Keira Grim: The Final Breath Chronicles Book Two

by V. B. Marlowe

  Bram nodded, staring at Gannon's leg. "This is the best we can do for now."

  The others left , and we moved Gannon to the couch in the living room. He would stay there for the night so that I could keep an eye on him.

  Bram, Naomi, and I sat at the kitchen table drinking orange juice. I told Naomi what had happened at the grocery store. She freaked out so bad I wished I had kept the information to myself.

  "So, what does that mean?" she asked Bram.

  Bram shrugged. "I don't know. She could see us, but no one else could. Maybe our visibility is random. Maybe it just comes and goes. I don't know."

  "We can't go back there," Naomi said.

  "She didn't try to stop us," I said.

  Naomi frowned. "What?"

  "She didn't try to stop us," I repeated. "I mean, she said something about us stealing, but basically, she just let us go."

  Gannon moaned from the living room.

  "We have to get a doctor," Naomi said.

  "How exactly are we supposed to do that?" Bram asked.

  "I don't know," I answered. "But we have to do something. We just can't leave him in pain like that."

  "That's one thing I will miss about being a Grim," Naomi said quietly.

  I gulped down the last of my orange juice. "What?"

  She looked from me to Bram. "Think about it. We never got sick or injured in Nowhere. There was no need for doctors or medical supplies. That is one thing I don't like about this world."

  I silently agreed. I'd never been seriously hurt or sick , and I didn't want to know what it felt like. Ever.

  I spent the night checking on Gannon every hour. We had exceeded how much medication he was supposed to have within a certain time period according to the back of the bottle. The medicine didn't seem to be helping anyway. He obviously needed something stronger. Dorian had taken his temperature and told us that it was a hundred and three degrees. This was bad. Grims were always cold. Our normal temperature was nowhere near that of a human's. We all knew that humans could die from an intense fever that wasn't treated , and I was afraid for Gannon.

  The following morning Naomi gave me a break and told me she would watch over Gannon for a few hours. I dragged Chase away from a training session with Bram. I needed to go back to that grocery store, but I was afraid to go anywhere alone. Anything could happen.

  Chase drove us. "Tell me again why we're doing this. This lady could see you and Bram. Why do you think it's a great idea for you to go back in that store?"

  "Don't you think it's weird that she's been the only one who could see us , and that she didn't try to stop us or anything?"

  "Not really," Chase answered. "Maybe she saw you guys were getting away , and she didn't want to be bothered. Keir, this is a bad idea."

  I said nothing else until we pulled into the parking lot of the grocery store. "You can stay here," I told Chase.

  "I will not," he said, turning the engine off and unbuckling his seat belt.

  I sighed and climbed out of the car. Chase followed me into the store , and the two of us stood in the doorway. A woman walked right between the two of us. I was pretty sure she didn't see us.

  "So where's this lady?" Chase asked.

  I scanned the store for her. Her bright red hair shouldn't have been hard to find. I spotted her coming from the double doors at the back of the store.

  I pointed. "That's her."

  She carried a box , which she toted to a shelf at the back of the store. She opened the box with a sharp blade and began to move things from the box to the shelf.

  "Come on," I said to Chase as I headed back there.

  We stood behind her as she continued to work. I wondered if whether it was because we were invisible to her now or because she was so focused on what she was doing. I cleared my throat and she looked up.

  She stood and rubbed her hands on her pants, looking at me, waiting for me to say something. I hadn't really thought about what I was going to say to her. Her eyes went from me to Chase, who fidgeted nervously. I thought he would bolt at any minute.

  "Ummm, I'm Keira and this is Chase. We need help."

  Her gaze darted to a man ringing a customer up at the cash register. He seemed to be the only other employee in the store unless someone else was in the back.

  The woman smiled, revealing two rows of perfect teeth. She was really pretty. "Sure, what can I help you find today?"

  "We need a doctor."

