DEATH SCREAMS

Book 4

New York Times Bestselling Author

TAMARA ROSE BLODGETT

No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system without the prior written permission of the publisher.

This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the writer's imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locales or organizations is entirely coincidental.

www.tamararoseblodgett.com

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Editing suggestions provided by Stephanie T. Lott.

CHAPTER ONE

Jade

Agony.

Defeat.

Rage.

Indecision.

Jade trembled, her clasp once loose, now a murderous quaking that she couldn't shake. Sweat began to bead on her upper lip and she rolled the fullness of it into her teeth, biting just shy of pain, to relieve her mental pressure.

Nothing worked.

The Empath teacher, Megan Tulle said, “Come on Jade, concentrate. If you don't master this exercise, you'll never hone in on anything.”

Jade's brows furrowed, she was trying as hard as she could... but the emotion... the rawness of it, was a bath of filth. She just wanted to get away. She pressed, the details finally coming to her. A boy, her age... his... identity, she couldn't place him but he was familiar to her.

Finally she gave up. “I don't know who he is!” she said, exasperated.

Tulle smiled, squeezing her shoulder gently. “It'll come, you've just got to keep working on it. The negative impressions are quite difficult to manage.”

Yeah, Jade thought, shuddering.

She looked around at the rest of the class and saw various degrees of expressions. It would have been funny had she not just swept through the murky swamp of someone that was deeply disturbed. Jade rubbed her hands up and down her own arms and asked Ms. Tulle where that had come from... that hoodie she'd been touching.

“Same place we always get our stuff. Lost and found.” Tulle shrugged a blouse-encased shoulder, her sensible pumps tapping to the low music she played in the class. It was pretty lame, Jade thought, classical.

Jade deliberated. No, she needed to say something. “Ah... Miss Tulle?” she asked as Tulle began to sweep through the desks, checking on the other student's Clairvoyance exercises.

She turned, cocking a brow.

“He's bad, Miss Tulle, really bad.”

She frowned, moving back through the rows of desks. “What do you mean? I touched the hoodie myself and knew the tone of it but didn't sense...” she shrugged.

Jade tried to articulate her unease, “It's not normal negative impressions. It's got... a touch of death.”

“Death Intent?”

Jade nodded. “Yes.”

“Are you sure? Because that's reportable and with you only a sophomore...?” she let the sentence trail off significantly and Jade's shoulders slumped in defeat. She wasn't sure if she wanted someone that maybe had a super-bad day, threw on a hoodie, then lost it at one of the six high schools in Kent to get nailed by the cops.

Especially Garcia and crew.

Jade's eyes dropped. She bit her lip again. She wasn't one hundred percent sure.

She met Tulle's eyes and shook her head. Tulle gave her steady eyes back. “Maybe we gave you too intense a sample this first time, Jade. We're aware that your skill set has expanded to clairvoyance and possible precog...” The “but” hung there between them and Tulle shrugged.

Jade reached out and touched Tulle, who immediately shied away. “Sorry,” Jade said. How could she forget the first rule of Empath class the prior year?

Never touch another Empath.

It was sorta like flashing your boobs in public. Jade stifled a laugh.

Tulle's eyes narrowed and Jade tried to contain herself. “What's so funny?”

“Nervous tic. I really like to laugh when things get serious,” Jade said, the ghost of a smile riding her full lips. That was definitely Caleb's influence, Jade knew.

It made her warm to her toes just thinking about him, distracting her dangerously from the conversation at hand. She felt a slight flush of heat on her face and hoped her dusky coloring was sufficient camouflage.

“Well, your thought process on this sample is serious, Jade,” Tulle was back to serious business again, studying Jade closely. “Some of the best Empaths in the state work closely with the police. If your clairvoyance is fine-tuned enough to pick up Death Intent then I suggest you start learning the difference. Now.”

With that, Tulle turned and threw the offending hoodie back in the sample tube marked: Clairvoyance Samples.

Jade sighed. It didn't matter that she might have clairvoyance in spades. She had been pegged as a level two Empath but was now showing what the committee of “they” coined as, “expanded and related abilities.” Unfortunately, when she felt violence in the samples she always had the same reaction.

Fear.

She'd lived with fear until her dad was semi-permanently gone from her life and she wasn't about to start embracing it now. Screw that noise. Caleb said she was too compassionate. She just thought she was too weak. Too scared to face someone that could be the very same flavor of attacker that she'd suffered in her childhood.

No repeats, thank you very much.

Speaking of Mr. Stud, she glanced at the pulse-clock on the wall and grabbed her backpack, nothing more than a sling, really. What did they have to carry but the required water bottle and pulse-pad? Hers was a gorgeous pack with the brand name emblazoned on the front in metallic hot pink. She knew it was an extravagance, but Caleb had seen her admiring it at the mall and snatched it up for her birthday last week and she'd been totally smitten with it.

Sweet sixteen.

Even she couldn't believe she was finally at that magical age. The verge of womanhood easing away the soft edges of childhood with insidious progression. She didn't mind, she was ready to be grown up. Ready to be independent and out on her own. Ready for emancipation from her dad. The restraining order could go into permanent effect once the paperwork went through. She so couldn't wait. Caleb felt the same. He'd wrangled his parents into helping so they could push it through. Aunt Andrea wasn't great at pushing, obviously. She'd let the last three restraining orders die out and need to be re-implemented. It'd been a huge hassle.

The bell rang for class dismissal and Jade walked through the Empath class door and saw Caleb before he saw her, his attention on Jonesy, per usual. She soaked in the sight of him, thinking she'd never get bored with Caleb. They'd been dating awhile now, gone through a ton of stuff together, and still, every day was new with him. She was thinking of how different he looked since they first got together a year and a half ago.

She saw how his thick chestnut hair fell forward to just brush the tops of impossibly long, soot-colored eyelashes as he stuffed his one hand in a pocket, the other elaborating some detail to Jonesy (who would forget it ten seconds later), the muscles of his forearm bulging from the movement.

Jade sighed, thinking that she was in lust. Not a terribly keen position to find herself in. Wasn't it the boy's job to chase her around because of her feminine wiles? Her lips curled into a smile. She thought she had that part down pat too. Caleb dug her, she reminded herself. As if on cue, he turned his head and those chocolate eyes pierced her. Pierced her heart, stealing her breath.

She moved forward, his eyes taking in her face, her body, everything, happiness and comfort a warmth cloaking her as she approached him.

