Dust and Roses: Book Two of the Dust Trilogy

by V. B. Marlowe

  I paused on the front steps of the school.

  Imani stopped talking mid-sentence. “What’s wrong?”

  “Uh, I just remembered. I have to go see Mr. Oliver about extra help in math. It’s going to take a while so you go ahead.”

  She looked a little unsure but she nodded. “Okay. I’ll call you later.” She skipped down the steps and then headed in the direction of her house.

  Instead of going back into the school, I crept around the side of the main building and raced to the janitor’s closet hoping, to not be seen. The track team was already running laps, but they were far away and probably paying me no attention. Being practically invisible at my school had its advantages. I waded through, accidentally kicking a bucket, wetting my boots and the hem of my dress with murky water. I pushed the back wall. It slid open and I walked inside.

  Making my way down the hall, I ran into Cadence and Wes coming out of the control room. As expected, neither one of them looked happy to see me.

  “Hey, guys. We need to talk.”

  Cadence cocked her bird head to one side. “Do we now?” Cadence had to give me a hard time about everything. It was fun for her. “Wes, let’s just drop everything so we can—”

  Cadence stopped talking and she and Wes stared at something over my shoulder. I turned to see what had caught their attention and my breath caught in my throat.

  Imani stood several feet away gaping at us with her mouth open.

  “Imani, what—” I began.

  She shook her head. “What the hell is this? You weren’t making that story up. A monster’s lair under the school . . . you were telling the truth.”

  “What?” Cadence demanded, stepping beside me. “You told her about us? You told her where we live?”

  “What are you doing down here?” I asked Imani. There weren’t too many things I could think of that were worse than her being in the lair.

  Her gaze darted back and forth between Cadence and Wes. “You had been acting weird all day so when you told me you were staying after school for math help, I was suspicious. I mean, you aced your math test just last Friday. I saw you go into the janitor’s closet and when you never came out, I wanted to know what you were up to.”

  Fletcher was right. She was too nosey for her own good.

  “Hollis!” Wes bellowed.

  I turned back to Imani. She stood with her arms stiff, close to her sides, blinking rapidly. I could only imagine the thoughts running through her mind. Why did she have to come down here? Now we were both screwed. “Imani, you have to leave. You have to pretend that none of this ever happened.”

  Hollis stepped out of his bedroom brandishing a sword. I gulped but then I remembered he liked to play with them just for fun.

  “What’s up?” He narrowed his eyes when he saw Imani. “What is this?”

  “Arden’s doing, of course. She told her friend about us,” Cadence tattled.

  I stepped in front of Imani, suddenly feeling dizzy. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to. She won’t tell anybody.”

  Hollis stepped menacingly toward us, holding the sword in front of him. “You’re right. She’s not going to tell anybody. You shouldn’t have told her, Arden, now your friend’s going to die because of you.”

  I turned and pushed Imani toward the exit. “Run! Get out of here!”

  She hesitated a little, but just as she started to move, Wes grabbed her and pinned her arms behind her back. Imani struggled to break free of his grasp, but he was obviously much stronger than her.

  “Please, let her go. She won’t say anything.”

  Imani found her voice despite her panicked breathing. “I won’t. I promise, I won’t say a word.”

  “Yeah, right,” Wes said into her ear. “What Human would see something like this and not tell anyone?”

  Cadence poked the side of my face with her beak while one of her bird eyes focused on Imani. “You think we’re going to trust her? We can’t even trust you. You went against the code.”

  I had been stupid to do that, but Imani shouldn’t have to pay the price for it. She shouldn’t have to die for being nosey.

  “Hold her up,” Hollis ordered Wes as he brought the sword back.

  “Stop it!” I shouted. The hallways rattled with my anger. The walls shook because of me. My emotion had caused that.

  Doors swung open. Creatures poked their heads out or stepped into the hallway to get a look at what was going on. Imani gasped.

