“Same as you. Going to school.”
“You don’t belong here.”
“I have my class schedule.” He pointed to a zippered pouch in the blue backpack I recognized as Eli’s. “But I’m not sure where my first class is—can you help me find it?”
He was playing with me, like a spider spinning a sticky web around a trapped fly. And I hated him more than ever.
“Can’t you let me enjoy this one last day before destroying my life?”
He only smiled. “Don’t forget—we have a meeting later.”
“I haven’t forgotten anything.”
“Good. Although I regret upsetting you, I have survived this long by following strict rules. Promises are binding—those I make and those that are made to me. Despite what you may think of me, I have never killed anyone and would sincerely regret having to do so. Enjoy your day at school and say your good-byes. Afterwards, you’re mine.”
Hearing those words from Eli’s lips was torture. I coped by imagining the DD Team lassoing their silver ropes around Gabe and hauling him away so he’d never steal another body—especially someone who meant so much to me.
“When will it happen?” I asked numbly.
“At sunset. We’ll finish what we started last time. Change shouldn’t be feared but embraced.”
His poetic talk, which had once impressed me, now made me want to throw up in my mouth. “I hate change,” I argued.
“You’ll feel differently when you experience the unlimited power I can show you. I’m doing this for you.” He reached for my hand but I drew back. “On the boat, when you saw through my disguise, I knew we were meant to be together. For the first time in over a century, I felt honest feelings.”
“Honest?” I scoffed. “You survive by lying and stealing.”
“But I follow a code of ethics. I never steal money or possessions from my Host Souls. I never borrow the same body twice. And if a body I’m about to borrow successfully resists me, I respect that and go on to someone new. When I give my word to someone, I never break it. You have my word that I will make you happy.”
“Happy? Not when I have to leave everyone I love.”
“I’ll be your friend, family, and lover,” he said seductively.
But I was in no mood to be seduced. I’d rather kick him where it hurt and watch him double over in agony. I hated him! I hated his twisted “ethics.” Yet anger wouldn’t solve anything, so I tried to reason with him.
“I’m sorry you’re lonely,” I said softly. “But you don’t have to live like a fugitive anymore. Grammy can help you find a place to belong.”
“I don’t belong anywhere—except with you.”
“Please … don’t make me go.”
“I’m not forcing you to do anything.”
“But if I don’t come to you, you’ll kill my boyfriend.”
“Tragedies happen.” As he spread his arms in a shrugging gesture, his hands glimmered gray underneath his sprayed-on tan. “Now I need to find Room 46. And tonight, I’ll find you.”
Not a promise—a threat. Shaking all over, I fled into the classroom, stumbling over a backpack left in an aisle and landing in the lap of a skinny kid with a bad case of pimples. The class roared with laughter, but I hardly noticed … I was dying inside.
All my emotions numbed after that, and I only went through the motions. To anyone watching, I was typical, antisocial Alyce, keeping to myself and not saying much. I’d always admired her independence and thought she was smart for doing her own thing. But mostly she was just alone—except for our friendship.
Alyce did surprisingly well in math today, but disappointed her biology teacher. I asked myself over and over why I was bothering being at school when I could enjoy my last hours of freedom with my parents and little sisters. Not that I was giving up. No way! I would meet with Gabe, but I wouldn’t leave my life willingly. I had several hours to come up with a plan. I’d managed to talk briefly with Dustin after homeroom, and I hoped he’d have some ideas when we met for lunch.
We usually hung out in the computer lab, and since Grammy wouldn’t know how to find us, I met her as she left my fourth-period class. I called “Amber!” She hesitated, then turned toward me, the look of relief spreading across her face almost comical. Obviously I wasn’t the only one having a bad day, so I gently took her hand and led her into the computer lab.
“I thought I was wild when I was a teen, but compared to the spitting, swearing, and talking-back to teachers going on here, I was a saint.” She sank down on a hard plastic chair beside me.