  She furrowed her brow and shook her head. "I don't understand—"

  I stepped closer to her. "You can see us. You're the only human who can see us, so we need your help."

  She shook her head again. "I can't—"

  "Please. One of our friends is really hurt. He could die if he doesn't get medical attention. We need you to get someone to come to us."

  "Keira, how is that going to work if the doctor can't see him?" Chase asked behind me.

  That was a good question, but if this woman could see us, it was possible that someone else could also.

  "I don't know, but we have to do something."

  The woman looked down at the box full of nail polish and scratched her cheek. When she pulled her hand away, I noticed a small G tattooed on the back of her hand. Every line and swirl matched the Grim emblem.

  Chase gasped behind me. He had seen it too.

  "You're a Grim," I whispered.

  The woman looked around. "Look, I don't know what you guys are talking about, but if you need help with anything in the store, let me know."

  She bent down and reached for the box, but I grabbed her arm. She glared at me.

  "You heard what I said. You're a Grim," I said forcefully.

  She frowned. "I don’t even know what that is."

  "Don't play dumb," Chase said. "That's the Grim emblem tattooed on your hand. We have the same exact thing on our shoulders—just bigger."

  The woman looked at the back of her hand. "This happens to be the first initial of my name."

  "What's your name?" I asked.

  She cleared her throat. "G-Grace." But the name tag pinned to her shirt read "Celeste " . ”

  "Stop lying. You're a Grim," I said raising my voice slightly.

  "Shhh," the woman hissed. "Don't say that out loud."

  "But—" I had so many questions, but she raised her hand and cut me off.

  "You guys have to leave. Tell me where you're staying , and I'll bring help by tonight, but you guys can't be here."

  I tried to speak again, but she shushed me. Chase told her our address and we left like she requested.

  "I have a really bad feeling about this," Chase said as we climbed into the vehicle. "That was weird."

  "I knew there had to be a reason she could see us."

  "This isn't a good thing, Keira. No one is supposed to know where we live. Bram is going to flip."

  "We didn't have a choice, Chase. We can't just let Gannon stay the way he is."

  He sighed and flicked on the radio. "It's not like it matters anyway. She's not coming. She was saying whatever she had to say to get rid of us."

  Chase's words were going in one ear and out the other. I was more concerned with the fact that there were other Grims in the human world besides us.

  "You what?" Bram screamed when Chase told him what happened in the grocery store. "The first rule is that we talk to no one and we definitely don't tell anyone where we live. Who is this woman anyway?"

  "Stop yelling. She's a Grim," I answered, "but not from our colony."

  "What is she doing here?" Bram asked.

  "I didn't get a chance to ask all of that , and she wouldn't have given me an answer if I had asked. She promised she'd bring help for Gannon—or would you rather just watch him suffer? He's in bad shape, Bram. You want him to live another four-hundred-plus years in pain? That's torture."

  Bram nodded, seeming to understand that we had very few options.

  We spent a greater part of the day looking after Gannon. Dorian had offered him hi
s bed. We'd had to change the sheets twice that day because they'd become soaked with sweat. We didn't need him to catch pneumonia. Who knew a broken bone could cause so much trouble?

  The doorbell rang at almost ten o'clock that night. I had nearly given up on Celeste. When the doorbell rang, we froze. Bram, Chase, Naomi , and I were in the living room watching a movie. Josh and Dorian were upstairs playing some video game system they'd just received—another benefit of this world. I didn't get the appeal.

  Bram rose from the couch and looked out of the peephole. He stared for a long time before looking back at us. "It's a man and a woman."

  "She said she'd bring someone who could help Gannon," I told Bram.

  For a long time he stood with his hand on the doorknob, probably contemplating whether or not he should let the strangers in. Finally he opened it. The woman and the man stepped inside.

  The man was dressed in all black. He had long shaggy blond hair and blue eyes. He carried a small black suitcase. The two of them looked around the living room. Nobody spoke for several seconds.

