The next afternoon Lawson came back to meet with us. He had on another white suit with a shiny gold shirt underneath. He sat at the same table as before, looking at his cell phone. "You didn't tell me I wouldn't get reception here," he told Dunstan. He watched us as we settled around the table. "So, you got an answer for me?"
"Can you tell us how this is going to work exactly? I mean, exactly," I said.
He pulled a peppermint from his shirt pocket and fiddled with it. "Sure can. I'm one of the richest men in Texas. I live in what many call a palace. Now your setup won't be the same as mine, but I will put you all up in a beautiful home. Everything will be taken care of—clothes, food, entertainment, transportation. Every kill you complete will put a wad of money in your hand , and I don't care what you do with it."
The material things weren't that enticing—I could have had that with Dunningham—but it would be nice not to have to worry about where our next meal would come from.
Dunstan cut in. "You'll get the best of both worlds. You won't have to go through the hustle of the everyday nine-to-five that most humans have to endure. Meaningless errands like grocery shopping and cleaning. We'll take care of all of that for you. All you have to do is carry out your assignments every now and then , and the rest of your time is yours."
Lawson offered us each a peppermint, which we declined.
Dunstan continued. "No more Grim studies, no more gatherings in the square just so my brother can hear himself talk, no more being ruled by an iron fist. If I were you I'd jump at this."
"What about lifestones?" Bram asked. "What are you offering that's so great that I would give up all those years of life?"
Dunstan narrowed his eyes at Bram. "Freedom. Son, there's nothing more important than that. Listen, if you want to spend the rest of your life following someone else's design for your life, be my guest. You'll be just like every other Grim. You'll get married, collect life after life and then die when my brother tires of you. Is that all you want out of life? To live the same photocopied existence as every other Grim? Do you think any of them is truly happy?"
I didn't know. No one really talked about whether or not they were happy. I knew many of the things my parents did, they did because they had to. You know we have no choice. I'd heard my mother utter those words one too many times. They didn't seem unhappy. Maybe because it was the only life they'd ever known.
"You guys are perfect for this job," Lawson said. "You can't be killed , and you can't be caught. Like I said, these are horrible people who deserve to die anyway."
"How often would we have to do this?" I asked.
"I have thirteen jobs lined up right now. There'll be many more. Every now and then Colden will bring you an envelope with a name and address. You'll go there and take care of them. I'm looking for you to recruit some more Grims. But we'll start off with you."
"When do we start?" Chase asked. Bram shot him a warning glance. Chase cleared his throat. "I mean, when would we start?"
"You can start tomorrow. I already have a home ready for you. It's a nice spot in a small subdivision where a lot of the homes are vacant. I bought several homes on that street. It will be the perfect spot for you."
"Yes," Dunstan said. "All you'll have to do is come back to me so often for blood. Remember, this is still experimental. To do that, you'll have to come here through the transporter. After you complete your first assignment, you can have your sister back," Dunstan told Bram. "You have my word on that."
I wasn't sure how much Dunstan's word meant to us at that point.
"So what's it going to be? Give it a try?" Lawson asked.
"I'm in," Chase replied.
I turned to Bram. "I can't go back there," I whispered. Then I looked at Lawson. "I'm in."
Bram hesitated.
"If this works," Chase said, "we'll bring Dorian and Josh over, if that's what you're thinking about."
I didn't know how I felt about my little brother being part of such a thing.
"Our parents will be fine, Bram," I answered. I couldn't spend my life with Dunningham just to make them happy. "We have to do what we need to do for us."
Bram closed his eyes and sank down in his seat. "Just give me a minute and let me think."
I was worried. Bram had always been a diehard Grim and a Dunningham fan, but lately , after the events that had happened with Naomi, I’d seen a change in him. Maybe this new Bram would see that the Grim life wasn't perfect.