  Hollis could be reasoned with. I took a step closer to him, although I was terrified of the sword. “Hollis. This isn’t you. Remember the conversation we had? You’ve never killed anyone. Don’t start now.”

  He glanced at me for a moment. “No, I haven’t killed anyone because I’ve never had to. Now, thanks to you, I do.”

  He didn’t want to hurt Imani. I could hear it in his voice. But the others were watching so he had to follow through.

  I narrowed my eyes at the sword, focusing all my energy on it like I had with the branch and Sheba. The familiar warmth traveled up and down my body as my heart raced faster than it ever had. The sword whipped out of Hollis’ hand and dangled above his head. He jumped, trying to grab it, but it rose higher, out of his reach.

  I imagined Cadence, Wes, and Hollis falling backward. They did so, toppling onto each other. The sword still hovered in the air. I pointed it down at them, prepared to make a creature shish kabob. The three of them looked up at the sword wide-eyed. Having them at my mercy was an amazing feeling.

  “Any one of you moves and I’ll send that sword clear through you.” The viciousness of my own words surprised me.

  Still shielding Imani with my own body, I backed up, keeping an eye on each creature.

  “I smell Human,” said something that looked like some type of demon. It’s dark-red leathery skin, long spiked tail, and curved horns, made him look more sinister than he probably was.

  Despite my threat, Wes was already up and walking toward us. “That girl is a Human,” he told the demon, “and we can’t let her leave.”

  I didn’t want to hurt Wes but I would if I had to.

  My Grim cousins stood against a wall with their scythes. I imagined their scythes floating in the air, and they moved in obedience. The Grims looked up at their renegade scythes, but made no effort to catch them. I focused on one scythe and brought it down toward the demon as it moved toward us. If a wolf-looking creature hadn’t saved the demon by shoving it to the ground, he would be headless.

  I sent the other four scythes twirling wildly in the air like pinwheels over the heads of the crowd. They crouched on the ground, covering their heads. I took that opportunity to get myself and Imani out of there and through the janitor’s closet. I had no idea what happened to the scythes after that. I wasn’t sure how to make them stop if I wanted them to.

  Once we were out, Imani took off running, but I was faster. I stopped her by grabbing the back of her shirt. “Imani, I know that was all completely insane, but you can’t tell anyone. I mean it.”

  For once, she was speechless. She yanked away from me, shaking her head. “I don’t know what you are or how you did what you just did, but stay away from me. I should have listened to Lacey.”

  She raced away and this time I let her, because I couldn’t blame her. If I were her I would never speak to me again.

  One friend was terrified of me and the other was dying.

  It took me a moment to realize Hollis was standing directly behind me. I turned to face him, expecting him to look angry, but he didn’t. He stared down at me solemnly. “You know she has to die, right? Friend or not, you know I have to kill her. Right now, before she has a chance to tell anyone about us.”

  I said nothing because I had no response for that. I grabbed his arm as he moved forward. “Hollis, please. You can’t. Let me talk to her. Imani’s not like most people. I promise you, she won’t say a word if I can explain things to her.” At any moment Imani could be home telling her mother every little detai
l. And her father, the police lieutenant, he’d definitely want to check out his daughter’s story.

  Hollis pulled away from me and kept walking. I shoved him from behind. “You can’t. Hollis, please. I will do anything you want.”

  He stared at me as if searching my face for something. “Fine,” he said finally. “I’ll spare her, but only if you do something for me in return.”

  A strong gust of wind kicked in just then, almost knocking me over. I smoothed my hair down after it passed. “What?” I had no idea what he could possibly need me to do.

  Hollis frowned and looked at the ground. “Don’t kill my father.”

  “What?”

  “Don’t kill my father.”

  Why was he asking me that? I had no intentions of killing Mr. Mason. Why did he think I did?

  I stepped closer to him. “Don’t kill your father?”

  His eyes looked heavy with worry. “Wes told me, you know Vetala can see the future and that’s what he saw. You killing my father.”

