by Ching, G. P.
Dane opened one eye to glare at her. Jacob rested his head on his fist. Neither said a word.
“Okay, that sounded crazy,” Malini muttered. “Of course college isn’t more important or more real than saving the world or Abigail, but damn it, I want to go. I want what everyone else gets to have. I want to sleep in a dorm and maybe join a sorority. I want to wake up late for class and ace the test anyway. I want to study in a library with more books than people until the wee hours of the morning.” She slapped the page of her open book.
Pulling back his chair, Jacob walked around the table and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. She leaned into his side. “You’ll have that, Malini. Somehow, when this is all over, we’ll have normal again.”
Dane cleared his throat. When Malini looked his way, he glowered at her and shook his head. “Don’t make promises you can’t keep, Jacob,” he said. “Malini, you and I have been to Nod. You’ve seen the enemy. You’re the goddamn Healer! Life isn’t fair and you might not get any of the things you want. I might not either. All we have is today and knowing we are part of something that could change the world. So study if you want to, or don’t. None of us knows what’s coming next. Choose and have no regrets.”
Stunned, Malini sat up straighter, eyebrows shooting toward the ceiling.
“Hey, back off, Dane,” Jacob said.
But Malini grabbed his hand. “No, Jacob. He’s right. Life has no guarantees and I’ve never been promised normal. It’s time I get over it.”
“Malini—”
“Don’t. Sometimes we have choices and sometimes life decides for us,” she said bitterly. “Today, I’m choosing to study, because that’s how I want to spend my time. It makes me feel good knowing that if I do have a chance at my dream, I’ll be prepared. And if I don’t, well, I can always take my frustrations out on some Watchers.”
Dane leaned over the table to bump her fist. “That’s my girl.”
Jacob shifted in his chair but didn’t say anything.
The bell rang. First period. Malini stood from the cafeteria table and gathered her books. “Good luck, you guys.”
* * * * *
With the last oval filled in, Malini hunched over her AP history final, certain she’d aced the exam. A few more hours and she’d be free, if you could call it that. Truth was, outside of school, the answers didn’t come multiple choice or in time-boxed essays. Things weren’t always right or wrong, or black and white. And there were no holidays from real life.
The door whined open and a tall, lean woman entered the room, wearing a red suit and heels. “Pencils down, everyone,” she announced, clapping her hands together.
Malini twitched. The rotting smell of Watcher permeated the classroom. She placed one hand over her mouth and reached for her phone to text Jacob.
“Excuse me,” Mr. Anderson said, standing from his desk. “I think you are in the wrong place. This is the advanced placement history exam. The students have thirty minutes left.”
“There’s been a change to the curriculum,” the woman said, tossing her brunette locks over her shoulder and batting her eyelashes.
“Uh, I don’t think so, miss.” Mr. Anderson bunched his bushy white eyebrows together. “Perhaps you have the wrong room? Can I ask your name?”
“There’s no mistake, and my name isn’t your business,” the woman said. “I’m your replacement. You’ve been fired.”
Mr. Anderson halted, face reddening. He approached the woman and lowered his voice. “Come with me. Let’s talk this over with Principal Bailey. I’m sure there’s been a mistake.”
“Principal Bailey has taken a leave of absence. He’s been replaced by Principal Pierce. You can go see her if you’d like.” She turned away from him, heels clack-clack-clacking on the linoleum as she paced to the front of the classroom.
Looking more than a little confused, Mr. Anderson pushed through the door, Malini guessed to sort things out with the new principal.
Malini’s first instinct was to leap over her desk and kill the Watcher at the front of the room, but that would be a bad idea for a number of reasons. First, even if her class survived the trauma of watching the woman fry beneath her touch, she’d out herself as a Soulkeeper to everyone. Second, if the Watcher had backup, she might be overpowered and taken. She was a Healer, not a Horseman, and was never the first line of offense. And third, Healers were hard to see. While she was incognito, she might learn why the Watcher was here.
