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.“Oh my God,” May said.Whatever they had been arguing about came to a full stop.“Where did this come from?” Creed demanded.“It doesn’t matter where it came from—it’s my contribution.”They were too stunned to say anything, too mesmerized by the pile of money to care.“Maybe for once we can eat something that doesn’t come from a garbage can,” I said wearily.“I get at least half,” May said, when she found her voice again.“I’ve been floating her for weeks.”Santos: “No fucking way—I’ve been taking her all over the place, getting her socks, and teaching her how to live out here.”Creed: “Santos—what did you do? Where the hell did she get this money?”Santos started to backpedal, and the argument took off in a totally new direction with all three of them going at it.It’s her contribution!You brought her here, she’s your responsibility.You should have told her she couldn’t just squat here from the beginning.She owes us.Wait, everyone, just wait.“I’m done with this,” I said.They were still fighting when I went to the bedroom.Arguing over me.May’s voice was high pitched and birdy, Creed’s like the thudding of a bass line and Santos interjecting.The words disappeared into a blur of sound as I lay down on the bare mattress and watched the dust particles rise in the air.Moldy sharpness pricked my nose, the hazards of living in a leaky squat house.The black fuzz growing in damp corners was starting to affect me.I took a long breath of my inhaler, then swapped it out for a new one.The weight of everything pressed on my chest.Fatigue overtook me, and I lost track of the discord below until something sharp and loud startled me.A door banging?Then male voices—not Creed’s or Santos’s.I almost choked on the air.More shouting followed a slow crack, like bones bending and then breaking.A scream—May? May was screaming.What was happening?“Creed?” I called down the stairs.“No!” someone yelled amidst a scuffle.Something hit the wall with a sickening thud.I had to will my feet to move—down the stairs, over the rotted boards to where I could see into the living room.It wasn’t Creed and Santos at all.I thought getting rid of the bracelet would free me from a curse—instead it only brought a new one.Oh my God.How had they found us?Maul and his gang filled the living room—and Maul had Creed pinned to the floor.Chapter 28The living room was in total chaos.A bloody clump of fur lay in a heap by the wall, not moving.Maul held Creed down while one of the others punched Santos in the stomach.Another gripped May while she kicked and shrieked.Money was everywhere—under Creed, on the floor.A thin girl with stringy brown hair—the one Maul hit?—was gathering it, dollar by dollar, into a wilted stack.“Ah—look who’s here,” Maul said when he saw me.A chill crawled over my spine.Had we led him here? The thought made me gasp with fear.“I told you,” he said softly, “you should have come when I asked nice.Now you’re gonna have to be broken first.”“Stay the fuck away from her!” Creed shouted—he was all arms and legs and wiriness, trying to get up off the floor like an overturned crab, but he was no match for Maul’s sheer bulk.Maul raised his fist and brought it down hard against the side of Creed’s head.I felt the pain in my gut.Before I knew it, I was charging—straight for Maul, like a ninja warrior girl ready to kick him in the head.Someone came out of nowhere and caught me midjump, but the surprise of it was enough to knock Maul off balance.Creed wriggled out from under him and picked up a board from the mess of shrapnel on the floor.Wham.It hit Maul’s head with a terrible crack.He staggered from the blow, but he was like a tree struck with only a branch.“You shouldn’t have done that, Creed.”The guy holding me tightened his grasp, pressing the chains on his jacket into the grooves of my spine.I suddenly felt numb, like my brains were rattling right out of my head.A blast went off above my ear and into my eye, my skull, my jaw.He’d hit me.Blackness gathered at the edges.Any second I was going to pass out from the shock.My vision became a shaft of light and sound, spinning.Creed was watching me.I held his gaze to force the darkness away, even though I was feeling a warm trickle now through the explosion.Don’t let go, his eyes said to me.I listened.Vaguely, I made out Santos wrestling with some other Maul rat and screaming puta madre, but even his dexterity couldn’t help him escape.May went limp as a rag doll in the arms of her captor.Maybe she wasn’t even trying to get free anymore.Maul’s raggedy girl finished picking up the money, all that was left of Asher’s hold on me.Maybe it was better to get rid of it entirely.“You can have the squat,” I heard someone say.“Just let them go [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]