Dead Is a Battlefield

by Marlene Perez

  “So that’s what we do?” I turned to Flo. “We fight evil?”

  She nodded. “In a sense. Whenever your town is in trouble, your tattoo will swirl. But you don’t always know where the danger is coming from,” she added.

  “What now?” Andy asked. “I’m raring to go.”

  There was a shadow of doubt in Flo’s eyes, but I’m not sure anyone else noticed it. “Now we start to train. And after the graduation night, Nightshade is on high alert. That means we patrol the city in teams. Every night.”

  As I finished my milk shake, I considered the news. It was overwhelming.

  “Can I get you anything else? Flo told me you’d be training. Maybe you would like some protein,” a male voice said.

  “Nothing else,” Flo said firmly. “We’re going on a five-mile run.”

  “We are?” Raven asked. She didn’t sound thrilled about it.

  I looked around. “Where is that voice coming from?”

  “It’s my brother, Griffin,” Flo said. “But everyone just calls him Slim.”

  “Florence’s little joke,” the voice replied.

  I looked around again but still didn’t see anyone. “Am I delusional? Or is this a prank?”

  “No prank, I’m afraid,” the voice said. “I’m invisible.”

  “Like Invisible Man invisible?”

  “Exactly,” he said.

  “Close your mouth, Jessica,” Flo said gently. “Haven’t you lived in Nightshade long enough to notice things are a little . . . different here?”

  I nodded, still speechless.

  There was a slight stir in the air and then I felt someone sit down beside me. “I’m sorry I startled you,” Slim said. “I know it takes getting used to.”

  “I’m sorry I acted lame about it,” I replied.

  “Time to warm up,” Flo said. “Let’s go to the park.”

  Once we got to the park, Flo made us stretch every muscle in our bodies.

  Raven lay next to me on the ground and stretched out her hamstrings. “I hate to run,” she complained.

  “Really?” I replied. “I love it.”

  Andy made a point of demonstrating her flexibility by bending over backwards and walking on her hands.

  “Very good, Andy,” Flo said.

  “I guess we know who the teacher’s pet is,” Raven huffed.

  I sat up and did a quad stretch. “My parents will never believe me about this virago stuff.”

  Flo overheard me. “No, they won’t,” she said. “The truth of our existence is on a need-to-know basis, and right now, your parents don’t need to know.”

  I stopped mid-stretch. “How are we going to explain going out every night?”

  She shrugged. “You’ll think of something.”

  “You want us to lie?”

  Andy flipped over and landed on her feet. “It’s simple,” she said. “The lives of everyone in Nightshade, including your own, may depend upon your ability to keep a secret.”

  It didn’t sound so bad when she said it like that.

  Andy was obviously getting restless. “Let’s go, already.”

  Flo led the way on our run, around the park, through the football field, and up hills. Five miles later, I was gasping and soaked with sweat. Andy was barely breathing hard.

  I nudged Raven. “Get a load of superwoman.”

  Andy heard me. “Jealous?” she hissed.

  “I expect you to get along,” Flo snapped. “Andy, Jessica, you two have the first watch tonight.”

  “But, Flo,” we both protested in unison.

  “No buts,” she said. “Your shift starts in an hour.”

  “Why me?” I wondered aloud.

  Andy shot me a disgusted look. “Quit being a princess,” she snarled. “It’s your destiny, that’s why.”

  “Is that true, Flo?” I asked. “Are we destined to be viragos, whether we want to be or not?”

  “I can’t answer that,” she replied.

  Can’t or won’t?

  Flo was done with the subject. “Patrol for four hours, and then Raven will join me for the late shift. If your tattoos start to swirl, call me.”

  Why couldn’t I pair up with Raven instead? Andy made it clear that she didn’t think she needed anybody.

  I guzzled down some water, and then Andy said, “Are you ready to go?”

  “But Flo said our shift didn’t start for an hour.” I was longing for a hot shower.

  Andy’s lip curled. “Never mind,” she said. “I’ll start without you. You’ll have to catch up.”