“There is no need to complete your exams,” the woman in red said, clasping her hands in front of her hips. “Due to recent changes in the state’s curriculum, this test will not be graded. You may leave for holiday break early. Reschooling will begin when you return.”
“Reschooling?” Amy Barger asked from the front row.
The Watcher smiled. “Yes. The state has determined that there is too much emphasis on learning facts, exercising logic, and creative problem solving in the classroom. The curriculum is being redesigned to better prepare you for life.”
“Like what?” Phillip Westcott asked.
“Like … like…” The Watcher seemed genuinely confused by the question for a moment. “Like how to make people want things and force people to do as you please.”
The students glanced around the room. Amy responded, “You mean, like entrepreneurship? Motivating people, marketing and sales.”
The woman in red giggled. “Or dictatorship. Maybe the benefits of slave labor. We will explore all of the options. I will expand your minds.”
A rumble of voices rose up as her classmates asked each other if this was real. Malini hoped Jacob read her text and was on his way, because she could hold her tongue no longer. “Is this curriculum change only for our school or every school?”
The Watcher’s eyes narrowed and focused on her. “Every school. What is your name, student?”
“My name is Malini Gupta, and I do not believe that learning how to control other human beings against their will is a worthwhile educational pursuit.”
“No, I don’t suppose you would.” She bared her teeth. “Would you join me in the hall, Ms. Gupta?”
“Hell yeah.” If there was one thing she could always count on from a Watcher, it was arrogance. This snake-skinned POS thought she could take on the Healer single-handedly! Malini smiled as she passed the red suit, never breaking her hate-filled glare as she led the way into the empty hallway.
Red suit followed her, facing off down the rows of mustard yellow lockers. The door to the classroom closed behind her.
“A Soulkeeper. What a pleasure it will be to end you.”
Malini smiled. So that was it. This egotistical fallen angel didn’t recognize she was the Healer. She thought she was enough to take on a Horseman or Helper on her own. Malini would enjoy teaching her a lesson.
As Lillian had shown her, Malini stepped backward into a fighting stance. “What are waiting for? End me.”
The Watcher attacked from straight on. Malini dodged to the right, punching with her left hand, her healing hand. The sizzle, when her knuckles hit the Watcher’s cheek, filled the hallway with a sulfur stench. The woman whirled, one hand clutching her burnt face, the other lashing out, talons breaking her illusion. Malini caught her hands, threaded her fingers with the Watcher’s. She gave her a focused dose of Healing.
“Who are you?” the Watcher squealed as the burn advanced up her arms, bringing the Watcher to her knees. The red suit faded away, as did the human skin, and the shiny brunette hair. Flames licked up the creature’s shoulders, burning higher around its ears, scorching Malini’s skin in the process. She didn’t let go. She’d burned before, worse than this. She’d enjoy watching this snake fry.
The Watcher’s wings unfurled and slapped the tile floor in one last attempt to escape. Black blood sprayed across the lockers, and then the flames engulfed the Watcher.
Malini let go. One step. Two steps back. She watched the incineration, smiling. When she reached the water fountain, she carefully
washed away the burn on her arms and splashed water over her face. She used the bottom of her shirt to pat her eyes dry. Crap, she’d have some explaining to do when she got home. One sleeve was gone, and scorch marks permanently marred the pattern on the front. She sighed and turned back toward the classroom
The students had moved into the hallway. White faced and open-mouthed, they stared at her and the pile of ash that smoldered in the middle of the hall.
“It’s not what it looks like,” she said.
At that moment, Dane and Jacob burst into the hallway. Dane was covered in wounds and soaking wet. Jacob was unharmed but looked as if he might be sick at any moment.
“School’s been compromised. We’ve gotta get out of here,” he blurted, then seemed to notice the Watcher-shaped bonfire and the gaping students.
“I know,” Malini said sadly. “I’ll grab my stuff. There will be more. I’m willing to bet the new principal has scaly skin.”
Jacob nodded.