“Saints are overrated,” I teased, glad not to dwell on my problems. “I’d rather hear more about your drag racing.”
“Not even going to go there. I am still your grandmother.”
“How long did you smoke? And just how many guys did you date?”
“Now you’re just being rude.” She gave me a disapproving look, then opened the sack lunch I knew Mom had made. Mom took pride in the stay-at-home motherhood thing and put together great lunches, with thick sandwiches, chips, fruit, and homemade cookies for dessert.
“So are you having a tough time at school?” I asked Grammy as I bit into a hoagie sandwich I’d gotten from a vending machine.
“Everything is so high-tech now,” she said, gesturing around the room to some kids challenging a teacher to an online role-playing battle. Not far away a few girls sat together, not talking, just holding cell phone and texting.
“It’s just what it is.” I shrugged.
“Definitely not what I expected.” She sipped her mango-peach juice, then added, “Your mother isn’t what I expected, either. I’ve seen a whole new side to my daughter, and although I don’t always approve of her methods, Theresa is an amazing mother.”
“I could have told you that.”
“And you did—only I wasn’t listening. I wish it wasn’t too late to tell her.”
I hated the finality in her tone. It touched a nerve and anger surged through me. It was never too late for anything important. I wanted to believe in justice and dreams and happy-ever-afters. As long as you kept trying, there was always hope.
Maybe I couldn’t win with Gabe, but I could help Grammy with Mom. A thought struck me, and for the first time that day, I smiled.
When I told Grammy what I had in mind, she gave me a big hug and said it was a great idea. As thanks, she offered me one of Mom’s homemade cookies, and as I took a bite, my heart melted like warmed chocolate. I already missed Mom, Dad, my little sisters, my cat …
If only I could stay.
The door to the computer lab burst open and for a nervous moment I expected to be dragged away by Gabe. But it was just Jessica Bradley, looking exotically gorgeous in an oriental-print dress and silky red jacket, but also angry, with pinched lips and her hands on her hips.
Oops. I’d forgotten her “Basket Club” meeting. I braced myself for attitude about missing the meeting. Only she walked past me, and gave it all to Grammy-As-Me.
Grammy sputtered in confusion, glancing over at me for help, but I just shrugged when Jessica insisted that “Amber” come back with her to the cafeteria. I tried to argue, but Dustin cut in and urged them to go. “Alyce and I have a project to finish,” he added, with a meaningful look for me. I got the hint and played along.
Once Jessica and Grammy were gone, Dustin scooted his chair over. “I checked out that address and number you gave me for Angelica, but the house she lived in was torn down when they put in Gossamer Estates.”
“Jessica’s neighborhood.” I’d been to Jessica’s mansion home a few times and was awed by the beautiful garden and luxurious decor. It was the kind of home I dreamed of living in when I had my big career … if that ever happened.
“So I tried finding Angelica’s relatives … and I’m waiting to hear from a grandson. He could call anytime. He should know which cemetery his grandmother is in, which will tell us where Alyce’s lost sister is buried.”
“Then Alyce and her mo
ther can accept their loss and move on—and I can, too.”
“You are not going anywhere.” Dustin wagged his finger at me. “No self-sacrifice allowed. If you won’t ask your grandmother for help, then I’ll take this dark dude down.”
Imagining Dustin—who had techno-geek pasty skin and zero muscle-tone—taking Gabe on, I almost laughed. But I actually came closer to crying. He was so sweet … and after tonight I may never see him again.
“Gabe was here—at school,” I admitted in a low voice, glancing around the computer room anxiously, as if expecting Gabe to materialize from a computer monitor. “I didn’t want to freak you out before, but he was waiting for me by Alyce’s homeroom.”
“Damn!” Dustin balled his hand into a fist. “We’ve got to find a way to beat him.”
“You can’t beat someone who plays with Earthbounders in a game where he’s made all the rules,” I said miserably. “Sure, I can report him to the DDT, but they’re not powerful enough to catch him and Eli could end up dead.”
