He shrieked and let go of Gray. The Contortionist was still on him, though. They were a blur of limbs and punches, and I couldn’t risk slashing the wrong person. I was reaching for the Contortionist’s shirt when her body was lifted off Gray.
She hovered in mid-air for a second, and then she flew across the alley.
I stood, stunned, as the Contortionist grabbed her head with both hands and let out a nails-on-chalkboard screech.
“Make it stop,” she groaned, cowering against the wall. “Please. Please.”
She was clawing at her own face with her nails. Small rivulets of blood streamed down her cheeks.
What the hell?
I looked at Gray, who was coughing and getting to his hands and knees.
“Kai,” he croaked, before another coughing fit took hold of him and he doubled over.
The Spider was rolling around on the ground, clutching his head just like his girlfriend.
“Oh God,” he groaned. “Oh God, oh God, oh God.”
Then, as though they’d planned it, the Spider and Contortionist staggered to their feet and sprinted out of the alley.
“Are you okay?” Gray grabbed me and stared at me with wild eyes.
“Fine,” I managed. “You?”
“How did you do that?” he asked. His eyes still raking my body as he assessed my injuries.
“I didn’t,” I managed.
And we had to get out before whatever had scared those two senseless came after us. Gray and I wound our arms around each other—it was unclear who was supporting whom—and limped out of the alley.
I jerked to a stop. A shadow passed behind two garbage cans and slid into the street beyond the alley.
“Who’s there?” I asked in a shrill voice.
There was no reply. Not that I’d expected one.
I fumbled to get my phone out of my pocket. I let Gray hold me up, since my whole body had started to convulse in the aftermath of our close call.
I managed to call Bri. In a hoarse voice, I told her where we were. Then, I sagged against Gray.
I squinted behind us, looking for the shadow. I had no idea how a blob of a shadow could feel familiar, and yet, I couldn’t shake the eerie sense that it was the same one I’d felt in the courthouse before the attack.
As I searched the dark mouth of the alley, my anxiety grew. Assuming I wasn’t crazy and there really was someone behind that shadow, then why had they just saved us? I wasn’t idealistic enough to think they’d done it out of charity. And that begged a different, more important question.
What did they want from us?
CHAPTER 11
Bri helped Gray and me into the house. To our friends’ credit, they didn’t freak out at the sight of our blood and filth.
A.J. flew our first aid kit into the living room. His cure-all vegan “chicken” soup bubbled away in the kitchen.
My clothes were shredded from being dragged across broken glass, and my back was covered in shallow scratches. There was also a long gash across my palm from the glass, but I was still too hyped up on adrenaline to feel any pain.
Gray had an ugly ring of bruises around his neck from where the Spider had strangled him. The cut on his shoulder from earlier in the day had reopened. He also had shallow slices all along his arms from the Spider’s pincers.
“Do you realize this is the second shirt you’ve bloodied and torn beyond recognition in twenty-four hours?” A.J. asked Graysen.
“I just don’t want Yutika to get bored,” Graysen replied with a tired smile. “I figured since she has nothing better to do, she can just keep replacing all the clothes I destroy.”
Yutika snorted. And then she got to work sketching a new shirt for Graysen.
“Are you sure you don’t want me to find those assholes and rip their heads off?” Bri asked me for the fourth time.
I shook my head. “There’s no point in drawing any more attention to us.”
“Besides, Kai scared the shit out of them,” Gray said with a shaky laugh. “I blacked out for a few seconds, and when I came to, she had them both crying.”
“It wasn’t me,” I insisted. “I’m telling you. There was a shadow.”
“Are you sure you didn’t hit your head or something?” Yutika asked me anxiously.
“I’m positive,” I assured her.
Unconvinced, Yutika turned to Michael. She made a less-than-subtle gesture at my head.
“I can’t diagnose concussions,” Michael said. “But her mind seems intact as far as I can tell.”
“Oh, thanks so much.” I rolled my eyes at the pair of them.
“There aren’t any cameras with the right angle for me to see what happened,” Smith said. “Is there anything else you remember?”
Of all of us, Smith was always the most ready to accept the possibility of something inexplicable.
I bit my lip.
“I felt something,” I said. “It was like an awareness, or something. And then I saw the shadow.”
I did my best to explain something I didn’t understand myself. The others were trying not to let their skepticism show, but by the time I was finished, even I was doubting what I had sensed.
“It’s okay, babe.” Graysen gave me a wry smile. “My ego’s big enough to handle you saving both of us.”
I laughed a little at that. “The one thing I’ve never worried about hurting is your ego.”
Sir Zachary hopped onto the couch and plopped down so half of him was on my lap and the other half was on Gray’s. He wagged his tail and panted happily when we both started to pet him.
“Well, the big tragedy of the day was all those lost cookies,” Yutika said wistfully.
Everyone gaped at her.
“I mean, I’m glad you’re okay,” she amended. “But those were Ma’s cookies. Oh God.” Yutika clutched her stomach and moaned. “I bet she made chocolate-chip peanut butter. Did she make chocolate chip-peanut butter?”
“Next time, I’ll throw Kai at the bad guys instead of the cookies,” Graysen promised her.
