Death and the Girl Next Door (24 page)

Jared started to reach for the jacket, then realized how futile the effort would be. He inhaled deeply and turned to him, waiting for the principal’s reaction.

“Mr. Davis,” I said, trying to come up with some explanation. But what could I say?
Oh, yeah, Mr. Davis, we forgot to mention that this is the same guy who showed up the day your brother died and he’s actually this messenger-slash-reaper guy for some otherworldly answering service and he came back here to spirit me off to Heaven and instead saved my life and changed history and now he’s, like, stuck.

I didn’t think so.

But apparently it didn’t matter. Before I could say anything, he turned and strode off. We were suddenly alone again.

“Are you two, like, bipolar or something?” Brooklyn stood, her resentment leaking out at Cameron and Jared. “’Cause they have medication for that.” I realized she didn’t really know what had just happened, what Jared had revealed. She barged up to Cameron, purpose in her every move. “You accepted, you butthead.”

He turned to her, an unspoken question written on his face.

“Don’t pretend to be clueless. You accepted. That beautiful woman asked you, and you accepted without hesitation.”

I was awestruck. “You saw her? I thought I dreamed it.”

“I think we all dreamed it,” Glitch said.

Brooklyn’s temper flared. She rose onto her toes to meet Cameron eye to eye, though she missed the mark by about a foot. “Don’t make me angry,” she said evenly. “You wouldn’t like me when I’m angry.”

I almost grinned. Somehow channeling the Incredible Hulk worked for her.

To my surprise, Cameron calmed instantly. He seemed almost mesmerized by Brooklyn. His hard features softened as he wiped his forehead on a sleeve.

Then he smiled. “Whatever you say, just don’t bring out the water pistol again.”

“Water pistol?” Glitch’s jaw dropped. “That was a water pistol last night?” He seemed offended. “You protected us with a freaking water pistol?”

“Like I would carry a real gun.” She rolled her eyes as if he were inane.

“Just what were you planning to do if your little scheme didn’t work?” he asked, appalled. “Drown him?”

“Shut up, Blue-Spider,” she said as she walked around to the other side of the pickup. “Least I had a plan.”

Glitch walked to his car, mumbling to himself in disbelief.

I was still having trouble forming a coherent thought, having just had an out-of-body experience. I had visions all the time, but this was different somehow. More tangible.

“Lor,” Brooklyn said slowly, seemingly aware of my coherent-thought problem, “why don’t you and Jared go with Glitch. I’ll go with bipolar boy and we’ll meet up at your house.”

Jared scooped up the jacket and turned to us. But he didn’t look at me. He averted his eyes and said, “Lorelei may not want to ride with me right now.”

“Why not?” Her brows snapped together. “Lorelei?”

I found myself avoiding his gaze as well.

“Because she just found out what Jared really is.” Cameron opened his door and climbed in before turning back to Brooke. “Did you happen to see who those children were afraid of last night?” he asked, referencing the dream we’d apparently shared. “Because it wasn’t me.” He started the truck then leveled a hard stare on her. “I’d just like that noted.”

“Lor, what just happened?”

“Nothing. I’ll explain later.” I forced myself to look back at Jared. “Coming, Azrael?” I said, trying to lighten the mood.

He stepped reluctantly in my direction, then stopped. Just as Brooklyn was about to get into Cameron’s truck, he said, “I didn’t mean for that to happen. I had no idea you would be pulled in.”

“I know.”

“What?” Brooklyn asked.

“It’s what I do, Lorelei. But more importantly, it was her decision.”

And that was the truth of it. It was Cameron’s mother’s decision. Not Jared’s. Not Cameron’s. It was hers and hers alone. She sacrificed herself to save him, and Cameron would just have to deal with that fact. Then again, maybe that was the whole problem. Maybe he felt guilty that she gave her life for his and he couldn’t accept it.

“So, what happened?” Brooklyn asked. “Did I miss it again? God, I always miss the good stuff.” She turned and climbed into the truck.

Glitch honked impatiently, and I tossed him a silent warning. Then Jared said something that made my knees almost give beneath me.

“I saw you. Thirteen years ago. I saw you there in the forest, in the child Cameron’s eyes. I saw you exactly as you are now.”

I looked back at him. What did he mean? I shook my head. “I don’t understand.”