“We’ll figure out something. I know! I’ll go with you tonight and hide nearby. We can drug him and lock him up until he has to change bodies again.”
“He won’t have to change again for a month. But he could steal your body any time just for kicks. He can’t take Alyce’s body from me, but if he touches me with both hands he can drain my energy until I forget to breathe. There’s no way to stop him.”
“You sound like you’re giving up.”
“I don’t want to … but I’m scared.” Saying these words made it seem more real, as if a toxic breeze had swept into the computer lab and was slowly poisoning me.
“We have fifteen more minutes before lunch ends,” Dustin said, glancing at the large clock on the wall. “Tell me everything you know about Dark Lifers. The more information we have, the better the chance of finding a solution. We’ll come up with a plan and take down that Dark Loser.”
I wanted to believe him and clung to the small rope of hope he was offering. So I did what he asked, telling him everything I knew about Dark Lifers.
A few minutes before the warning bell, his cell phone rang. He snatched it fast, glancing at the text message and then swearing.
“Bad news?” I asked, biting my lower lip.
“Worse. No news at all.” Dustin shook his head. “Angelica’s grandson lost touch with that side of his family after a nasty divorce. He doesn’t know where his grandmother is buried—only that it’s somewhere in California.”
“That tells us a whole lot of nothing. How can we hope to find a grave in a few hours when Alyce has been searching for months with no luck? She hasn’t left us much more than a drawing of an angel with huge wings.”
As I said the word “angel,” a picture sprang into my mind of a crumbling stone angel, and I felt the sting of nettles. Excitedly, I pulled out the purple notebook, flipping to the page with the drawing. The stairs, the unusually large angel wings, and the location … it all added up.
I knew where the lost baby was buried.
A few weeks ago, I’d been driving to a party given by the glamorous Jessica Bradley and I’d taken a wrong turn—a turn that marked the beginning of the weird string of events that led me into three different bodies. But at the time, all I’d cared about was getting to that party, positive it would raise my status at school and lead to influential new friends. When I’d gotten lost on a dead-end road at a cemetery, it had seemed like the end of my world. Then bad went to worse and I landed on my butt inside the locked cemetery gates in a prickly bush of nettles. When I picked myself up, itching and miserable, I’d climbed up a granite stairway to a crumbling but still-beautiful statue of an angel.
The angel in Alyce’s drawing.
This explained why the drawing looked so familiar, and why Alyce hadn’t been able to find the grave. Angelica’s headstone may have been purchased at Green Briar, but her final resting place was in a different cemetery. In the 1990s, when developers bought the land for Gossamer Estates, they’d closed down the old Gossamer Cemetery—which I never would have found if I hadn’t taken that wrong turn. Dustin had told me that the most recent graves had been moved but the older ones were considered historical and the fate of the cemetery was still tied up in courts. This was the final resting place where a grieving, mentally ill mother had buried her stillborn baby almost thirteen years ago.
I knew this was true, but I still needed to see it for myself.
But in a few hours the sun would set and Gabe would find me. He’d take me so far out of this body that I’d never be able to return. What would happen to Alyce? Her switch back wasn’t scheduled until midnight. Would her body survive until she could reclaim it? Or would the heart in her empty body stop beating? I could only think of one way to make sure she was safe.
So after the final period, I met Grammy as she was leaving the classroom. She came out last, with tangled hair and a dazed expression. “We had to use computers.” She threw her arms out in frustration. “I couldn’t find the button to turn it on or figure out how to use that mouse thing. Everyone was looking at me … laughing like I was an idiot.”
“You’re not,” I assured her. “You’re just old … I mean, well, you know.”
“I suppose you think it’s funny.” She glared at me. “You and Dustin weren’t any help when Jessica dragged me off at lunch. Do you have any idea what I went through? Suddenly all these girls surrounded me, saying we were having a meeting and I was in charge. My head hurt so much trying to remember names and figure out what was going on. Something about a party and making baskets for charity. Being dead is a big job—but high school is impossible. How do you survive?”
