“And you’re the only one who’s seen him,” Brooke said.
“Right, when I was six.” The only plausible solution to stop this war lay in the fact that I had seen the man who opened the gates of hell ten years ago. Maybe it was that simple. Me remembering who he was or recognizing him at some opportune moment. How else would I stop a supernatural war?
Glitch brought me an orange soda, and it helped with the whole nerves and vomiting thing. I convinced them I felt well enough to stay at school.
“She can’t be here,” Cameron said to Jared. “At school. It’s too dangerous.”
“Cameron, Ms. Mullins’s life is in danger. Mr. Davis’s. I can’t possibly leave now.”
Nurse Mackey came back in just as Grandma and Granddad showed up. She frowned, perplexed, when Grandma called Jared “Your Grace.” Grandma insisted on calling him by his celestial title, though Jared swore the angels, arch or otherwise, never really went by such titles. Nurse Mackey shook it off, then explained what had happened, trying to calm my grandparents down before leaving us alone in the room again.
Brooke jumped up and offered her chair to Granddad, but he waved her back into it as Grandma sat beside me on the cot. Jared and Cameron joined us as well, closing the door behind them.
“What happened?” Granddad asked as he sat in the vacant chair before me, his face a picture of concern.
“Nothing. I just got dizzy.” The vision flashed in my mind and made me start shaking again. Grandma sat on the bed beside me and wrapped me in her arms. I let her, but only for a minute. Her gaze darted occasionally to Jared, and it angered me, so I leaned out of her grasp. She was so worried about him. What was he going to do? Incinerate me right then and there because he was so dangerous?
Well, okay, he was dangerous, but clearly there was something else out there even more so.
She dropped her arms in disappointment, and guilt crashed into me. I decided to let them in on one secret. One that I was hoping wouldn’t get me shipped off. I looked at them all sheepishly, and said, “Ms. Mullins knows what I am.” When every set of eyes around me widened in surprise, I continued. “She told me that nothing is inevitable. No matter what I saw, nothing is inevitable. She knows.”
“That’s impossible,” Grandma said, her face a picture of shock.
“No.” An astonished smile slid across Granddad’s face. “No, it’s not. She’s the one. Why didn’t I see it?”
“See what?” Brooklyn asked.
When he grinned at Grandma, she sputtered in disbelief, thought a moment, then her mouth dropped open in realization. “You’re right. Oh, my goodness.”
“What?” I asked, fairly bursting to know.
Granddad looked at Jared, who stood with a knowing expression on his face. “You knew, didn’t you?”
“Yes, but only recently. She slipped one day. I caught it.”
“Granddad, really,” I said, growing annoyed.
“She’s the observer.” He laughed softly. “She’s always been the observer.”
“I just can’t believe it,” Grandma said. She looked at me, a loving expression in her eyes. “Your father told us there was always an observer, a person on the outside looking in who makes sure the power of the Order of Sanctity is not being abused or misused. And nine times out of ten, nobody within the Order knows who it is. Once that person is brought to light, another one must be sent, else the position be compromised.”
“It has to be her. She moved here right after your parents married. She’d just graduated from college with a teaching degree. But she became friends with your mom,” Granddad said to me.
“No,” Grandma corrected. “Carolyn became friends with her through that book club. Remember how many times she had to ask Ms. Mullins out for coffee before she accepted?”
Granddad’s face brightened in remembrance. “That’s right. And that explains why she wouldn’t go to coffee with your mom for so long.”
Grandma nodded and glanced at me. “She was trying to do her job, and your mother just wouldn’t give up.”
I couldn’t help but let a smile dawn. “What happens now that we know?”
Granddad patted my hand. “She’ll be disassociated. She can’t be the observer if we know who it is.”
“We got her fired?” I asked, suddenly concerned.
“Well, perhaps, but now she can join us. She can be a part of the Order, if she wishes.” He cast a hopeful expression on Grandma. “She’ll be a great asset.”