As she passed the group of her peers, packed shoulder to shoulder for safety, and retreated into the classroom, she heard Dane clear his throat behind her. She glanced back to see him addressing the crowd. “Um, you’ve just witnessed the newest project of the experimental theater group!” he said in a bombastic voice, arms extended to his sides. “If you’re interested in joining, we will be meeting every third Wednesday after break.”
The crowd broke into whispers.
“How did you do that?” Amy Barger asked.
Dane mumbled something about mirrors.
“I’m in,” Phillip Westcott said.
Malini couldn’t help but laugh.
Chapter 16
Christmas
Jacob watched the fire lick up the sides of the Laudners’ fireplace Christmas morning, hoping he could get through to Katrina. She curled like a cat in the sage green recliner on the other side of the fire. Wearing nothing but a cami and sleep shorts, the bones of her shoulders poked under her skin, her knees seemed too large, and her calves were gone, replaced by skin and bone.
“You’re taking it again,” Jacob said.
She didn’t answer right away. Instead, she rose up on her knees like a prairie dog to look over the back of the chair, but the Laudners and Jacob’s mom were in the kitchen preparing breakfast.
“Yes,” Katrina said. “I got some from school before break. The new nurse is handing Elysium out like vitamins. Everyone is taking it.”
“The pills are killing you, Katrina.” Jacob lowered his voice. “I told you before, Watchers are running Harrington. Elysium is purposefully addictive. It’s made to keep you weak and under their control.”
Katrina shook her limp head of hair. “I know what you said, Jacob, but I’ve been thinking about it. I’ve been possessed. This is different. When I take Elysium, I feel really good. It hasn’t changed me. If anything, I’m a better person when I take it.”
“How do you figure?” Jacob asked incredulously.
“More patient, laid back.”
“You’re laid back because you’re high and you don’t care about anything but the pills.”
“Exactly. So, in a way, it’s a good thing. Plus, I finally lost the extra weight.”
“Extra weight!” Jacob had to force himself to keep his voice down. “Katrina, you are starving to death. You eat Elysium and nothing else. You look like a skeleton.”
“In your opinion.”
“In any opinion. I’m surprised the doctor hasn’t admitted you for anorexia.”
“He tried. I’m over eighteen. I refused.”
Jacob buried his face in his hands. “It’s killing you.”
Katrina stood and walked over to his chair. “I think it’s keeping me alive. I only want to die when I don’t take it.”
Frustrated, Jacob met her eyes. The green was cloudy and dull. From this angle, with the light from the fire burning behind her, she looked like the walking dead, like a zombie. “I can help you. I helped you before when you were possessed. There might be herbs I can bring from Eden to lessen the withdrawal. Malini can heal you again.”
“You don’t get it,” she said through her teeth. “I. Don’t. Want. Your. Help.”
“Katrina—”
“What’s going on here?” Lillian asked from the archway to the kitchen.
Jacob spilled the beans. “Katrina never stopped taking the Elysium. She’s got a stash somewhere. She doesn’t think she needs to quit.”
Uncle John and Aunt Carolyn appeared behind his mom. Aunt Carolyn’s festive red-and-gold plaid apron seemed in sharp contrast to the expression on her face, a tearful grimace better suited for a funeral.
“Katrina, is this true?” she asked.
Katrina backed toward the stairs. “Yes, Mother. It is true, and it’s my life. I can do what I want. Elysium is perfectly legal.”
“And perfectly addictive,” John said. He reached for the phone. “I’m calling Doc Howard. If you won’t help yourself, maybe we can find someone who will help you.”
Uncle John dialed as Katrina bolted up the stairs. Jacob heard her door slam. A few moments later, John hung up the phone.
“I left a message with his answering service. We’ll get this under control. Doc Howard told me there are thousands of Elysium addicts. Twelve-step programs popping up everywhere. Should’ve done this a long time ago.”
Aunt Carolyn rubbed John’s shoulder and then returned to the kitchen, following a billow of pancake-scented smoke.
A flurry of pounding footsteps turned Jacob’s attention toward the stairs. Katrina was back, changed into jeans and a gray sweater and carrying a suitcase.
