Plagued: Book 1

by Eden Crowne

  “You're weird,” she said jokingly.

  “I am not weird,” he stated flatly.

  “Yeah, you kind of are. Is it more dangerous in London or something?”

  He gave her a quick look from beneath his lashes. “Infinitely.”

  Sky shrugged the whole thing off. She'd read boyfriends often got protective of girlfriends.“Let's have some music. Tricia, no!”

  Tricia was industriously licking Hugo's tablet screen.

  “Tricia, eww!” Sky grabbed a kitchen towel and handed it to Hugo. “Sorry.”

  He laughed and kept laughing as he wiped the screen. “Let me put on something. What do you want to listen to?”

  Sky shrugged as she filled up a pot of water for the pasta.

  “How about some country and western?” Hugo suggested.

  She made a face as she set the big pot on the stove.

  “I like country and western,” Hugo said defensively.

  “No, you don't,” said Sky shaking her head.

  “Really, I do.”

  “You're having me on.” Sprinkling some olive oil and salt in the water, she waited for it to boil.

  “You might be surprised to learn that your country music is extraordinarily popular in Great Britain and has been for decades and decades.”

  “Honestly?”

  He crossed his heart. “Really. My father introduced me to Keith Urban and I quite like him.”

  “Who?”

  “He's an Australian that sang country music pre-plague. His re-release schedule started a couple of years ago. At least in England. I prefer classic stuff like Johnny Cash and June Carter and others from that era. You can always download them. What do you like? Not country, I'm guessing.”

  “I'm not complicated. Pop, some electronic and Club stuff. Whatever they're playing on the top-forty radio.”

  “Let me get my radio to make a playlist with Johnny Cash as the anchor. You might like him. Can I borrow your speaker dock?”

  Sky pointed to the corner of the kitchen and Hugo plugged in his phone.

  Hugo sat with Tricia on his lap and explained the songs to her as they came on while she kept one eye on the water and later, the pasta.

  Tricia leaped from Hugo's lap and went running to the door while Sky was draining the zucchini.

  “Oh my gosh, what smells so good?” Eloise let herself in, carrying a couple of bulging canvas shopping bags. Sky set down the pot so she could help with the bags.

  “I made the spaghetti. It smells pretty good.”

  “No, not that. Something else. “

  Hugo peeked out from the kitchen door behind Sky.

  “Well, hello. You must be the dinner guest.”

  He held out his hand. “How do you do, I'm Hugo.”

  Eloise shook it while inhaling deeply. “It's you! You're what smells so great.”

  “You have your niece's enhanced sense of smell, I gather.”

  She nodded vigorously. “Runs in the family. “

  Hugo gave a dramatic sigh. “She is always pointing out to me how I smell. I've been taking a lot of showers and gargling with mouthwash twice as often as before we met, plus using not one but several different varieties of deodorant. She has me quite terrified of offending her nose.”

  Sky poked him in the ribs.

  “You're an AB positive?” Eloise asked as she unpacked the shopping bags, bending down every few seconds to pet Tricia, who was dancing like a ballerina on the tips of her back paws.

  He nodded.

  “How very odd.” Eloise looked quizzically at him. “You don't smell like an AB.”

  His eyebrows drew together in a worried frown. “What does an AB smell like?”

  “Spicy mustard,” Sky and Eloise said at the same time, then laughed.

  “Usually mustard,” Eloise amended. “Hot and sunny. Nice. Hard to explain. You're the one who can see ghosts as well, aren't you?”

  Hugo bit his lip and looked a little uncomfortable. “Sky told you, did she?”

  “Sorry, was it a secret? Actually I'm pleased. Quite exciting to find another natural. The flu boosted my gift quite a bit. I've always been able to talk to animal ghosts. Now they're just clearer. Anyway, we can discuss that after dinner. I'm starved. Bring on the food.”

  Chapter 13

  Blood Lines

  Sky's cell phone buzzed as they lingered over their empty plates talking about England. Eloise had been several times as a child and in her teens before overseas travel became impossible. The screen lit up with her mom's picture and the ringtone for video chat.