I hoped they were right. And that Ms. Mullins wouldn’t be upset that she’d just lost her job as observer. At least she still had her teaching job. But my question was, to whom did Ms. Mullins report?
* * *
Fortunately, our next class was PE, where I had a toothbrush waiting for me. I couldn’t wait to wash the taste of vomit out of my mouth. And I had a note from the nurse not to suit up for the rest of the week. Sweet. Thanks to Nurse Mackey, fourth went fairly smoothly, as did fifth. But the day was only a bit more than half over.
“Could this day get any weirder?” Brooke asked as we headed to lunch. Glitch ran up behind us, and Cameron met us on the way.
“What? Did something else happen?” Glitch asked after he tossed a quick glower at Cameron. Just in case Cameron didn’t know how he felt about him, because clearly the seventeen thousand other glowers he gave him weren’t enough to get his point across.
“No,” Brooke said, her voice blasé, “just the usual unexplained events and near-death experiences that seem to be happening a lot here at Riley High. Speaking of which, we’ve got to practice your new trick more. I’ve worked up a schedule.”
She handed me a schedule with specific times that we would practice. Or, well, I would practice and she would prod me onward. I felt so abused. She was bound and determined to expand my new skill, since it was safer than the visions themselves. I would’ve bet Glitch’s college fund Nostradamus wasn’t prodded.
After gracing her with my best grimace, I asked, “Really? Sunday mornings at seven?”
She grinned. “This will give us an excuse to sleep over all weekend.”
Wow, she was good. I looked at Cameron. “So, where is Jared now?”
“Why do you always ask me that?”
“I don’t know. You guys are like cosmically connected,” I said. “You each seem to know where the other one is at any given moment, except when he’s been attacked by unscrupulous descendants and is lying somewhere unconscious.”
“And you’re stealthy,” Brooke added.
I nodded in agreement. “That’s true. And strong.”
“And really tall.”
Cameron didn’t seem impressed. “So, I’m supposed to keep tabs on the reaper because we’re both tall?”
“Something like that,” Brooke said.
“Are you going to tell us why the sudden animosity between you two?” I asked him.
“Nope.”
It was worth a shot.
“It’s not animosity. Or I don’t think it is. I’m not sure what that means.”
When we left the main building and rounded the corner that led to the cafeteria, Cameron grabbed our arms and pushed us roughly against brick.
“Hey,” Brooke said in complaint, but Cameron pressed his back against us as Jared literally fell from the sky in front of us, landing solidly on his feet, the muscles in his legs powerful enough to keep him upright with just enough bend to regain his balance.
He grinned at Cameron, then inclined his head to look at Brooke and me. “I was just going to scare them.”
“Were you on the roof?” Brooke asked, astonished.
He had refocused on Cameron and didn’t spare her a glance when he replied with a simple, “Yes.”
I sidestepped past my barrier. “And you were on the roof because?”
When Jared stepped closer, Cameron ran interference by blocking me again. “Are you good?” he asked Jared, holding me back with an arm made of steel.
“Cameron, what
the heck?”
“Why are you asking?” Jared took the challenge in Cameron’s expression with a particular kind of glee.
“You don’t seem yourself today,” he responded, pushing me farther back.
“And you know me so well.”
What the heck? I tried to push past Cameron. I failed.
“I want to talk to Lorelei,” Jared said. “Alone.”
Cameron angled his head. “I don’t think so.”
“Cameron.” I socked him on the arm. “What are you doing?” They hadn’t behaved so aggressively toward each other since Jared first showed up in Riley’s Switch. They’d almost killed each other that time. And they tore half the town apart in the process.
“Okay, guys,” Brooke said, putting on her supervisor’s hat. She held up her palms for a cease-fire. “Clearly everyone’s blood sugars have dropped to dangerous levels. Let’s just go to lunch.” She grabbed Cameron’s sleeve. Cameron grabbed mine, and I grabbed Glitch’s.
Jared stayed back a solid minute, measuring Cameron like he was sizing him up for a coffin.
