by Corwin, John
"I tossed it."
I felt my eyes expand. "You what?"
"I took the sheets from it and folded them up. Easier to carry."
"You enjoy giving me heart attacks."
A smile broke through her tears. "You're too easy." She withdrew several folded sheets of paper and flattened them on the bed. "Are we going to school or looking at this, because I need to get ready."
"Yeah, we're going to school," I said. "We'll figure this thing out later."
I glanced over the sheets of paper. One was a list, the others filled with rambling sentences. Despite my doubts, I was curious to go over them at length, so I refolded them and jammed them into the pocket of the jeans I planned to wear. I spotted the crumpled shopping bag from the Grotto as well and slipped a few of the spider marbles into a pocket, just in case I had the chance to bust one over Principal Perkin's head.
Elyssa headed for the bathroom, stopped, and winked as she closed the door behind her. I slipped on a shirt and shorts and went into the common room. Dad stood at the counter, cooking some breakfast.
He looked up from the bowl of eggs he was beating and smiled. "Feeling better?"
"Yep." I touched the back of my neck. "How's the mark?"
"Gone." His arm blurred with speed as he whipped the eggs into a froth. He set the bowl down and dipped some bread into it. "French toast?"
My stomach grumbled. "Heck yeah. Make some for Elyssa, too?"
He chuckled. "I hope you guys were careful last night."
I quirked an eyebrow. "Obviously we were or we wouldn't have made it back in one piece."
An amused smile tugged on his lips. "No, I meant careful in there."
Atomic heat spread from my face and worked its way into my chest. My eyelids parted like the Red Sea. "Nothing happened." I shuddered. "Not to be mean, Dad, but it's not something I want to talk about. Not with you, anyway."
"There's nothing wrong with it, son. I just want you to be responsible. There's nothing better than a healthy sexual relationship."
I fended off his words, shoving the air with my hands. "Gross, Dad! Don't even start talking about the 's' word." His words made me think of him and my mom and—I tried to think about Coach Burgundy's purple-veined face again. Something about his ugly mug overwhelmed all sorts of unpleasant thoughts. Maybe I could use his face to banish hellhounds.
Dad laughed. "I understand how you feel. And I won't bring it up again unless you want me to."
"As in never."
"You want bacon?"
I nodded, eager to be off the current subject, though the thought of mom dampened my mood a bit. I walked around the counter and put a hand on Dad's shoulder as he set bacon in a pan. I could see his thoughts had wandered the same direction as mine from the grim set of his face and the sadness in his eyes.
"We're coming up with a plan to get Mom and Ivy, and you'll be included," I said. "Promise me you won't go Rambo on us again in the meantime."
His fist clenched tight, cracking his knuckles with loud pops and he stared forlornly at the bacon. "Maybe you shouldn't include me." His shoulders slumped and it seemed all the air just went out of him. "I'm a failure, Justin."
"Don't say that."
"I'm a failure. Twice now I've almost been the cause of your death. Once with the vampires, and now with the damned Underborn." He leaned back against the counter and rubbed a hand down his face. "I've hardly been a father to you since Alice left."
"Don't you for one minute blame yourself for this mess," I said. "If it wasn't for Elyssa, I'd probably be dead now. She's the one who helped me rescue you. She's the one who comes up with inventive ways to keep me alive." I slapped him on the shoulder. "We're men of action, Dad! There's nothing wrong with that at all. And once Elyssa comes up with a brilliant plan, we'll have Mom and Ivy back in no time. Heck, maybe we'll even get Shelton to set us up with one of his fancy hideouts."
"I'm gonna what?" Shelton said, sitting up from the couch where he'd apparently been dozing.
Dad laughed the way someone does when they're trying not to cry. I knew exactly how he felt. "I'll wait," he said. "I promise. No more heroics on my part."
I held out my hand. "Shake on it?"
He gripped my hand firmly and gave it a shake. "What's on the agenda today?"
I grimaced. "School."
His face went from amused to confused in a heartbeat. "Why? Isn't that a dangerous place to go right now?"