  “I’m coming,” I said. “Relax.”

  “Relax and we’re dead,” she said grimly. She stalked off without looking to see if I would follow.

  We walked in silence. Andy didn’t say anything for almost the entire four hours. It was dark by the time we’d made the last sweep.

  It was Sunday night and Nightshade’s Main Street looked deserted. “Where is everybody?” Andy said.

  I shrugged. “Probably the movies.”

  “The entire town?” She snorted in disgust.

  “No,” I replied, gritting my teeth. “Some people are probably having dinner at Wilder’s; some people are home. It’s a small town.”

  “That’s one way of describing it,” she said. Her snotty tone made me bristle, but before I could respond, there was a loud crash. It came from the direction of the new store, The Look of Love.

  Andy dashed to the front door and tried it, but it was locked.

  “Let’s try around back,” I said. I ran behind the store and into the alley. Andy followed closely behind me. We heard another crash.

  “It’s coming from inside the store,” I said.

  There was a groan, like someone was in pain. I tried to open the back door, but that was locked, too.

  Andy pounded on the door until it rattled in its frame. “Hello,” she said. “Are you injured? Do you need for us to call the police?”

  No reply. Andy raised her fist to pound again, but I stopped her. “Give it a minute,” I said.

  She fidgeted while I stood and listened. The sound was gone.

  “Someone could be in trouble in there,” she said. She reached in her hair and pulled out a bobby pin, then she bent down and inserted the pin into the lock.

  “What are you doing?” I hissed.

  “Picking the lock,” she said. “What’s it look like?”

  “Like you’re going to get us in trouble,” I said. “Andy, get up! Someone is coming.”

  She stopped but didn’t seem rattled at all. Instead, she knocked on the door again, more calmly this time.

  A light went on and the door opened.

  “Can I help you?” It was the same boy who’d given Eva and me fliers.

  “We heard a noise and thought someone needed help,” Andy said.

  He stared at her. “As you can see, I’m fine.” But there was a trickle of blood near his nose, and a bite mark nearly covered his entire forearm.

  I stared at it. It was filling with pus. What kind of teeth would make a mark that big? I’d never seen anything like it. Definitely not a vampire bite.

  “You’ve been bitten,” Andy said.

  The boy glanced down. “My . . . puppy got a little too rambunctious.”

  Puppy? That wasn’t a puppy bite. He was lying.

  “But the noise?” I asked. I tried to step into the store, but he blocked the way. “And you have blood on your face.”

  “I was moving a box and bumped my nose. I bleed easily,” he replied. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, there’s a lot to do before the store opening.” He shut the door in our faces.

  Andy and I looked at each other.

  “Do you think we should tell Flo?” I asked.

  She shrugged. “Tell her what? Seems like everything’s fine.”

  Afterward, as I walked home, I thought about everything that had taken place. Why me? Why now? Those were questions that not even Flo had been able to answer.

  CHAPTER FIVE<
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  The first day of school was Thursday, which was probably to ease us back into the school year. Mom had surprised me with a quick trip to the mall, so I had a couple of new outfits to choose from. Eva and I had been on the phone for hours the night before, debating what to wear.

  “Why don’t you call Samantha?” she had suggested. “She can tell us the perfect first-day-of-school outfit.”

  Eva was my best friend, but even she didn’t get why I didn’t like my brother’s girlfriend. I wasn’t always sure, either, except that Sam had done the one thing in high school that I wanted to do. Which was being, hands-down, the most popular girl in school. And I didn’t want to follow in her footsteps and be found lacking.

  “She’s busy with college stuff,” I said.

  “She would have time for you,” Eva replied. I wasn’t so sure. I wasn’t usually that nice to Samantha. It irritated me that Katie, my littlest sister, seemed to think Samantha was some sort of goddess, just because she made cookies with her once in a while.