  “Aunt Eloise, mom's calling for some face time.”

  Her aunt backed away from the table.

  Hugo stood and began to clear the dishes.“I shall wash these.”

  “Shall you indeed?” Sky mimicked his accent.

  He made a face at her. “Will you stop that! Anyway, leave this to me. You both can have some time with Sky's mother. I'm sure she misses you very much.”

  “I won't pretend that is not a welcome and very polite offer, Hugo. Switch on the big screen, oh niece of mine.”

  Sky flashed Hugo a peace sign and he winked at her.

  Her mom was smiling when they opened the video screen window on the television.

  “Good day?” Sky asked, settling in on the couch with Tricia on her lap.

  “Great day. Got an unexpected find. Oil is flowing like water. Hi, Ellie, my dear.” Her mom looked beyond them. “Is Kara not there? I told her to stay with you until she was back on her feet.”

  Sky and Eloise looked at each other, then at the screen.

  “Let me guess. She's either still in the hospital or she went home with Jake.”

  “She's still in the hospital,” Eloise said. “I tried to get her to come here and Jake tried to get her to come home, she refused us both. Insisted she had to stay in the hospital at least another day. She seems so angry. I'm not sure why, Emmy. The baby is fine. Kara just has to stay off her feet for at least another week. Other than that, she looks good. You need to talk to her.”

  Sky had to add, “She hates me, she said so.”

  “She doesn't hate you, darling,” her mom said quickly, “ I don't think she's happy about the baby. I almost got the impression she wishes she'd lost it. Though it's too late to terminate the pregnancy, no one is going to force her to keep it. She knows that. And I see that face, young lady.”

  Sky squirmed further into the cushions on the couch. “I think she's scared of everyone expecting her to put the baby ahead of her career. Well...you know Kara. She always has to be first among equals.”

  Her mom made the face Sky had often seen when discussions of Kara came up. “Like Caesar. I know. I'll tell her again I think she should come home to you, Ellie. If it's okay.”

  “When would it ever not be okay for me to have the girls? Now, on a lighter note, there's something I've been waiting days to show you.”

  She touched the TV screen and split it into two. A few more taps on the control and a video opened up.

  “What...” Sky's mom started to say.

  “Wait for it,” Eloise pointed at the screen.

  A news report came on showing a mixed group of maybe college-aged kids. They were wearing tight jeans, some in T-shirts, others in plaid. The boys had their hair cut in a sort of unkempt shag that Sky knew for a fact was actually a lot of work to achieve. They were smoking in the parking lot outside a coffee place. A couple of them had over-sized headphones hanging around their neck. The voiceover started talking about fashion trends. Sky heard her mother begin to moan loudly.

  “No. Oh no. No, no, no! I survived the bird flu, blood plagues, the die off, the disintegration and subsequent rebuilding of Western Civilization only to live for the return of hipsters?” She pretended to cry loudly.

  Eloise held up one hand. “Look at this.” She switched to an online store. There was a shot of little gold or silver necklaces with a curly mustache pendant on each.

  “Oh,” Sky
chirped. “Those are so cute. I saw someone at school with a necklace like that. I want one.”

  “Ahhhhh!” her mom cried. “I bet you think the way those kids are dressed is cute as well.”

  Sky looked at them. She did think they looked good. Especially the way they had their shirts sort of half tucked in and half out. The big black glasses on the girls and the messy hair on the boys. That short in back, long in front look like Hugo's. “Yep,” she nodded enthusiastically.

  “Spawn of the devil!” her mom shouted in mock horror.

  Eloise made the sign of the cross with her fingers. “I cast thee out Satan!”

  Then they both cracked up hysterically. They laughed so long and so loudly, Sky gave up on continuing the conversation with her mom and went into the kitchen where Hugo was finishing up the dishes.

  “Almost done in here,” he said over his shoulder.

  “Come into the living room so you can meet my mom. She's on the line.”

  “That's all right,” he hung back. “Big deal meeting a girl's mum. Not sure I'm ready. Can we do it another time?”

