Alliance by Lacy Williams as Lacy Yager, Haley Yager Page B

in my boots. I add a stake or two at my waist for good measure.
    Hannah recognizes the bag and holds up a hand. “Whoa, Maggie—”
    I can’t let her stop me. “I’m not worried about the human cops, Han. A couple of those vamps got away.”
    She doesn’t seem to grasp the gravity of the situation, because she’s still blocking my way to the door. I try to explain a little slower.
    “They. Think I. Am in league. With a Chaser.” My voice breaks on the last word, but I clear my throat and continue anyway. “Worse things than cops are coming after me. And if they get a whiff of you, you’re toast too.”
    Thankfully, this seems to work to stifle any more of Hannah’s questions. She grabs her bookbag and dumps its contents on her bed, then moves to her dresser and starts stuffing clothes inside.
    “Hurry up,” I mutter.
    I scroll through the numbers in my cell until I find the right one. I wish I didn’t have to make this call, but our options are limited.
    “Let’s go.” I scan the room one last time, trying to memorize what it looks like. I was happy here.
    Hannah grabs the digital camera from her nightstand and joins me in the hallway.
    We walk toward the back stairs, our best chance of blending into the crowd, and I make the call. It rings several times, and just when I’m sure he won’t answer, a gruff male voice comes on the line.
    “Yeah?”
    “Daniel, it’s Maggie. I need your help.”
    ~o~
    “I can’t believe that took so long,” I mumble.
    Hannah hums agreement next to me. I can tell she’s freaked out as we hustle down the sidewalk and into a nearby park. My mind wants to go back to the picnic and my time with Shane, but I force myself to pay attention to every shadow. The park isn’t that well-lit to begin with and after everything that’s happened tonight, both Hannah and I are jumpy.
    You should’ve let me handle those cops. I could’ve moved things along.
    Hannah wanted to use her mind powers to get some of the police officers out of our way as we snuck out of E.W. House, but I’d told her to save her energy and I repeat it now. You never know when we might have to run.
    And it would’ve been a lot faster if we didn’t have to have that detour to pick up your food supply.
    She eyes the cooler-on-wheels I’m dragging behind me, and I know she hopes no one stops us and wants to look inside.
    “Well, you don’t want me to have to take a bite outta you, do ya?” I try to sound light-hearted, as if us having to sneak off in the middle of the night is no big deal. But my heart is breaking to leave my kids. And for other reasons.
    But who knows how many teens saw me get stabbed in the middle of the dance, and if I’m suddenly okay? More than a little suspicion will be turned in my direction.
    “Besides, it’s not like we didn’t have a little time to kill. We don’t have to be at the airport until six.”
    “Don’t remind me. How come it takes so long for Dan to get here anyway? Eight hours seems really long.”
    Yeah, no kidding, when vamps are after you.
    “The flight time from LAX is five hours and he has to do all that pre-flight stuff before they let him take off. Plus he had to drive to the airport and it didn’t sound like he was close. He’ll get here.”
    Yeah, but will we still be here when he does ?
    My cell phone chirps and Hannah and I yelp at the unexpected noise. It’s an unknown number, could be my brother, so I answer it.
    “Daniel?”
    “No, this is Shane.”
    There’s a pause and I hear him take a breath like he’s getting ready to keep talking. I quickly press the END CALL button and break the connection.
    Hannah looks at me with wide eyes, but doesn’t say anything. What does he want ? I think we covered it all back in the gym.
    “Do you think you should, you know, eat ,” Hannah motions to the cooler, “So you’ll be at full strength again?”
    My phone chirps again. Same number. I reject the call.
    “Nah, it’s not that far to the T. I want