  I didn’t even know what to say to that other than Wes had seen things wrong. I wasn’t going to kill Mr. Mason or anyone. “Hollis—”

  “I know you guys don’t see eye to eye and he’s not the easiest person to get along with, but please, if push ever comes to shove, don’t kill him.”

  It was a simple request for something I never planned on happening anyway. Especially considering what I was getting in return—my friend’s life. “I won’t kill your father and you don’t kill Imani.”

  We shook on it and he disappeared into the janitor’s closet. Now I had to figure out how I was going to get Imani to stay quiet about what she’d seen.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Tuesday I spent most of the school day alone. Imani had managed to ditch me even in biology, the class we had together. As soon as she walked in, she’d asked Mrs. Lang for a pass to the nurse’s office. I couldn’t blame her. Maybe it was for the best since I had no idea what to say to her anyway. How could I possibly explain what she had seen? What if she’d already told people? I had compromised the lair and it was all my fault. Worse, I had put Imani’s life in danger.

  When I didn’t find Imani at our usual spot during lunch, I knew where she would be—in the library, specifically the mystery section, poring over books.

  Sure enough, I spotted her in the back with one yellow pencil sticking out of her braids, and one between her lips. She frowned as she moved a finger back and forth across the page of a book. A half-eaten sandwich rested on a plastic Zip-Loc bag beside a stack of books. Mrs. Zoloft, the librarian would have had a fit if she saw it. No food in the library was number one on the extensive list of rules posted on every wall.

  I stood in front of the table and cleared my throat. She looked up at me and closed the book she’d been flipping through. “Hey.”

  I slid myself into the chair across from her. “Hi. I think we should talk about yesterday.”

  She frowned and opened the book again. “Yesterday? What happened yesterday? Oh, the two Ambers got in a fight in the locker room. It was a draw. Neither one of them can throw a decent punch. Are you talking about that?”

  I sighed. “You know what I’m talking about. You saw.”

  “I saw what? A secret passage filled with monsters and all kind of weird things that can’t possibly exist? No. That didn’t happen. That couldn’t have happened. I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

  “Imani—”

  She slammed her book shut. “What the hell, Arden?”

  I glanced around us to make sure no one was listening. The coast was clear. No one in their right mind would spend their precious lunch time in the library except for Imani.

  Taking a deep breath, I let it all out. I couldn’t candy-coat it. I couldn’t give her the softened version. I gave her the stone-cold truth. “It’s like this, that place is a monster’s lair and all sorts of creatures live there. They might seem horrible and scary, but they’re really not. All they want to do is exist and survive. They keep to themselves and they don’t hurt anyone.”

  Imani twirled her pencil between her fingers, locking eyes with me. She said her father had taught her to be a human lie detector. If that was true, she was believing me. “Go on.”

  I cleared my throat. My mouth felt dry. “Well . . . I’m one of them.”

  The pencil dropped onto the table making me jump even though I’d watched it happening.

  Her eyebrows raised. “What?”

  “Yeah. I mean, I don’t look like them. I look like a Human, but I’m not.”

  “Then what are you?”

  “I’m part Banshee and part Wendigo.” I explained to her what both of those things meant. “That’s why you had to leave that night because I didn’t want to hurt you but I think I’m beginning to suppress that part of me. I’m becoming more Banshee than Wendigo which is a great thing, well, it’s a better thing.”

  “That’s how you made those scythes fly in the air like that?” she asked in awe. I was glad she seemed more fascinated than creeped out. Imani was my first Human friend and I’d been so worried about losing her, maybe that wouldn’t happen after all. She sat back in her chair. “Wow. I always knew there was something different about you, girl.”

  I contemplated telling her about Fletcher, and then decided that I could trust her. Even though she couldn’t help, I needed to get it off my chest. I told her about Geminis and how Fletcher was mine and how he was dying because of me.

  She sat up in her seat. “We’re not going to let that happen. We’re going to find a way to fix this. Every problem has a solution.”