  As it turned out, he wasn't going to have a choice. Eloise came in with her tablet, talking and laughing at the screen. “You should meet Sky's new friend. He came for dinner tonight.”

  Hugo backed away, he looked almost scared, Sky thought. Maybe he'd been burned by a former girlfriend's mom who hated him or something.

  He wiped his hands on his jeans and moved quickly to where he'd left his things. “No, honestly. Another time perhaps.”

  “Don't be silly,” Eloise was all smiles. She turned the tablet around so the camera was aimed at Hugo.

  He froze, one hand on his backpack. That was the best way to describe it, Sky thought. His face, his eyes, his hands. A sudden and complete lack of all movement.

  Her mom had almost the same reaction.

  Sky looked from her mom to Hugo and back again, then at her aunt.

  Eloise wasn't facing the screen and couldn't see this strange course of events.

  “Mom,” Sky said cautiously. “This is my friend Hugo St. James, from school. He's here with his dad, from England.” Gesturing towards Hugo, she continued with the introduction even though they both had what can only be described as appalled looks on their faces. “Uh, Hugo, this is my mom, Emily Murphy.”

  Her mom continued to stare, saying nothing.

  Hugo cleared his throat. “How do you do. I've heard a lot about you.”

  “Have you? From who, I wonder?” Her mother stared down her nose at Hugo, her eyes narrowed.

  Sky could feel the chill right through the screen.

  “Where did you two meet?” Her mom's tone was tight, like when she was angry.

  She waited for Hugo to answer, but he still seemed slightly stunned.

  “In the ER,” Sky answered for him. “The night I had to go in for the bump on my head. His dad is a surgeon at the hospital or something...” she trailed off. This was getting weird.

  “Is he indeed?” She looked at something out of their line of sight. “Well sweetie, I'm sorry but I have to go. I'll call tomorrow, okay? Love you.”

  She blew Sky a kiss and signed off without a word to Hugo.

  “Well, that was sort of strange.” Sky looked at Hugo. He didn't meet her eyes.

  “I have to go,” Hugo walked back to the dining room, quickly putting his book bag together. “Thank you so much, Mrs. Edwards, for dinner. And thank you for cooking, Sky.” He was out the door before Sky could think of something to say.

  Wait came to mind just a few seconds too late.

  Eloise stared at the front door. “What was that all about?”

  Her mother and Hugo had taken one look at each other and decided it was hate at first sight. This could not be good.

  “Well?” Eloise made shooing motions with one hand. “Go on. Go after him!”

  She did just that, running out the front door and jogging towards the corner. “Hugo, hold up! I'll give you a ride.”

  He didn't slow down and she ran faster. “Hugo! Wait.”

  He stopped finally, not facing her. His posture stiff.

  “What's going on?”

  “I'm sorry, I can't see you anymore. We can't be friends.”

  She waited for the joke, the one liner to explain what he really meant. Nothing came. He started to walk away.

  “You can't mean it.” She grabbed his sleeve and jerked him back. “We kissed. Hugo, look at me!”

  He shook her off roughly. “No, no, Sky. I thought, maybe...I hoped... despite everything...our family history. Maybe if we'd had more time. Now, though.” He made a sound of despair. “Your mother and mine are enemies. We cannot be together.”

  She was too surprised to feel anything yet. His words didn't make sense. “Enemies. What are we Capulet and Montague from Romeo and Juliet? Who cares about our mothers? You and I...”

  “Can be nothing. Nothing!” His voice was fierce. He faced her, grabbing both arms and pulling her roughly to him. His face was so angry, she tried to draw back. “You have no idea what you're talking about. Stay away from me. It's a mistake, no matter what my father thinks.”

  She smelled it then. That elusive spicy scent. She had encountered it before. The scent of the man in black body armor in the vault of blood.

  Chapter 14

  Blood Shot

  The video message alert was blinking on her phone. She played it as she slowly walked back to the house and up the driveway. A message from her mother

  “I want you to stay away from that boy,” she said looking so unlike her usual, smiling self. Angry and flushed. She was leaning forward on the desk, her face near the screen. “His father and I worked together long ago, at the height of the plagues and after. His mother is dangerous. She is suspected of being a member of the Victims Army. They are radicals and not to be trusted. The son will be no different.”

