Bry saw my face fall and got fear on the edges of his.
Randi shook her head. "No, I think my power, whether we traveled the dimensional highway or not..."
"Negated," John prompted and she nodded at him.
"Canceled out the sickness problem." Her eyes met Bry"s and he exhaled in a relieved expulsion.
"Thank G.o.d," he muttered, his hand stroking his chest like his heart was going to fall out of his ribcage.
"Chill, you"re fine, Weller," Jonesy said, crushing his second lollipop and grinding the sweet sugared crystals with his teeth.
Sophie smiled. "If we"re alive then everything is okay with you, right Jonesy?"
He looked at her in a puzzled way. "Well, yeah. Why wouldn"t it be?"
The guys looked at the chicks and felt the weight of the difference in the s.e.xes descend, the barrier there.
We smiled at each other, the boys on target and the girls confused about our willingness to brave the unknown.
Typical.
I smiled as we straggled out of the hideaway.
We felt like we"d accomplished something that day. The memory of helping a world that wasn"t our own, stranding the scientists in the middle of the s.h.i.t they"d started, it was an accomplishment.
Of course, that just meant that Parker and the Graysheets were going to duel. They"d eventually find out about his involvement.
And mine.
In fact, as Gramps would say, it was coming full circle.
And it was going to bite me in the a.s.s.
Story of my life.
The sunlight winked off my windshield, temporarily blinding me. It speared my eyes as I slowed beside the curb of Jade"s foster family"s house.
The dump.
I knew before I pushed the shifter into park that Howie would be there, gunning to give me s.h.i.t again.
He was painful in his regularity. It was almost like taking a c.r.a.p, it happened every day. But he was like constipation or something.
A t.u.r.d to be flushed down the porcelain G.o.ddess.
Nice.
I swept out of the car, the morning biting at my heels a little, autumn had come and with it, that familiar crispness. I gazed up at the sky, the summer hanging on even as fall deepened the blue unmercifully, the sky went on forever in the month of October. I tore my gaze away, clamping down on my daydreamer tendencies with an effort.
The weekend was here and the whole pack of us were headin" out to Gramps, The Parents too. Gramps was my house for now.
It felt weird.
And right.
Onyx had transitioned right into living with Gramps. Sometimes, like the traitor he was, he"d even sleep at the foot of Gramps" bed.
I looked at the crooked stoop where Jade lived and saw her descend the steps, Howie barking at her heels.
That"s what I saw anyway, a well-trained guard dog on a leash it didn"t like, sniffing for trouble.
And I was here to deliver.
See how that s.h.i.t worked out?
I"d rounded the back end of the Camaro before I even knew it, bouncing up on the curb and striding to where Jade was walking, her high heeled boots clicking on the cracked cement.
Frazier saw me coming and smiled evilly. The a.s.shat knew I had to watch it.
The probation wasn"t up yet. If I used the dead, they"d lock me up.
What he said next slowed my step.
"How"s that vacation, Hart?" His eyes raked over my body and I knew he was a.s.sessing me as a guy. Could he take me? Were all the rumors true? Would the dead come and kick his a.s.s for me, or was I tough enough to do it without them?
I was sure willing to give it the old college try. My anger simmered underneath the surface like one of my mom"s pots coming to a boil.
Frazier blew it when he touched Jade"s arm, wrapping his big hand around it entirely, jerking her backward, he hissed, "You"re not going with him, he"s a menace, not allowed on school property either." He winked at me and Jade"s green eyes got big as she stumbled backward, completely unprepared for his advance. There was something on her face as she saw me come for him.
Then Brett was there. He yelled, "Hart!"
I turned and Howie belted me with a cheap shot and Jade screamed. He caught me just right on the edge of my chin. I spun backward as Brett grabbed Jade.
Every guy"s jaw is made of gla.s.s if you hit him right.
Mine felt shattered.
I don"t know what hurt worse, seeing Jade in Brett"s arms or the sucker punch I"d just taken.
Howie tried to land on me to start the whaling he had planned but I fell backward and let my hands bite the ground as I simultaneously jabbed out with my foot, catching him in the middle of his bread basket. My head spun and I felt puke rising but now was not the time to get squeamish "cuz I took a hit. And there was a new and exciting development: I felt him before I saw him.
Clyde was there before I"d thought of anything.
d.a.m.n, the manure was rolling downhill to collect at my feet.
The fear crawled into my belly and Howie smiled. He"d planned it.
The f.u.c.ker was trying to get me locked up.
