The Eighth Day (7 page)

JAX LAY ON HIS BED
holding the Grand Canyon photo. In the picture, his father was wearing an embarrassing Hawaiian-print shirt, and the hand he was using to shade his eyes wasn't the one with the tattoo. There wasn't a single thing in this picture to suggest Rayne Aubrey had a secret day of the week or made his living as a corporate spy.

But Jax had to admit, there were things about his father that didn't make sense. The tattoo, for one, which he told people was a leftover from “wild college days.” But on more than one occasion, he'd warned Jax to pull up his grades “so you can go to college like I never did.”

And then there was the business, Information Resources, which had no employees and no office. Jax had never even seen a business card for it. He'd never questioned this before because, after all, what kids were really interested in their fathers' work?

Riley had refused to answer any more questions about Jax's father or the bargain they'd made. “You want to leave here, and that suits me fine,” he'd said. “Once you leave my protection, it's better if you know as little as possible about your father's business—and mine.”

But Jax was tired of being surprised. He slammed the framed photo onto the bedside table and went downstairs to his computer.

Buried in his in-box below all the spam, Jax found an email with the subject line:
Between Wednesday and Thursday Admission Granted
.

Fellow Eight-Day-Citizen: Your application for admittance has been granted. The username and password below will access your membership.

Jax entered the ID numbers he'd been given and was prompted to change his log-in information. He chose his customary username,
jaxattax
, and the same password he used for everything. Immediately, he was redirected to the forum, where he found a list of discussion threads.

Introductions

Discussion Topics

Vermin Infestation

Can Duds Be Cured?

Niviane's Enchanted Forest: Was It a Real Place?

Locus of the Spell: Stonehenge or Pentre Ifan?

The Kin Issue

Youth Camps

Chat Groups

But Jax couldn't get into any of the discussions. Whenever he clicked on a link, a pop-up informed him:

403 Error. Try again later
.

Transitioners might have a secret day all to themselves
, Jax thought, as he sent an email to technical support,
but they're lousy with computers
.

The kid who smashed Giana Leone's ceramic vase never realized he did it. He was talking to his friend in the hallway and didn't look back when his elbow struck her arm. She lost her grip on the vase, and Jax, passing by, made a grab for it but missed. The vase hit the floor and shattered.

Giana held out her hands in dismay. “That stinks,” Jax said. He squatted and started picking up the broken pieces.

“It's just something I made in art class. I don't care,” Giana said, although the look on her face plainly said she
did. She fetched a trash can from an empty classroom.

Jax picked up shards with one hand and piled them into the other. “Do you want to save the big pieces and glue them back together?”

“What's the point?” Giana gingerly picked up pieces of pottery and cast a sideways glance at Jax's hand. “I can't believe you got a tattoo. Isn't that illegal?”

“Not if your guardian says okay.” She was eyeing him like she couldn't decide whether the tattoo made him cool or creepy, so he said, “My dad had a tattoo like this. It's a way to honor him.”

“Oh.” Giana stood and picked up the trash can. Jax could've kicked himself. Nobody wanted to hear about his orphanhood.

“You had Mr. Gupta's history test this morning, right?” he asked, quickly changing the subject. “I have it next period. How was it?”

“Not too hard, if you studied,” she said, starting to walk away.

“Was it mostly on Chapter Fifteen?” He stood up, too, desperately wanting to extend the conversation. “‘Battles of the Revolution'?”

Giana stopped with a jerk, almost losing her balance. “Yes, but he focused on the Pennsylvania battles.” Giana's forehead rumpled. She made a movement, as if to walk away, but it was like she'd been welded to the spot. “You better know all about General Anthony Wayne.”

“What about the essay? Was it tough?”

Giana pressed her lips together and stared at Jax, then blurted out. “You have to compare the British and Continental armies. I didn't have any problem with it.”

“Thanks for the tip.” Jax grinned. “D'you like history?”

“It's my favorite subject.” Again, Giana made a strange, jerky movement, like she was going to walk away, but didn't.