“I just muddle through like everyone else,” I said with a deep sigh. Then I switched to what I hoped sounded like an upbeat tone. “But you won’t have to deal with computers or meetings or school again. I’m ready.”
“Ready for what?” she asked, puzzled.
“To switch bodies. Let’s do it now.”
Unfortunately, switching back wasn’t that easy.
Grammy explained that she’d need to made arrangements with the other side to prepare Alyce for the return. “If the Dark Lifer isn’t apprehended, other souls are switching tonight, too. It’s wiser to wait till midnight when it’s already scheduled to happen. What difference will a few hours make?”
“A lot,” I said as we walked to the school parking lot.
Grammy narrowed her gaze. “Is there something you’re not telling me?”
I hesitated, thinking of everything that was at stake. “Nothing important.”
“So we’ll stick with the original plan—the switch will happen at midnight.”
I knew there was no point arguing, not unless I was willing to tell her the truth, which I couldn’t because she’d prevent me from meeting with Gabe—which was as good as signing Eli’s death warrant.
Grammy had been driven to school by Dad, so I offered to take her home. Starting the car, merging with other cars, I went through the motions of normalcy as if on autopilot. I had to make idle conversation, too, and act like my world wasn’t ending in a few hours. I could tell by the way Grammy kept studying me that she was suspicious.
When I dropped her off, I longingly looked at my ordinary home in a quiet suburb that had always seemed boring and too crowded for a family of six, but now shone with a beauty that made my heart feel close to bursting. I memorized everything: the lawn that was never quite green enough, with its spotty patches of weeds; the bricked planter spilling over with blooming hydrangeas; Mom’s car in the driveway (Dad was still at work); and a porch cluttered with tricycles, a plastic princess castle, and naked dolls.
“Want to come in?” Grammy asked.
Did I ever! But if I went inside, I’d never come out.
When I shook my head, Grammy gave me one of those probing looks, then stepped out of the car. “Wait here a minute while I get something for you.”
I was so choked up I could only manage to nod. A fe
w minutes later, she came back out.
“Here,” my grandmother said, as she held out her hand and pressed something small and soft into my palm.
I looked down and saw the rainbow cloth bracelet she’d woven for me before her death—the “lucky” bracelet she told me I could use to contact her whenever I needed help. With all the body-switching I’d lost track of it, but I was glad to slip it on.
Then I waved good-bye with a soft rainbow swirl around my wrist.
And I drove away from my grandmother, my family, and my life.
I had one more thing to do before sunset—grave searching at Gossamer Cemetery. Dustin insisted on going with me, so my next stop was his house. I was secretly glad to have his company; besides, I needed his help to get through the locked gates. He worked part-time as a locksmith and had this slightly weird but impressive collection of keys—most hanging from the ceiling at Headquarters (his bedroom).
Dustin was waiting for me with the same key that had once before unlocked the Gossamer gates. I offered to drive but Dustin argued, pointing out my “directionally challenged” problem. He was right—I usually turned wrong when it was right, or was that left? We compromised: I would drive but he would navigate.
Once we were on our way, he pulled out a stack of print-outs.
“I’ve been analyzing our Dark Lifer facts,” he said, flipping through the papers. “And I have a theory about why the DD Team has never caught Gabe.”
“Why?”
“It’s important to understand his abilities and past history. From everything you’ve told me, we know more about him than the DDT. That’s why they underestimate him, assuming he’s like other Dark Lifers. But one big difference is that he doesn’t need to steal energy from Temp Lifers like average Dark Lifers.”
“True,” I said, nodding and slowing for a red light.
“And he doesn’t panic or cower in fear of being caught.”
“He’s not afraid of anyone.”
“And why should he be? He obviously has financial means or he couldn’t rent a pricey boat. He probably has secret bank accounts all over the world. But money is only a convenience for him. Can you guess his deepest goal?”
Dead Girl in Love Page 19