"I have a few loose ends to tie up." I didn't dare tell him Underborn required it of me.
"Can I help?"
"I'm afraid this is all on me."
"No heroics though, right?"
I grinned. "Nope. Just straightforward bedlam."
Shelton staggered over, his eyes bloodshot and hair sticking out in a dozen different directions. "Coffee," he groaned.
Dad poured a mug full and handed it to him.
Shelton sipped it and moaned. "Heaven."
I chose that moment to look at him and say, "By the way, Underborn says hello."
Chapter 32
Shelton stopped mid-sip and closed his eyes as if hoping when he opened them again, I'd be gone. Since I didn't know any disappearing tricks yet, I was still there when he opened them.
"That son of a bitch." He shook his head slowly. "He told me to keep my mouth shut and then he goes and tells you, huh?"
His reply confirmed what I'd been thinking even if Underborn hadn't said a thing about it. "What amazes me is how much you went through to see his little trial to the end."
"I didn't know it was a trial. Not at first. When someone like Underborn tells you to do something, you do it."
"And you didn't give a crap what happened to us."
"Not before I knew you." He blew on the steaming coffee and pulled up a stool.
"You're saying Shelton was in on the bounty from the beginning?" Dad asked. "Everything we've been through was a test?"
"I'll let you explain, Shelton," I said, hoping to hear a few details he might otherwise leave out.
"I posted the bounty for Underborn. He told me I'd have first dibs on bringing you in."
"Did he tell you where to find us?"
He shook his head. "No, I found out on my own." He pursed his lip for a moment. "At least I think I did. Who knows? Maybe Underborn planted information for me to find. In any case, he tooled me just like he tooled you."
"When did you know what Underborn was up to?"
"Right after the Maximus ordeal, Underborn contacted me and asked me if I was interested in more money. When I told him no, not if it concerned you again, he got a bit more persuasive."
"He threatened you," Dad said.
Shelton nodded. "You don't say no to an assassin." He turned to my dad. "By then, he'd already marked you. Told me if I gave a crap, I'd play along and things would work out just fine."
"And you believed him?"
"I didn't know what else I could do. It didn't matter if I believed him or not. I just figured it'd be safer for me—and everyone else—if I did what he told me to do and kept my fingers crossed."
"Was Smith part of the plan?"
His head shook adamantly. "Hell no. I got him involved. Hoped he'd be able to get the mark off. Maybe Underborn wanted me to figure it out. I don't know. He didn't fill me in on the details. Maybe I was there as a safety."
"Was anyone else involved?"
"Not that I know of, but that doesn't mean anything. Underborn is a master at manipulating his targets and getting them to the destination he wants them to reach. He told me killing is less than one percent of assassination."
For some reason, the next question I wanted to ask stuck in my throat. I hadn't realized how much the answer might mean to me. Shelton was selfish, rude, and abrasive as cheap toilet paper on a chapped ass. He enjoyed calling people names and cursing like a sailor. But despite his rough edges, I kind of liked the guy. He seemed to do what he said he'd do even if his own interests came along for the ride in the front seat.
So I asked the question anyway and knew I'd get a blunt and possibly honest answer. "Are you really my friend, Shelton?" My voice caught on the last part of the question and I looked away, ashamed I'd let emotion creep into my throat.
Shelton set his coffee down and gave me a hard look. "Do you think for a minute I'd put up with all this hullabaloo, gone through all the damned trouble to keep your dad safe, and let the friggin United Nations of the Overworld camp out in my hideout if I wasn't your friend?" He gripped his coffee and took a swig.
I put a hand on his shoulder and squeezed. "Thanks."
He patted my hand. "Yeah, yeah, now get your damned hand off me. We're best pals, okay?"
"Justin?" Elyssa said.
I turned to face where she stood in the bedroom doorway. "Yes?"
"Better get ready for school."
"Yes, mother."
Her withering glare sent Shelton and my Dad scurrying for cover.
I showered, tossed on some jeans and a T-shirt, and somehow even remembered to put on deodorant. Dad gave me a worried look and a hug on the way out. Shelton escorted us up the stairs.