  I would have to figure out what to wear without the Divine Devereaux’s assistance. I had other things on my mind, though. Like what to do about the virago thing. What could I do? Flo made it sound like none of us had any choice in the matter. We were viragos and that was that. It made me feel like something had been decided without me, which I hated.

  And what did being a warrior mean, anyway? It wasn’t like I’d be fighting bad guys at my high school, or anything. Principal Amador would suspend me in a heartbeat for even thinking about it. I finally fell asleep still thinking about my complicated new role.

  The next morning, I spent an hour trying on outfits to make my critical what-to-wear decision.

  I still hadn’t figured it out when Mom’s “Jessica, you’re going to be late!” prompted me to go with the outfit I had on: jeans that had cost me four weeks of allowance, stacked heels, and a pale green floral top.

  “Can you believe we’re finally here?” Eva asked me as we walked to school.

  “In high school? The day was bound to come eventually.”

  “I guess.” She surveyed my outfit critically. “I see you managed to get in touch with Samantha.”

  I shook my head. “Nope, I picked this out all by myself.”

  Our conversation was interrupted by a car horn.

  “Hi, Eva. Hi, Jessica.” It was Evan Delaney, calling out from the passenger side of his mom’s Volvo. “Want a ride?”

  “No, thanks, Evan,” I said. “We’ll walk.”

  Evan and I had gone to a couple of middle school dances together. He was well-mannered, good-looking, and popular.

  “I can’t believe you turned him down,” Eva said. “He’s so cute.”

  I shrugged. “I guess so.”

  “What are you talking about? He’s the complete package.”

  “Maybe,” I said. My mind turned to Dominic Gray, but I blocked the thought immediately. Dominic was not the perfect guy. He couldn’t be. I couldn’t take all that competition.

  “Leave it to Miss Popularity to find Mr. Perfect lacking,” Eva said. There was a tiny hint of something envious in her voice and I stopped walking.

  “Maybe I’m not Miss Popularity anymore,” I said. “And maybe I find perfection a little boring.”

  “I’ll take Evan off your hands,” she replied with a giggle. That sour note in her voice was gone and I felt relieved. I didn’t want to start my first day of high school fighting with her.

  “He’s all yours,” I said.

  Eva gave me a shrewd look. “Maybe he’s easy to give up because you like someone else.”

  “Like who?” I asked, but Dominic’s face popped into my mind again and I blushed.

  “I thought so.”

  “Dominic Gray is cute,” I admitted. “But every girl in town is interested in him.”

  “They’re just interested in Dominic the lead singer,” she scoffed. “That’s not what you’re interested in, is it?”

  “I can’t figure him out,” I said. “The fact that he’s in a band doesn’t matter to me, but how he treats me does.”

  “He seemed genuinely sorry that he snapped at you,” she said. “Those other girls don’t matter. Not if you really like him.”

  “Maybe you’re right,” I replied.

  “You know I’m right,” she said. “That’s what best friends are for.”

  I grinned at her. “You’re the best best friend ever.”

  “It doesn’t bother you, does it?” Eva asked me.

  “What? You liking Evan? You’ll make a cute couple,” I said. Even if their first names were alike enough to cause massive confusion.

  Wolfgang Paxton and a bunch of other sophomore boys were lounging on Nightshade High’s front steps. As Eva and I walked by, a stocky boy I didn’t know said something rude that I didn’t quite catch. I guessed it was about me from the way the boys stared at me and snickered.

  Wolfgang was the last person I would have expected to come to my defense. “Leave her alone,” he said.

  “Why? Do you want her for yourself?” the stocky boy asked.

  “I have a girlfriend, Tim,” Wolfgang replied. “I was just trying to prevent you from losing a few teeth.”

  The stocky guy got in his face. “From you?”

  “No,” Wolfgang said calmly. “She’s Sean Walsh’s little sister.”

  “He’s all the way in Orange County,” Tim scoffed.

  I wanted to grab that Tim guy by his thick neck and show him I could take care of myself. That would mean revealing something I wasn’t ready to show the world.