"Listen," Lawson said. "I'm not a complete ogre. Try it out , and if you don't like it , you can come back to your boring lives here. But I'm telling you, here's where it's at. I can show you boys a good time," Lawson said, addressing Bram and Chase.
Finally Bram sighed. "Okay. Okay. We'll give it a try."
Lawson clapped his hands together. "All right. That's what I'm talking about. Dunstan, bring these kids to me tomorrow and I'll take them to their place." He removed a small notepad from the inside of his jacket and slid it across the table at Bram. "Now write down y'all ’ s clothes and shoe size s so I can take care of your wardrobe."
Dunstan handed Bram a pen , and we each wrote down our respective sizes.
Lawson slid the notepad back into the pocket of his jacket and shook each of our hands. "Trust me, kids. You have just made the best decision of your lives."
If not, it would be the worst decision we'd ever made.
Part 2
Texas
10
We gathered in Lawson's living room bright and early , waiting for him to come down. He was supposed to be taking us to our new home. None of this seemed real to me yet.
His home was as magnificent as he had described it to us. The house was huge, decorated with marble tile, golden accessories, and unique-looking pieces of antique furniture. Several large stuffed bears stared at us from their positions on the wall.
Lawson bounded down the stairs , wearing a white suit with gold boots and a white cowboy hat. I thought he looked like a character from a book.
"You kids ever rode in a Rolls-Royce before?"
None of us had. I vaguely remembered what a Rolls-Royce was from my human studies.
Lawson pulled a set of keys from his pocket. "Well, you've never rode in style before. Follow me."
We followed him into his garage, which housed eight different vehicles. I had no idea what one person needed with so many cars.
Lawson climbed into the driver's seat. Bram got in the passenger's seat in the front , and Chase and I slid into the back seat. Dunstan said he would meet us there.
During the ride to our new home, Lawson told us about how much we were going to enjoy the human world. We could watch TV, shop, go to movies and fancy restaurants. Swim at the beach and lots of other things I had never even heard of.
We knew about the human world from our assignments. I found a lot of the activities that humans partook in to be silly, but I was willing to give the place a chance.
Lawson took us into a small subdivision. The homes were beautiful. I could tell that it hadn't been long since the neighborhood had been built. We pulled into the circular driveway of a home. It wasn't nearly as nice as Lawson's , but it was nicer than my house back in Nowhere.
The house was tan with two stories and large picture windows.
Lawson tossed Bram a set of keys and told him to unlock the door. We walked inside to discover Dunstan sitting on the couch in the living room watching television. I didn't ask how he had gotten there. He and his brother could do things that other Grims couldn't.
"Take a look around," Lawson said proudly. "We have everything set up for you. Of course, if there's anything we overlooked, we'd be more than happy to get it for you."
In the massive living room , a gigantic flat-screened television was bolted to the wall. A large group of sectional couches sat in the center of the room. I imagined us sitting there watching a movie together.
The kitchen was beautiful. Brand-new stainless steel appliances. A large kitchen table. An island
with bar stools. I opened the refrigerator. It was stuffed with food—orange juice, milk, eggs. The freezer was also well stocked along with the pantry.
The others had begun to wander upstairs. I followed them to the bedrooms.
The first room in the hallway was decorated in gray and black.
"This is your bedroom, Bram," Lawson said from behind us. I hadn't even realized that he had been standing there.
Bram went in. The room was simple. Pieces of dark furniture lined the wall. At the center of the room was a gigantic bed that could fit five people. There was a bathroom and a television.
I wandered into the hallway to find my own room. I came across one that I assumed was meant for a girl because of the white lace curtains that hung from the windows.
The setup was similar to Bram's with a few feminine touches. I opened the closet—a walk-in and jam-packed with clothes that were just my size. Mostly jeans, hoodies, dark tanks and T-shirts—things I would feel comfortable in.
I was most impressed by the boots. Ten pairs lined a shelf in the closet. I had gotten lost in the excitement of trying them on until I noticed Lawson standing in the doorway. "Like it?"