Caleb

I stopped mid-sentence with the Jonester as I caught sight of Jade's smooth stride making her way across the hall toward me and was bowled over by her as she drew closer. I tightened my expression, I knew she'd put a hand on my skin and know everything but... couldn't a guy have a little mystery? Sometimes the Empath Girlfriend was a blast. Like when we were making out. I liked it then. A. Lot.

But now, in front of the hundreds of students filtering through the hall, I'd like to not have everyone know that I was Jade's puppet. A willing one.

Jonesy smirked. “Meow...” he began.

“I'm not whipped, Jonesy,” I growled out, itching to punch him a good one in the arm. “I'm waiting for the day when you have a girlfriend long enough to look at her like she means something to you,” I said.

Jade caught what I said as she moved in against my body and I tucked her under my chin, inhaling that vanilla smell that was Jade's.

Mouth-watering.

Jade turned her head against my chest to look at Jonesy scathingly. “You know, Jonesy... you could've gone out with Sophie,” Jade said with real feeling.

The LED lights flickered in the hall twice and Jade laughed. “Can't take back the leakage, Jones.”

I laughed and Jonesy gave me a dirty look, struggling for nonchalance. “I don't care who she goes out with,” he said.

“Right, whatever,” Jade said, disgusted.

I spoke against her hair, “Be nice, babe.”

She pulled away from me, her beautiful green eyes sparkling. “It's true. He could've had a great girlfriend instead of the skank-a-thon and been way happier.”

True, I thought. But that might be too much wisdom for Jonesy, whose expression was darkening by the moment.

“Listen Jade,” his eyes sought mine and the message he found was tread careful, pal. “She has sent me nothing but a bunch of lame-ass mixed signals. This is easier. I just date whoever and don't worry about feelings and crap. No hassles, no guessing, no perpetual PMS. You feel me?” he finished, his thumb in his chest.

I felt him. Of course, Sophie was way more high maintenance than Jade. She had a hot-ass temper and so did Jonesy. Like fuel and flame. I didn't know if it would ever work out. What Jonesy didn't recognize was he did care about her. It was in the way he looked at her. And now she was dating a dude in the peripheral group of Dickheads: that would be the Carson Hamilton and Brett Mason brigade. It was a fight waiting to happen. And Sophie wasn't above flashing her new boyfriend in Jonesy's face.

And he wasn't beyond getting into a jealous rage over it.

Denial was a beautiful thing.

“I do feel you, Jonesy. But I think it's you that's going to be feeling it,” Jade said with knowledge. I stroked her back and gave Jonesy The Look. Back off, it isn't worth it. His eyes flicked to mine then back at Jade.

Don't ask, don't ask.

“Is she going out with somebody?” Jonesy asked in a low voice.

I groaned.

Jade looked at me and smiled evilly. She would put the screws to Jonesy and he'd be feeling some pain.

Jade flicked her hair over her shoulder, a chunk making a black stripe on her bright pink backpack. The new purses of the pulse-age, I thought randomly.

She nodded, shrugging, feigning an indifference I knew was contrived. She totally knew everything about Sophie. “Yeah... I think it's some guy in her AP class.”

“WTF?” Jonesy all but yelled.

Jade jumped and I pulled her in tighter. “Hey man, effing-cool it,” I said, starting to get pissed. He was going to have to take the teasing if he didn't want to commit. He couldn't say he didn't give a hot shit then freak at the mention of a new guy scenting Sophie. Buck up or shut up.

Jonesy straightened. “Okay, you two are so smart. You know what the thing is for APs?” he asked, looking profoundly smug, which made my sense of unease deepen exponentially.

“Ah... no, Jones, can't say I do,” I said.

“Astral Projection sex, dimwits,” he elaborated like, double-duh, as Jade liked to say.

I got a visual of people humping in the air or something, like a cartoon bubble and couldn't stop the irrational laugh which ensued.

Jade put a hand on my chest. “No, Caleb. Not helpful.”

Jonesy glowered. “What's so funny, asswipe?”

Gum snapped behind me and an arm flung itself around Jade.

Tiff.

“How's it hanging, Jones?” she said with a sharp slash of a grin.

“Oh... effing splendid. Did you know...” he began.

“Sophie's having AP sex with Buddy? Yeah,” her gum snapped as emphasis.

I covered my mouth, I couldn't believe Tiff... where angels feared to tread, Tiff entered.

Nice.

Jonesy's hands flexed into fists and at that exact moment Sophie sauntered by, her hair bouncing in a fluffy honey cloud on the middle of her back, high-heeled boots clicking on the recycled quartz flooring as she came by.

What was really eye-catching was the hand that was stuck in her back pocket, an appendage on her butt.

It was Buddy, fellow AP student and possible in-the-clouds sex partner.

Well, hell.

I reached for Jonesy too late. He was over there in three strides, his chest almost touching Buddy's.

Terran came jogging up, his carrot-colored hair having deepened to copper over the last year. He grabbed Jonesy's shoulder and said, “No, Jones.”

“Not now, John,” Jonesy said, flinging John's hand off.

This was gonna get bad, fast.

“Caleb, do something!” Jade said.

Tiff said, “Nah, let them beat the shit out of each other. I never did dig Buddy anyway, he's got eyes for Carson,” she said, winking.

Brother.

I launched over there but Sophie took care of everything for all of us.

“Hey! What the hell do you think you're doing?” she asked Jonesy, her aqua eyes on fire.

Jonesy's eyes went to hers. With her heels on, they were about the same height.

“Saving you from this dumbass!” Jonesy said like, obviously. He folded his arms across a chest ripped with muscles from working all summer as a yard slave like the rest of us.

John and I were right behind Jonesy when Brody, Diego, Carson and Brett showed up.

This couldn't get any worse if I'd choreographed the whole tamale myself. I did a mental forehead slap and shifted my gaze to Jade. I wanted to know her position when Brett was in attendance. I didn't put anything past his weaselly carcass.

It didn't take a brain surgeon to see he'd picked up on the tension. Both mine and Jonesy's. I saw Brett drink in the sight of Jade and my heart sped. We'd managed the first two months of school pretty good without any problems. But now, the school quarter was coming to an end and we just couldn't seem to slide by without an altercation with these clowns.

“I don't need saving, if you hadn't noticed. Remember, you're the one that wants to go out with whatever,” Sophie said disdainfully and leaned back against Buddy, who was a good shot taller than her... and Jonesy.

A vein in Jonesy's temple kept time with his heartbeat. He looked at Sophie for a long moment and I could see him trying to calm down with an effort. Restraint wasn't a Jonesy strong point.