Jax's heart flipped over. It seemed like she wanted to keep talking to him. “They're showing a historical movie at the PTA Fun Night this Friday, aren't they? I mean, it's a ghost story, but set in the past, right?”

“Yes.” Her eyes were very wide.

“Are you going?” The bell rang for the next period.

“Yes.” Her voice sounded strained.

“Me too.” He made that up on the spot. “So maybe I'll see you there?”

“You probably will.”

Jax hadn't felt this light-headed since A.J. had stuck the needle gun into his arm. “Okay. Talk to you later.” Giana expelled her breath and bolted down the hall. Jax stood there, grinning, until an unexpected blow sent him staggering. He caught his balance and glared at Tegan Donovan, who'd hip-checked him as she walked by for no reason.

“That was smooth,” she said. “Jerk.”

He blinked stupidly. What was wrong with
her
? Why
would Tegan care if he was talking to Giana?

Then his grin returned. Giana Leone wanted to talk to Jax Aubrey. Wow.

The rest of his day was a blur, and nothing, not even the history test, could squelch his good mood. But he wasn't exactly sure what their conversation meant. Was he allowed to
wave
at Giana from across the auditorium on Friday night? Hover nearby? Sit next to her?

After the last bell, he tried to catch her at her locker. Maybe he could clarify the situation. Giana glanced his way, slammed her locker closed, and walked in the opposite direction. Jax quickened his pace. “Giana! Wait up.”

She whirled, her eyes flashing. “What?”

Jax stepped back, startled by her expression. But his mouth kept going, plunging forward in his convoluted plan to find out her favorite candy and show up with it. “I was wondering, for Friday, if they sold snacks, or if we were allowed to bring—“

“I don't care what you do,” she snapped. “Just stay away from me!”

“Uh . . .”

“And don't you
dare
let anyone know I told you what was on the history test.”

Jax gaped at her. Students in the hall were turning to watch.

“Freak,” Giana hissed, walking away as fast as her legs could take her.

Girls
. Did they take lessons on how to humiliate a guy? Or did it come to them naturally?

Jax replayed the conversation in his head all the way home, but he couldn't figure out what had happened. One minute, Giana had been talking to him and admiring his tattoo—well, sort of—and a couple periods later, she'd practically spit in his face.

“Pendare?” A.J. lifted his head off the recliner when Jax opened the front door. The host of
Extraterrestrial Evidence
was blathering on about aliens abducting the ancient Khmer Empire.

“No, it's me.” Jax stumped into the kitchen and got a soda from the refrigerator, which now hummed smoothly and kept everything cold. He sat at his computer in the alcove off the kitchen and checked his email glumly, still stinging from Giana's last word.
Freak!

Huh, imagine if she knew how much of a freak he really was.

An automated response from the Between Wednesday and Thursday website suggested Jax “check online assistance between the hours of 3–5 pm.” He signed in and found the link for tech support. A chat window opened within seconds.

terrance: yo jaxattax. what u need?

jaxattax: cant access discussions

terrance: reload page

jaxattax: already did

terrance: must b glitch. sign on w/family account till i check

Jax felt the usual punch in the gut he got whenever somebody mentioned
family
. But he was learning to use it to his advantage.

jaxattax: no family. thats the problem

terrance: no family on forum? new members welcome.

jaxattax: no family period. thats why i need forum

terrance: sorry. u newly turned & no family 2 help?

jaxattax: yup

terrance: where you live?

Now Jax paused.

terrance: just the state, not yr address. im not a creep. there r groups 4 newly turned kids. maybe one in yr area.

jaxattax: PA

terrance: ill check PA & work on fixing yr account.

jaxattax: thx

He closed the chat window and looked at the list of discussions he couldn't get into. He was attracted and
repulsed by the idea of a group for kids like himself. Part of him wanted to talk to somebody besides Riley; another part screamed,
Don't make yourself more of a freak!
After a few seconds, his attention was drawn to some of the discussions he couldn't get into.