He knew when Jade would leave, he knew when my probation was up.
And most importantly, he had some kind of bead on me and my boy Clyde.
Brett took Jade behind him and launched himself at Howie. It was bizarre, one minute Jade had been glued to him (hated it), the next he was landing on an unprepared but smug Howie.
They rolled around on the weedy gra.s.s of his family"s outlawed lawn and Clyde hauled me up by my arm.
I swayed.
He stared at me.
"Go," I said roughly and he ignored me, looking at the teens that were almost men beating the tar out of each other not two meters away from where we stood.
"Caleb..." Clyde started, his thick dark blond hair lifting in the morning breeze that"d come up.
I shook my head, hoping for clarity and getting nothing but bile for my trouble, it rose unbidden in my throat and I planted my hands on my knees, stabilizing myself. I was trying to ride out getting my bell rung.
I could hear the sirens in the distance.
I craned my head to the side and looked up at Clyde"s face, his suit that he always wore mended to perfection, always clean, always perfect. "They"re coming, ya gotta go!"
Clyde curled his mighty hands into fists and strode to the dueling teens. He tore Brett off of Howie and knelt beside Howie.
Howie, every bit of six foot of solid muscle cringed from the nearness of my zombie. And man, did he not look dead. But that didn"t matter, he was. Howie knew it. Somewhere deep inside, his humanity had been shaken by something so unnatural, so foreign in its essence, his very being withdrew from it.
Like now.
"Get back, f.u.c.ker!" Howie screamed, trying to scuttle backwards out of range.
Not happening.
Clyde wasn"t a fan of foul language. He grabbed him by the lapel of his shirt and dragged him close to his face. He ran a strong tapered finger down his jaw and I watched Howie shiver at his touch.
With flagrant revulsion.
Clyde shook Howie casually in his unbreakable hold and I heard his teeth rattle. "I am well-versed in human anatomy, varmint. I can make much look accidental. I have been told that my DNA," it was comical, Clyde looked at me for confirmation and I nodded dully, "and fingerprints will not be identified. I am far too old for the technology of this era to apply to my deeds. Nefarious or otherwise."
Howie looked at him with a stunned expression.
"Clyde go!" I yelled, knowing what would happen if they found him here with me. They wouldn"t need an excuse to kill him, incarcerate me. It"d be over. And Howie would have won. And every other person that didn"t like the cauldron of the dead I"d stirred up.
"Is he daft?" Clyde asked no one in particular as the siren wail came nearer.
Definitely.
He bore down on Howie. "Let me speak plainly then. Know this: I will kill you. Stop your efforts now, or suffer the consequences."
"Clyde," Jade said softly and he dropped Howie in a heap on the gra.s.s where he cracked his head on the sidewalk and made a girl-like yelp.
Lovin" that.
Clyde came to Jade and he collected her tiny hands in his large ones. Farmer"s hands, he"d told me once.
And fighting hands.
She searched his eyes, his dead flesh encapsulating her living. "You have to go, they"ll burn you... and take... Caleb." She flicked her eyes to mine and I gave a terse nod, walking over to where they stood. He nodded once and turned on Brett.
Clyde stared at him thoughtfully then hissed.
I breathed easier when his mouth looked normal.
Brett stood his ground, his eyes very wide.
Couldn"t say I blamed him.
"It"s okay, Clyde. He gets a free pa.s.s, he beat the c.r.a.p out of Howie."
Clyde frowned and c.o.c.ked his head. "They come." He turned and sprinted for the fence which separated one dismal yard from another. It was like watching a champion hurdler.
He swiveled his head to look at me just as he cleared the top of the fence and his glittering gaze held mine for a second then he was gone.
It wasn"t until that night that I realized Gale hadn"t been with him.
CHAPTER 14.
Garcia had his nightstick jammed up underneath my chin before I could even say h.e.l.lo.
Not that he would"ve allowed that, no way, not now. We were way beyond exchanging small change pleasantries.
He blamed me for Gale. For everything. Little lines that hadn"t been there a year ago framed his dark eyes, his jaw was harder, his body, leaner.
His face right now was h.e.l.la p.i.s.sed off.
At me.
Jade screamed when he propped my wounded chin on the tip of the blunt instrument of beatings and she ran for us. Brett jerked her back against him and spoke quietly to her.
"No!" she sobbed as his dark eyes met mine, I nodded at him, happy he hadn"t let her get closer. "Don"t you hurt him, Garcia!"