  Sky tried to call her back for hours that night. Leaving a string of voice and video emails. What the hell was going on? 'Their son will be no different'? Who thinks like that? There had to be far more to the story than her mother was telling. A reason Hugo had reacted so dramatically.

  Enemies.

  He'd actually used that word. He recognized her mother but hadn't known who Sky really was. That must have been what that was about.. Her mom had kept her maiden name and the girls taken their father's. Actually their last name was hyphenated. But Murphy-Christensen was way too long for her Tactical badge and Sky never used it.

  And then there was the spicy smell. Maybe that's what all men smelled like when they were really frightened or upset. Or certain blood types. Perhaps the man in black was an AB, like Hugo. That's why they smelled the same under stress. There was no way Hugo St. James was the frightening assassin she'd encountered. That would be crazy.

  Eloise seemed to know more than she was saying, even though she claimed innocence of the details.

  “Your mother needs to explain this, not me.”

  “But she said she worked together with Hugo's father. How could she? He's a doctor or something, and she's a geologist.”

  Eloise shook her head. “I can't tell you. Your mother didn't talk about her work or the people she was with. I had my own worries to deal with. I was volunteering at Social Services trying to find homes for the growing number of orphans. Those were terrible times. My boys were small still. Eventually, your mom left the lab she was working in, met your father, and very soon got pregnant with Kara in the middle of all that chaos.”

  The remainder of the week was miserable. Made more so by Kara moving into the house on Homer Avenue. The doctors and her aunt finally insisted she check out of the hospital and into Eloise's house for a full ten days of bed rest. No exertion. No standing except for trips to the bathroom. Eloise settled her in the master bedroom since it had its own bathroom. That way Kara wouldn't have to walk down the hall.

  Sky didn't understand why her big sister didn't just go to her own house and have her baby daddy take
care of her. Isn't that what partners are for? Unfortunately, Kara heard Sky bring this matter up with her aunt and the air was positively frosty between them after that. Polar frosty.

  Hugo didn't even try to pretend he wasn't avoiding her. Several times she attempted to confront him over the next couple of days. Refusing to say a word or make eye contact, he would abruptly turn away and stride off in the opposite direction. Much to Andrea's satisfaction. She made sure Sky couldn't miss her look of smug satisfaction.

  She had lunch with Rickey and the squad as usual. Rickey listened attentively when she told him of the strangeness with Hugo and her mom and even the kissing. He was sympathetic, yet somehow preoccupied. The boy was was not his cheery, noisy, smart-ass self. Sky was too busy dealing with her own unhappiness to look much deeper.

  At lunch Friday, Rickey slipped her a note. Carefully so the others wouldn't see. She opened it down on her lap. The note said: Meet me at CBC, Saturday, ten a.m. She looked at him and he made a zipping motion across his lips.

  'Why was everyone acting so weird,' she moaned to herself.

  Chapter 15

  Blood Bag

  She spent Friday evening in front of the TV with Tricia, a plate of meatloaf and baked potatoes. Eloise was at the Power Company so she took in a tray to Kara. Her sister was channel surfing on the TV in Eloise's bedroom, not that there were many channels to surf. Max was curled up high on the pillow. Maximilien actually preferred Kara to Sky. Stupid cat. Kara looked pale with dark circles under her eyes, her hair puffed and tangled from lying on the pillows. So unlike her usual perfectly groomed self. They looked similar, she and her sister, heart-shaped faces, big eyes and strong eyebrows, but Kara had that natural blond hair and translucent fair skin that didn't even need makeup to shine and sparkle. She didn't look very pretty today and very much the opposite of sparkling.

  Sky winced at a sudden twinge of conscience. Her sister might be in pain and all Sky could do was think smack about her.

  “I brought dinner. Do you want some company while you eat? Or can I get you something else?”

  Kara barely glanced away from the TV. “No, I'm fine.”

  “You don't look fine.”

  She aimed the remote control at Sky like a gun. “What's that supposed to mean?”