The Death of My First Assignment (Death Series)

by Ami Urban

  We both sat silent for a moment. I wondered if he was struck silent or if he thought I was lying.

  “What was her name?”

  “Claudia,” I replied. “Claudia Lenore Krane.”

  “Lenore?” He looked at me through amused eyes.

  I nodded. “It was a family name. When Poe got popular, it dredged up all the misery. I think Irish Moses got one big kick out of the whole mess.”

  “So, instead of just consuming your body like any other normal wraith would do if his subject didn’t follow the rules, he feeds off your misery?” Kevin wondered.

  “Yep. Apparently, he gets more energy that way. That’s why he’s become so powerful.”

  “What a jerk.”

  Chapter Eighteen

  “What jerks,” I mumbled to myself as I sidestepped two students who’d decided the hallway was the best place to rough-house. Apparently, Serena was less possessive of her car than her shoes, so she allowed me to borrow it while I sought out “sky diving class locations”.

  Okay, so maybe she hadn’t given in without a fight. And that was why I was headed to Kevin’s classroom after our free period bell had rung.

  “Hey, how’s it goin’?” Kevin stood from his desk.

  “I was just about to go talk to some skydiving instructors,” I said, gesturing over my shoulder with Serena’s car keys.

  “I thought you wanted to take Serena with you.” He cocked a dark eyebrow.

  “Yeah... She, um...would only let me borrow her car if I promised you’d buy her lunch today.”

  I felt terrible for lying to him, but I had to have some sort of solid excuse for going out without my first assignment.

  I just hoped he wouldn’t see past my thoughts about bunny rabbits and kittens.

  “Really? I’m flattered, but... How’s that going to make me look?”

  “Like you’ve gone skydiving yourself and you’re giving her pointers. As a teacher,” I said.

  He smiled. “All right.”

  “How was Andy?” I peered into his eyes.

  “Didn’t make any trouble. Didn’t say a word to me or anyone. He just sat in the back of class.”

  “Good.”

  I started to head toward the door. But before I could get there, he stood and grabbed my wrist. Startled, I turned to find him very, very close to me.

  I looked into his serious blue eyes, feeling my stomach do a flip-flop. Was that fear I felt? Or maybe guilt?

  A moment later, he must have sensed my thoughts. He let me go and looked to be struggling over his next words.

  “Why don’t... Why don’t you and I get something to eat tonight? I… I’ve got some things I need to fill you in on.”

  The pitch of his voice was so low it drowned me.

  “I… Serena’s taking me out to this club tonight.” Hey, at least I was being honest. “But my Friday night is open. How about then?” I tried my best to give him a genuine smile.

  For a moment, he chewed his bottom lip. Then, he plastered on a smile of his own. “Sure thing... It’s a date.”

  * * *

  It’s a date? Had he really said that? First of all, why would he say something like that? It was a date? No, it couldn’t be a date. Second of all, he used to be my teacher and was, like, six centuries older than me. Okay, maybe his soul was six centuries older. Kevin’s body was only seventy-nine and didn’t look a day over forty. But, to me, age was just a number, so that had little to nothing to do with my feelings.

  We did have a lot in common. The man was always there for me, and he had a great personality, nice smile, wonderful...

  Okay, but he used to be my teacher. And I wasn’t even eighteen yet.

  Therefore, I concluded while stepping off the curb toward Serena’s car, it wasn’t going to be a date.

  But as I opened the door, a hand shot out and closed it. The car rocked slightly as someone leaned against it.

  I gave a silent prayer to the elder souls: Please don’t let it be Andy...

  After a gulp of fresh air, I turned to stare into the blue-green eyes of Martin Krane. Whew, my heart skipped two beats when he smiled.

  “Hey, where you off to?” His cool, sexy voice washing over me.

  “Um... Scouting out some skydiving classes for Serena.”

  “Oh, yeah? Where at?” He crossed his arms over the chest of his gray vest.

