by T. A. Brock
“Well, tell me about them.”
She didn’t really want to, but she supposed this was how you had a conversation and she definitely preferred it over the awkward silence. “I met Peg on my first day. She’s the outgoing type. She invited me to sit with her at lunch and that’s how I met Rex. He’s Peg’s best friend. He’s the brainy one of the bunch…” Cori stopped because her mother was staring at her, slack-jawed.
After a second she seemed to catch herself. “Go on, honey.”
Should she tell her about Grayson and Aiken? Might as well.
“Then there is Aiken. He was a new student too so we had something in common.”
Mom stopped stirring again. “Is his last name McGrath?”
Cori nodded and went to work on the tomatoes.
“I know his mom, Cota. She’s an OB nurse at the hospital. Nice lady. I was shocked when she told me she had a son your age; she looks so young. But she’s part Cherokee I think. Remember your great-great aunt on your daddy’s side, Launa, she was half Cherokee and that woman was simply ageless…”
Cori looked down at the salad greens to cover her shock. Mom never wanted to talk about Daddy—even if it was just to refer to his great-great aunt Launa.
Mom let out a shaky sigh. “Anyway, finish telling me about your friends.”
“There’s just one more. Grayson.” Cori tried to keep her voice neutral but her mom caught the slight inflection and looked up from the bubbling sauce.
“Grayson, huh?” She turned down the burner a notch. “And what is it about this Grayson that makes my only daughter’s voice get all wispy?”
What could Cori tell her mother about Grayson? She didn’t want to talk about him being sick.
“First of all, my voice is not wispy.” Her mother raised one eyebrow and Cori ignored it. “Well…he’s kind of like me. He likes to keep to himself. He lives with his older brother and sister. I’m not sure what happened to his parents; he doesn’t like to talk about it.”
Mom’s brows furrowed, adding crinkles to her forehead that were not normally there. “What’s his last name? Maybe I know them too?”
Cori doubted it, but she knew her mom was trying to investigate without seeming nosy so she played along. “Patch is their last name, Leiv and Raina.”
Mom put down the spoon she’d been using and looked at Cori. “Leiv Patch?” Cori nodded. “I know him. He’s an EMT.”
That was all she said. But from her tone, Cori guessed she might not be fond of him.
“Oh. Well, I’ve never actually met him or anything. I don’t know much about him. Is…he a nice guy?”
Cori’s mother returned to stirring the bubbling pot, nodding slowly. “Sure. Nice enough.”
Oookay. Time to change the subject.
“Well, Grayson is too. I like him. We have a lot in common, you know, and we get along.”
Mom didn’t respond so Cori busied herself with mixing up the salad dressing.
Sometime later she said, “You’re never alone with him are you? Cori?”
Cori was stunned by the direct question and couldn’t come up with an evasive answer quickly enough. “Uh…sometimes,” she said stupidly.
Mom’s mouth formed a grim line.
“Do you think that’s smart thinking?” It was the question she always asked Cori when she wanted her to rethink something she’d done.
“Mom, there’s nothing for you to worry about. We’re always in public.” Mostly. “Besides, you and I have already had all the ‘talks.’ I’m not going to do anything stupid.”
Neither of them said anything more.
When dinner was finished, they ate in silence at the bar—apparently the table was off limits ever since Cori’s dad had passed. The few times she and her mom ate together it was never at the table.
As they were clearing the dishes, Cori tried to jumpstart the conversation again.
“Dinner was good, Mom. Thanks.”
Her mom smiled sadly. “You’re welcome, Cori.” That was all she said as she put away dinner and started the dishwasher. Mom had reached her limit.
“Do you want dessert? I think there’s still some Ben and Jerry’s in the freezer,” Cori offered as a last ditch effort.
“Not tonight, honey. I’m exhausted. Think I’ll go to bed early.”
“Okay.”
Cori looked on as her mother plodded up the stairs with sunken shoulders.
