by Amanda Ashby
“Did you just make a joke?”
“Yes, but don’t tell anyone or else they will kick me out of the zombie hunters’ club.”
“That was another joke,” she pointed out as she caught sight of all her DVDs strewn across the floor by the window. She darted over but he stepped in front of her.
“Mia, you don’t need to clean up for me. I thought we’d both established that organized chaos was okay. Besides, we’re only here to mix this stuff together. And speaking of which, we should probably get started.”
“Oh, right. Of course,” Mia agreed. Besides, it wasn’t like she cared what Chase Miller thought of her room. More to the point, judging from his reaction, he didn’t care, either. He was just doing his job. Though she should probably remember that if Rob ever came up to her room, then she would definitely need to clean up since it appeared he was a bit of a neat freak.
“So, according to Candice’s translation, it’s a pretty standard mixture, though since I don’t make them as often as Algeria probably does, it might take a bit longer.”
“As long as it works, that’s okay,” Mia assured him as she cleared some space on the floor and Chase started to pull out bottle after bottle of ingredients. Then he set up a large mortar and pestle and flattened out Candice’s instructions.
“Right,” he said. “If you can read it out loud to me, I’ll get to work.”
“Okay, two teaspoons of rock salt. But it needs to be ground not crushed.”
“Ground rock salt coming up.” Chase opened a bottle and carefully measured it out before glancing back up to her for the next ingredient. Mia grinned as she continued to read, all the time watching as his steady hands mixed and measured. If she was doing it, it probably would’ve turned out into a soggy mess like when she’d been forced to make muffins in home economics, but she got the feeling that Chase never made mistakes like that. Even under duress he seemed cool, calm, and collected. No wonder he was such a good zombie hunter.
Finally he looked up at her as he gave it one last stir. “Okay, it’s done,” he said as he started to put lids back on all the bottles. Mia didn’t know whether to be relieved or a little concerned at just how easy it all appeared to be.
“So what now?”
“Now we need to figure out the best place to do the spell. We want everyone to be in one place.” As he spoke, he stood up and stretched his legs just as there was a noise from out in the hallway. Mia instantly jumped to her feet and grabbed her water bottle before glancing at Chase.
“You don’t think it’s—”
“Technically it shouldn’t be,” Chase said in a low voice, but all the same he nodded for her to stay where she was. No problem there, since her feet didn’t feel capable of moving, and she watched as he inched his way to the door. Mia’s heart started to pound as the sound of footsteps in the hallway got louder. It almost sounded like someone was racing toward them. Did zombies race? She had a feeling they didn’t, but then again, what did she know?
And not for the first time she felt the panic start to rise in her chest. This was real. She had turned everyone into zombies. Zombies that wanted to eat her. She used her hand to try and fan down her face before Chase could realize just how terrified she was.
The footsteps were getting closer now, and Mia slunk farther back toward the bed. She glanced over to where Chase was flat against the wall next to the door and he was holding some sort of metal-looking baton high above his head. Then, before she knew what was happening, the door flew open and a deranged creature charged toward her.
ten
“Grace?” Mia shouted in surprise as she realized the deranged creature was in fact just her sister (whose face was, to be fair, a mask of fury). In an instant, Chase lowered his arm and slipped out of the room into the hallway and Mia shot him a grateful smile since right now she wasn’t up to explaining what they had been doing.
“Don’t you ‘Grace’ me,” her sister snapped as she came to a halt in the center of the room and folded her arms. “I can’t believe you made people nominate you for prom queen.”
“Of course I didn’t make anyone nominate me,” Mia retorted as she tried to gather her frayed nerves. I merely turned them into zombies and made myself the top of their food chain. There’s a big difference.
“Oh, really.” Grace narrowed her lips. “And you’re trying to tell me that it happened because people like you?”
Again, that would be down to the zombie virus that I infected them all with. Keep up.
“Yes,” Mia said instead.
“Well, you might be able to fool everyone else, but you can’t fool me. I know exactly how you managed it.”