“What's the problem here, Buddy?” Carson asked, all smirk.

Jonesy wrecked it again by saying, “It's your Buddy here, ya know, your butt-buddy? He's making the moves on Soph... and I don't think he's good for her.”

Carson's eyes narrowed and he came forward. “And you're so great for her, Jones. Right? Cuz, how I see it, you'll go out with anything that's female with two legs.” His eyebrows raised to his hairline.

He had him there. Carson was a supreme dick, but that was Jonesy, non-committer extraordinaire.

“No comment, Jones?” Buddy asked, talking for the first time, voice laced with sarcasm.

Thunder rode Jonesy's face, the dark skin of his face taking on a purple hue.

Sophie huffed and crossed her arms.

Tiff saved Jonesy's face by sidling up to Carson and saying, “Don't you have your own dick to scorch off or something? Hell,” she swung her arm around to encompass the whole group of brainiacs, “you could probably do the whole group in like... five seconds.”

Carson moved toward her. And since Tiff so didn't know when to quit she continued as she was backing up, “I mean, a pile of millimeter sausages like you queers would be rudimentary for you?” Her gum snapped, momentarily blinding her because of size. She was brought up short by John, who'd moved behind her protectively. His long fingers wrapped her upper arms.

“Tiff... quiet,” John said in a low voice above her head.

“It's okay, Terran. Carson can't do anything, he'd get his pecker in a twist for sure,” she said, supremely confident.

I wasn't, because I didn't think Carson gave a shit. After all, daddy would bail his ass out no matter what he did.

Carson got right up in Terran's grill and Tiff had a bird's-eye view of his chest. Her head leaned into John's chest and she turned her face away.

“Keep the corpse-lover in line, Terran. Or I'm gonna rethink my position on female beating. Maybe she needs to find out first hand what kinda junk I carry?” He leaned down close to her face and whispered with menace, “Up close package patrol for you, right?”

John's face became a mask of rage, his cool demeanor replaced by heat. He pulled Tiff back and even I could see Carson had rattled her cage. No small feat.

She recovered, unfortunately. “I wouldn't do you with my dog's dick, Hamilton. Keep your pathetic parts in your pants.”

Carson moved toward her again and John put Tiff behind him as Brett grabbed Carson's arm. “Not worth it, man. Just take a chunk out of her brother's ass. Hell, she's got five. Pick one,” Brett said with his logic.

Brett-logic was so flawed.

Jade spoke and I died a little as the males from this group trained their eyes on my girl. My beautiful, vulnerable girl.

“Listen, let's just... agree to disagree,” she started.

Diego laughed. “Your friend just told us we had no dicks. Not gonna get over it fast, sweetheart.”

“I'm sure she didn't mean it,” Jade said weakly.

Tiff snapped her gum. “Totally. Meant. It.”

Wow.

The bell shrilled and Carson gave Tiff a grim look, then turned his eyes to Jonesy. “You don't have territory rights here, Jones. She doesn't want you. Go hump some willing girl, you're good at that.”

I saw the knife dig deep on Sophie's face. I didn't believe that Jonesy was having sex with a bunch of girls. He was a female appreciator though. That last had been for Sophie's benefit. If Carson could cause trouble in our group, he was all for it. The jackass.

Buddy gave a slow stroke on Sophie's arm and she gave Jade the thumb signal for a pulse in the future, her face carefully neutral. Like she hadn't just heard that Jonesy was a man-whore. Jade nodded, her face solemn.

They walked off, Jonesy's eyes trained on Sophie's back. I didn't think he was watching her butt. Unless that included Buddy's hand in her pocket.

Carson glanced over his shoulder, pegging Tiff with a look. She smoldered back at him in anger and he smirked, disappearing into the crowd.

John's eyes met mine over Tiff's head. Only two months into sophomore year and already a fire was burning.

Guess who the match was?

CHAPTER TWO

I walked Jade to her next class, my mind turning over the events of Jonesy and Sophie. My arm was around Jade's shoulders, slowing my stride to match hers.

She had her hand on my bare forearm, lightly stroking it, breaking my concentration she said, “You can't fix it, Caleb.”

Busted.

I looked down at her with a small smile, the door to Language Arts coming into view. “Yeah,” I sighed, “I know. But.. ” I looked deeply into those green eyes like swimming pools and swallowed, “just, I don't want you saying anything to him. He's spoiling to take care of that tard Buddy... what you said today...”

We stopped and she turned into me, her hands wrapping my flesh... she was getting a lot of what I was feeling. We'd been working on me blocking some of my emotions from her with some success. But when I was feeling something hard enough, she usually got some overflow.

I finished my thought, “... it just gets him all fired up.”

She stroked my skin again and my eyes fell into hers, drowning. She made me want to start kissing her right in the hallway.

She smiled.

“Knock it off, vixen.”

She laughed and replied, “Just putting some moves on you.”

I released the breath that I'd been holding and kissed the top of her forehead. Keeping my lips against her skin I said, “Just cut him some slack. He's gotta realize on his own that he cares about her.”

She nodded, pulling away. “I know. But sometimes Jonesy needs a little push to see what the rest of us are seeing.” She shrugged and I watched her sexy top slide a little further off her shoulder, balanced on there precariously. I was thinking about what was underneath the material.

She giggled, blushing. “Stop,” she mock slapped my arm and I grinned. She gave me a peck on my mouth and I wrapped my hand on the back of her head, pressing her mouth harder into mine then reluctantly releasing her.

She turned out of the circle of my arms and walked into English without me. My arms felt empty without her in them.

I went to class, my friends' romantic entanglements swirling in my head like messy fog.

****

I walked up the exposed aggregate walkway, passing underneath the rafters of the atrium that signaled the entrance to my house and saw a flash of black in the window.

Onyx.

I smiled, he was faithful. Somehow he knew when I was going to be getting home from school. Some kind of weird dog-wisdom.

The Dog smelled a change in the air, lifting his nose and scenting expectantly. His Boy would be coming through the portal that sometimes opened but he could not see through. The Dog looked studiously at the light level that filtered in through the holes that did not open and sensed that the time was near for his arrival. He stood, stretching from the stiffness of relaxing and caught sight of the fragrant mass that the Boy would throw for him and picked it up, mindful of the sharp things inside his mouth. Soft mouth was important. He was not sure why, but the directive was firmly ingrained. He trotted to the narrow hole that did not open and waited.

The Boy would arrive soon.

Wag-thunk-wag.