Later, when Cori was alone in her bedroom, she dialed Aiken’s number one last time. She was fully prepared to leave yet another message, but he answered on the fourth ring.
“Hello?” His voice was brusque.
“Hi. It’s Cori.”
“Oh, hi, Cori.” He sounded distracted.
“I’ve been, uh, trying to call you. Didn’t you get any of my messages?”
“Ah…no. I haven’t checked my voice mail.”
“Oh.”
There was a weird silence while Cori tried to figure out how to ask him what she wanted to know.
“Did you need something, Cori? Or did you finally come to your senses and decide you needed a date for the dance?” he said in a teasing tone.
Cori rolled her eyes even though he couldn’t see it. “No, I have one, thank you. Actually, I needed to talk to you about something else.”
“Okay. What’s up?” There was a slam—a door?—and then all background noise was cut off.
“Well, it’s about what happened at lunch.”
“Oh, that. It was nothing. I just needed some—”
“Water,” she said at the same time he did. “Yeah, I know.”
Aiken was silent.
“Listen, I need you to tell me what’s going on with you and Grayson,” she pleaded.
“Uh, I’m not really sure what you’re talking about…”
“You’re sick right? That’s why you need to stay hydrated and why you can’t eat. I’m guessing that’s how you knew Grayson too. From the first day, I sensed the two of you already knew each other somehow, I just didn’t put it together until today.”
“Cori—”
“I know it’s not cancer, but just tell me what’s going on with you and don’t lie about it, Aiken.”
There was a long minute of silence.
“It’s not exactly what you think, Cori.”
“Well, clue me in then.”
“I can’t,” he said shortly.
“Okay, then tell me this, whatever is wrong with you is the same thing that’s wrong with Grayson, right?”
There was a hesitation but Aiken answered with a “Yes.”
“And whatever it is, it’s bad right?”
“Yes.”
The next question stuck in Cori’s throat. “How long does he have?”
“Uh…I don’t really know.”
“Aiken…”
“Look, you need to talk to Grayson about this, Cori,” he insisted. “I really can’t tell you much.”
“I’ve tried, believe me. He won’t talk about it.”
“Well, maybe that’s for the best.”
Cori sighed heavily. Part of her agreed. But a bigger part of her needed to know. “At least tell me what the illness is, Aiken. Please. I’m going crazy here.”
There was a long stony silence. Cori was desperate.
“I know he’s dying,” she croaked. “I just want to know why—” She cleared her throat, trying to make her voice sound better. It didn’t help. “I need to know how much longer I have with him. It can’t happen like it did with my dad. I just can’t handle that again.”
Cori heard Aiken sigh over the phone, and she felt like she’d said too much.
“If I could tell you everything, I would. I think you deserve to know,” he said gently. “But it’s not up to me. It’s Grayson’s call.”
They were both silent. Cori tried to stop tears from forming in her eyes but it was useless.
“Tell me something,” Aiken said in a totally serious, totally humorless tone of voice. It sounde
d odd on him. “Do you love him? I mean, really love him? You know, that no-matter-what sort of love?”
Cori thought about it and knew she did. And she knew it was the exact kind of love Aiken was talking about because, face it, Grayson wasn’t easy to love. But then there were also things about him that you just couldn’t help but love. They hadn’t known each other long but she felt like he’d unlocked something inside of her, something she’d been trying to find the key to for ages. And in the meantime, she’d learned things about him that he probably didn’t even know himself—like that he was good, genuinely good.
“Yes,” she said, barely a whisper because tears were falling all around her. “I love him.”
There was a long pause. “Then there’s one thing you should know. This…thing, that Grayson and I are dealing with, it’s so much worse than simply dying.” The words sent chills up Cori’s spine. “Dying would be paradise.”
Chapter 20
Zombies Can't Keep Secrets
GRAYSON FOUND RAINA IN HER ROOM. Not her bedroom, but her computer room, which to her was loads more important than where she slept. She was hunched over a pink bejeweled keyboard, her eyes focusing between two different twenty-seven-inch monitors. The glass top desk also contained a speaker system that could rival Leiv’s, an iPad, an open laptop that was too big to really fit on anyone’s lap, and, yeah, a goblet full of ice chips—she hydrated like the stars.