"Yeah, it's nice," I answered, trying to downplay the fact that I was in awe of my closet.
"I thought you would. There's six bedrooms in this house. I have one fixed up for Naomi too. Hopefully she'll be joining you—"
I slid the closet door shut. "I get it, Mr. Lawson."
Lawson announced that there was something he wanted us to check out in the garage. We found two black Mercedes SUVs parked side by side. They were nice, but none of us were great drivers. I'd driven a vehicle on an assignment not too long before, but I was by no means an expert and Bram was worse than me. I knew Chase had never driven a car before.
Lawson touched the hood of one of the vehicles. "These are your mode of transportation. I'll have someone come and fill them with gas when needed. Take them wherever you would like to go to enjoy your freedom. Remember, I don't care what you do as long as you complete your assignments. The windows are tinted black. No one can see inside. Obviously, you don't want to do anything stupid like ride with the windows down. Someone might think a ghost was driving the car."
He touched a button on the wall , and the garage door rose, making a loud grinding noise. He and Dunstan walked toward the opening.
"I'll be back tomorrow with your first assignment," Lawson said. "Oh, and do get a good night's sleep. Hits can take a lot out of you."
The first night in the house felt weird, like as though we were on vacation, except that Grims didn't get vacations. I could get used to having no responsibility and no one to answer to. I made myself a salad while Chase and Bram shared a frozen pizza. Bram suggested that we hang out in the living room and watch something together. He'd found a program on the TV that we could order movies from.
I sat between the two boys during the movie. At one point, Bram's hand covered mine. For a moment my body stiffened. Touching like this was strictly forbidden in Nowhere , and Bram and I had already gotten into plenty of trouble for it. Then I remembered that we weren't in Nowhere. We were in the human world , where we didn't answer to anyone. The urge to move my hand away disappeared. Bram intertwined his fingers with mine , and I rested my head on his shoulder.
We didn't stay up late that night, although we could have. A Grim's internal clock didn't give us the desire to stay up late unless we were on assignment.
I retired to my bedroom. The bed was so tall I had to use a small step to get on top. There, I snuggled under the black and white damask covers. They smelled brand new.
The bed was soft and comfy, but it took me a while to fall asleep because it just didn't feel like home.
I woke up several times during the night.
11
The following morning I woke up to the aroma of French toast and cinnamon. Chase had taken it upon himself to cook us breakfast on our first morning in the human world. He was a great cook. Just as we were finishing up, Lawson came over carrying a white envelope , which he slapped against his hand as he entered the kitchen.
He tipped his hat to us. "Mornin'."
"Good morning," we muttered.
"I have your first assignment here to be carried out within the next twenty-four hours. This job is local. Some of them won't be. You'll be taking care of a Mr. Julius Greer in Dallas." Lawson handed Bram the envelope.
"Why would someone want him killed?" Bram asked.
"Does it matter?" Lawson asked.
"Yeah, it matters to me," Bram answered.
"If you must know, he killed a twelve-year-old kid. Hit-and-run. He was drunk. Julius got twenty-three months in prison , and that's it. That little boy lost his life and that bastard is walkin' around with his. Now that ain't fair."
He dug into his pocket and tossed Chase a cell phone with a charger attached. "Call me when you're done or if you have any questions, problems, whatever. Good luck." He tipped his hat again and then left us alone.
I grabbed the envelope from Bram. Inside was a sheet of white paper with a typed description and address. I slammed it down on the table. "What in the world was I thinking? I can't do this. We can't do this. We can't kill people."
"That's what I've been trying to tell you guys," Bram said. "I knew you wouldn't be able to do it."
"I can," Chase said quietly.
"What?" I asked.
"I can. I can kill. Is it really much different from what we already do? We go on an assignment , and when we come back , there's one less human in the world. This is kind of the same thing. You heard what Lawson said about them. These aren't regular, ordinary people. They're horrible. They hurt others , and they don't deserve to live."