“Jared, come on,” I called out over my shoulder. I didn’t know what to think, what to say. Admittedly, Jared was acting different. His movements. His expressions. Even his countenance was full of something strange, something foreign.
He finally followed us, his steps slow and methodical.
We each got our lunch and sat at our table, but the boys hardly touched theirs. Except for Glitch. He inhaled his burger. It was amazing to watch. I didn’t bother asking Jared and Cameron what was up between them again. They clearly weren’t going to spill. Instead, I brought up another subject that had continued to elude us. The new kid.
I took a drink of my water. “I can’t believe we haven’t seen him at all today.”
“We need to find out his name,” Cameron said, “find out where he lives.”
“We could break into Davis’s office.”
“Can I join you?” We looked up at Ashlee. She was becoming a regular.
“Sure,” I said.
I moved over so she could pull up a chair.
“Jared, you remember Ashlee.”
He nodded. I was grateful for at least that, considering his mood.
She gave a bashful smile, then said, “So, when?”
“When?” Brooke asked.
“When are we breaking into Davis’s office?”
Brooke and I chuckled, then Brooke said, “Probably not for a while. But I like your attitude.”
After glancing under her lashes several times toward Glitch, who was too consumed with the amount of ketchup he got on each fry to notice, she said, “I didn’t mean to interrupt your conversation. It sounded interesting.”
“Oh, no big,” Glitch said. “Do you know who that new kid is? We need a name and address if possible.”
“His name is Vincent,” she said with a soft laugh. “But I don’t know his address. I can try to get it, though. I’m an office aide last hour.”
“Awesome,” Brooke said. “That would be great. And it would save us from getting arrested for breaking and entering.”
I agreed and took a bite of my turkey sandwich just as the creature whose name shall not be spoken aloud appeared. Out of nowhere. She was just there. And my mouth was full and unattractive.
Shockingly, her eyes alighted on Jared. They always alighted on Jared. Like he was the last source of water in a scorched desert and she was parched. “Hi, Jared.”
He watched me chew a few seconds, then smiled up at her. The fact that it was more congenial than genuine wouldn’t matter to Tabitha. Either way, a smile would only encourage her. “Have you thought about my proposal?”
Proposal? I swallowed hard and took a drink to wash it down. Holy cow, she irked.
“What proposal is that?” I asked him.
He smiled at me, the same congenial smile he’d just offered Tabitha. I gasped softly, then caught myself. Surely we were beyond congenial, but showing any emotion in front of Tab was dangerous.
“Tabitha asked if I could pose for her drawing class,” he said.
Oh, for Pete’s sake. “You’re taking drawing?” I asked her, trying to unglue my teeth.
“Yes, at the community college. And we need models.” Her eyes glittered with the prospect. “I knew Jared could probably use the money, living on his own as he does, so I offered to get him an application.”
Despite the fact that Jared had been in pretty much every thought I’d had for the last few weeks, I hadn’t taken into account that he might actually need spending money. Everything he needed was supplied to him by the Order. Mostly through our store, of course, and the members of the Order. Honestly, those women baked more than Sara Lee.
But he was a guy. Surely he needed guy things. Like, I didn’t know, shoe polish or something. I had never even thought about offering to help him find a job or have him do things around the store to earn some extra cash. He was always busy watching and lurking, his habits frighteningly similar to Cameron’s. They took their jobs very seriously.
“Actually, I’m still considering it. Can I get back to you?”
She brightened. “Absolutely.” She handed him a card. “Call me when you decide.”
She had a card?
Offering the rest of us a smile at last, she said, “Hey, Lor. Hope you’re feeling better.”
“Thank you. I am.”
“See you at practice, Ash.”
“Not if I see you first.”
Brooke snorted out a laugh, but I was a little too shocked. Ash was now officially my hero.
Tabitha laughed too, then wriggled her fingers at us. “Tootles.”
In all the years I’d been on planet Earth, I never actually heard anyone use the word “tootles.” The cultural diversity in New Mexico was amazing. We had everything from Hágoónee’, which was “good-bye” in Navajo, to tootles.
