DRIP DROP DEAD (Emma Frost Book 12)

by Willow Rose

  "Here," Alex said and showed her upstairs. "This is my room."

  Maya followed him inside and was surprised to see that his room was filled with Anime posters and Death Note knickknacks. Death Note was also Maya's favorite Anime, but she had never met anyone else who loved it as much as she did. That made her smile.

  "What?" he asked, surprised.

  She shook her head. "Nothing."

  "But I made you smile. That is, at least, something."

  She nodded. "It sure is."

  He chuckled, still with his eyes lingering on her face.

  "What?" she asked.

  Now it was his turn to shake his head. "Nothing. You just have a beautiful smile; that's all."

  "I do not," she said.

  "Why do you do that?" he asked.

  "Do what?"

  "Every time I give you a compliment or say something nice, you act like I don't mean it. You really don't know how pretty you are, do you? Or how amazing you are?"

  That made Maya quiet. She looked into his eyes while biting her lip. She didn't want to tell him the truth, but the truth was that she was so scared to believe in compliments or believe in boys since she had tried believing them before and been so crudely disappointed. It made her think that there was always an ulterior motive when someone said something nice to her. She always looked for a hidden agenda, for ways they might hurt her. She had learned not to trust anyone.

  "Let me find you a towel and some clean clothes," he said and moved into the hallway.

  Maya stood for a few seconds and could smell the urine so terribly she couldn't believe a guy like Alex still wanted to be with her. She had never been more disgusting and yet he had just told her she was pretty?

  "Here you go," he said and handed her the stuff. "I found some old jeans and a shirt. It might be a little big since you're smaller than my mom, but it was the best I could do."

  "I’m sure it'll be fine," she said.

  "The shower is in here," he said and grabbed her hand. He pulled her toward the door and down the hallway, then opened a door and turned on the lights.

  Maya chuckled as she walked inside. "What's going on here?"

  Alex sighed deeply. "I am sorry. My mom is a little paranoid lately." He grabbed the chair on top of the toilet and removed it. Then he walked to the shower and unplugged the drain and removed the plastic bag that was tied around the faucet.

  "There you go," he said. "Now, you can shower."

  "Why does she do that?" Maya asked.

  "What, the chair and plugging of drains and faucets? Well, my mom seems to believe something can come out of it and kill us all while we sleep. I don't really know. Guess we can't all have cool moms like yours, huh?"

  Maya chuckled. "She's not always cool. By far not. She's been freaking out about our drains lately too. She thought she saw something in our bathroom downstairs the other day and had a plumber come out and everything. She completely freaked out. The plumber said it might just be frogs or something, but she's still not convinced he's right. She can get crazy. Not to mention my brother, who is so scared of going to the bathroom that he'll hold it in for so long he almost hurts himself."

  Maya gasped lightly when realizing she had just shared something about her odd family, even though she had promised herself never to let Alex know about that side of her. She felt completely naked. Revealed. Would he think she was weird? Would he judge her? Would he think she was crazy like his friends had told her she was?

  "That's right; your little brother is at the same school as mine. Victor, right?" Alex asked.

  Maya nodded, relieved and a little surprised. "Your brother goes to Fishy Pines as well?"

  He nodded. "Yes. I think actually our brothers have become friends lately. Daniel. He had a play date at your house earlier today."

  "Wow. I didn't know Daniel was your brother. It really is a small island," Maya said.

  "I know," Alex said with a chuckle. "Yet it is strange that the two of us have never hung out together."

  "Well, you were one of the popular kids and I…well, I wasn't," Maya said, looking away.

  Alex walked closer, grabbed her chin, and lifted her face. He looked into her eyes and moved a lock of hair from her forehead. She could feel his warmth with him so close to her.

  "I’m glad we’re hanging out now," he said. "I enjoy being with you. I really like you, Maya. I…"

  Her heart started to pound hard. Everything about this situation was so strange, so wrong, and yet so right. Her nostrils were filled with the smell of urine. She couldn't believe Alex would even want to be close to her in this instant. At the same time, this was both the worst and the best moment of her life.

  "I…like…"

  She never got to finish her sentence before Alex placed his lips on top of hers. Finally—surrounded by the harsh stench of urine—they shared their first real kiss. It wasn't exactly how Maya had pictured it would happen, but it still felt good. No, more than that, it felt amazing.

  Maya didn't even notice that, behind her, the shower head had already started dripping.

  53

  "I knew you should never have taken that girl in and hidden her here. Look what that brought you."

  Morten was pacing in my kitchen. I had poured myself another glass of wine and sat with it between my hands, still trying to breathe properly. My throat was hurting like crazy and, to be honest, I was still terrified. My legs were shaking.

  "Why do you keep doing this to yourself?"

  I exhaled. "Not now, Morten. I…"

  "You've got to get her out of here. Before she gets you in serious trouble. It might already be too late. That girl belongs somewhere, and you have no right to keep her. I’ve told you this over and over again. You can't just keep a child."

  "Hey. I was helping her, okay? Those guys weren't from some orphanage or social services. They were bad news. You saw them. You really think they wanted what’s best for Skye? Because I hardly think so."

