Free Chaos by Lanie Bross Page B

sticking close to the wall, moving in complete silence. Jasmine was extra careful about where she placed her feet.
    They flattened themselves against the wall next to the doorway. Ford peeked around the corner, then made a complicated gesture to Jasmine with his hands.
    In the other room, the boy said, “Are you sure this was the place?”
    “I’m sure,” the girl answered.
    “Real craphole,” the boy said.
    “Just find her.”
    Ford bent down and picked up a piece of copper pipethat had become dislodged during the earthquake. Jasmine thought he must be arming himself for a fight, and her throat seized up. She’d never hit anyone, never gotten violent at all except in some stupid self-defense program she’d taken instead of gym class freshman year.
    But then Ford tossed the pipe so it landed with a clatter in the far corner of the bedroom, and Jas understood. As the boy and girl came rushing into the room, their attention fixed on the other side of the room, Ford and Jasmine moved. They made it only two steps into the main room before the stalkers pivoted, shouting, and leapt after them.
    But a two-foot advantage was better than nothing, and Jasmine was fast now.
    Unfortunately, they were fast, too. The girl’s fingertips grazed Jasmine’s hair as she reached the staircase. Jas twisted her head away and the girl growled in frustration. Ford was taking the steps two at a time, and Jasmine sprang after him.
    Jasmine’s heart was bursting through her throat.
    Once they were outside, Jas would scream for help. Once they were outside, they’d be okay.…
    Just a few more steps …
    Then Jasmine felt a hand wrap around her ankle. She fell hard and fast, slamming headfirst into the concrete lip at the top of the staircase. Pain spiked out at the impact, and stars danced in her vision. She tried to cry out, but shadows were advancing along the edges of her vision too quickly.
    “Wait!” Ford called out, and she felt the electric brush of his fingers against hers before they were wrenched away.
    Help me
. That was the last thought she had before everything went black.

This time, Luc was able to keep his footing in the Crossroad, but barely. It was like trying to stay afloat in a river flowing simultaneously in different directions, or trying to score a goal from inside a tornado. He fought to keep control over his body. Openings, vivid and multicolored, bloomed like huge flowers on either side of him. He knew they must have been openings into different worlds.
    Panic overtook him. The universe was much too big to contemplate, and there were hundreds of thousands of worlds. What if he ended up in the Forest of the Blood Nymphs? Or somewhere even deadlier?
    Thinking that made him think about Jasmine, waiting for him at Aunt Hillary’s house. The great flower had brought her back from death after the Blood Nymphs had nearly killed her, but it hadn’t cured her entirely. Shewas different now. The way she’d fought off the Executors proved it.
    He wondered how long it would be before she noticed the change.
    He wondered if she was safe, and if she was worried about him.
    Luc tried to fight his way to an exit, any exit, but it was no use. The winds were too strong. He staggered on, borne forward like a piece of driftwood at sea. All around him, shimmering colors twisted together to form new colors, a continuously changing canvas that was both breathtaking and terrifying. He found himself driven forward by a strong current the color of Corinthe’s eyes.
    Corinthe.
    Even her name brought a fresh wash of pain. This was all for her. He couldn’t forget that. If he didn’t do everything in his power to find a way to alter time, he would be lost. Rhys had known how, but his friend was gone.
    Another life lost.
    He wished the chemist was there now, to guide him, to tell him what to do.
    The swirling colors ebbed, slowly, to a thick gray mist, and Luc knew he was washing up onto the shore of a new world. Outside the Crossroad,