Death and the Girl Next Door (32 page)

“How are you supposed to practice if we keep having to work in all of our classes?” Brooklyn asked as we jogged along the forest track, dodging tree branches and navigating the occasional rut. We’d had a dry winter and leaves crunched under our feet.

“It’s crazy, right?” I said, teasing, my huffing breaths only slightly wheezy. “To expect such a thing from an establishment of learning.” I checked the pocket in my hoodie to make sure I’d remembered my inhaler. Nothing screamed
unattractive
like a face bluing from lack of oxygen.

“Exactly.”

I had a feeling Brooklyn reveled in my prophetic status. She talked about it all the time and urged me to practice. To concentrate. To concentrate harder, darn it. Of course, she’d seen almost as much as I had when Jared came to town. She now knew there were things that went bump in the night. They were real and they were scary and they’d almost gotten us killed, so I couldn’t really blame her obsession. Though I could complain about it every single chance I got.

As Brooke went on about her new plan of action, one that would surely strengthen my visions, I saw a dark shadow dart past to my right. I stopped and a girl behind us slammed into me.

“Watch it, McAlister,” she said, pushing past me. I stumbled and caught myself against a tree trunk.

Brooke jumped to my defense, squaring her shoulders and jamming her hands onto her hips. “You watch it, Tabitha.”

“Please,” she said as three other girls ran past. “Like you could take me on your best day.”

Tabitha, also known as head cheerleader and my archenemy, just happened to be about seven feet tall to Brooke’s five. She smirked at us before continuing her trek through the forest, her blond head bobbing through the trees.

Brooke offered a hand for me to steady myself as I brushed leaves off my shorts. “How rude.”

“When is she not rude?” It was a sad twist of fate that Tabitha had P.E. with me, the person she most despised and most loved to harass. “But I did stop in the middle of the path.”

“Why? Did you have a vision?” she asked hopefully.

“Kind of. I saw something.”

When I pointed deeper into the forest, we both leaned forward and squinted for a better look. Two girls walked past, clearly having given up on the whole jogging thing. I could hardly blame them.

“Well,” Brooke said, “I don’t see anything, but the way this day has been going, maybe we should get back to the gym, just to be safe.”

But I had seen something. An outline. A shape that resembled a head peering from behind a tree about thirty yards away. I stepped closer as something farther down the tree trunk moved. I focused as a ray of light glinted off a silver blade.

I froze.

“Don’t you think?” Brooke asked.

I eased my hand around her arm and stepped back onto the path. She caught on instantly and looked into the forest again.

In a hushed whisper, she said, “I still don’t see anything.”

“I do.” When the shape emerged from behind the tree, hunched down like it was going to attack, Brooke gasped, finally seeing it. I squeezed her arm tighter and whispered, “Run.”

ALSO BY DARYNDA JONES

Third Grave Dead Ahead

Second Grave on the Left

First Grave on the Right

Praise for
Death and the Girl Next Door

“Only Darynda Jones could make the Angel of Death crush-worthy! Wickedly sharp with brilliant wit,
Death and the Girl Next Door
will leave you craving more!”

—Lara Chapman, author of
Flawless

“Outrageously funny, sinfully sexy, with a cast of characters that steals your heart from the very first page … I loved this book!”

—Inara Scott, author of the Delcroix Academy series

“Snapping with sarcasm and a pitch-perfect voice,
Death and the Girl Next Door
brings Darynda Jones’s signature humor and supernatural sass to Riley High. Trust me, there’s nothing grim about this reaper!”

—Roxanne St. Claire,
New York Times
bestselling author of
Don’t You Wish

“
Death and the Girl Next Door
is unputdownable. Darynda Jones breathes fresh life into the Young Adult genre with exciting twists to legends we only think we understand and edgy, compelling characters you can’t help but care about.”

—Gwen Hayes, author of
Falling Under

“
Death and the Girl Next Door
delivers a smokin’ hot story and a guy to die for. Darynda Jones gives one candy-smacking, awesome read that won’t let you go until the end.”

—Shea Berkley, author of
The Marked Son

“I loved this book.
Death and the Girl Next Door
is equal parts funny, thrilling, and hot. Teens will fall hard for the hero, an original and exciting take on the Angel of Death.”

—Maureen McGowan, author of the Twisted Tales series

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

New York Times
and
USA Today
bestselling author DARYNDA JONES won a Golden Heart for Best Paranormal Romance for her manuscript
First Grave on the Right
. A born storyteller, she grew up spinning tales of dashing damsels and heroes in distress for any unfortunate soul who happened by, annoying man and beast alike. Darynda lives in the Land of Enchantment, also known as New Mexico, with her husband and two beautiful sons, the Mighty, Mighty Jones Boys. Visit Darynda at
www.daryndajones.com
.

This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

DEATH AND THE GIRL NEXT DOOR.
Copyright © 2012 by Darynda Jones. All rights reserved. For information, address St. Martin’s Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010.

www.stmartins.com

Cover design by Olga Grlic

Cover photographs: girl by Jupiterimages/Getty Images; blond male by Image Source/Getty Images; black-haired male by Yuri Arcurs/Shutterstock; lockers by Jesse Kunerth/Shutterstock

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Jones, Darynda.

Death and the girl next door / Darynda Jones. — 1st ed.

       p. cm.

ISBN 978-0-312-62520-7 (pbk.)

ISBN 978-1-250-01722-2 (e-book)

  1.  Teenage girls—Fiction.   2.  Orphans—Fiction.   3.  Stalking—Fiction.   4.  Paranormal romance stories, American.   I.  Title.

PS3610.O6236D43 2012

813'.6—dc23

2012026408

e-ISBN 9781250017222

First Edition: October 2012