  He groaned. He was annoying me so much right now. I wasn't exactly in the mood to play the blame game here. I needed time and peace to think. I needed to figure out what to do next.

  "She doesn’t belong to you. She's not yours to save," Morten said. "Not if it means you’ll get hurt in the process. You can't save the entire world, Emma. You just can't. If my job has taught me anything, it's that."

  I shook my head. "I can't believe you. Since when did you become so cynical? Of course, I can help a girl if she needs me. This is how you change the world, Morten. One person at a time. Showing kindness to those that are put in your life. Skye came to me for whatever reason, and I take her life very seriously. Right now, I am the only one to protect her from whatever she ran away from. She's my responsibility."

  "No, she's not, Emma. She's dangerous. Don't you understand? I’m just concerned about your safety."

  I looked at my boyfriend and realized he would never understand. He hadn't seen the look on Daniel's face when he spoke about the place with the cords.

  The place where no one hears you scream.

  I sipped my wine and shook my head. "I have to protect her."

  "I’m not suggesting giving her to those goons out there, Emma. That's not what I’m saying. Call Social Services. They'll find her another home in case she doesn’t have one. It's the right thing to do."

  I bit my lip. I understood what he was trying to say and, believe me, I had thought about it a thousand times, but something inside of me told me Social Services didn't exactly know how to deal with a girl like Skye. She had obviously never been among ordinary people since she had no idea that people had never seen anyone like her. She didn't even try to hide her strange abilities. If she had been a part of the world, she would know to hide it. That's what worried me. She didn't even speak. How would she get by? How would the world receive her?

  I knew how the world looked at Victor and he was even used to it and knew how to navigate it better, but still, he never found his place there. They had no ide
a how to deal with him. What would they do to a girl like Skye?

  I gave Morten a smile, knowing he would never understand.

  "I'll look into it after the weekend," I said, mostly to calm him down. All I wanted right now was just some peace and quiet.

  Morten sat down with a satisfied sigh and grabbed my hand in his. We sat like that and enjoyed each other's company and the peace and quiet.

  It lasted about fifteen minutes.

  54

  Maria's body jolted upright in bed. Her mind seemed to race around in circles. Something was off, but what?

  She had been dreaming about Hanne. They were back at the lab during some of their trials when the glass had broken, and their test subject had attacked Hanne. Maria had been standing there, paralyzed, and not done anything while Hanne was killed, choked to death. She didn't understand why she couldn't react, why she couldn't move, why she didn't help her poor co-worker against this threat, and as Hanne slowly died, Maria wondered if it was because she knew she deserved what she got. She knew they all deserved to die for what they had done. No matter how they argued that it was for the betterment of humanity, they had still done the inexcusable. They had been careless, and it was unforgivable.

  Hanne had stared at her till the end. Her pleading eyes hadn't left Maria's. Meanwhile, Maria had watched the life of her co-worker slowly ooze out of her. Hanne's eyes had pleaded for her help. She had even reached out her hand toward Maria like she expected her to take it, why? Because she was her accomplice. Because they had been in this together. But Maria hadn't offered her a hand. She hadn't helped her.

  Next, Maria had found herself inside water, being pulled down and down into it, seeing the light disappear in the distance, trying to swim for the surface, but not moving at all. She remembered feeling how her lungs were filled with water, how she gurgled and couldn't breathe and that was when she woke up, gasping for air. The sensation of suffocation was overwhelming, and even though she knew it had just been a dream, she was still coughing, holding a hand to her throat, trying to get rid of the feeling that still lingered heavily in her body.

  Now, she was sitting upright in her bed, listening to the sounds of the night, wondering what was going on. Something wasn't right. It wasn't just the dream. Something was different.

  She calmed down her breathing and her galloping heart to listen better. There was a sound, a buzzing or almost humming sound in the house. One that most certainly wasn't supposed to be there.

  Maria shot her eyes wide open when realizing what it was. What it could only be.

  Water! Someone has turned on the water!

  Maria gasped again, then pulled off the covers and jumped out of her bed. She listened a second time just to be sure, but there was no doubt in her mind. That was the sound of water running and the pipes groaning in the old house. Someone had turned on the water. Someone was in the shower.

  Alex, she thought. It had to be Alex. But why? Why would he shower at midnight?

  Maria realized it didn't really matter and stormed into the hallway. She ran toward the bathroom door when she heard a loud scream coming from behind it.

  A scream that most certainly didn't come from her oldest son.

  55

  The water felt wonderful on Maya's face. Alex had left the bathroom to let her wash off the urine stench, and now she was in the shower, letting the water caress her body. She felt tears press in her eyes once again when thinking about this night and how those girls had treated her and how Alex's friends had talked about her. She knew she wasn't exactly popular, but she had never expected them to act that way. Was it simply because she was dating Alex? He seemed to think so. Because they felt she was a threat from the outside, he had told her. Maya knew the girls were just jealous; there was no doubt there. Alex was a popular guy, one every girl in the school dreamed of dating, but the guys? Why would they be so mean? What did they get out of it? Was it just for the fun of it? Just because they could?