  The woman cleared her throat. "I'm Celeste and this is Leighton. Where's the boy?"

  "Wait a minute," Bram said. "How do we know you know what you're doing? You're complete strangers."

  "You have any other options?" Leighton asked.

  Bram shoved his hands into his pockets. "I mean it. What makes you qualified to attend to someone's medical needs?"

  Leighton touched Celeste's arm. "Let's go. They don't need us."

  I stood. "Wait. We do need you. Bram didn't mean any offense. It's just that this place is new to us and we have to be careful. Gannon's upstairs. I'll take you to him." I shot Bram a look warning him not to say another word. The last thing we needed was for Leighton to leave, then we'd never get help for Gannon.

  Celeste and Leighton followed me upstairs to Dorian's room. Bram trailed behind. Gannon was asleep. He stirred a little when I turned the light on.

  Leighton pulled the sheet back and whistled. "When did this happen?"

  "A day and a half," I answered.

  "This should have been taken care of immediately," Leighton said as he unwrapped Gannon's leg , which was now blue and swollen.

  "We did the best we could do. It's not like we could just roll him up to the emergency room," Bram said, sounding defensive. "Hard to get service when you're invisible."

  Leighton shot Bram a look.

  Bram looked down at the ground. "I mean, you know, because we're—"

  "I know what you are." Leighton began to work with Gannon's wound and I quickly discovered that it was something I didn't want to watch.

  "I'll be downstairs," I said, leaving the room. Bram wanted to stay and make sure everything was okay.

  In the kitchen , I warmed myself a can of tomato soup. I cracked open a book and sat at the kitchen table waiting for it to cool. Gannon moaned and groaned from upstairs , and I wished there were some way I could block the noise out. I felt sorry for him and hoped Leighton was helping.

  I felt a presence behind me, but I didn't turn. I had a good feeling about who it was. "Why did you come back to the store?" Celeste asked.

  I turned slightly. "We needed help , and you looked like a nice person."

  "Don't lie to me," she said, taking a seat across from me at the kitchen table.

  "Okay. You could see us and no one else could. You were our only option. Like Bram said, how can anyone help us if they can't see us?"

  "Dammit!" Celeste said, banging on the table.

  "What?"

  "Who sent you here?" she demanded. Why did she suddenly seem so angry?

  "No one sent us. We came on our own. We're not supposed to be here."

  Celeste rolled her eyes. "That I know. Why did you come here?"

  I paused for a moment, wondering what would happen if I told her too much, but then I figured she could maybe help us out with some things.

  "Things were bad for some of us in Nowhere. So we came here. There are others here who just wanted to experience what it was like to live in the human world. They wanted to know what different felt like. What it's like to have options."

  Celeste nodded. "I know the feeling. You come from Nowhere, huh?"

  I nodded. "Where are you from?"

  "Between," she answered. I'd never heard of it.

  I sensed someone else standing in the doorway. "Why are you here?" Naomi asked. She and Chase stood there staring Celeste down. I didn’t blame them. At this point we really couldn't trust anyone.

  "Sit," Celeste told them. They seemed reluctant at first, then they took a seat at the table.

  "I came here because I was tired of the Grim life. I'd done it for twenty-five years. I was tired of watching people die when I could easily save them. I could easily prevent their death."

  Naomi shifted in her seat. I knew she could relate.

  "So we decided to take our fate into our own hands. We left and started lives here."

  "Who's we?" Naomi asked.

  "There's forty of us," Celeste answered.

  "I don't understand. Humans can see you?" I asked.

  "When we want them to. We can turn it on and off."

  "How?" Naomi asked.

  Celeste's gaze shifted from Naomi to me. "There's a procedure—" she began, then she stopped.

  "What procedure?" I demanded.

  Celeste looked as though like she really wanted to tell , but had been sworn to secrecy.

  "What procedure?' Naomi said.

  Celeste stood. "I should go see if Leighton needs anything."