"That's not our call, Chase, and it's nothing like what we already do," Bram said. "It's not a Grim's place to decide whether or not a person should live or die. Especially not before their time."
I sighed and buried my hands in my face. "Right."
Chase pushed his chair back from the table. "Look, I don't want to do this either, but you guys are acting like we have so many choices right now. We either do this or we go back to Nowhere , and I think it's already been established that that's not an option for some of us. Dunstan will never let Naomi go. And Bram, you and I have been away for three days without being on assignment. We can't exactly go waltzing back over there. We're all in trouble here."
Chase was right, but I knew there had to be some other option here. There had to be some way we could stay in the human world without killing.
Chase grabbed the envelope. "Look, Lawson didn't say who had to do the murders. I'll do them all if you guys can't handle it. As long as it gets done." He headed out of the kitchen.
"Chase!" Bram shouted. "Are you serious?"
"I'm dead serious. What? They're just humans, Bram."
That was what we had always been taught. That they were just humans. Don't get attached. Just do your job. But this was different. We were breaking the Covenant we'd made years ago. We each had the Grim emblem branded into our right shoulders. That meant something.
Bram stood. "I'll go with you," he said. Obviously Chase wasn't going to be stopped.
That night we prepared to visit Julius Greer. Bram had taken extra long to get ready, I guessed trying to stall the inevitable. We grabbed our scythes and entered the garage.
"I'll drive," I offered since I didn't think it would be a great idea to wreck our vehicle on the first assignment.
Bram climbed up front next to me and punched Julius' address into the GPS system.
"How are you going to do it?" I called back to Chase as I pulled out of the driveway.
I watched him from the rearview mirror. He shrugged. "The scythe clean through the neck. I think that will be easiest. He won't feel a thing."
I shivered at his coolness, but I knew my friend. He didn't want to do this. "Chase, you don't have to—"
"I don't? Okay, what's our other option."
I had
no idea. I had been racking my head all day trying to figure out a way that we could get Naomi back without murdering someone. Apparently I wasn't as good a problem solver as I thought I was because I had come up with nothing. "I don't know."
"But I do," Chase said. "Don't worry about me. I can do it."
It took us about an hour and a half to make it to Greer's apartment building in a seedy-looking neighborhood. I pulled up to the curb and put the car into park, leaving the engine running.
Bram looked back at Chase. "Ready?"
"Y-yeah," Chase stammered.
Bram turned back around. "I'll go with you."
The two of them hesitated for a moment before climbing out with their scythes.
I rested my head against the window and closed my eyes, wishing this whole messed-up situation would be over.
Five minutes later I was startled by the door of the vehicle opening quickly. Bram threw himself inside. Chase climbed in and slammed the door shut. They both looked sweaty and panicked.
I put the car in drive and pulled away from the curb. "What happened? No, no, don't tell me. I don't want to know."
Bram breathed heavily. "Chase, I can't do this, man."
I looked back at Chase from the rearview mirror. He scowled. "What about Naomi, huh?"
Bram shook his head. "I don’t know. I don't know."
"Wait, what happened?" I asked.
"We couldn't do it," Bram admitted.
I was surprised and relieved at the same time, but the question still remained. How would we get Naomi back?
At the house, Bram went straight to his room and slammed the door. Chase retreated somewhere. I didn't hear any noise coming from him. I sat staring at the wall of the living room. After a few moments, I curled up on the couch, wondering what my family was doing and how worried they had to be about me. I wished there were some way I could get a message to them.
An hour after we returned from Greer's apartment we received a knock on the front door—Colden and two other boys from the Outskirts he introduced as Tate and Eilam. They both had sandy brown hair, but Eilam's was long and pulled back into a curly ponytail.
Keira Grim: The Final Breath Chronicles Book Two Page 8