  Maya shook the thought. She couldn't let them get to her. This was exactly what they wanted. To make her cry, to make her lose it and maybe decide to never see Alex again. But she wasn't going to do that. She liked him, and he liked her.

  "I’m not going to let them get between us. I will not let them," she said to herself while closing her eyes and letting the water wash the stench and feeling of utter disgust off of her.

  She decided to think about something nice and pleasant instead, and soon she could only think about the kiss they had shared a few minutes before she stepped into the shower. It had been so soft and sweet and so very gentle. Nothing like when she had kissed Samuel. No, Alex was different. He was actually a lot different than what she had thought he would be. And when she thought about it, they had a lot more in common than what she had believed initially. Both their brothers went to Fishy Pines. Both their mothers were a little wacko, and they both liked Anime. Thinking of it, she had more in common with him than she did with Christina, who was her best friend.

  I actually told him about Victor, and he didn't even look at me strangely. He didn't judge me.

  It had filled her with such a great sense of relief and, while thinking about it again, she began to chuckle.

  She grabbed some shampoo that Alex had told her she could use and washed her hair, rubbing it in thoroughly, making sure to get all the stench off of her. The urine had mostly hit her dress, but she felt like it was all over her body and in her hair too. She felt so dirty.

  She turned to wash out all the shampoo when a noise made her open her eyes. It sounded like it came from beneath her and she looked down at the drain with a light gasp. It sounded almost like the drain was groaning, and the groaning soon turned to a loud humming that soon became like a banging.

  "Probably just the old pipes," Maya told herself. She said it loudly because it made her feel calmer.

  She knew this entire island had very old pipes underneath it and she had often heard that they complained, especially in the older houses. She had heard it in her own house too, but never this loud. Maya stood for a few seconds and listened. It was almost like the banging was rhythmical. Like there was a rhythm to it. Like it was playing a melody.

  CLINK-CLANK-CLINK. CLINK-CLANK-CLINK.

  And then it stopped.

  Maya stared at the drain below her, then shrugged. She returned to her showering and closed her eyes to wash off the rest of the shampoo when she heard another sound, the distinct sound of something slithering and gliding, and then she felt something touch her foot, something wet and slimy.

  Maya opened her eyes with a loud gasp and looked down. A set of very blue eyes stared back up at her from the drain. Clawed hands shaped from clear water reached up toward her.

  As they grabbed her, Maya finally screamed.

  56

  Oh, dear Lord, someone is in trouble!

  Hearing the screams, Maria rushed for the bathroom door, then opened it, slamming it up against the wall. Inside, she saw exactly what she had feared to see one day.

  Maria couldn't breathe. The girl—whom she had no idea who was—screamed and cried for help as the water creature used her legs to pull itself out of the drain, slithering up her body, then began gushing water into her, forcing it into her. She gurgled and spurted, tried to block the water or move away from it, but clearly could not breathe properly.

  "Oh, my God, Maya."

  The voice was Alexander's. He came up behind Maria and was about to jump to the girl's aid when Maria grabbed him and pulled him back forcefully.

  "Don't, Alex."

  He stared at his mother, confusion in his terror-filled eyes.

  "What are you talking about, Mom? I have to help Maya. She's in trouble," Alex yelled.

  "You'll be killed," Maria said, her heart pounding in her chest as she remembered Hanne lying on the floor of the restroom. Maria stood firm, holding her son back, and while Maya fought for her life, Maria remained paralyzed just like she had been in that awful dream.

  "Mom, let
go of me. I need to help her!"

  Alex yelled and screamed at her, then finally managed to tear himself loose and ran toward the girl in the shower. As he did, the water-creature gave up on the girl, turned its blobby head, looked at Alex, then like a wave, threw itself at Maria's son, overwhelming him and forcing him to the tiles, pressing him down underneath the massive wave of gushing water.

  "NO!"

  Exhausted, Maya fell to the bathroom floor, coughing and throwing up water, gasping and gurgling. Meanwhile, Maria stared at her poor son, but the creature wasn't very interested in him, she could tell. And she knew why.

  It hadn't come for the girl or for Alex. It had come for her. Maria had been hiding for so long. It was time to face her fate.

  "I'm here," she said, stepping forward into the light, knowing that the creature couldn't see very well in brightly-lit surroundings. Its eyes were better at night or in complete darkness where it could navigate through the drains and pipes.

  "I’m the one you’ve come for. I'm the one you want, right? So, take me. Take me instead."

  At the sound of her voice, the creature let go of Alexander immediately and focused on Maria instead. Turning itself into a wave, it rushed toward her, flushing water at her so fast she was knocked to the floor. Through the pouring water, she spotted her youngest son, staring back at her.

  His eyes were the last thing she ever saw.

  57

  I had just finished my wine when I received the call. Morten and I were sitting in silence till the sound of my vibrating phone cut through it.

  It was Maya. She was crying heavily, and it was hard for me to understand what she was saying.

  "Mom. Please come. Something happened. Something terrible," was what I got out of her. That and that she was at Alex's house.

  It was all I needed.