Dualed Read Online Free Page B

the law?”
    Luc exhales, and I know he’s itching to strangle me. “West, listen. I don’t want you in there because I don’t want you getting hurt, okay? We can’t be worrying about you the whole time.”
    “How very macho, Luc,” I mutter.
    “Fine. Then you’ll just get in the way. How’s that for a good reason?”
    “I can take care of myself.” Why can’t he see that just sitting here, waiting for him and Chord to come out alive, is going to drive me insane?
    “I know you can. Stay here.” With that, Luc steps out of the car and into the night, leaving me to swear at the back of his head.
    Chord turns and gives me a smile. It barely reaches his eyes, his mind already racing ahead, already inside the house.
    “Don’t be so pissed off that you leave without us, okay?” he says. “It’s a long walk home from here.”
    My frustration is nothing in the face of Chord’s fear, and soon enough my own dread is back, making my heart thud.
    “Well, don’t keep me waiting, then,” I say evenly. It’s like holding on to a ledge and pretending my fingers aren’t in agony. “Luc wasn’t exaggerating about me sneaking out with the car, you know.”
    He reaches in, about to playfully mess up my hair the wayhe always does. But then at the last second, he hesitates, brushing the nearly black strands from my cheek instead. “I wish you hadn’t come, but I’m glad you did,” he finally says.
    He’s gone before I can say anything.
    I climb up into the front seat for a better view. I’m not the tallest girl around, so I can’t see much over the hood; Luc’s pushed the seat way back to make room for his much longer legs. Still annoyed, I yank it as far forward as it’ll go.
    There. Now to wait. And not think.
    Which is impossible. Like trying to quiet my thoughts when they’re already awake and shouting at me. Letting Luc and Chord walk away is one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do.
    It hasn’t always been just me and Luc. Our parents went to the Board four times. First for Aave, then Luc, then me, and finally Ehm. Not a typical size for a Kersh family—which usually has two children—but my parents never could measure us in terms of cost, only in the benefits of our being given the chance to grow up.
    Aave was the first of us to go. He bled to death behind Slinger’s, a club in the Grid that had no problem serving underage actives; the alcohol in his system had dulled his exceptional blade skills and made them merely ordinary. And Ehm … I thought I could handle anything after the shock of Aave’s death, but her death brought me to my knees. Part of it was the fact that she was only eleven, just a year to really prepare herself for her assignment. But her Alt had been so quick, faster than even Luc and I had been ready for, and Ehm had had her own plans. So while we were figuring out the best way for Ehm tosafely complete, her Alt caught her sneaking out of the house to go to her best friend’s sleepover party.
    She bled out in my arms, and I remember screaming so loudly that Chord came running from his house down the block. He crashed to the ground on the street next to me and grabbed me in a hug and didn’t let go. Even after Luc took Ehm from me, Chord didn’t let go—
    A dog barks, shattering the silence and the drowning pull of my memories. A man yells at it to shut up.
    I look around uneasily. Which house is the barking coming from? Not the Alt’s, I don’t think. If Luc and Chord have been spotted, it’s more than barking that I should be hearing.
    “Time,” I ask out loud.
    Luc’s watch beeps out the answer:
23:15
already. Not long, but still too long.
    Scenario after scenario plays out of my mind’s eye, none of them good. What are Luc and Chord doing in there? What’s taking them so long? Shouldn’t they be back by now?
    To keep my hands busy, I strap on Luc’s watch, fiddle with the car’s mirrors, crank open the window for fresh air.
    There’s a muffled echo of