loaded it up with some cardboard.
Luis sat down and Lolli leaned against him, eyes going half-lidded. "I'll scrounge up some better supplies tomorrow," he said, leaning down to press his mouth to hers.
Ruth put one arm around Val and sighed. "I can't believe this.">"V-val?" Ruth's voice trembled as she looked around.
"This is my best friend, Ruth," Val said before she realized how juvenile that sounded. "She came looking for me."
"I thought we were your best friends." Dave smiled a smile that was half-leer and Val regretted letting him touch her, letting him think he had some power over her.
"We're all best friends," Lolli said, shooting him a glare as she rested one of her leg's on Luis's, her boot nearly touching his crotch. "All the bestest of friends."
Dave's face crumpled.
"If you were any kind of friend to her, you wouldn't drag her into this shit," Luis told Val, twisting away from Lolli.
"How many people are down here? Come out where I can see you," a gruff voice called.
Two policemen walked down the stairs. Lolli froze, the spoon in her hand still over the fire. The drug started to blacken and burn. Dave laughed, a weird crazy laugh that went on and on.
Flashlights cut through the dim station. Lolli dropped her spoon, grown too hot to hold, and the beams converged on her, then moved to blind Val. She shaded her eyes with her hand.
"All of you." One of the cops was a woman, her face stern. "Stand against the wall, hands on your head."
One beam caught Luis and the male cop nudged him with his boot. "Go. Let's go. We heard some reports there were kids down here, but I didn't believe it."
Val stood slowly and walked to the wall, Ruth beside her. She felt so sick with guilt that she wanted to vomit. "I'm sorry," she whispered.
Dave just stood stock still in the middle of the platform. He was shaking.
"Something wrong?" the female cop shouted, making it not at all a question. "Against the wall!" With that, her speech turned to barking. Where she had stood was a black dog, larger than a Rottweiler, with foam running from its mouth.
"What the hell?" The other cop turned, pulled out his gun. "That your dog? Call it off."
"It's not our dog," Dave said with an eerie smile.
The dog turned toward Dave, growling and barking. Dave just laughed.
"Masollino?" the policeman yelled. "Masollino?"
"Stop fucking around," Luis called. "Dave, what are you doing?"
Ruth dropped her arms from her head. "What's going on?"
The dog's teeth were bright as it advanced against the policeman. He pointed the gun at it and the dog stopped. It whined and he hesitated. "Where's my partner?"
Lolli giggled and the man looked up sharply, then quickly back at the dog.
Val took a step forward, Ruth still holding her arm so tight that it hurt. "Dave," she hissed. "Come on. Let's go."
"Dave!" Luis yelled. "Turn her back!"