  “Yeah, but his best friend is right here in Nightshade,” Wolfgang said. “You willing to tangle with Ryan Mendez?”

  Before Tim had time to reply, Eva and I ran into the building.

  I couldn’t find my locker combination and had to try it three times before I finally remembered I’d written it down on the back of my schedule. I had trouble finding my English class, and I only had one class with Eva. All in all, not a fantastic first day of school.

  I caught myself looking for Dominic in the halls, but I didn’t see him anywhere.

  After my last class, Eva dragged me over to the bulletin board outside the office. “Sign up with me,” she begged.

  “For what?”

  “Show choir. It’s after school, once a week. And it won’t interfere with soccer.”

  “I haven’t even made the team yet,” I pointed out.

  “You will,” she said. “Please sign up with me.”

  “I didn’t know you were interested in singing,” I said.

  “It’s a recent interest.” She avoided my eyes, but I knew that look.

  “Is Evan in the choir?”

  She blushed and I knew I was right. She said quietly, “He’s in the science club and choir. And according to the school bulletin, the science club meets the same time as HACC.” HACC stood for Horror and Cinema Club.

  “That was fast,” I commented. She’d already memorized his schedule, which was something I’d never seen her do before. Normally, she was much more interested in old horror movies than boys. Eva wanted to be a director someday and thought it was never too early to start.

  She gave me puppy-dog eyes, and I sighed and took the pen out of her hand. “Okay, I’ll do it.”

  She squealed and hugged me. “Thank you, thank you!”

  I hoped I wouldn’t regret it.

  CHAPTER SIX

  I had to walk home alone on Wednesday because Eva was doing some casual loitering by her new crush’s locker. I’d just left school when it started to pour down rain. It was early fall, when it rarely rained, so I didn’t have an umbrella or even a jacket with me. Within seconds, I was soaked.

  A car pulled up alongside me. “Want a ride?” Dominic Gray was behind the wheel.

  “No thanks,” I replied. “Don’t you have some groupie to bug?”

  “But I want to bug you,” he said. “C’mon, please get in.” He asked with a devastating smile and
I couldn’t help but smile back.

  “Well, it’s better than drowning,” I said. “But just barely.”

  He let out a snort of laughter. I didn’t say anything as we drove, but I noticed that he seemed to know where to take me.

  “How did you find out where I live?” I asked him as we turned onto my street. He parked the car in front of my house before he answered me.

  “I asked Eva,” he said. “She’s your best friend, right?”

  “She is,” I said. “But why did you want to know?”

  “Look, I know I acted like a jerk the other night,” he said. “I wanted to tell you I was sorry. That’s all. I’m not stalking you or anything.”

  “Apology accepted,” I said, because he seemed sincere. “And thanks for the ride.” For some unfathomable reason, I wanted to prolong our conversation. It couldn’t be that I had noticed his bright blue eyes, could it?

  “Thanks for hearing me out,” he replied. “I’d love to talk more, but I’m supposed to meet Aunt Katrina and I’m late.”

  “I’ve got to go, too,” I said. “Guitar lesson.”

  “Guitar lesson?” he asked. “When did you take that up? When you met me?”

  The question seemed hostile and it dawned on me that he thought I had taken up the guitar to get closer to him.

  I stared at him. “You do have a fat head, don’t you?”

  “I just meant—” he started to explain.

  “I know what you meant,” I said. “For your information, I’ve been playing the guitar for three years.” I didn’t wait for a reply, but got out of the car and slammed the door, hard.

  I ran up the driveway to the house. I was going to be late for my lesson and it was all Dominic’s fault.

  I grabbed an umbrella and my guitar case and then ran all the way to my guitar teacher’s house. I was late and Ms. Minerva already stood at her door. “You know the rules,” she said. “One minute more and I was going to cancel your session.”

  She was the best teacher in Nightshade and she had kids who were just waiting to snag my spot. “I’m sorry!” I said. “It won’t happen again.”

  “Well, then, let’s get started,” she said. “I thought I’d teach you a new song today.”