“I didn’t know who you were. Because you were seeing through Cameron’s eyes, I couldn’t read anything. You weren’t really there.”

“You saw me watching … just now?”

“Yes, only thirteen years ago. Then, when I was sent here to take you, I remembered you instantly. I remembered the fire burning so bright around you, I could hardly look. I stopped time to study your face.” He stepped closer and brushed his fingertips along my jaw. “You have an ancient soul, powerful and calm. The descendent of Arabeth. When I saw you again, I never wanted to take my eyes off you. I couldn’t let you die. I couldn’t let you leave, never to look upon you again.”

He dipped his head and I twisted my fingers into his shirt as he bent to kiss me, my pulse skyrocketing. I raised my face to his, waiting, wanting more than I’d ever wanted in my life.

So, naturally, a split second before his mouth touched mine, Einstein honked again.

“Glitch!” I screamed, floored by his timing. I turned to him. He sat in his car, joy obvious in his expression. He’d done it on purpose. “I am so going to stab you in the heart!”

Jared chuckled. “Maybe we should talk about this later.”

Disappointment flooded my entire being. “I guess,” I said, vowing to make Glitch pay if it were the last thing I did on earth.

A BLINDING LIGHT

The cool silence of night in the Manzano Mountains coaxed me into a tranquil bliss. Fireflies hummed to the love songs of crickets. Gentle breezes swayed the leaves that clung to life after a festive, fertile summer, creating a soft, rhythmic lullaby. So when a loud crash splintered the evening air like a sonic boom, I nearly jumped out of my skin.

“Jeez, Glitch-head,” Cameron said. “Could you be any louder?”

Glitch turned to him in frustration. “Did anyone ask you to come?”

“If you’ll remember, moon pie over there insisted.” He gestured toward Brooklyn as we hunkered behind a massive planter.

“Moon pie?” Brooklyn asked in a loud whisper, insulted by the reference.

“And you listen to everything she has to say?”

Cameron shrugged.

“I could be wrong here,” Glitch said, his voice laced with sarcasm, “but I think you can take her.”

“Glitch,” I said as I inched closer, “what the bloody heck are you doing?”

“Yeah,” Brooklyn said. “Can you pick locks or not?”

I looked to the side. “Oh man,” I groaned. “You broke their garden gnome. We are so gonna be busted.”

Glitch released a frustrated sigh. “Weren’t you two supposed to stay hidden with Jared until I opened the door?”

“Well, you were taking so long. We were worried.”

I almost laughed when he lowered his little lock-picking tools—otherwise known as a modified fingernail file and a paper clip—his annoyance with me obvious.

“Do you know where I should be right now?”

Here we go. “At the steak house?” I asked. “Enjoying a homecoming victory steak dinner, compliments of the Wolverine Booster Club?”

“Exactly! And why am I not there?”

Brooklyn raised her hand excitedly. “I know! I know! Because we begged you to use your infamous boy abilities to help us break into Ashlee and Sydnee’s house while
they
are off enjoying a homecoming victory steak dinner, compliments of the Wolverine Booster Club.”

Glitch turned without comment and continued working on the lock.

“I was right, huh?”

“Super right,” I said. “You get extra-special bonus points.”

“I have an idea.” Everyone looked back at Cameron as he stood with arms crossed in bored contemplation. “Why don’t we just let the reaper open the door. You know, since he’s standing there looking annoyed.”

We glanced up to see that Jared had already found a way into the house. He unlocked the door.

“Thanks,” Glitch said.

“I’ve already unlocked it once. You locked it back.”

“Oh, sorry.”

“So what are we looking for?” A tad creeped out by the whole ghost thing, Brooklyn and I huddled together as we stepped into the massive three-story house.

“A presence,” Jared said.

“I thought we were looking for a ghost.” Glitch scoured the room with eyes wide.

“Same difference.”

“Ghost, presence, apparition,” Cameron added. “But I think this is something more. It’s too strong. It might be a poltergeist.”

“I feel it too,” Jared said, nodding in agreement.

I was still checking out the digs. “Who the heck puts white carpet in a house?”

“And gold molding,” Brooklyn said. “Could this house scream
my daddy’s richer than your daddy
any gaudier?”

“So what’s the difference?” Glitch asked.

“Well, wood molding,” Brooklyn explained, “is much more subtle and adds a stunning touch to any room.”