"If you want back in, make a circle, focus on where the stairs should be, and break the circle while thinking, 'Make it so'. That should give you enough juice to trigger the charm," he said as we prepared to go.
"'Make it so?' Like Picard on Star Trek?" I asked, unable to stop my smile. "Shelton, you're a bigger nerd than me."
He ignored the jibe and handed me a set of keys. "These go to my pickup in my garage. Don't dent it."
"Thanks, Shelton," I said.
He whispered something and the brick wall across the alley folded up like a garage door, revealing an old Dodge pickup, obviously lovingly restored and cared for.
"Not a dent, cowboy."
I tossed the keys to Elyssa. "There. Now you can blame her."
Elyssa's eyes brightened like she'd just been given a shiny new toy. Shelton groaned. She hopped in the cab and started the engine. It rumbled deep and throaty like a racecar, and I wondered what sort of modifications it had under the hood. Elyssa pulled out of the garage and took it nice and easy until we hit the interstate. Then an evil grin spread across her lovely lips and she gunned it.
As we pulled into the back parking lot of the school, it seemed so unreal. It had only been a few days since I'd been there, but it felt like years. I saw familiar faces getting off a bus. Saw Nathan and his football buddies striding into the school like they owned the place, and Randy Tosser and his gaggle of nerds following behind the jocks at a discreet distance.
"You ready for this?" Elyssa said, eyes brimming with uncertainty.
"Nope. But let's do it anyway." I kissed her and slid off the bench seat of the pickup. Neither of us had our schoolbooks with us and I felt naked without my full-to-bursting Lord of the Rings backpack slung over my shoulder. I took Elyssa's hand in mine and we walked toward the school.
"Oh my god, you're back!" Elyssa and I both jumped as Katie emerged from a car and raced toward us. She gripped me in a hug. "I thought you'd died or something horrible. And I couldn't remember how to get back to those magical stairs."
"That was for the best," I said. "Believe me."
"What happened after I left?"
I extracted myself from her grasp and said, "That story could take a while."
Katie's eyes darted around the parking lot. "Things have changed around here in the past couple of days, Justin. Or maybe I just know what to look for now. I think there are vampires at our school. There's this group of strange kids who keep to themselves and don't talk to anyone else. They have their own table at lunch, too."
"And what exactly makes you think they're vampires?" Elyssa asked with a smirk.
Katie scrunched her forehead and gazed upward, like she was trying to look inside her brain. "The ones whose faces I could see wear hoodies all the time, their skin is really pale, and their eyes have a reddish tint although I think some of them started wearing contacts."
Elyssa rolled her eyes. "You're sure they aren't just Goth or emo?"
"Dangit, Elyssa, I'm trying to be helpful here. No need to patronize me." Katie folded her arms across her chest and gave my girlfriend a hurt look.
I headed for the school with the two girls in tow. "Point them out to us, Katie, and we'll know for sure." A lump of ice formed in my stomach. The mention of hoodies definitely reminded me of the mystery people who'd watched me at football practice a week or so ago. These might be the vampires Underborn was talking about or they might be albinos who wore hoodies to protect their delicate skin.
Yeah right.
We entered the school and hooked left into the gymnasium. As the gentle roar of conversations met my ears, a strange sense of not belonging crept up my spine, as if everyone here were somehow so different from me I could no longer fit in. I glanced around the huge room, catching a few surprised stares from other students when they noticed me. A shock of unnaturally bright red hair hooked my questing eyes as I spotted Nyte. Ash, shorter and Asian, sat next to him. Nyte's eyes widened when he saw us. He nudged Ash and the two of them stood and waved. I grinned like an idiot and waved back. A mixture of relief and happiness warmed me from the inside out as I saw they were okay, untouched as yet by Coach Burgundy and his thugs.
"You're alive!" Ash said, giving Elyssa a big hug.
"More or less," she said, her bright smile filling her eyes with radiance. "We were feeling under the weather."
"That's an unfortunate side effect of having a significant other," Ash said. "It's much easier to spread disease and germs."