I saw Onyx had that gross dog toy and sighed. Mom just had to get a new one. The thing was gray and dingy from reuse, slobber... and whatever else.

I opened the door and Onyx dropped the toy at my feet. I chucked the thing down the hall and he tore after it.

“Caleb?” Mom asked.

“Hey,” I said, already making my way to the kitchen. I could smell the banana bread from the foyer.

I slung my backpack on the hook in a maneuver to avoid a “neatness rant” and plopped down on one of the stools that lined the breakfast bar.

Mom smiled and the light caught a hoop dangling from her ear. I smiled back. “How was school?” she asked, cutting off a hunk of the delicious bread, slathering it with butter and placing it in front of me.

I stood, walking to the dishwasher and feeling it. It was hot. I turned and went to the cabinet instead, picking out a fave cup. I walked over to the fridge and filled it with milk. I sat back down heavily.

Mom's brows drew together as I shoveled half the slice in my mouth; no girlfriend around to impress and my stomach making the decisions for me.

Mom grinned. “What... not a good day?”

I shrugged. Less was definitely more with Mom. “It was okay. Jonesy kinda got into it with a butt-wipe from that group.” I edited my language for her benefit with effort. It wasn't an easy pulse-switch to turn off but I was becoming expert, finally.

“Oh... Carson and...?”

I nodded. “Yeah, that's the one.”

“Why?”

I thought about how much she should know about Jonesy.

Less.

“Ah... Sophie is dating this tard... ” she raised an eyebrow and I edited again, “this mouth-breather named Buddy.”

“That's surprising. I thought she had better discernment than that.”

I shifted, uncomfortable, thinking of the AP sex. “Ah... he's AP like her and Jonesy hasn't exactly been...” I didn't know how to finish without making Jonesy into being a jerk. He actually was being one a little. Not that I'd admit that to The Parents.

Mom pursed her lips. “I know Jonesy is in a run of... ” Mom paused and it made me stop eating.

She wasn't speechless or something, was she?

“Experimentation,” she finished.

“I don't know if that's it. He just seems like he doesn't want to go out with just one girl.”

“Sowing his wild oats. Hmm?”

I rolled my eyes. “No, Mom. He likes Sophie, he just doesn't like the idea of being tied down.”

“Well what type of girl is he dating?”

Skanks. Edit: “They're not as cool as Sophie.”

“And he's dealing with his baby sister right now too.”

“That's right, Helen had her baby and now he's the built-in baby sitter.”

Yeah, he was so into it. Tiff was having a lot of fun with that.

I smiled and Mom said, “Penny for your thoughts.”

“I don't think he's much for the crappy diapers and screaming.”

“There is that,” Mom said and we smiled at each other.

Onyx knocked my hand and I gave him his morsel for patiently waiting in his beg-spot.

The Boy was the very best master, the Dog thought as he inhaled the deliciously warm People Food. It flooded his sensitive olfactory senses, springing them to life. A little drool began and the Dog tried to camouflage his excitement from the Alpha Female. She would punish the Dog for begging.

He gave a small wag for the Boy.

I noticed Onyx's discreet wag and smiled. He just had to give a small signal of appreciation. I thought at him, good dog. And saw his mental dog wheels turning. Must-show-restraint.

Mom interrupted my thoughts, “judo today.”

I nodded, thinking, judo every day but the weekend. Sometimes I wondered if it was worth it. But then I'd think back on my life and know that without some basic training, I wouldn’t have been able to defend myself.

Jade.

I frowned as I stood with my plate and cup. “Hey Mom?”

She turned and looked at me, her hands already washing the bread pan, the soapy water sliding off and uncovering her wedding ring.

“What kinda progress has Dad made on that restraining order for Jade's dad?”

Her face told me the news before she said a word. “Let him talk to you about it.”

I shook my head. “No way. The suspense would kill me and I wouldn't be able to get it outta my head during judo.”

“Out of,” she corrected and I stared at her until she responded.

“There's been a snag.”

I raised an eyebrow, like elaborate.

“Since she's sixteen and this is a permanent order, she has to have five character witnesses.” I opened my mouth to protest and she held up her hand. “No, it can't be you and the gang. It has to be others that are also sixteen and over.”

“The J's, Mom. And me in about two weeks,” I said, giving an unconscious glance at the set of wheels that hung in the driveway. Impatiently waiting for my driving greatness. Yeah, that.

She nodded. “Yes, that makes some sense but it's not as clearcut as all that. Your father can elaborate on the specifics, sweet pea,” she said, stepping to ruffle my hair and I did the lean.

“Thanks for the banana bread, Mom,” I said, seeing the hurt riding her eyes. I just wasn't up to the daily maul anymore. I was older now, I didn't want the Mom love-fest anymore. She wasn't getting it though. I felt a stab of guilt and said, “Gotta get to judo or my sensei is going to ride my butt.”

That was an understatement, I thought, grabbing my gear pack and shoving my pulse into it. I gave Onyx a pat and another crumb I'd stolen and slammed the door closed behind me.

As I sailed past my car on the way to my bike I was tempted to stroke its sleek sides (sleek to me) as I hunkered down on old faithful. This bike had gotten me to more yard jobs than I cared to admit. Of course, that'd been on the days Bry couldn't pick me up. It had been our group. Pimped out for the rich folks all summer, to landscape their yards.

It had been sucky to get assigned the Hamilton residence. Big time. Dad had needed to give me The Lecture that I remembered as I rode:

“Caleb, you understand that you're sometimes going to have to work for people that you don't like, right?”

I nodded, responding, “Like Carson's stupid dad. Yeah, I gotcha on that one.”

Dad frowned. “I didn't say anything about IQ son.”

My brows sailed up and he did a small chortle, covertly looking around for Mom. “Alright, alright,” he held up a palm to ward off the inevitable, “he isn't going to win any chess matches.”

I barked out a laugh and he continued, “This will be a real challenge but as long as he doesn't require anything illegal from you, it will be a terrific way to prove that you have the internal fortitude to see a task through to completion. Regardless of the personal undertone.”

Personal undertone!

I folded my arms over my chest. “K, but I don't know if I can do it.”

“Just keep us abreast of whatever transpires, are we clear?”

“Yeah, Dad. Crystal.”

“Caleb, swivel your hips, move with fluidity. Too jerky,” Sensei Anderson said.

I wanted to kick his ass. Sweat was dripping all over the mat and he was drilling me on turns. I was completely past that.

He saw my look and smiled. “Think you can take me?”