“You do?” This time Mia felt a surge of alarm go racing through her. Grace didn’t look like the sharpest knife in the drawer, but she had supersonic hearing that would make the Bionic Woman proud. Somehow she must’ve overheard Mia talking to Chase about it. Why hadn’t Mia double-checked that her sister wasn’t home instead of just assuming she was at cheerleading practice?
“Yes, and I’ve got to say that it’s pathetic,” Grace said as she stared directly at the numerous bottles and the bowl of zombie potion sitting on the floor in the middle of her bedroom.
“Look,” she said, “it’s not all my fault. If Samantha hadn’t tried to steal my prom date then none of this would’ve happened.”
“At least Samantha has the dignity to run an honest campaign, but apparently you’ve been spraying water on yourself like some Playboy Bunny. What I don’t get is how on earth you thought that would get you any votes?” Grace demanded.
Mia glanced down at Chase’s sweatshirt, which was still a little damp, before looking up at her sister again. “So you think that’s why people want to vote for me?” she double-checked.
“Well, duh.” Grace rolled her eyes. “Anyway, Samantha is really upset. Unfortunately, we’ve already checked with the office, and you’re not allowed to withdraw.”
“Withdraw?” Mia shot her sister a blank look. Thanks to the whole zombie crisis, she really hadn’t given too much thought about her prom-queen nomination in the first place. Well, she had, but her initial excitement had quickly been curtailed when she had found out just why she had suddenly become so popular.
“I said you’re not allowed to withdraw,” Grace repeated as if she were speaking to a six-year-old. “But you’d better not do anything embarrassing at your speech tomorrow—”
“Speech? What speech?”
“You see, this is the reason you don’t deserve to even be on the ballot in the first place.” Grace waved her arm in the air in disgust before once again adopting her know-it-all voice. “At your senior assembly tomorrow, all the nominees get to do a five-minute speech on why people should vote for them. And I’m warning you—”
“Enough.” Mia marched over and started to guide her back toward the door. “I don’t need my fifteen-year-old sister telling me what to do. Now, if you don’t mind, I’ve got more important things to worry about.”
“You are so pathetic,” Grace muttered before turning and marching off.
A moment later, Chase slipped back into her room, obviously undetected by Grace. Mia shook her head in annoyance. “Man, what is she so upset about? I mean, why is it so unbelievable that I’ve been nominated for prom queen? Well, okay, so perhaps I did use the forces of darkness to make it happen, but that’s beside the point. The point is that I’ve got a good mind to do a speech just to annoy her and Samantha Griffin.”
“I don’t think that’s a good idea.” Chase shook his head, and Mia looked at him in surprise.
“What? How hard could it be? And it’s not that I asked to be nominated, but it’s a bit insulting that Grace doesn’t think I can—”
“Mia, that’s not what I meant. It’s just that we both forgot about the other senior-class assembly. That’s when we can do the reversal spell.”
“Oh.” Mia widened her eyes in understanding. “You’re right. It’s perfect. Anyway, it’s proba
bly for the best since I was lying about the speech thing being easy. I probably would’ve been terrible, and I wouldn’t have a clue what to say.”
“I’m sure you would’ve worked something out.” Chase shrugged as he started to gather everything up before carefully pouring the potion into a spare bottle. Once he was finished, he held it out to her. “So do you want to take this or should I?”
“You,” she automatically said, since with the way her luck had been lately, it was odds on that she would break it.
“Sure.” He shrugged as he stood back and prepared to leave. “So I’d better get going, but if you’d like, I’ll pick you up tomorrow after I get Candice.”
“Thanks,” Mia said as she poked her head out of the door to check that Grace was nowhere around before nodding for him to follow her down the stairs.
“And look, if you’re worried about anything happening tonight, don’t be. The virus is still definitely in stage two, so even if someone wanted to eat you, they probably couldn’t manage it. Their teeth and their bile glands aren’t fully developed yet.” Then he groaned. “Did I really just say that out loud?”
