Free Over My Head (Wildlings) by Charles de Lint

my head. "I don't think so."
    "You took him before—when he tried to jump you outside the lunchroom."
    "Sure, but not like you want me to do now."
    Des steps in front of me and pokes my chest with his finger. Why does everyone keep forgetting I'm bruised up?
    "Okay," he says, "so you don't care about being on Erik's shit list. What about your friends?"
    "Come on. Since when do you care about something like that?"
    "I'm not talking about me," Des says. "Did you hear what he called Marina? Do you want to have her put up with that kind of crap? Dude!"
    "I haven't forgotten."
    I've been trying to—so I don't do something stupid. But the mountain lion under my skin sure hasn't forgotten. All it wants to do is tear off Erik's head. And when I see Erik's face in my mind's eye all I want to do is—
    I take a calming breath.
    "Fine," I say, stepping back from his finger. "So just saying I agree we need to do something about Erik.What did you have in mind?"
    He grins. "A takedown—but get this. We do it in his own bedroom so that he knows nowhere is safe."
    "I can change into a mountain lion, not a ninja."
    "Whatever. You just need to show him that there are repercussions to being an asshole."
    "And if he goes ahead and tells everybody anyway?" I ask.
    "Dude, he's not going to tell anybody. And even if he did, who's going to believe him? You just need to get him on his own and explain the serious payback if he hassles you again. Then get out. You don't mark him, you don't trash the place. You let his own fear do the work for you."
    "I could never sneak in without getting caught."
    "I've been scoping out his place," Des says. "His room's on top of the garage and I'm pretty sure the stairs up to his room are right inside."
    "When did you scope out the place? You were at school all afternoon."
    Des shrugs. "I've been working on this since he first went to the principal crying about Wildlings." He cocks his head. "Look, if you don't want in, I'll do it myself."
    Like I'm going to let him do this on his own.
    "Okay," I tell him. "We'll swing by tonight. But we're just going to check it out."
    "I told you, dude, I already—"
    "I know. But I still want to see it myself."
    Which is how come, just after midnight, Des and I are crouched in a jade hedge across the street from the Gess house. It's a long stretch of California-style adobe, with a manicured lawn and palms out front. We just saw Erik go into the garage. A moment later the light goes on in the room above.
    "See?" Des says.
    I nod, but before I can say anything, I hear a rustle in the hedge and Cory's crouched down beside me. His eyes glow for a moment—like when you catch a cat or a dog in your headlights—then he moves his head out of the light. Des doesn't know he's there, so he jumps when Cory speaks.
    "Tell me you're not doing what I think you're doing," Cory says.
    Des almost falls out onto the sidewalk. He catches himself in time and glares at Cory.
    "Jeez, dude," he says. "Maybe a little warning next time."
    Cory ignores him. His gaze is fixed on mine.
    "We're just scouting things out tonight," I tell him.
    "Right."
    But then Des launches into his explanation about why we have to do something about Erik before everything gets out of hand.
    Cory's eyebrows go up, but Des doesn't have a Wildling's night sight and I doubt he sees.
    "And ambushing him in his own home," Cory says. "That's not getting out of hand?"
    "And you've got a better idea?"
    "Sure. Let me deal with it. And that way the Feds won't find out you're involved."
    "What are you talking about?" I ask.
    Cory gives a nod down the road with his head. "Agent Solana's sitting in a car on the next block."
    "Why are they following me? How are they following me?"
    "The how's easy," Cory says. "He's tracking you through the GPS on your phone."
    Des nods. "Spycraft 101, dude."
    "So I should turn it off."
    "No," Cory says. "That'll just tell him that you know about it—like a couple of weeks ago when you were trying to