I looked down at my instructor and knew I couldn't. Maybe he was five-nine. But he was two hundred pounds of muscle. What Gramps would've called a brick shithouse.

“No, sensei,” I said through my teeth.

“Then you better hustle your ass on the mat... ” he folded his arms across his chest and got beside me, mirroring my moves, both of us moving together, side-by-side in synchronicity. “What do I have to do to make you passionate about this? Do you need some incentive, Hart?”

I nearly growled, my stomach on fire, my nerve endings raw. He'd really been riding me lately. Bleating like a sheep about excellence and all that happy crap. I was tired. Couldn't he see I was trying?

“Keep going,” he said, stopping beside me.

As I moved I saw with each turn his grin growing wider. Finally he let up on the suspense of his thoughts. “Heard you got a girlfriend.”

My step faltered and I jammed it back into place with an effort.

“Yes, sensei.” Where was this going?

“Hear she's a real hottie,” he said with feeling.

Without thinking, I swiveled into sensei, taking my forward momentum and jabbing my hand like a plank into the soft tissue of his throat. Not a death blow, no. But a nice, sharp jab.

He came at me in a flurry of defensive jabs, the breath locked in his throat. Even without breathing-

He came.

I blocked what I could but he was faster, stronger, older. He foot-swept me and I landed flat on my back with a resounding smack that echoed in the dojo. The other kids stepped back.

Sensei Anderson sucked in a lungful. “Take a break, students.” His hand palmed the tender part of his esophagus where a red welt had blossomed. He'd have a mark I thought with some satisfaction.

He reached a hand out to me and I hesitated, then took a cautious grip. He jerked me to my feet.

“Now that's what I've been talking about, Hart.”

I got right in his grill, a flavor of pissed off beating in my brain with a steady rhythm.

He smiled again. “That was just to show you what kind of intensity I'm wanting out of you,” he pointed to his head. “It's mental with you, Hart. You've got the physique.” He walked a circle around me, looking at me from head to toe. “How tall are you now, kid?”

I shrugged. “Six foot something...”

He cocked a brow. “You're sixteen?”

I shook my head, embarrassed a little as I thought about my hottie girlfriend picking me up today because she was that month older than me, license already in hand.

He studied my expression. “Soon, though?”

I nodded. “Yeah, Halloween.”

“Really,” he said on a chuckle. “That's the height of irony.”

“Yeah, hilarious,” I said, scowling at him.

“Listen Hart. I am sure your girlfriend is hot,” I felt my hands clench into fists. His eyes flicked down, catching the subtle tightening. “But I'm not interested. I was poking at you, proving a point.”

“Yeah, what?” I thought him bringing in Jade like that had been low.

“That you need to move that one hundred and ninety pounds with purpose. Don't shuffle around like some old broad. Get your ass in gear. I'm not going to advance you until I see some moves at that level. Period. You got me?”

I got him.

“You can't get your first dan until you're sixteen. But if I don't see you bring a pair to the mat, it's not happening.”

Huh, I was gonna have to bring it.

A soft honk sounded and I looked outside the glass doors.

I saw Jade was there in the driver's seat of Andrea's beat up pickup truck and could taste my birthday on my tongue.

Autonomy.

It was a great feeling. Soon, I'd be picking her up.

“That the girlfriend?”

I turned, giving him steady eyes. He stared back. “Yeah,” I answered shortly.

He gave me a speculative look. “Remember this: she's your weakness. You have her around and you'll never keep your focus.” Then he smiled like sun coming from behind clouds.

“And God help the poor sucker that lays hands on her,” he said, only half-joking.

Yeah, no shit Sherlock.

I bowed to Sensei Anderson, our gazes locked, taking the measure of each other. Then turning, I slipped on my flip flops and flung open the door, feeling the last of the late afternoon warmth on my face. The sweat on my body chilled with the temperature change. The first kiss of true autumn was in the air.

I covered my brow with my hands to see Jade better and a hoop of silver twinkled in the light that hit her face, her green eyes sitting like jewels in the face that I loved.

Her face.

CHAPTER THREE

Three cars stood outside Kent Refuse now. Mia's, Bry's (I know, can we say-unbelievable?) and Alex's. The J's were sixteen, Jade too. It was just Tiff and I that were the holdouts. Even Sophie had turned sixteen last week.

I watched Alex get out of his car. It was hilarious, really. He'd been a scrawny nothing with the Body ability and it had been a shocker, built like he was. But now that ability had grown fangs and here he was before us, larger-than-life. The pain of his growth spurt was on him now as he moved with rigidity. The doctors said it was normal for a teen with this ability but even though all us guys would love to be his size, there was no way we'd want to go through the growing pains that were kickin' his ass to pieces.

He stomped over to our group and Jonesy gave him a clap on the back. Alex flinched. “Hey Jones, can you lighten up on the greetings?”

John narrowed his eyes on Jonesy. “He's hyper-sensitive right now. I explained that pretty thoroughly on like... a hundred different occasions, right?

He had, actually.

“Okay, so, I can't give you a love tap without you going all girl on me?” Jonesy quizzed.

“Hey, ya clown, speak for yourself,” Tiff muttered, kicking a stone with her shoe, her tie dye hoodie a screaming nightmare to the eye.

Bry sorta hid a smile and Mia looked between Jonesy and Tiff with keen interest. After all, half the fun of the group was Jonesy trying not offend and doing it anyway.

“Speaking of clowns...” I began and both Tiff and Jade gave me quick looks. “I forgot to mention that there's a boatload of gnomes at one of the houses we landscaped this summer.” My eyebrows lifted and Tiff repressed a shudder.

Jade wrapped her arms around herself. “Where?” she asked unwillingly as I sucked her in against me.

“I've got a guess,” Sophie said, walking up with Buddy.

The whole group fell silent. The biggest damn question in the universe was WHY would Sophie bring a proven spawn of the enemy to the hideaway?

Jonesy's face fell into angry lines and before he could rant Buddy chimed in, “Carson's dad has a whole herd of gnomes in his yard.” He looked expectantly at everyone and Tiff snapped a bomb-worthy bubble that made Jade jump a foot.

Jonesy turned accusing eyes to Sophie. “Listen Soph, this is for the group. Our group. You've obviously moved on so why don't you go away. Don't go away mad, just go away,” he said rudely, folding his arms across his chest.

Sophie's face crumpled and he caught the expression, regret etched where anger had been. He'd let his ego mouth overload his canary ass again, as Gramps would have said. John dumped his forehead into his hands. Alex and Bry looked around anywhere but at the two of them and Buddy moved toward Jonesy, Sophie on the verge of tears.