  I slid from my seat and grabbed her arm before she could leave the kitchen. "Please tell us. We don't know what's going to happen to us now that we're away from Nowhere. We're just trying to survive."

  "Please. We're kin," Naomi added.

  Celeste sighed. "We get food shipments every Wednesday. Meet me at the back of the store at ten when we close and I'll give you what I can each week. Some of the food will be close to expiring, but it's still good. That's the best I can do. I'm sorry."

  She ran upstairs where Leighton worked on Gannon.

  Naomi and I looked at each other. "We have to find out how they stay here," Naomi said. I agreed, but I doubted Celeste would let go of her secrets that easily.

  20

  The following afternoon Bram and I sat on the lawn where the grass and sidewalk met. Gannon was feeling much better. His leg was set properly and should heal with time. Leighton had left him some pain medication that made him sleep most of the time.

  The other Grims were inside instead of car-surfing or jumping off roofs like as they usually did. I guessed they had learned their lesson from Gannon's broken leg.

  Two women walked toward us with a tiny dog on a leash running ahead of them.

  "I can't believe all these houses are still empty after all this time," said the tall one. She ran her fingers through her long, brown ponytail.

  "Well, the market's terrible. They're going to really have to bring the prices down if they want them to sell," said the short blonde one. She stepped on Bram's boot as they walked by, but of course he couldn't feel it, and neither could she.

  I'd filled Bram in on what Celeste had told Naomi and I me the night before. "So, what do you think?" I asked him.

  "We need to find out what they're doing. Apparently they've figured out some kind of way to live in the real world as humans and be a Grim. We need to do that. I don't always want us to have to depend on handouts from the back of a grocery store in order to eat. I want us to have good lives here. That was the whole point of crossing over."

  "We do have good lives, Bram. We're free to do as we please and to enjoy things that we're used to. Everything would be perfect if we didn't have to worry about Dunningham."

  "We don't have to worry about him. He doesn't rule this world. He has no power here."

  I shook my head. "We don't know that. We don't know what he's capable of. We only know what we've been told , and I have a feeling it's no
t everything."

  That night Josh woke me up at almost midnight. He shook me so hard I felt as though like he w ere as going to give me whiplash.

  "What, Josh?"

  "Wake up and go down to the basement. Quick!"

  I squinted , trying to make sense of what he was saying to me. "What?"

  "I was going to the bathroom and I saw something outside. It was a Watcher."

  I shot up from my bed. "Tell Bram."

  "I already did. Come on! . "

  I threw the covers back and followed my brother to the door in the hallway that led to the basement. Chase, Naomi , and Dorian were already climbing down the stairs. Bram came from his bedroom , carrying his scythe , and followed Josh and me, closing the door behind us. Bram had been the only one who'd thought to grab his scythe. That was a stupid move on our parts.

  "Here," Bram whispered, ordering us to hide underneath some kind of table, which he covered with an old blanket.

  I took slow deep breaths to calm myself down. I heard a pounding on the front door and then a crack. Bram's cold hand grasped mine and squeezed.

  Loud, hard footsteps sounded above our heads. I wondered who it was. Was it Reynold or one of the other Watchers?

  The footsteps stopped for a moment, then I heard them on the stairs.

  "What about the others?" Naomi asked in a tiny whisper. Everything was so quiet, I was afraid that the Watcher would hear even that.

  "We can't worry about that now," Bram said.

  We really ought to have some way to communicate with the other two houses in case of emergencies. I heard the Watcher stop at each bedroom, the creak of a door opening, and then more footsteps. The footsteps got louder , and I squeezed Bram's hand tighter. If I was hurting him, he didn't flinch.

  The basement door opened , and my body went rigid. So many bad thoughts flowed through my head at that moment. I thought about how Dunningham would kill us if we were caught and delivered back to him. I was sure I would get it worse because I had been engaged to him. I had probably humiliated him in front of his entire colony when I'd left.