Very disturbing.

While the EMT kept an eye on his vitals, Nick continued to watch his silent harbinger. Kody slid carefully past it and sat in the corner, out of the way.

Nick glanced pointedly at the zeitjäger, then her. Why is he still with us?

Kody shrugged. I can’t exactly ask while we have company. If I do that, they might take us both to the psych ward.

At this point, he was almost willing to chance it. Anything to get to the bottom of what was going on.

“Some weather, huh?” the EMT asked them as they were shut in and the driver took off.

“Yeah.” Nick watched as the woman rechecked his blood pressure. “Still a normal teen, right? I haven’t mutated into an Avenger or anything?”

She laughed. “Not yet, Tony Stark. Are you trying?”

“Some days. I’d like to try being a billionaire playboy for a change.”

She shook her head. “Well, you might get your chance. Given the size of the mosquitos we had to battle to get inside your school, it wouldn’t surprise me if they weren’t refugees from a nearby radiated science facility of some kind.”

“Probably got into some of my mama’s uncle’s bayou moonshine. She always said that stuff could bring the dead back to life. And strip the finish off anything, including cars and kidneys. Wouldn’t surprise me if it couldn’t mutate a few skeeters, too.”

The EMT laughed so hard, she choked. “Is he always like this?” she asked Kody.

“Yes, he is.”

“Girl, you’ve got your hands full, don’t you?”

“You have no idea.”

And still the zeitjäger stared at them as if waiting for something more unholy to happen.

It was so creepy and disturbing. But not nearly as much as the storm that continued to slam against the ambulance until it was forced to slow down to a crawl to get through the streets that were beginning to flood. Even the EMT started sweating.

Their nervousness wasn’t helped as the mosquitos began to gather on the outside of the truck to the point that the evil beasts completely covered the windows.

The EMT gulped audibly. “It’s like one of them horror movies, ain’t it?”

“Yeah,” Nick breathed. “And I didn’t even play with a Ouija board … this time.”

Kody snorted. “Maybe this is one of those hundred-year storms or something that drove the bugs out of their nests. You know, the kind of thing that we’ll tell our grandkids about?”

The EMT’s face paled as more mosquitos hit the truck. “Maybe, but I’ve never heard of anything like this.” No sooner had she finished those words than something struck the ambulance and sent it careening.

Nick grabbed Kody and shielded her and the EMT as the ambulance turned onto its side and slid down the street. Loose objects flew around them, striking his body and bouncing off them. While the EMT screamed and Kody wrapped herself around him, he used his powers and kept the women safely cocooned and padded from harm until the truck stopped and everything settled down.