“It’s okay, I know what you meant,” she assured him as she realized that he had seen how scared she was back in the room. Then he shot her a rueful grin that transformed his face, and suddenly Mia could understand what Audrey had seen in him. And Candice, for that matter.
“Cool. So, I’ll see you tomorrow then. Oh, and Mia, I like your prom dress.”
Huh? She paused for a moment before recalling that her dress had been hanging on the outside of her closet. But Chase was already opening the door to his Impala. She waved good-bye before heading back inside and trying to think how much better it would be this time tomorrow, when no one wanted to eat her anymore.
“Mia, why didn’t you tell me?” her mom asked the next morning.
Mia looked up from the cereal that she had been pushing around her bowl. “T-tell you what?” She tried to plaster a bright smile onto her sleep-deprived face so that she didn’t look like the girl who had stayed up most of the night worrying about the zombies she had accidently created.
At first she had just worried about getting her chanting right, but as the night had worn on, she’d started to worry that Candice and the others had ended up turning all carnivore and had eaten everyone in Newbury (Chase included) and that any minute now they would be crashing through the door looking for her.
“About being nominated for prom queen.” Her mom sounded surprised. “Even Grace didn’t tell me. It wasn’t until Nancy Griffin across the street mentioned it to me that I found out.”
“Oh, right.” Mia tried to push the zombies to the back of her mind. “Yeah, go me.”
“Well, I think it’s wonderful.” Her mom beamed, while somewhere in the background Grace slammed a knife onto her plate. Their mom turned around and lifted an eyebrow. “Honey, we’ve talked about this. You should be pleased that your sister is so popular.”
“Pleased?” Grace scowled as she glanced over at Mia’s outfit (skinny jeans, converse sneakers for running in case things got ugly, and her favorite David Boreanaz shirt for good luck). “How can I be pleased when she is making a mockery of a beautiful tradition?”
“Grace.” This time their mom’s voice was sharp, and Mia grinned.
“Don’t worry, Grace. If I win, I’ll make sure people know that we’re related,” she assured her, which only made her sister scowl even harder. Thankfully, before Grace could respond, Mia caught sight of Chase’s Impala pulling up outside the house with Candice in the backseat. Oh, thank God. They were both alive. And in Candice’s case, not looking like an extra from Night of the Living Dead. That had to be a good thing.
“Here’s my ride.” She darted over, gave her mom a kiss on the cheek, grabbed her bag, and raced outside.
“Hey,” she said to them both as she slid into the front seat of the Impala. Chase was looking nice in a striped T-shirt, while Candice had obviously decided to go for zombie chic in a pair of ripped jeans and a pink hoodie with tiny vampires on it. “So are we all ready?”
“I’ve already eaten my body weight in pepperoni this morning. I’m way past ready,” Candice declared. “So what’s the drill?”
“Well, the senior assembly is in second period just after biology, so I was thinking I’d skip class and get everything set up, and you two join me when bio is over,” he said. “The ritual is similar to the one you first did, but instead of using Algeria’s crystals and amulet, we use cleansed ones. Then Mia just needs to chant the incantation but with the reversal spell added onto the end, and then it’s all done.”
“Good, and we can get back to the important business of getting ready for the prom. I swear I’m going to need a whole day at a detox spa to try and get all this protein out of my system,” Candice said from the backseat as Chase made the short drive to Newbury High. He pulled into the parking lot, and just as they were getting out, he turned to Mia.
“Do you have your water? I think you’re going to need it.” He nodded toward the group of seniors that were gathering on the pavement, and Mia felt her stomach flip. She pulled a bottle out of her bag and gave herself a quick squirt and let out a sigh of relief as everyone started to wander away (not before mimicking her, though—had she mentioned how annoying that was becoming?).