Yutika patted his leg. “That’s all I’m asking.”
Shaking my head, I readjusted Sir Zachary so he was fully on Graysen’s lap and got to my feet.
“So, what do we do now?” A.J. asked.
To Gray, I said, “Can you fill them in on what Grandma Tashi told us? If I don’t shower, my hair is going to go on strike.”
I hauled my sore body up the stairs and closed myself in my and Gray’s bedroom. The room was pitch black; not even the glare of street lights could make it through our curtains.
Gray and I had bought the blackout curtains in high school. We’d thought that would be enough to protect us from prying eyes, but a week ago, we’d learned that Remwald’s people had used drones to spy on us through the skylight in our ceiling. We’d covered the skylight with black paint the first chance we had, but the mere reminder of that violation brought bile to my throat.
Our friends had all offered to switch rooms, but aside from the fact that none of their rooms were big enough to hold Gray, me, and all of my clothes, this was our room. I wouldn’t let some scum of the earth take away the fact that this space had been ours since high school.
The ritual of showering helped get my thoughts in order. I conditioned my hair, which took longer than I had time for but felt like a necessity nonetheless. We might be smack-dab in the middle of a shit storm, but that didn’t mean I was going to walk around with unkempt hair.
I usually wore my hair in thick twists, unless I had a reason to go the extra mile to straighten it. My hair had more of Ma’s coarseness than my Hispanic father’s straight, no-fuss hair. Whenever I complained about it, Ma would remind me that I’d had nine months to pick out my genes, and she couldn’t be held responsible for my choices.
I wrestled open one of my dresser drawers, choosing a pair of soft denim skinny jeans and a shirt with a fun cut-out pattern down the sleeves. I searched through what Graysen referred to as my Mount Everest pile of sho
es, choosing low-heeled beige booties.
“You look dressed to impress,” A.J. said appreciatively when I came down the stairs.
Graysen’s tired expression evaporated at the sight of me. He was sitting forward on the couch, while a needle and thread stitched up the gash in his shoulder. He turned to better see me, and the muscles in his broad back rippled with the motion.
“You two are undressing each other with your eyes again,” Yutika accused. She made a gagging face, but her eyes were twinkling with humor.
“We weren’t,” I said, at the same time Gray said, “Can’t help it.”
Gray and I exchanged a look that was half love and half lust, which earned us heckles and gagging noises from our friends.
“If you idiots don’t have anything better to do than have mind sex in front of us, then I’m going to bed,” Smith grumbled.
“No, you’re not,” I told him. “We’re all going out. And what the hell is mind sex?”
“Where are we going?” Michael asked before Smith could get into particulars.
“A graveyard,” I replied.
Yutika started to laugh, before realizing I was serious.
“I don’t know how the dead visiting Grandma is related to everything else that’s been going on,” I said. “But if there is a connection, I want to know what it is.”
“You want to visit a graveyard,” Bri said, glancing at her watch, “at three in the morning?”
“It’s the perfect time to grave rob,” A.J. declared. He crooked his finger at Sir Zachary’s leash. The leash flew off the table and attached itself to the dog’s collar.
“We’re not robbing the graves,” I said. “We’re just…digging them up.”
✽✽✽
“Well, this isn’t creepy at all,” Graysen said.
We stood outside the locked entrance to the Peaceful Mag Burial Ground cemetery. The flashlight beams from our cell phones bounced around between the headstones beyond the gate.
I’d always thought it was stupid that there were separate cemeteries for Mags and Nats. There were some newer cemeteries that were integrated, but for some reason, most people preferred to keep their dead separated.
Unity, maybe. But not equality.
Without street lights, it was completely dark out. A layer of mist hung in the air, giving the graveyard a Halloween movie kind of vibe. I was glad I wasn’t here alone.
“If any zombies show up, I’m outta here,” Yutika whispered.
Sir Zachary let out a low whine and pressed himself against A.J.’s leg.
“Let’s just get this over with,” I said.
Bri blew on her fists. Her titanium skin glowed in the dark as she reached up and gave the chain around the gates a swift yank. The lock popped off, and we were in.
“Left,” Smith said. “Third row down.”
We followed the cobble path to the first of the three headstones. The name inscribed on the stone matched the one Grandma Tashi had told us.
“This girl was only two when she died,” Bri said in a soft voice. She brushed her fingers across the headstone.
Bri ducked her head and scrubbed at her eyes. There was a dull plink as one of her titanium tears fell to the ground.
My chest tightened. Too late, it occurred to me that I should have suggested that Bri stay behind. I hadn’t even thought about how much this whole situation would remind her of her niece’s death.
I opened my mouth to say something comforting, but I realized there were no words that would lessen her pain. I had lost members of my family, but I’d been too young to really process the loss the way Ma and Grandma had. I could only imagine what Bri was going through. So, I just wrapped an arm around her titanium shoulders and squeezed.
“I guess we need to dig it up now,” Graysen said, rolling his shoulders.
“Can you create me a shovel?” Michael asked Yutika.
“This is seriously a new low for us,” Yutika replied as she brought the object into being.