“Stop slingin' mud, Jones,” Buddy said, his fists clenching.

Jonesy was like a locomotive without a handbrake, he skidded to a reluctant stop in front of Buddy, their toes touching, their chests a millimeter apart.

Replay, I thought, despairing.

Alex walked over there and separated the two of them with a finger on each chest. Just that touch threw them four feet back.

Jonesy rubbed his chest and Buddy gave Alex a considering look.

I watched his wheels turn sluggishly and decide against taking Alex on. Good thinking.

Alex used a finger to shove his glasses up on his nose and looked down at Buddy from his considerable six-four and said, “We're not all warm and fuzzy about a Carson associate so no offense,” he shrugged his massive shoulders, the muscles cording and flexing.

Us guys watched him move with fascination.

Buddy glared and Sophie huffed. Alex turned to Jonesy. “You could do better with treating a female nicer. Get over yourself and maybe Buddy can go away and Sophie can stay.” Alex lifted an eyebrow at his equitable solution skills.

Jones dropped his hand from his chest and gave Sophie a glare, unrepentant.

Jade stepped forward. “Listen... Jonesy, Sophie, let's call a truce. This is the place we've been hanging out at for almost two years. You guys can move past your,” she paused here significantly, “stuff, to get along with the group, right?”

Sophie and Jonesy looked at each other and finally Sophie gave a stiff nod and her Rock-with-Lips boyfriend sighed in frustration. He whispered something in her ear and she responded, arms moving a mile a minute.

“Fine,” Buddy seethed. “As long as I know it's 'cuz the girls are the priority. Not him,” he pointed at Jonesy.

“Don't worry, baby. He totally isn't,” Sophie said with a look and a smirk.

Baby?

Even I could see that was for Jonesy's benefit.

Jade sighed against me. They were too stubborn for their own good by far.

Buddy leaned down and kissed Sophie on the lips and all us guys saw Jonesy tense.

Brother.

Buddy gave a mock salute at the group that looked like its focus was all for Jonesy.

He sauntered off, pulsing open his car and roaring off.

Sophie turned around and faced the group. We all stared at her and she shrugged nervously. “What?”

“That was a cluster,” Tiff said, wading into the conversational fray as usual.

Bry shrugged. “People need to go out with who they want. We can't pick who we're attracted to.”

Tiff turned on him like a barracuda. “Oh, and that worked out so well for you last year with Barbie,” she voiced with dripping scorn.

Bry flinched and Mia gave a small smile. I hadn't thought about Christi in a long time. I wonder what the skank was up to?

So did Jonesy. “Yeah, what's gorgeous bitch up to now?” He looked around the group with interest. His focus was shifting to something more neutral. The whole group notched down. It was definitely a safer topic than Jonesy and Sophie's issues.

Mia shrugged and said, “We're in the same grade and I see her around but...” she looked down at her shoulder, deliberating. Her expression took on a made-up-her-mind look. “I hear she still likes Bry.”

All our faces swung to Bry and John said, “No way Weller.”

“Yeah man, what Terran said,” Jonesy said and Bry narrowed his eyes on him.

“I don't listen to you about chicks, Jones,” Bry said.

“That's gives me butt-hurt ya know,” Jonesy said with a small grin.

“Whatever,” Tiff said with a swift eye roll.

“Okay,” I said, holding up my hands. They looked at me, Alex swiveling his neck to get the kinks out. I knew he was in pain from growing. His muscles and size were outstripping his energy and stamina. As if on cue he said, “Did you remember the food, Caleb?”

I nodded. “As I was saying, let's get in the hideaway and not stand out here for the world to notice...”

John was already thumbing in the number combo of the great lock at the gate and pushing it open.

The rest of us trooped after him with Jonesy and I carrying a great bundle of food.

Once inside the hideaway, we laid out the banquet and sat around on the milk crates, talking about everything when Sophie (Jonesy keeping a safe distance while covertly staring at her every other second) began talking about her AP class.

She shrugged, her zebra top undulating with the movement and Jonesy kept pace, yes indeedy. “It's like I said, the drug will be tested on us Astral Projection peeps then it will go from there.”

John palmed his chin thoughtfully. “Has that been FDA-approved?” He directed the question at Sophie but it was Alex that answered, “Yes. All the right-wingers are freaking out about the 'sleep potential' for paranormals.”

Jonesy got a puzzled look and Alex gave an indulgent chuckle, hitching up his glasses, which didn't belong on that face anymore. Alex was an ugly duckling that had become a swan. It was just like the fairy tale.

“Jones, remember when we were talking about that drug they were going to shoot us up with to safeguard the mundanes when we slept?” He quickly looked at John and clarified, “Nulls excluded.”

John rolled his eyes. “Right, thanks. I was really unclear on that point.”

Alex smiled. “Anyway... it would stop the numbnuts of the world...”

“Like Carson,” Tiff interjected helpfully. Alex nodded, laughing.

“From torching people in their sleep...or...” he shrugged his shoulders to his ears, momentarily looking like the Alex that I remembered from a year ago. Then he lowered them and the image was lost like smoke.

“What about corpse-boy here?” Jonesy asked, jerking a thumb toward me.

“Hey!” Tiff yelled.

Jonesy leveled a stare at her. “Cool it, Tiff.”

Bry glowered. “Knock it off Jones or I'm gonna beat some manners into ya.”

“Try it, Weller.”

Bry stood.

What was this shit? Testosterone Central?

Jonesy stood as well, his emotional net still poised to snap. “I can't tell your sib to put a lid on it without you tearing another hole outta my ass?”

Bry thought about it. “No. I can do it but you can't.”

Tiff said, “I forgive you, Jonesy.” She gave a look to Bry. “Chill Bro, I'll live. I'm just easily offended by Jonesy. He's always peeing in all the corners and I don't wanna clean up his mess.”

Wow, did Tiff have a way with words.

Jade had a stunned look and Sophie began again in the middle of the tangled conversation. “Anyway, there's a reason why they're beginning with us.”

She had a Tone, Mom would've spotted it a mile away. But her tone was different, edgy. I looked at Sophie, really looked at her. Beneath the careful artifice of her make-up lay circles under her eyes.

I watched as Jonesy recognized it too and struggled to appear indifferent.

Jade walked over to Sophie and knelt down in front of her, she was careful not to touch bare skin. She rubbed a jean-clad knee. “What's going on, Soph?”