  He looked delicious in the uniform. But I had to focus!

  “Downtown.”

  “Oh! Well, why don’t I take this opportunity to show you around a little?” His gorgeous eyes sparkled with life and humor.

  “Um... I’ve got a...friend who’s going to show me...” My palms started to sweat. Serena’s car keys were in jeopardy of slipping right out of my grasp.

  He smirked. My heart increased its pace twofold.

  “You mean your invisible pal from yesterday?”

  I glowered at him. How dare he make fun of me! I gave him ten seconds to say something before I started in on him.

  Maybe that was too much time.

  He put up both hands.

  “Kidding! Come on, Kathleen, what are you afraid of? I don’t bite.”

  Oh, but something inside me suddenly wished he did. Just a little. “No, but I’m convinced your girlfriend has some pretty sharp fangs.”

  The sun broke free of a rouge cloud. Sunlight washed over us, but a cool breeze sapped the heat from my skin.

  I just wished it had done the same for the heat between Martin and me. Oh, wait...no I didn’t.

  “Ex-girlfriend,” he said. “And what Justine doesn’t know won’t hurt her. Besides, wouldn’t you just love to piss her off?”

  I shook my head.

  “I’m not sure the world could handle a mass genocide today.”

  Martin laughed out loud, pulling a smile from the depths of my dark world.

  “That was amazing. Come on, let me tag along. Please?” He pushed his hands together and gave me “puppy-eyes”. How could I have resisted?

  “Fine.”

  * * *

  “I hope you don’t disapprove of my choice in music,” I said as we drove down the highway toward downtown Dallas.

  “Oh, I’m positively glowing with excitement,” Julian piped up from the backseat.

  For once, he hadn’t “surprised” me by popping up behind my back—probably because Martin was with me. Martin was my official Julian-buffer.

  In fact, the two of them had hardly said a word to each other since I’d introduced them. Something weird had passed between them, too. Did they know each other? They couldn’t. Julian would tell me if he knew Martin...right?

  “You should work on your sarcasm a little more, friend.” I shot him a look in the review mirror, but he just returned it with a patient smile.

  “I don’t mind. Hit me with what you got,” Martin said.

  “All right. But I warn you, I’ve got some eclectic tastes.” I slid a homemade CD into the stereo in Serena’s car. When the piano started, I tapped my fingers on the steering wheel in time.

  “Oh, cool,” Martin replied, “Wig in a Box, right?”

  My jaw dropped. “You know this?”

  I saw him smile out of the corner of my eye. “Sure. Hedwig is one of my favorite Broadway musicals.”

  “That...” I trailed off. I had never met anyone—specifically in my age bracket—who liked or had even ever seen that musical.

  “What?” A boyish grin spread across his face.

  “That...is amazing.”

  When the singing started, so did he—blowing out somewhat out of tune strains while dramatically acting out the song with gestures.

  I laughed all the while. And it felt good. It felt right. For the first time since I’d come back to life, I felt relaxation. I’d almost forgotten what being entertained was like.

  “I can’t believe you!” I said over the music and my own laughter.

  He ignored my jest and continued to sing the rest of the verse. Then, he played air gui
tar in the passenger seat as the chorus came on.

  When the next verse approached, I started in, giving it my all because I felt like having a little fun myself. I did the same as he had, gesturing as much as I could without taking my hands off the wheel.

  As I exited the freeway, I glanced at him and the song died on my lips. Martin wasn’t laughing or singing along. He was just sitting in the seat, staring at the dashboard in a trance. The only other time I’d seen that look was when...

  I swallowed hard as my heart starting beating too quick. I glanced at Julian in the rearview mirror, but he just shrugged.

  “Martin?” I asked. I kept my focus ping-ponging from him to the road ahead of me.

  After a moment’s hesitation, Martin cocked his head and seemed to shake off whatever feeling had come over him. He shifted in the seat, cleared his throat, and pulled a hand through his sandy hair.