Glitch huffed his irritation at her. “I meant the ghost-versus-poltergeist thing.”

“Oh, right,” Brooklyn said.

I stifled a giggle.

“A presence is more like an energy,” Cameron said, “left behind when someone dies. It’s usually the result of a traumatic death.” He took a vase off the mantel to examine it. “But a poltergeist,” he continued, “is, well, a poltergeist. You’ve seen the movie. They’re stronger and can be either really angry or just plain evil. What do you think of this?” He tossed the vase to Glitch, who caught it in unsteady hands then scowled at Cameron before reading the inscription.

He recoiled with a horrified expression and threw it back. “They keep their grandmother on the mantel?” he asked, gagging a little. “Who does that?”

Cameron laughed as he replaced the urn.

“I could live on this sofa.” Brooklyn ran her hand along the buttery soft fabric.

I nodded in agreement before leaving the warm embrace of my best friend to inspect a painting across the great room. It looked like something from the Renaissance.

“Presence!” Glitch pointed to the upstairs landing then tumbled backwards over a coffee table. “Presence!”

“That was fast,” Cameron said.

I looked up to see a darkness gathered near the ceiling, hovering, watching. A different kind of fear than I had ever known before took hold: a chilling, tingly, sweaty kind of fear. It wrapped cold tendrils around my ankles and crept up my spine to the back of my neck. This was way scarier than the movies. I wanted to run more than I’d ever wanted to run in my life. That whole fight-or-flight thing was leaning heavily toward the latter. Then, without warning, it swooped down at us.

More fear shot through me, pumping adrenaline by the gallons as I screamed and dropped onto an ornate rug. The darkness passed over me. I felt its energy reverberate like an electric wind, standing every hair on my body on end.

The presence retreated into the shadows as quickly as it had appeared. I scanned the room wide-eyed as Jared walked—no, strolled—to Glitch and offered him a hand, and I wondered if supreme beings were afraid of anything.

“Actually,” he said to him matter-of-factly, “that was a poltergeist.”

Cameron walked—no, strolled—over to Brooklyn as she huddled behind the sofa with a throw rug over her head. He fought a smile. “An angry poltergeist,” he said in agreement. “And as ingenious as your disguise is, I’m fairly certain it knows you’re here.”

“Of course it knows,” she said through gritted teeth, “with you standing there giving my position away to every poltergeist in the country.”

He shrugged and turned to walk away.

“Where are you going?” she asked, her voice suddenly shrill.

He chuckled and stayed put by her side.

I rose cautiously to my feet, searching the corners of the vaulted ceiling, trying to control my panic. “It disappeared,” I said, bewildered. Then reality sank in. “Wait, how exactly are we able to see it? I’ve never seen a ghost in my life.”

“It must want to be seen,” Cameron said, searching the ceilings as well. “Ghosts tend to make themselves scarce. You can thank your boyfriend for that little show. It’s like an animal who puffs up when it feels threatened. This entity feels threatened with the reaper close by. It’s making its presence known.”

“Seriously?” I asked.

“Seriously. And just like a cornered animal, it will do anything to survive.”

I was actually referring to the part about
your boyfriend,
but nobody needed to know that.

Jared stepped to me as I turned in a circle. “See it yet?”

“No,” I said, trying to sound brave. I caught his scent, clean and earthy, and inched closer to him. “Can it hurt us?”

He lifted his shoulders. “Only if it wants to.”

“Nice. You might have mentioned that.”

“And ruin the surprise?” he asked, his expression playful. He had taken off the jacket in the car and his muscles were doing that flex-with-every-movement thing that mesmerized me into a trance.

“I think we should just get out of here,” Glitch said as he walked to the fireplace to grab a poker, “and come back when we actually have a plan.”

Before I could reply, I heard something from an alcove behind me. When I turned to investigate, I had to admit, the last few days had certainly been the most surreal of my existence. I’d been hit by a truck and brought back to life, seen the world freeze around me, gotten pulled back in time through someone else’s eyes, and fallen in love with a supreme being.

But all things considered, the massive grand piano that had been upended and thrown at me as though polter-thing were playing fetch-the-Steinway with some massive ghost dog pretty much iced the cake. And tossed a cherry on top.

At least when the truck hit me, I didn’t see it coming. Maybe once someone was supposed to die, that person couldn’t escape it. Maybe no one could cheat death. Not for long anyway.