by Stacey Jay
What had I ever done to make him and Kitty so ready to believe I’d raised those weird zombies? There had never been a Settler convicted of using black magic, so why were they assuming I was going to be the first? I might not have been the most eager little pupil, but I’d done my best to make them proud. I’d trained my ass off and studied until my brain felt like it was going to leak out of my ears, yet still, here we were.
It had to be my stupid super-Settler power getting me in trouble again. That was the only explanation that made sense. I was a suspect because I was capable of doing things the average Settler couldn’t, not because I’d actually done anything.
“Did you find anything?” Kitty asked.
“No. It was clean.” Barker didn’t sound as happy about that as he should have. He probably thought I had stashed the evidence of my evil somewhere else. The jerk.
“Thanks.” Kitty stood up and turned to face my mom and Elder Thomas, who had come to stand beside her sometime during the interrogation. “Please understand that we all care very much about Megan and your family. But as it stands-”
“As it stands, Megan is innocent. She didn’t raise those zombies.”
“Maybe not. We’ll have to wait for all the lab work to come back to be sure,” Elder Thomas said. “But we both know she could have. Don’t we, Jennifer?”
It was exactly the thought I’d had a second ago, but for some reason it made my mom suck in a shocked breath, then dart a quick look in my direction before turning back to Elder Thomas. Like it was news I was weird? We’d known this for a while now. “That’s… I thought we… This is crazy, Megan is innocent.”
“Megan may be innocent, but mistakes have been made-”
“Are you suggesting… I can’t…” Mom turned her back on me and dropped her voice to a whisper. “You know what? I’m not having this conversation. No one in this house did anything wrong, and I refuse to call that decision a mistake.”
“I think we both know that-”
“Get out.” Mom pointed a trembling finger at the door. The words were soft but infused with more rage than I’d ever heard in my mother’s voice.
“We’ll be in touch.” Elder Thomas headed toward the door, followed by a rather embarrassed-looking Kitty and a still sad-clown-faced Barker. The front door slammed seconds later and our house was suddenly disturbingly quiet.
But for some reason, I was afraid to break that silence. Maybe it was the fact that my mom was starting to cry, silent tears that leaked down her worried face. Or maybe it was the fact that, during her and Elder Thomas’s decidedly odd conversation, I’d seen the look in Mom’s eyes. It hadn’t been anger or confusion I’d read there-it had been fear.
She was afraid of something. Afraid that Elder Thomas was right about me going over to the dark side? Afraid of whatever this “mistake” was? Afraid that the Enforcers would nail me to the wall whether I was innocent or not? I couldn’t guess, and she didn’t stick around to explain herself.
“Go to bed, Megan. We’ll talk about this in the morning.”
“But Mom-”
“Just go to bed. Please.” She fled into her and Dad’s room and slammed the door, but I could hear it when she started to cry even harder. Then Dad mumbled something in his deep voice and the sobs were muffled. Probably by his chest. He was probably giving Mom a hug, and telling her everything was going to be okay.
Meanwhile, I was out in the kitchen with no one, feet tangled in my overturned chair. Alone, the villain in this night’s drama even though I’d done absolutely nothing wrong. For a second, I thought about calling Ethan and begging him to come over and let me sob on his chest, but realized it would be useless. No doubt he was still busy with Protocol duty and would be for the rest of the night. And even when he was finally dismissed, he might have been given orders not to see me. Girlfriend or not, I was apparently now a suspect in a felony, and surely SA wouldn’t want one of their cops fraternizing with the enemy.
In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if I learned we were on a relationship time-out until this mess was sorted out. There would be no Ethan hugs, no Ethan kisses, no Ethan common-sense talks that always made me feel so much better-not even a big, warm Ethan hand to hold.
The thought broke down the last of my upper-lip stiffness. By the time I got to my bathroom and turned the shower on, I was crying like someone had died.
How could I have gotten in so much trouble for something I hadn’t done? Why was I the only suspect when I knew they had no evidence to prove I’d raised those RCs? Sure I was the only super-powered Settler in our part of the country, but there had to be someone else who could have done this, because someone else did do it. I couldn’t believe Kitty, at least, hadn’t started to consider other suspects.
And what the heck was up with Mom and her “mistake” and this felony I’d supposedly committed? Trying to kill someone with zombies was a felony charge, but I was the one they’d been trying to bite! But then, the zombies would have tried to bite me if I was the one who raised them and a Settler had worked a reverto spell on them-a reverto spell sends them back to their maker for a bite of the blood that summoned them from their grave. So maybe that was why Kitty thought I was guilty.