  “You, uh...have a really great voice, Kathleen,” he mumbled.

  Crap. Not just crap, but double and triple and quadruple crap!

  Martin had just been swayed by my Siren abilities.

  I hadn’t even been aware I was using them. At the time, all I’d been thinking about was having fun and singing.

  Which meant that either Martin was sensitive to the afterlife, had a rare soul, or was a wraith.

  Oh, please, oh, please let it not be the latter!

  Okay, okay, there would be time to figure it out later when I could get Julian alone to talk. At that moment, I had to stay cool.

  “Yeah...” I tried a laugh. “Sometimes it wakes the dead.”

  Martin looked over at me and put on a weak smile.

  “I like a girl who enjoys a morbid joke every now and then.”

  “Who’s joking?”

  * * *

  Ten minutes later, I stood in the driveway of a duplex with gray stucco siding that looked as though it had been through a major war.

  It needed several coats of paint and a new screen here and there.

  This was the house of one Christopher Summers—the man who would point me in the right direction to finding Serena’s father.

  I took a deep breath.

  What the heck was I doing?

  Kevin had told me that Serena’s goal should be easy since it was my first assignment. She’d told me all she ever wanted to do was go skydiving.

  So, why weren’t we doing that? Why was I on a wild goose chase all by myself in the middle of Texas?

  “You’re not alone, Katherine,” Julian said next to me.

  I turned toward him, searching his dark face for an answer.

  “Why do you want to help me, anyway? Certainly not just because I asked; that’s not like you.”

  “I’m offended.” He held a hand to his heart. “But, if you simply must know…

  “The afterlife is dreary without your sense of humor, Katherine. And none of my other projects have as much spunk as you.”

  “Projects?”

  “Why, yes. I’m omnipotent, remember?”

  “I don’t remember you telling me that.”

  Then again, wasn’t Death always watching?

  “So, you’re in several places at once right now?”

  He nodded, still grinning. “Yes, as a matter of fact, I’m in…forty…four places right now. Ah…forty-three.”

  “Why not everywhere? Certainly an omnipotent being such as yourself can spy on everyone everywhere?”

  “Spy?” he wondered, his face showing the puzzlement. “I’m certainly not a voyeur if that’s what you’re hinting at.”

  “Hardly.”

  I turned back to the house in question.

  “I can’t be completely omnipotent. Not in this body at least. As a consciousness or a soul, I can be everywhere at once. But this body doesn’t possess the energy necessary.”

  “Then why don’t you travel around as a soul?”

  “What, and miss speaking, eating, and humor?”

  Rhetorical questions were the end of every discussion with Julian, so I assumed we were done talking.

  Turning back to the task at hand, I inhaled again. I’d managed to convince Martin to stay in the car while I visited “a friend” of my “uncle’s.”

  “I guess there’s nothing left to do but go.” I began stalking up the driveway, inching closer to the front door.

  I must have stood on the front step for several minutes, just waiting for the courage to come pulsing through me.

  But with everything that had happened that day, that bravery never happened. In the end, I decided that the worst that could happen was this guy wouldn’t know who I was, what I was talking about, and slam the door in my face, leaving me back at square one.

  But square one may have meant that Serena wouldn’t pass on to the next dimension. I didn’t want her to be alone for all eternity. So, I brought my hand up and knocked softly on the door.

  All was silent. “Uh…Julian…?” I didn’t turn to face him.

  “What?”

  “What happened with Martin back there?”

  “I honestly don’t know. He was influenced by your ability, wasn’t he?” He leaned in close.

  “Yeah. But I don’t sense anything when I look at him.” Except raw magnetism and molten chills. “Do you?”

  “Are you asking me if I think he’s a—”

  Both of us stood to attention as the door opened. A man of soaring stature stood before us, blocking our way like a tree. I looked up. He had messy brown hair, light eyes with dark circles under them, and a broken, bird-like nose.

  “Can I help you?” he asked with skepticism.

