“Fitting, because you don’t make an iota of difference to me. So who’s your partner? Scintilla? Smidgen?”

“Kappa.”

“Ah, Kappa,” I said, somehow drawing from my mind’s deep recesses the Greek alphabet’s order. “So he’s one later than you. One better.”

“I am close.”

“Close? Close to what? Close to the edge? Closer to fine? You don’t get me closer to God.”

“To human.”

“Well,” I said with a big smile, “there’s a lot you don’t understand about humans yet. Like how crazy we can be.”

I ran for the cliff where the bridge began.

And jumped.

Having gotten a glance at the cliff before he’d arrived, I noticed a narrow ledge jutting out just beneath its edge. So when I took my leap, I flailed my arms and sold the idea that I was taking the big plummet. In reality I dropped about five feet, then rolled onto my back against the cliff wall. There I waited for Iota to step up to the lip and peer down for me.

The instant he did, I swung the curved end of the crowbar around his neck and yanked.

The fall looked painful, with a couple of head bounces off the rocks on his way down. Then again, I wasn’t sure this dude could feel.

“Hey, you okay?” I heard a familiar voice from above.

I swung back the crowbar just in case, but when I saw Tico’s face peek over the cliff’s edge, I relaxed.

“Yo, buddy, wassup?” I asked.

“I was right behind you,” he said, panting. “But then that became way behind you. Where do I apply for one of your speed upgrades?”

CHAPTER 43

Maggie

AT JORDAN’S COMMAND, everyone scattered as if a bomb had been dropped into the middle of the intersection. I instinctively fled toward home, then decided that might be a bad idea, so I zigzagged through several blocks while trying to figure out a game plan. Soon I heard steps behind me, getting louder, and I braced myself for attacking or being attacked. Neither of those options was my thing.

“Maggie, wait up!” called out a high-pitched voice, and I turned around to see Suzanne’s approaching silhouette illuminated by the streetlights.

“Whew, you scared me,” I said. “Where’s Tico?”

“He went off to chase after your boyfriend. Pretty gallant, huh?”

“He’s not my boyf—”

“Maggie! No time for bullshit!” Suzanne cut me off. “We need to find them and make a plan—and see how bad Tico’s back wound is. And his concussion. That literally bloody fool.”

We took a very circuitous route back to my house, cutting through yards, fields, and side paths while keeping an eye out for anyone following us. Mom’s pickup was parked in front. I didn’t want to enter the house in case anyone was waiting for me—and I didn’t want to involve my mom any more than I already had. The truck’s spare key was on my key ring.

“Get in,” I said as I unlocked the pickup’s doors. Once inside, I grabbed the flashlight from the glove compartment, placed it between Suzanne and myself, and put the truck into gear.