Sophie had been looking down at Jade but lifted her face to the group and all of us sucked in a breath at the standing tears in her turquoise eyes.

“The police are after a rapist,” she whispered into the room and every guy tensed, our collective breath trapped in our lungs, the girls' eyes like saucers.

Jade recovered first, “That's terrible but, how does this affect you and what does it have to do with the drug?” she asked, trying to make sense of the pattern.

Sophie looked at everyone and said something unexpected, “I'm really glad you guys came here today. I'm glad that you have my back,” her eyes avoided Jonesy's and he stood, striding over to her.

“I don't hate you, Soph,” he said, more serious than I'd ever seen him.

“I know,” she whispered.

He put a hand on her shoulder, so black against the zebra print of the shirt. “Is someone trying to hurt you, Soph?” he asked in a low voice. Every guy there heard the threat in his tone, the menace.

“Buddy?” he said, not able to rein in the clench of his free hand that didn't touch her.

Jade's eyes got wide and she looked at Jonesy. Somehow, even though she wasn't touching him he was leaking pretty good on her. I walked over and stood next to Jade where she still held onto Sophie's knee in a death-grip.

She shook her head, her soft hair flying around her face. Jonesy unconsciously stroked her shoulder.

“Then what?” he asked so softly everyone leaned in to hear.

She raised her head again. “He's a teenager. He's going after the AP girls first, cuz it's easy. But the cops think he'll....” she covered her face with her hands and Jade instinctively pulled her hands away from Sophie's face.

Jade's scream had me wrapped around her protectively in about three seconds.

Everyone rushed to Jade and she stared at Sophie in horror. “We know him...” Jade said.

Sophie shook her head no.

I turned Jade in my arms and shook her slightly. “Who is this creep, Jade?”

“I...I...think he's the same guy as the clairvoyance sample I worked on yesterday.”

Alex came forward. “What? You mean that one of your samples matches up with the AP attacker?”

John said, “How would you know they're the same, Jade?” He spread his hands out, like, explain please.

I was pretty damn curious myself. It's not that I didn't care about Sophie. But Jade was my priority. I looked again at Sophie's dark circles and suddenly an idea occurred to me.

“Hey...wait a sec...” her face turned to me.“You can't sleep, can you?”

She shook her head.

John snapped his fingers as realization struck him between the eyes and Alex said, “Of course. The perv uses his AP to attack the girls while they can't get away.”

“But, the AP girls could just get back into their bodies,” Jonesy stated with his logic.

Which was damn fine as logic went.

Sophie said, “No,” she looked at him in despair. “If the drug becomes mandatory, we'll be trapped there. With him.”

The guys looked at the girls assembled in the room and wondered how to fight something we couldn't see. Someone that could be everywhere at any time, harming girls we cared about.

Alex's raging strength wouldn't help.

My corpse-affinity wouldn't.

Jonesy could light the world up like a strobe and it wouldn't matter.

Trapped.

Jonesy's eyes met mine. The raw emotion standing there for all of us to see, his hand left its spot on Sophie's shoulder and wound around the back of her neck, pressing her face against his leg.

Her shoulders trembled as she cried.

The girls were trapped.

Beginning with Soph.

CHAPTER FOUR

I walked Jade to her Empath class first block. She'd be there for an hour and a half while I was with Smith and Tiff “learning” about Life Transference in Theory. Dad told me I shouldn't say that I actually was the proof behind the theory. I'd have to get into all the nastiness of sucking the life out of that assassin and all the explanations that would mean for me.

No.

Jade twirled into my arms, giving me a quick peck, looking for Griswold or someone like her. Seeing we were in the clear, she brushed the softest velvet caress against my lips. We clung for a moment then I let her go, reluctantly.

I hung onto her arm when she would have gone inside and her black eyebrows arched in question.

“Find that sample, Jade.”

She shuddered. “I don't want to touch that again.”

I gave her steady eyes. “If you don't do this, he can go after Sophie... other girls. Eventually, he could get to you too. The sooner we get a handle on who he may be, the faster the cops can nab his sleazy ass.”

She rubbed her hands up and down her arms, gooseflesh rising in aggressive bumps.

Her luminous eyes met mine. “It was so awful,” she whispered, biting her lip.

I waited. I hated to press her about something that I knew was hurting or frightening her, but the alternative sucked ass so here it was.

Slowly, she nodded. “I'll try.”

“Good,” I said, relieved as I pressed her head underneath mine and met Tulle's angry eyes over her hair.

“Thank you for seeing Miss LeClerc off so thoroughly,” she said with thinly veiled sarcasm.

I scowled, letting Jade go. As Jade walked through the door I said, “Why don't you tell Miss Tulle what's going on. Maybe she'll catch a clue.”

Tulle stomped out into the hall, trying to look intimidating (she had nothing on Griswold) and said, “You're so clever, Mr. Hart. Why don't you enlighten me about what was so important you had to stand out in the school hall pawing Miss LeClerc and making her tardy?”

I thought about an expected response that wouldn't get my nuts in the cruncher.

A safe answer.

Instead, I did a Jonesy.

“Actually, that really isn't me pawing. Pawing is much more intimate, Ms. Tulle.”

Jade stood behind Tulle and rolled her eyes at me. She couldn't believe I'd said that.

I couldn't either. But, I was an okay student (okay, not stellar) and didn't cause trouble, so why get up my ass?

Her eyes shifted back and forth, gauging my expression. “I think Ms. Chen needs a little visit from you, Mr. Hart.”

I groaned. “I'll miss AFTD.”

Like I cared.

“Tough, you should have considered that consequence when you got all mouthy.”

Nice. “Fine.”

She pointed her finger in the direction of the principal's office and I stalked off, silently thanking her for the directional clue. I totally didn't know where the office was. Retarded.

Ms. Chen sat across from me in all her black sternness, leg swinging her stiletto pump back and forth, back and forth.

“Mr. Hart... Caleb...” she began, spreading her palms on either side of her, the width of them swallowed by the mondo desk that she sat behind.

“Yes?” I asked, looking mild and innocent. Jonesy could have never pulled it off.

She looked down at her pulse and depressed her thumb, then lifted it, sliding it across the desk to me.

“Please tell me what you see there.” She tapped a white-tipped fingernail on the front.