"Nice," I said. "Way to kill the romance."
Katie leaned around Elyssa's taller frame to make herself visible. "Hi, I'm Katie."
Ash's eyes went wide and his complexion went from olive to white. "Hi," he said, his voice almost a whisper.
"Hey," Nyte said, waving uneasily.
"Something wrong?" I asked the two of them.
Nyte shook his head while Ash started playing with his smart phone. Elyssa's grin grew even bigger. I motioned Katie to sit between me and Ash since I felt certain putting her next to Elyssa was only asking for trouble. Ash's fingers froze on his phone and sweat broke out on his forehead.
"Dude, are you feeling okay?" I asked.
He nodded.
"You look so much better without the Goth stuff," Katie said. "Although I think it was wrong of the principal to say you couldn't wear it. That's definitely against the First Amendment."
"It's an unlawful abrogation of our rights," Ash said, finally finding something he could talk about without his voice shaking.
"I think you're right," she said, her eyes a bit uncertain. She leaned toward me and whispered, "Do they know about the vamps?"
I shook my head and glanced at Elyssa whose super hearing had picked up the question as well. I leaned toward her. "Should we keep them in the dark?"
"Telling them isn't an option, Justin."
"But Katie knows. Why shouldn't we tell our friends?"
"It's dangerous knowledge." She glanced at Ash as he carried on a conversation with Katie about repressed rights. "Members of the Overworld are forbidden to speak about it to noms."
"So it's like Fight Club?"
She smiled. "Yeah. First rule of the Overworld: You do not talk about the Overworld. Same goes for exposed noms. We need to get her into the Arcane Council's program ASAP before she slips up."
"Her and me both," I said. "I still don't know crap about the Overworld and I'm tired of asking questions about every little thing."
Katie nudged me. "Over there." She pointed to the bleachers on the opposite side of the basketball court, all the way at the back where almost nobody sat except a huddled group of three people wearing a mix of black or gray hoodies.
"Looks like a convention," I said, trying to peer at the faces obscured by the hoods.
"Bunch of weirdoes," Nyte said.
"They're entitled to wear their garb of choice," Ash
said to Nyte. "How can you be so judgmental?"
Nyte shrugged. "I like having double standards."
As my eyes roamed the bleachers, they found Nathan and his gang across the gym from us. He and his buddies were looking my way. My supernatural batteries had apparently recovered from the thrashing Meghan had given them because I could make out the frown on Nathan's face. He was probably wondering why I was sitting with my real friends as opposed to him and his gang. While he and I weren't exactly friends—and I could never see myself trusting a bully like him—he probably expected me to change colors and go from nerd to jock. Wasn't going to happen.
"What do you think of the hoodie crew?" I asked Elyssa.
"Obviously, they're wearing hoodies." She shrugged. "I don't understand why anyone would want to go back to high school unless they're a masochist."
Because they're recruiting teenagers who think vampires glitter and drive Volvos, I almost said. But I didn't want Katie more involved than she already was.
"If they're you-know-whats, shouldn't we be able to sense them?"
She turned to me. "Remember how you learned to mask your presence from vampires when we rescued your dad?"
I nodded.
"They can do the same thing. Predators use camouflage to their advantage."
The bell rang. Ash and Nyte hurried off to class while the rest of us took our time, waiting for the hoodie crew to head for class so we could take a closer look.
"Aside from fangs, how can we tell what they are?" I asked Elyssa.
"Red eyes and a pale complexion are two indicators, but vampires can use compulsion to make people see what they want them to see."
"Why the hoodies, then?"
"Because they can't use compulsion on so many people at the same time or they'd pass out from exhaustion. Older vamps wouldn't need hoodies. I've seen those who could push compulsions on crowds all day and never break a sweat."
"Well these losers look like the Mark Zuckerberg fan club."
She chuckled.
Our people of interest finally moved out. By this time our group and theirs were the last ones in the gym and I felt very conspicuous loitering about. We headed out the doors and took up a position across the hall so we could see them as they emerged.