“I’ve got this, big guy,” A.J. said.
I raised my eyebrows. A.J. wasn’t usually one to volunteer for dirty work, especially since he’d ignored my suggestion about grungy clothes and was wearing white pants.
I understood why he had volunteered when the shovel lifted out of Michael’s hand and started digging up the grave all on its own. Dirt flew in every direction.
Bri squealed. We all took cover behind nearby gravestones to avoid getting sprayed. A.J. just crossed his arms and leaned against a tree as the shovel worked at a frantic pace.
Sir Zachary was helping to dig, but his little paws weren’t making much progress. At least he seemed to be enjoying himself.
Thirty seconds later, I heard the dull thunk when the shovel came up against the coffin.
“I’m not climbing in there,” A.J. said, putting up his hands and backing away.
“I’ll do it,” Michael said, going to the edge of the hole and jumping down.
I turned on my phone’s flashlight and shined it into the hole so he could see what he was doing. There was some shuffling and scraping sounds. Bri leaned down into the hole to pull Michael out.
My heart constricted at the sight of the child-sized biohazard container Michael carried.
The specially-sealed containers were used because DAMND could be transmitted even after death, or so we’d all been told. Of course, that was all bogus since the bacterium had never existed in the first place.
And that left the obvious question of how these children had really died.
Graysen put his arms around me and rested his chin on my shoulder. I leaned back against him as we stared at the red container that had DAMND stamped in yellow on every side. There was also the child’s name and dates of birth and death.
“It’s completely sealed,” Michael said as he knelt and examined the container.
Bri let out a shuddering breath. She grasped each side of the container.
“Ohmygosh we’re really doing this,” A.J. said, his words coming out garbled because he had one hand over his mouth.
“We’re all going to hell,” Yutika muttered.
The flashlight beam bounced as my hand shook. Gray held my wrist, steadying me as Bri pulled apart the container.
Someone gasped.
“Holy shit,” Smith whispered.
The box was empty.
For several seconds, we all just stared at the empty container.
“Okay.” Graysen cleared his throat. “So, where’s the little girl?”
That was the question.
“Don’t forget that someone disappeared her records,” Smith reminded us, sounding more excited than the situation called for.
The rest of us might be horrified, but there was nothing that got Smith going like the possibility of a conspiracy.
“Do we think the other kids’ graves are empty, too?” Michael asked.
“Only one way to find out.” Smith took off, presumably heading toward the next grave.
“You need therapy,” Yutika informed him.
The shovel and Sir Zachary took off after him.
CHAPTER 12
The sun was up by the time we got home.
The other two graves had been the same as the first. The biohazard containers were both empty.
“We deserve waffles,” A.J. said.
My stomach rumbled in response. We’d been going non-stop for more than a day.
Had the trial really only been twenty-four hours ago?
It felt like a lifetime had passed since then.
“We need to turn this information over to the Alliance,” Graysen said as we settled ourselves around the kitchen table. “This is all getting way above our pay grade.”
I agreed.
Bowls of fresh blueberries, strawberries, and sliced bananas floated over to the table. Flour sifted itself into a mixer, while vegan butter deposited itself onto the waffle maker.
“We’ll tell Dr. Pruwist everything when we meet with him tomorrow,”
Graysen said rubbing his eyes.
“You mean today?” Smith asked, concentrating as he hovered his poison wand over a sealed vanilla pudding cup.
The waffle maker turned itself and flopped a fresh waffle onto a platter.
“Oh, right,” Graysen said. “I guess that is today.”
My breath caught. With everything else that had happened, I’d completely forgotten about my meeting with Pruwist. Panic began to knot my insides.
“Don’t worry,” Gray began, seeing the look on my face. “We’ll—”
We both looked down as my pocket began to vibrate.
I fished out my phone and looked at the screen.
“Hi, Grandma.”
“Did you find out anything about those children?” she asked.
Grandma Tashi wasn’t big on hellos. Or goodbyes. Or really anything that didn’t have a clear purpose.
“The kids from the graveyard?” I asked, spearing a bite of the waffle that had just deposited itself onto my plate.
“Which others would I be talking about?” Grandma replied irritably. “And don’t talk on the phone while you’re eating. It’s rude.”
I rolled my eyes and put another bite in my mouth.
“Why do you want to know?” I asked my grandmother, trying to stave off the moment when I’d have to fess up to the fact that we’d dug up the kids’ graves.
I could only imagine what she would say when she found out I’d been disturbing the dead. Or, in this case, the disappeared….
“I had a strange visit from a Mag,” Grandma said. “She said somethin’ that made me think there might be a connection to those poor young ones.”
“What did he say?”
Graysen playfully batted my fork away as I went for what was left of his waffle.
“You know I don’t tell the dead’s secrets over the phone! Have some respect.”
“Grandma, please,” I groaned. “I’m so tired. And—”
“Don’t you go tryin’ to take me on a guilt trip,” she interrupted. “I invented guilt.”
She let out a heavy sigh, and in spite of her words, I knew I’d won this round. I put my phone on speaker so the others would be able to hear.
Mags & Nats 3-Book Box Set Page 41
