The Gathering (Darkness Rising 1)

He moved me back to sit on the edge of the desk. "Hold that. I'm going to find some ice."

I shook my head. "Sam. Those pages--"

The roar of a dirt bike stopped me. I tried to get up, but he tugged me back onto the desk.

"She's gone," he said. "We need to stop the bleeding and get some ice on that." He paused. "Are your teeth ...?"

I ran my tongue over them, ignoring the sharp tang of blood. "Present and accounted for."

"Good. Hold on then."

THIRTY

IDID HOLD ON--TO the tissues. I didn't stay put, though. With my free hand, I mopped up drops of blood from the hardwood floor. If this turned into a murder investigation, I definitely didn't want my blood found in the victim's house.

When Daniel came back, he had some ice wrapped in a dishcloth. As he exchanged it for the bloody tissues, he said, "I can't believe she did that. I mean, Sam is way too fast with her fists, but to deck you? Over papers?"

I'd been thinking the same thing. I felt weirdly hurt--and not because my jaw ached. I always thought Sam and I got along okay. In the last few days, she'd even been friendly. Now I realized that was only because she thought I might have more information on Mina Lee.

I told Daniel that, then said, "I'm still shocked that she hit me. I know she took a swing at Rafe's sister--" I stopped, realizing what I was saying, then continued. "She's ... brain damaged. That's why he's away from school a lot."

/> "Looking after her." Daniel wadded up the bloodied tissues inside clean ones, then stuffed them into his pocket. "I hadn't heard that."

"No one knows. And no one can know. She's his guardian, and if people find out ..."

"They won't from me. You know that." He leaned beside me, against the desk. "So, what happened? Sam didn't realize Rafe's sister was brain damaged and lashed out when she provoked her?"

"Not unless being extremely friendly can be considered provocation."

Daniel shook his head. "The girl's definitely got some loose wiring, and it seems to be getting looser." He glanced at me. "Steer clear, okay?"

"I intend to."

"So those sheets said her parents had been murdered? What else?"

"That was as far as I got. Her parents were killed in a home invasion, and it said Sam 'survived,' which must mean she was there. I guess that might explain some of the loose wiring. And why the Tillsons told everyone her parents died in a car accident."

"Less traumatic."

I nodded. Made sense, but it still bugged me. Why had Sam still been determined to get those papers before I read more? What else was in there?

"Bleeding's stopped," I said, taking the makeshift ice pack. "We should keep looking around. Sam found something. Maybe we can, too."

We discovered where Sam had found the pages--under the mattress in the main bedroom. We hadn't looked there earlier, and we wouldn't have now if we hadn't noticed the bedcovers were wrinkled.

Under the mattress was a file containing background info on every kid in our class. Parents' names, date of birth, hobbies. Mina had put a lot of emphasis on hobbies, underlining some of them, like wrestling, boxing, and law for Daniel. The emphasis on sports and extracurricular interests would make sense ... if you were filling out applications for a dating service. Why would a corporate spy care what local teens liked to do in their spare time?

"It's a cover," Daniel said. "If anyone gets close, she can pull out these, and the hobbies and stuff make it seem like she really is doing a general interest story." He flipped through the pages. "She's got everyone here. Even Rafe, though his is filled with question marks and notes for follow-up. Seems she wasn't having much luck getting background on him. Weird."

I kept my gaze on the pages, so he wouldn't see that I knew it wasn't weird at all. "Where's my page?"

"Right--" He flipped through again. "Huh. Seems someone is missing."

"Me?"

He didn't answer until he'd laid out all the sheets on the bed, in alphabetical order. Everyone was there except Sam and me.

"I bet she grabbed yours, too," Daniel said. "Sam, I mean. They weren't in any kind of order, and she had a bunch of pages. Yours was probably behind hers." He folded the sheets and stuck them in the backpack we'd brought. "Let's keep looking."