Silver by Cheree Alsop Read Free Book Online Page B

Council with them.”
    “ A council about
what?”
    She sighed. “The wolves again. The Council's
convinced that they’ve overgrown the city.” Her tone sounded
strange, like she wasn’t sure how she felt about the wolves
herself. I wondered if she knew that Chet was one of them.
    “ Sounds like a strange
problem for a big city. Why don’t they just get someone to shoot
them?” My gut clenched at the question, but I knew it was something
a regular outsider would ask.
    I could see her frown in the moonlight. “Who
says they’re the ones that have to leave?”
    Her question caught me by surprise, but
caution outweighed my curiosity about her opinion. The talk about
wolves, the fight today, and the empty house behind me was too much
to take at the moment. I made my way past the punching bag to the
back fence.
    “ Where are you going?” she
asked in surprise.
    “ Out.”
    “ Out?” She followed me on
her side of the fence. “You can’t go out; there’s a
curfew.”
    Exasperated, I turned and faced her through
the wooden slats. “Look, my mom’s at her job, no one’s home, and
I’m fed up with being by myself. There’s got to be something to do
here at night.” I grabbed the panel that ran along the back of the
fence and levered myself over the top to drop in the alley behind
it.
    “ You’re crazy,” she said,
but I heard her struggle to get over as well. She landed beside me
a few seconds later, a gleam of triumph in her eyes.
    “ I’m Jaze.”
    “ Nicole,” she said with a
beautiful smile. “But everyone calls me Nikki.” She combed her long
black hair back with her fingers and tied it in a ponytail with a
rubber band she pulled from her pocket. “Alright, I’m
ready.”
    “ For what?”
    She grinned. “Anything; bring it on. After
what I saw today, I don’t doubt you have more trouble up your
sleeves.”
    I stared at her. “I thought you weren’t at
school.”
    She laughed and held up her phone. “I got
five different views of the fight, five. Keep it up and you’ll be
the best known delinquent in the city.”
    I shoved my hands in my pockets and started
down the alley. She waited for a minute, then ran to catch up.
    “ Boy, you’re touchy. I
figured a guy who’d mess with Chet would have a thick
hide.”
    “ He’d have to,” I said. I
watched her out of the corner of my eye, but she shrugged it off
and looked into the yards we passed.
    “ This is exciting,” she
said in a loud whisper.
    “ You’ve never been out in
the city at night?” I asked incredulously.
    “ Not when it’s against the
law!” I laughed and she slapped my shoulder. “Shhh, do you want us
to get caught?”
    I grinned and shook my head, catching the
enthusiasm that shone on her face. We made our way behind a grocery
store, through the parking lot of an abandoned gas station, and
into the next alley. Adrenaline began to course through my veins at
the thrill of the night hunt, the escape from society, and the cool
breeze that brought with it a promise of rain that smelled so sweet
it was all I could do to keep from standing still and just taking
it all in.
    It wasn’t until we reached the back of a
run-down mall that someone spotted us.
    “ Hey you two!” a security
guard sporting a reflective orange vest and a nightstick shouted at
us.
    Nikki and I looked at each other. “Run!” I
shouted. She grabbed my hand and we dashed across the sparsely lit
parking lot toward the skeletal outlines of partly-constructed
houses beyond.
    I could have run faster, but I didn’t want
to leave Nikki to the whims of the guard. Luckily, he stopped at
the edge of the parking lot and waved his stick at us.
    “ Whoa, give a guy an inch,”
I said when we’d caught our breath. We made our way between the
houses. The frames made silhouettes like dinosaur bone shadows
along the freshly paved road.
    “ Yeah, seriously,” Nikki
replied. “There’s a man on a power trip.” She must have realized
that she was still holding