Still, there had to be something more or everyone wouldn’t be so sure I was the only one who could have done it.
There were obviously things going on I didn’t understand. And whatever those things were, I was going to have to figure them out-fast. Sure, Mom seemed determined to stick up for me, but then, she was also withholding some kind of info and in her own room crying instead of in here rubbing my back. That just wasn’t normal Mom behavior. And if I couldn’t count on her for something as small as a back rub, how could I trust that she was going to keep me from going to SA prison for a crime I didn’t commit?
The answer was, I couldn’t, which made me cry even harder.
Wednesday morning dawned bright and horrible. My head felt like it was going to explode and my parents were still acting totally weird. I did my best to make a bunch of noise in the kitchen making breakfast, but even the smell of coffee percolating didn’t summon the beasts from their lair. Mom was usually a freak about me drinking coffee, insisting it would decrease my bone density and infuse my cells with toxins and blah blah blah, but apparently she was too exhausted to worry about my vulnerable adolescent skeleton.
I had a huge to-go cup of French roast in my hand when I opened her door and said goodbye. All she did was mumble, “Be careful” and something about seeing me later, and then roll over to hug Dad-who was also still abed even though he should have left for work at the airport a good thirty minutes ago. He was never late and Mom never slept in. It was strange. And scary.
My mood was foul before I even arrived at school and only grew fouler as the day wore on. I was so not in the mood for acting normal. Eng
lish and world history seemed utterly pointless. Why did I need to learn about popular trends in twentieth-century literature or the evolution of Islamic culture when I could end up in jail for the rest of my life?
And who cared about the brilliant fund-raising event Monica and London had organized for Friday night? Sweetheart ice skating was not a giddy-making idea when you might have lost your sweetheart. Ethan hadn’t called or sent a text all morning, and he had to know what went down. If he was allowed to contact me, he would have done it by now.
By lunchtime I hated my life and all the people happily chattering in the cafeteria. I hated raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens and all that crap. I also hated ravioli and green beans from a can and brownies that weren’t heavy enough. A brownie should be thick and weighty, not light and fluffy like some sort of cake. Brownies are NOT cake!
“Put the brownie down and step away from your lunch tray.” He was whispering, but I would have known that voice anywhere.
“You’re here!” I jumped off the chair I’d claimed in an abandoned corner of the lunchroom and flung myself into Ethan’s arms, squeezing until he groaned in pain. God, he smelled so good, like that spicy soap he used and shaving cream and boy. My boy, my boyfriend who hadn’t been told not to see me after all!
“I’m here, but I’m not supposed to be, so let’s sneak while the sneaking is good,” he said, leaning down to grab my backpack when I finally released my death hold.
“You’re not supposed to be?”
“Nope. Good thing I’m not a compulsive rule follower anymore.” He smiled and grabbed my hand, but I could tell he wasn’t feeling any more lighthearted than I was. “Come on, I’m parked at the bottom of the hill. If we hustle, we’ll blend in with the rest of the people headed out to lunch.”
Only seniors were supposed to go off campus for lunch, but I didn’t hesitate when Ethan pulled me out into the bright January day. My coat was still in my locker, but I didn’t care about freezing my butt off either. All I cared about was being with Ethan and away from school.
“You know what? I don’t want to come back,” I said, a spring coming into my step as we made it past the teacher on duty without attracting attention. “I’m going to skip the rest of my classes.”
“Sounds good,” he said, though usually Ethan would be the last one to encourage ditching school. It was just another reminder that I was in a heck of a lot of trouble. “That will give us more time.”
“More time for what?”
“I figured we should do some investigating of our-hey, are you okay?” Ethan asked as he opened the passenger’s door of his car.
“Not really. But I’m better now that you’re here. I assume you heard the news.”
“I did, and it’s ridiculous. I can’t believe they think you had any part in raising whatever those things were.”
“Thanks. It’s nice that someone still believes in me.” There were tears stinging the corners of my eyes, but I sucked them back into wherever tears come from. Tear ducts, I guess? “Kitty and Barker and Elder Thomas think I did it.”
“They’re insane. Of course you didn’t,” he said, leaning down to give me the softest little kiss. He closed the door and ran around to the driver’s side, while I smiled and tried even harder not to cry. I really did have the best boyfriend in the world. “But like I said.” He slid into the driver’s seat and started the car. “I figured we should do some investigating of our own to help prove what we already know.”