  I appreciated her enthusiasm and her desire to help, but there was nothing she could do. She didn’t understand our world. Hell, I barely understood it. I had only been a part of it for a few months.

  “I don’t know how to stop the curse. That’s what I need to find out.”

  “You have to talk to them—those things.”

  I shook my head. “I can’t go back there. I broke the code by telling you about the lair and then I threatened to kill them and that wasn’t the first time.” For all I knew, scythes could have still been soaring through the hallways.

  When I first learned about my gift/curse, the others tried to use me as a weapon. They tried to make me kill Lacey. I couldn’t do that, not even to her. I had to threaten them to let both me and Lacey go.

  Imani looked at the clock and picked up her sandwich. “Well, who can you talk to about this? Fletcher?”

  If Fletcher had any ideas on how to stop the curse, he would have said so. That being said, I knew exactly who to speak to.

  “Since when?” shouted a sharp, croaky voice from behind me. “Since when is it okay for students to bring food into this library?”

  Ugh. Mrs. Zoloft. She acted like the Everson High Library was the Taj Mahal.

  “Sorry,” Imani muttered with a mouth full of cucumber sandwich.

  Mrs. Zoloft scribbled furiously on a yellow pad she had pulled from her dress pocket. “Be sorry in detention. Rules apply to new students also.”

  Imani huffed. “Can’t you just give me a warning?”

  Mrs. Zoloft pointed to the wall across from us. “You see those rules posted? That was your warning.”

  Imani snatched the detention slip from her, rolling her eyes.

  Then Mrs. Zoloft had the nerve to rip off another sheet and shove it in my face. “And you should really know better, Ms. Moss.”

  “Hey, what did I do?”

  She slammed the slip down on the table. “Guilty by association. Did you remind your friend of the rule?” Mrs. Zoloft clicked her tongue at us and waddled away.

  I glared at Imani as the bell rang and we gathered our things.

  “I am so sorry. I’ll make it up to you. I swear, I’m going to help you with this Gemini thing. There has to be a solution.”

  I agreed. There had to be a solution. The question was, would we find it in time? Every moment could be the difference between
life and death for Fletcher.

  Only five kids had after school detention that afternoon, and Mr. Hall, who was supposed to be watching us, had better things to do.

  “Sit down and keep quiet,” he ordered before becoming engrossed with something on his laptop. He acted as if there were a million other things he would have rather been doing than babysitting teenagers who had done dumb things and were even dumber for getting caught.

  Imani and I sat at the very back of the room where she whipped out her tablet. She typed for a few moments and then passed it to me.

  Now we have three mysteries to solve: Ms. Melcher, the carnival catastrophe, and how to stop the Gemini Curse---hey! What if they’re related????

  She was right of course. They were related. I handed the tablet back to her and dug into my homework. No matter what was going on, flunking classes wasn’t an option. I needed out of that school ASAP.

  The room was quiet as the five of us worked. A clink came from the wall beside my desk. Mr. Hall looked over his laptop for a second and then went back to what he was doing. The grate near the floor had been removed. A tiny, pale hand stuck out and dropped a note.

  Violet. It had to be her. She was the only one small enough to fit through the school’s ducts. I glanced around. No one was paying attention to me so I snatched up the piece of paper and unfolded it.

  Come today—alone this time

  I didn’t know how it was possible, but the handwriting seemed angry. I was sure they wanted me down in the lair so that Mr. Mason could yell at me or worse. Whatever it was, it wasn’t going to be good.

  I sighed and stuffed the note in my pocket. Once detention was over, I told Imani the truth about where I had to go. No more lies. Things would be easier that way. I wasn’t going to keep my friend by lying to her.

  “Good luck.” Her brow was furrowed with concern. “They’re not going to hurt you are they?”

  “No, well, I don’t think so.” I hoped not at least.

  We said our goodbyes and I answered my summons.

  ***

  I stood at the end of the hallway, frozen, dreading what was coming.