The room was ridiculous. Only Raina would have a setup like this and then hang a crystal chandelier above it.
“Oh. Hey, Gray,” she said, not looking away from her computer.
“Hey. You got a minute?”
“Sure. Hang on.” She clacked at her keyboard, a low growl forming. “They want these graphics more lifelike, but it’s impossible. If they were any closer to life they’d be a freaking video.” She grabbed a handful of ice and tossed it in her mouth. Not much like the stars after all. “I mean, if they want a video they should call a videographer. Almost done…there.” She leaned back in her faux fur-lined chair and cracked her knuckles. “What’s up?”
Grayson sat on the white leather couch.
“I talked to the Reaper today.”
She looked at him blankly. “You talk to him every day.”
He rolled his eyes. “Yes, but today he told me some things I didn’t know. Like, he claims Reapers don’t kill humans.”
Raina cocked her head to one side. “I suppose it depends on your definition of kill, Gray.”
Both his brother and sister knew his opinion on turning.
“Right. But they don’t turn them either. He said they only turn ones who want to be turned. He said everything they do is to protect humans. So that leaves me wondering, you know, about me. About what happened to me.”
Her expression tightened. She never liked to talk about this. Grayson knew she felt somewhat responsible for his death because their friendship had been the catalyst.
“I thought you didn’t want to know about your past.”
He nodded. “True. But…I don’t know. I’d like to know who made me this way.” The name of his murderer. Who killed him, who turned him. One thing Aiken said haunted him. Did he agree to be turned? He wanted to throw up just considering it.
No way. He couldn’t have.
Raina shook her head, her fingers tapping at the arm of her chair as if they missed the keyboard. “We just don’t know, Gray. It could’ve been anybody. We suspected Reapers of course, because of the law. When you found out I wasn’t human…” She shrugged.
A door slammed downstairs.
“Yo, Raina,” Leiv called.
“Up here.”
“Have you seen Gray?” he asked as he climbed the stairs.
“Looking at him.”
Leiv appeared in the doorway. “Oh, good. You’re both here. We need to talk.”
Raina eyed him. “Not until you drink. Geez, Leiv. You look at least fifty.”
She reached under her desk for the built in mini-cooler and retrieved several stainless steel water bottles.
Leiv smiled. “Awesome. Because I’m actually closer to one hundred. Fifty’s a compliment, baby.”
She rolled her eyes and tossed him the water. He downed the first one in a couple gulps.
“Seriously, Leiv. You’re either balding or you’re using too much gel,” Grayson chimed in.
Leiv’s smile vanished until he’d examined his reflection in the chrome cover of Raina’s laptop. “Dude. Show an old man some respect, will ya.”
Grayson shook his head. Old man. Raina was exaggerating. Leiv didn’t look a day over thirty. He just needed to hydrate more often.
“Something happened at work today,” he began. “Got a call to help out in Haute.”
Haute was the closest town to the north and it was a level tinier than Asher. They had only two ambulances, so anything involving more bodies garnered a call out. But what did this have to do with him and Raina?
“Five bodies,” he said, gravely. “Don’t know why they bothered calling the ambulance. They were mutilated beyond recognition. It was a rogue.”
“No,” Raina gasped.
Leiv nodded. “I wasn’t sure at first but, yeah. There was brown blood at the scene and all over the victims. A lot of it. So much, they thought they’d been drowned in the lake.”
“Why would there be…?” Brown blood. Grayson couldn’t even finish the question. Too many emotions warred inside him. Rising to the top like cream, was fear. Fear for Cori. This was too close.
“It was like…like they were trying to turn them or something. Mud everywhere. I’ve never seen anything like it.”
Raina looked as horrified as Grayson felt.
Mysterious deaths up north. This must’ve been what Aiken was talking about.