Niviane's Enchanted Forest: Was It a Real Place?

Locus of the Spell: Stonehenge or Pentre Ifan?

He knew what Stonehenge was but opened up a new window to check out Pentre Ifan, which turned out to be some other standing stones in Wales. Then he Googled
Niviane
, but the name was connected to Merlin the wizard and didn't seem related to the eighth day. He leaned back. Hadn't he overheard A.J. and Deidre mention a name to Riley?
Everett? Emory? Emris?
Jax sat up and started typing.

According to a baby name site,
Emris
meant “immortal, undying.” But when Jax tried the alternate spelling
Emrys
, Google took him right back to the site he'd already seen for
Niviane
: Merlin. One of the ancient names for the wizard was Merlin Emrys. And Niviane, depending on which version of the legend he read, had been either Merlin's girlfriend, apprentice, or betrayer. Possibly all three.

Jax stood up and walked into the living room. A.J.'s huge carcass lay sprawled on the recliner, a soda can resting on his belly. This felt like asking Jeopardy questions of
a dog, but what the heck? “A.J., what do you know about Niviane?”

“She was the Lady of the Lake,” A.J. replied.

“And she trapped Merlin in an eternal forest?”

“She didn't trap him.” A.J. belched. “He volunteered to go, for the good of everybody. There wasn't any other way to stop the Kin. That's why they created the eighth day in the first place.”

“You're telling me they were real people?”

A.J. sat up and turned to face Jax. “Has Riley told you any of this?”

Jax ignored the question. “Are the legends real or not?”

“Yes. No.” A.J. looked confused. “The people were real. The legends are crap.”

“Who's this Emrys that you were talking to Riley about?” Jax tried to think back to what he'd heard after they'd tattooed him. “Does this have something to do with the girl next door?”

A.J. frowned. His mouth opened and closed a few times while he crushed the can in his hand. Soda squirted from the top. “Yeah, she's the—”

“Don't answer that, Crandall. Jax, what are you doing?”

Riley stood at the front door. A.J. pointed at Jax, but Riley interrupted him when he tried to explain. “Jax, ask Crandall for the PIN number on his debit card.”

A.J. protested, “Hey!”

“Go on,” Riley insisted. “Ask him.”

Jax's stomach clenched. “What's the PIN number on your debit card, A.J.?”

For three seconds, A.J.'s face grew bright red while he pressed his lips together. Then he burst out “Nine one six oh four,” and clapped his hand over his mouth.

Riley laughed. “Well, that was fast.”

UNCORRECTED E-PROOF—NOT FOR SALE

HarperCollins Publishers

..................................................................

JAX GAPED AT
the two of them, afraid to say anything else.

A.J. counted on his fingers. “It's only been five days since we marked him,” he said to Riley. “It usually takes at least ten and a couple more visits to Grunsday.”

Riley pulled the door closed. “He's older than most newbies. Or maybe it's the nature of his talent.”

“He's pretty strong,” A.J. said. “Even when I realized, I couldn't stop talking.”

“What did I do?” Jax asked, repulsed and fascinated all at once.

“Apparently,” said Riley, “you figured out how to use your bloodline magic all on your own.”

Jax shook his head. First Grunsday, then a tattoo, and now this? “What's bloodline magic?”

Riley drew his dagger out and balanced it on his left palm. Jax recognized the gesture from the night of the
tattoo and started to back away, but Riley ordered, “Sit down and shut up.”

Jax's knees folded, and his butt hit the chair before he knew what was happening. His lips clamped shut.

Then he started struggling.

Gripping the chair with both hands, he tried to push himself to his feet. His sneakers scrabbled on the carpet. He clenched his jaw, but couldn't force his mouth open.

Riley watched for several seconds. Then he slid the dagger into its sheath. “Okay,” he said. “You can talk.”

“You jerk!” gasped Jax.

Riley shrugged. “It was the quickest way to demonstrate.”

“There's no such thing as magic!” It came out as a wail, a last-ditch effort to hang on to reality as he knew it.