“Won’t that get you in trouble at work?” I asked, as Ethan pulled into the line of cars heading out of the parking lot.
“Protocol got kicked off the case last night around midnight by the Enforcement team. Apparently they don’t want a bunch of small-town losers screwing up their investigation. So it’s not a direct conflict of interest.”
“But I thought you said you weren’t supposed to-”
“The Elders haven’t said anything outright, but Kitty called and strongly advised me to stay away from you until you’re cleared of suspicion.” He pulled forward, taking a left out of the parking lot. “She made it sound like a request, but I got the order vibe loud and clear. I have a feeling I won’t be invited back to training if I get caught helping you.”
“Then take me back to school.” I grabbed my backpack and pointed to a good place to turn around. “I don’t want you to ruin your chances to do something you love.”
“I love you, Schmeg,” he said, using the old nickname that used to drive me absolutely insane. Now it seemed kind of sweet and made me want to cry again. But then, what didn’t? “It’s just work. You’re my girlfriend.”
I finally lost the tear battle and started sobbing. Ethan loved me, he really loved me. It was wonderful. I was so lucky! So why was it making me have a major, snotty come-apart?
“Meg, you okay?” Ethan asked, looking a little green to be trapped in a car with a sobbing girl, even one he loved. I nodded, but the tears didn’t seem to want to stop. “I think there are some napkins left over from Sonic in the glove compartment.”
Sonic! The site of our first pretend date months ago! Remembering how I’d been crushing on Ethan that night, and how I’d been certain he’d never think of me as anything but an annoying little-sister type, helped me pull myself together.
The impossible had happened. The proof was sitting in the driver’s seat, telling me he loved me. And proving my innocence wasn’t impossible either-it just felt like it because I didn’t know what was going on. Hopefully, by the time Ethan and I were done today, that would no longer be the case.
“I’m better.” I dabbed at my nose and eyes and took a deep breath. “Where are we starting this investigating?”
“I drove by Kroger on my way. Looks like the Enforcement team finally pulled out of the woods behind the parking lot. I figure it’s as good a place to start as any.”
“Right, sounds good,” I said, but it didn’t, not really. I didn’t want to go back into those woods. Still, what choice did I have? Leads were few, and Ethan was right, the best place to start was at the scene of the crime… whatever that crime was. “Did Protocol get any information on why these zombies were so different? I mean, I know using black magic is a felony charge, but there’s got to be some reason the Enforcers think I’m the only one who could have done this. I’m guessing it has something to do with having more power than the average Settler, but that’s about as far as I’ve gotten.”
“That’s what I figured too. It’s the only thing that makes sense.”
“Right. But maybe if we can find out what’s so special about the RCs-”
“They could be Settler-Resistant Undead,” Ethan said, his tone making it clear he’d rather not share this information with me if he could have helped it. “Our Protocol task force leader said he’d heard about SRU attacks in Europe in the f
ourteenth century that wiped out entire towns. Back then the Settlers’ Affairs people blamed the deaths on the plague to keep humans from freaking out about zombies.”
“Geez. That’s… very bad.” And Megan wins the Understatement of the Year award. “But why-”
“And no one ever found out where they came from, who had raised them, or why Settlers couldn’t control them. They just kind of disappeared in modern times. Until now, maybe?”
“Which would explain why the Enforcers are freaking out, but wouldn’t explain why they think I did this.” Must keep thinking logically, must not start imagining zombies swarming over the entire town of Carol.
“So we need to find out more about these SRUs, something that will help us start a list of real suspects.”
“I don’t know much, but I did hear Smythe and Barker saying something about checking the hospitals in Little Rock. They shut up pretty fast when they realized I was standing close enough to hear, but still, it’s something.” He turned into Kroger and pulled around to the back of the store. “If we don’t find anything in the woods, we can start snooping around hospitals and see if we spot anything unusual,” he said, parking beside a Dumpster.
I couldn’t think of any connection between the Undead and a hospital, but I hadn’t slept very well last night. Still, the whole situation seemed so overwhelming.
As if sensing my angst, Ethan turned and grabbed my hand before I could open my door. “We’re going to figure this out, Megan. I promise. Everything is going to be fine.”
After that I just had to kiss him for a minute or two. Even if he was just saying it to make me feel better, it was wonderful having a boyfriend who knew exactly what to say.