I looked at Jared from underneath my lashes. He hadn’t turned her down. That knowledge stabbed me somewhere deep inside. Probably my pancreas. But who was I kidding? Jared was a supermodel who deserved to be with others of his kind.
The creature whose name shall not be spoken aloud may have won this round, but I would be avenged. Or at least, thought of nicely when I died. How would people think of her? Not nicely, I was positive.
“It’s interesting to find you here, Casey.” I was so deep in thought, I literally jumped when Mr. Davis walked up.
Glitch wiped his mouth, then gave the principal his full attention. “Why is that, sir?”
He folded his arms over his broad chest. “Because you’ve been marked absent all day.”
“What?” He scoffed. It was a little too fake. Brooke gaped at him, clearly disappointed in his attendance record. “There must be something wrong. A glitch in the system.” He chuckled at his own joke.
No one else did. Jared was eyeing him suspiciously while Cameron was gazing up at the principal with the same faux innocence.
“I guess I could just talk to your teachers. Get this straightened out.”
“Sh-sure,” he said, his confidence stumbling.
Mr. Davis nodded. “I’ll get back to you.” But before he left, his gaze flitted to Jared’s arms, lingered there a second, then moved on to me. “Glad you’re feeling better,” he said. He turned to leave before I could thank him.
Though Jared was wearing the bomber jacket, Mr. Davis knew about the bands of symbols around his arms. He’d seen them when Jared and Cameron got in a fight in the parking lot a few weeks back. And he remembered them even though he’d only been around ten when he saw Jared with his older brother, Elliot, seconds before Elliot dropped dead. Then Jared had disappeared before his eyes.
I wondered what seeing that did to him. How growing up with that unsolved mystery affected him. His brother had died of natural causes. Jared didn’t actually kill him; he just tweaked the timing in answer to someone’s prayers. Kind of like he was supposed to do with me until he went all rogue and saved me
instead of taking me. A fact for which I was grateful.
“All right,” Brooke said to Glitch when Mr. Davis left. “Fess up.”
“What? It’s a mistake. I can’t help it if the teachers can’t see me. I’m dark. I blend with the wood.”
“You’re skipping again, aren’t you?” she asked.
“Why would I skip? Why would I want to miss all this?” He spread his hands, indicating our surroundings.
While Glitch proceeded to lecture us on the perils of skipping, I couldn’t help but notice the lowering of Jared’s lashes as he watched him. The sharp slant of his brows when he looked at Cameron. Cameron looked right back in challenge.
I would never figure those two out.
ISAAC’S ARTWORK
As Brooklyn and I entered our sixth-hour History class and took our seats near the front, Brooke riffled through her bag and brought out the photo wallet.
“This is my chance,” I whispered to her.
She looked up from what she was doing. “What chance?” I nodded to the back of the room and she glanced over at Isaac Johnson. “Oh,” she whispered back, “right.” She continued to thumb through her photo book until she came to one that would apparently work for whatever torturous plan she’d schemed up. “So, how are you going to do it?”
I was busy trying to get a good look at the photo, knowing what she was about to ask me. “I’ll just touch it like usual.”
“No, Isaac.” She leaned closer. “How are you going to get close enough to him to try to get a vision?”
He sat in the back of the room, surrounded by friends. Several football players were in History with us. Normally they were horsing around and taunting one another into this or that. But today, utter silence. Joss Duffy sat slumped in his desk, staring at his hands. Cruz de los Santos was playing with a string on his letter jacket. And Isaac Johnson, Sydnee’s boyfriend, sat huddled over his desk, shielding his face with his massive arms. He was huge. He’d made the varsity football team his freshman year and was now the star defensive lineman. Talks of scholarships had already made the rounds, but I’d heard he wanted to go into the military like his dad.
He was such a nice guy. Polite. Gracious. So when he lifted his head and locked gazes with mine, a grimace I couldn’t quite decipher hardening his features, I had to admit I was taken aback.
Death, Doom and Detention Page 14