They hurried along the hallway, and after checking for the third time that Chase had everything, Mia and Candice watched him slip into the gym, which was already being transformed for tomorrow night’s prom. Several people on the prom committee were at the other end of the room fussing over a large glittery sign, but none of them even seemed to notice Chase as he headed for the bleachers. At first Mia thought that maybe they were purposely ignoring him, but then she realized it was just his way. After all, if she hadn’t turned everyone into zombies and attracted his attention, she probably never would’ve noticed him, either. Which, in retrospect, would’ve been a pity since as it turned out, Chase Miller was a pretty nice guy.
Once he was safely under the bleachers, she and Candice made their way to biology. The bell hadn’t rung yet but the class was almost full, and up at the front of the room Samantha was having an animated conversation with Mr. Haves.
“I just don’t understand why you won’t let me do a final run-through of my speech. Have I mentioned how important this is?”
“And yet I’m still convinced that it’s best to actually learn about biology in a biology lesson,” Mr. Haves said in a mild voice, seemingly unmoved by Samantha’s plight. Ten points to Mr. Haves. “Now since you are on equipment duty this week, can you please go into the supply closet and get the microscopes? We’re dissecting grasshoppers today.”
“But who wants to find out more about grasshoppers or cockroaches that were dumb enough to get turned into brainless morons?” Samantha poked her bottom lip out and Mia gulped. Yeah . . . wouldn’t want that.
Then she noticed the large ketchup stain on Mr. Haves’s tie and the empty burger wrapper on the desk and she realized he must’ve been at the senior awards assembly, as well. Okay, she must not panic. Everything was going to be fine. Chase knew what he was doing and once they did the ritual, everything would return to normal. Please let everything return to normal.
She and Candice made their way to a lab table just as Samantha stalked to the supply closet at the back of the room, muttering as she went. Mia ignored her and sat down. Two seconds later, Rob walked in and made a beeline for her. She would’ve been a bit more flattered if it didn’t look like he had just smelled a gourmet double-patty burger. She gave herself another light squirt of water.
“Hey, Mia.” Rob yawned as he sat down next to her and gave her a sleepy grin.
“Are you okay?” she said in alarm, worried he had hit his stage-three zombie coma a bit early. “Maybe you need some Red Bull to help you stay awake. You definitely don’t want to go to sleep. No way.”
“Huh?” He looked at her blankly for a moment as his left arm st
arted to twitch. “I’m fine. I just stayed up late last night trying to figure out my speech for today’s assembly.”
“Oh right.” Mia felt a surge of relief flood through her. So no zombie coma, then. Well, that was good. “I wouldn’t worry about it too much. I mean, everyone knows how great you are. You could probably just stand there and smile and people would vote for you.”
“Or take off your shirt,” Candice helpfully pointed out as she discreetly took a handful of Vitamin C supplements and passed them over to Rob. “By the way, take these. It will stop your arm shaking so much.”
“They’re not steroids, are they? My coach has given me strict instructions not to touch that junk.”
“Definitely not,” Candice assured him as they both watched him swallow the supplements. His arm immediately stopped twitching and Mia let her breath go. After her run-in with everyone in the parking lot yesterday, she just wanted to get through this class in one piece.
“Hey.” Rob nodded at Candice. “Thanks for that—I feel much better. Now I just need to figure out a great speech. You know, one that makes me sound smart or something.”
“You mean like how it’s your dream to erase carbon footprints or something?” Mia said, joking. Then she looked up in alarm as Rob scribbled it down.
“Thanks.” He grinned. “I love dating smart girls.”
Before Mia could say anything else, the bell rang and Mr. Haves stood up and started to take attendance.
Despite sitting next to Rob, Mia couldn’t wait for the class to be over. It felt like an eternity, and by the time the bell rang her nerves were feeling pretty frayed. She jumped to her feet, eager to join Chase under the bleachers, but Candice seemed to be having problems getting her books back in her bag.
“Let me,” Mia urged, but Candice waved her off.
“I’m not a brainless idiot yet,” she insisted, and Mia took a deep breath and tried to be patient. Finally Candice got to her feet and they both headed for the door, but just as Mia was about to walk out, Samantha appeared at her side holding a large box filled with the microscopes they had just been using.