  “Are you…are you Chris Summers?” I almost choked on my words.

  “Yeah…”

  “My uh…my name is Katie, and this is my friend Julian. We’re friends of Serena Gibbons. We’re looking for her father, Charles,” I said.

  For a moment, Chris stood there and stared at us like he’d just been on a binge and we were two pink elephants asking for his car keys.

  It almost looked like he was waiting for the words to sink in.

  Then, just like that, his face lit up with excitement, his eyes becoming huge.

  “You’re Serena’s friends? Oh, hell, come in, come in.”

  Julian and I looked at each other before Chris stood aside to let us in. We both shrugged at the same time, but eventually, let ourselves into his house. Just as I thought, it was a complete mess. I wasn’t sure why I knew he was going to be a terrible housekeeper, something just told me so.

  Beer bottles littered the tiny space. They were stacked in a sloppy pyramid on his coffee table—which had a few dozen nicks in it. The green sofa cushions were depressed as though he’d just woken from them.

  He offered us the couch while sitting in a chair opposite.

  Stuffing spilled out of one corner, and a dust cloud puffed up when he situated himself.

  I cleared my throat, dusted some food crumbs off the couch cushions, and sat next to Julian.

  “So, you’re friends of Serena, eh?” Chris asked.

  “Yes, old friends,” Julian said.

  Chris nodded. “I haven’t seen her in a while. How is she?”

  “Fine,” I gave him a smile.

  He returned it, not seeming to be the least bit suspicious of our arrival.

  “Actually…” I started to think the truth may have been the best route. “She’s not fine. She’s not doing well at all.”

  “What’s happened?”

  Chris leaned forward in the chair. His eyes now seemed a bit more focused.

  “She misses Charles, her Dad. She says she really wants to talk to him, but she doesn’t know where he is. And she’s embarrassed to try and find him. Pride, you know?” I explained.

  “Mmm... That sounds like her, all right. So, you’re trying to find Chaz for her, eh?”

  I nodded.

  “Marcus mentioned something about Charles writing you letters after he left.”

  “Marcus? My God, I haven�
�t seen Marcus in ages. How is the old fool?” Chris tossed me a lazy smile.

  “Great…I think. He and Serena seem to be at odds a lot,” I answered.

  “I told him not to stress out too much. After that heart attack three years ago, I thought he’d finally slowed down. I guess I was wrong.”

  “Heart attack?”

  “Yeah. He nearly died—was in a coma for a few weeks.”

  That explained why he was more susceptible to my voice. Anyone who had a brush with death was sensitive to the other dimension.

  “It really tore Serena up, too. She’s been real emotional since Chelsea—her mum—died about six years back. Chaz was real upset about that one, too. He said so in his letters.”

  “So, you do get post from him?” Julian asked.

  I felt my excitement rising.

  Maybe this wouldn’t be a wild goose chase after all.

  Maybe Serena and her father would be reunited after fifteen years in a tearful barrage of apologies.

  “I did… Up until about three years ago,” Chris said.

  “What happened?” I eighty-sixed my previous aspirations.

  “I’m not sure. As far as I know, he’s still kicking.”

  “Do you have any of the letters still?” I wondered.

  “I think so. Hold on a tick.” He stood from his seat and left the room.

  “What are you thinking?” Julian whispered when we were alone.

  “I don’t know.” I folded my arms over my chest in thought. “I don’t know why a man would just leave his family. Marcus seemed to think that Charles doesn’t want to be found because he was jealous of Serena’s talent, but that can’t be it.”

  “Not about that...” He turned serious again, and I knew what he meant.

  “Is Martin a wraith?” I asked.

  “Not that I could tell, Katherine. But my senses aren’t quite working at full capacity,” he answered.

  “Am I in danger if I’m around him?”

  “I don’t think—”

  “Sorry to keep you waiting.” Chris stepped back into the room with a handful of mail.

  As he was about to sit, he stopped halfway and eyed us.