“What are you doing?” Lillian asked, blocking the door with her body.
“Leaving.”
“No,” Jacob said. “Come on. You can’t leave.”
Uncle John returned to the room in a panic. “It’s Christmas, Katrina. Stay for breakfast and open presents. Your ma made the pancakes in the shape of reindeer. Your favorite.”
With three people blocking the door, Katrina didn’t have a choice. She dropped her suitcase and stomped toward the kitchen. Jacob glanced at his mother and then at John, who looked like he might be sick.
“Let’s try not to let this ruin our holiday,” Uncle John murmured.
The family gathered around the table. Aunt Carolyn bowed her head and said grace, Jacob following along with one eye on Katrina. His cousin stared out the bay window, eyes vacant, an empty shell of a human being. He texted Malini, who promised to come by as soon as she could break away.
Three pancakes and two sausage links later, Jacob watched Katrina get up from her untouched breakfast and move for the living room. Uncle John stood to follow her.
“Relax, Dad. I’m just going to the bathroom,” Katrina said.
Slowly, John sat back down. Katrina slipped through the archway into the family room.
Lillian elbowed Jacob’s upper arm. “Go check on her. Pretend you’re going upstairs or something,” she said.
But it was too late. The front door opened and slammed shut, sending Jacob and his mom racing from the kitchen, Uncle John beside them. By the time they wrestled the door open, Katrina was backing out the driveway, spraying pebbles in her haste. As she shifted from reverse into drive in the street, she met Jacob’s eyes. He thought he saw a softness in the empty green, an unspoken apology, but her expression hardened just as quickly, and then she drove away.
Behind him, Aunt Carolyn started to weep.
* * * * *
Jacob popped into existence next to Malini inside a cluster of trees on the edge of the Barger’s farm. There’d been a cluster of animal killings since the Watchers took over the school, and based on the pattern, the Barger’s herd was the next target. He handed Malini his enchanted staff and readied himself for some good old-fashioned Christmas Watcher slaying.
“Did Katrina ever come back?” she asked.
“No. No one has any idea where she went.”
“Maybe back to schoo
l?” Malini offered.
“A school that is now run by Watchers who are handing out Elysium like candy. Great.”
Malini frowned. “There was nothing you could do, Jacob. She’s an adult, and she’s not in her right mind.”
“Yeah.”
The Barger’s cattle grazed in the last washes of winter twilight. In the late December chill, Jacob could see the cows’ breath.
“Get ready, Jake. The Watcher has to feed before full dark or the cows will go in.”
Jacob bent over and uncapped his ankle flask, shaping the water into his favorite broad sword.
“Do you want me to help?” Malini asked.
Jacob kissed her cheek. “Nah, I got this.”
As predicted, a ripple flashed on the horizon and then an oily black fog dripped from its center. A man formed next to a Guernsey roughly a hundred yards out. Even if Jacob hadn’t seen him arrive, his underwear-model good looks gave him away as a Watcher, as did the fangs he bared aimed at the cow’s neck.
With the superhuman speed of a veteran Horseman, Jacob leapt over the fence and crossed the field, feet falling lightly on the frozen ground. The hungry Watcher never saw him coming. Before the creature could break skin, Jacob’s sword relieved him of his head. The Watcher’s surprised noggin bounced off the side of the cow and rolled down the hill, where it lost its illusion and melted into a puddle of black goo.
Malini clapped as the bubbly black remains hissed into the grass. The cow mooed appreciatively and joined the rest of the herd while Jacob swaggered back to Malini’s side.
“I told you, I got this,” Jacob said, smiling and pointing his thumb at his chest.
“Nice work.”
Jacob willed his sword of ice to melt and bent to return the water to his flask. When he straightened again, his face was grim. “How long can we do this, Malini?”
“Do what? Kill Watchers? Forever.”
“No. Live double lives. In a week, we’re supposed to go back to school—a school run by Watchers. I’m thinking we should avoid that at all costs.”