“Something’s going on and I don’t know what it is but we need to be very careful. Haute doesn’t have a registered tribe. If someone’s eating human flesh, Reapers are going to come looking for me. Again.”
But that wasn’t even their biggest problem. Who was doing this? And why? And most of all, was Cori safe?
Grayson was suddenly glad three Reapers had made Asher their temporary home.
“So, you’re going to the dance now?” Peg asked Cori.
It was lunchtime. They were all in their normal seats. But today didn’t feel normal.
Grayson watched every minute detail of Cori’s face as she answered. “Yep.”
Everything felt so off kilter today. He knew it had something to do with their little chat at the river yesterday. For example, she hadn’t let go of his hand since they sat down—not even to eat her cheeseburger. And she’d been unusually quiet as well.
“Did you talk to Caleb? Are you going with him?” Cori asked.
Peg shook her head, staring at the fake wood grain on the table. “Nope. Going with Rex again,” she droned.
Rex rolled his eyes. “Don’t make it sound so dreadful, Peg,” he scolded. “There are plenty of girls who would love to go with me…and yet, I asked you.”
Peg yanked her red curls into a high ponytail before answering. “Yeah, because I begged you,” she muttered.
“Hey, I got an idea,” Aiken broke in. “Why don’t we all go as a group?”
Grayson glared at him. He hated that idea. He wanted to go with Cori. Only Cori.
Peg and Rex both raised their eyebrows and then nodded. Funny how the same expression looked so different on each of their faces. “What do you think, Cori?” Rex asked.
Cori looked at Grayson.
He wanted to say no. No way. He wanted to spend that night with just her. Yes, he was a mush, but he wanted to show up at her door with flowers and see her for the first time in a fancy dress and pull her close as they danced to a slow song. And when the dance was over he wanted to spend the rest of the night with her somewhere, anywhere, just the two of them. Maybe they could watch the sun come up and then he would take her home and kiss her good night and watch her walk back into her h
ouse.
It would be a perfect night. Just one before it was all over, before the clock that was counting down to the end—the end of them—hit zero. Because whether he wanted to admit it or not, their time was quickly coming to that inevitable end. It was racing there actually, like a runner on steroids. The sick thing was he never wanted it to end. All those things he’d said to Leiv about loving humans, none of it mattered one bit now. He wanted her forever. And if he’d learned anything yesterday, it was that he couldn’t keep the zombie thing a secret forever.
That meant he couldn’t keep Cori forever.
It meant their time was running out.
Suddenly, his chest locked up. She was still looking at him, asking a question. He needed to answer but he couldn’t even breathe. Then he felt her thumb rubbing soothingly against his palm. A second later her slender fingers squeezed his and somehow his breath returned.
“Whatever you want is fine with me,” he told her.
Cori cocked her head to the side. “Are you sure?”
Grayson nodded because he didn’t trust his voice to speak again.
Cori turned back to her friends. “Sure, I guess we can do that.”
Rex and Peg’s bickering over dance details took up the rest of lunch. Cori didn’t participate in the conversation, and neither did Grayson. He was too busy looking at her, trying desperately to figure out what she was thinking, why she was so quiet.
When the bell rang, Aiken gave him a strange look and motioned toward the hall.
Grayson leaned close to Cori and whispered, “I’ll see you in class.” When she nodded, he kissed her cheek and went out into the hall where Aiken had already gone.
Both of them slipped into the nearest men’s room.
“Great idea, Reaper,” Grayson growled before Aiken could even provide an explanation.
“Look, sorry if it cramps your style but I need the safety of numbers…” Aiken took a deep breath. “And I need you close by. You know, to watch me.”
Grayson rolled his eyes and crossed his arms. “What, you think you’re going to kill Peg at the dance? You have more self-control than you think. I never agreed to babysit you, Aiken.”
“Yes, you did,” he said simply. “And no, I don’t think I’ll kill her. Ever, if I get my wish. But that doesn’t mean I feel like taking chances.”