I looked:

Claudia, Caleb Hart keeps jamming his tongue down the throat of my sophomore Empath, Jade LeClerc. Normally, I don't butt my nose in too much but he hovers around the girl so much that I think his powers of distraction linger even after the bell rings. Will you get him to cool it? They behave in a very mature way that is not becoming to the student body as a whole.- Tulle, Megan, KPH

I slid it back to Chen. Yeah, that was definitely Jade and I, dry humping in the hall. Couldn't Tulle gnaw on someone's ass that was really causing problems? Like Brett... or better yet, that creeper that was stalking the chicks. Yeah, him. I felt my blood start to boil and made a conscious effort to loosen my hands and wrap them on the armrests of the chair I was sprawled in.

I didn't say anything and Chen waited. We had a stare down. Then finally she tilted her head and said, “You're not one to volunteer information, Caleb.”

I shook my head. “No.”

“Hmm...” she put her pen to her lips, obviously still doing the stupid writing thing. “Tell me, is that pulse from Ms. Tulle accurate?”

Kinda. “No, I don't 'jam my tongue down Jade's throat'.”

Usually.

She arched her thin black brows and I sat there, listening to the pulse clock whir. “I will let this go this one time. As you know, it has been some time since the brawl ensued in the commons area last year. This is of a different nature. However, we do not want any unsettling trends to begin, do we?”

Like fighting and making out. Gotcha.

“I hear what you're saying, Ms. Chen.” I heard but obeying may prove challenging.

“Good. I am pleased we've come to an understanding. I would hate to involve Jade's aunt or possibly your parents.”

I hid the flinch with difficulty. My parents I may be able to manage but not Jade's aunt. She wasn't a fan of mine.

Or my zombies.

Chen stood and I did too. She maybe came up to my shoulder, she was a literal china doll. But I had never been one to be fooled by size. Chen was a powerful Null. This had been her first high school admin position. She had been in the same placebo group as Dave Smith. He got the AFTD and she got the shut-it-all-down juice.

She wasn't easily intimidated. Only a mundane could hurt her. None of us teens could.

I hesitated, wondering if I should tell her about what Sophie had said about the attacker.

She cocked an eyebrow again. “Do you have something you wish to say, Caleb?”

Nah, better keep her in the dark. What could she do anyway?

“No.”

She gave me a hard stare, she knew I'd been holding back. “Fine, see if you can learn something from the latter half of AFTD.”

I strolled out of the office without looking back or giving it a lot of thought.

I'd give it a lot of thought later.

Should've told her.

Jade searched, tearing through the bin. When everything was chucked out and in a messy heap by her feet she finally turned to Miss Tulle. She was on her shit list today but she had to talk to her sometime.

“Ah... Miss Tulle?” Jade asked, flicking a chunk of black hair over her shoulder.

Tulle looked at her from behind the desk, then dipped her head again to her pulse-reader, grading the latest assignments.

“What is it, Jade?”

Yes, definitely still on the list, Jade thought dismally.

“I can't find yesterday's sample.”

Tulle didn't look up. “It's in there. Be thorough, look harder.”

Jade put her hands on her hips, starting to get irritated. Was this all it took for Tulle to discount her? She did a little PDA with Caleb in the hall once in awhile and she got her panties all knotted up? She huffed.

“I did. All the samples are here,” Jade indicated with her hand as Tulle finally gave the samples her attention.

A frown formed on Tulle's forehead. “Is that the one that had the DI?”

Jade nodded, swallowing. Yeah, that'd been the one alright.

Tulle came around the corner of the desk, gouging her hip and hissing in her breath. Jade came forward, concerned and Tulle put up a warding palm.

She walked to where the pile lay at Jade's feet. She searched each piece in turn, placing one after the other back in the bin and shuddering with the touch of a few.

“Should have worn gloves,” she muttered more to herself than Jade.

When she finished, she straightened.

Tulle looked at Jade. “I keep these locked...” A troubled look came over her face. Finally, she looked at Jade, Tulle's eyes searching hers. “I know you wouldn’t have taken that sample.”

“No way, Miss Tulle.” Jade said, suppressing the shiver with difficulty.

“Do you have a few minutes so we can talk?” Tulle asked.

“I do if you can excuse the tardy,” Jade answered cautiously.

Tulle pursed her lips, realizing that she was asking Jade for something after she'd just hung her boyfriend out to dry at Chen's office.

“Yes,” she answered shortly and Jade gave a small smile as she nodded.

The bell shrilled and the kids flowed out of the class.

Tulle sighed. “I was distracted by your boyfriend earlier...”

“Caleb,” Jade clarified and Tulle shrugged.

“The AFTD.”

Jade nodded. He was so much more than that. Just as she was way more than just an Empath. Jade didn't like how everyone was so easily identified as what they were rather than who.

“I phoned the police, against my better judgment. We have been using the clairvoyance samples without much trouble for the five years I've been teaching here. But recently, with the skill set of some Empaths becoming wide,” she spread her arms apart as far as they could go and Jade laughed despite herself. “We need to turn in samples that have Death Intent.”

“So...?” Jade was confused. “You did turn in the sample?”

She shook her head. “No, I pulsed them and they were going to drop by,” she looked at her pulse, her eyes flashing up to Jade's, “momentarily, to pick it up.”

“Let me get this straight. You pulsed the police about the sample with DI, then they said they'd come pick it up... at any moment. But it's now missing?”

Tulle nodded. “That about covers it. Oh, and one more thing.”

Great, Jade thought, feeling the potential for blame swirling around her like foggy fingers looking for holes. “I gave your name as point of origin contact.”

Jade nearly slapped her forehead. She totally didn't want to be involved with the police. Look what had happened with Caleb. He'd almost gotten killed.

So had she, her mind touching on John Smith and retreating like a finger burnt on a hot stove.

They heard a noise at the door, a soft rap on the jamb.

Turning, Jade watched Detective Raul Garcia and Bobbi Gale walk through the door as her shoulders slumped in defeat.

Wrecking the peace of the last year with their entrance.

CHAPTER FIVE

I walked up to Tulle's class, knowing that Jade had to suck hind tit the entire block because of our sexcapade in the hall. I felt kinda bad about that but what could I do? We'd have to hide our PDAs more masterfully.

I slowed my stride when I saw the broad back of Garcia, notebook in hand and Gale at his side.

I'd know them anywhere. Instead of feeling comforted by police presence I was completely trained to respond with the fear and flight response. Which loosely translated meant: get the hell out of Dodge, as Gramps would say. However much I wanted to follow that directive, one look at Jade's face made my stride pick up again and in a few moments I was inside the room.

Garcia turned just as I came in. Pretty aware for a mundane, I thought.

“Whoa! Caleb...” he clapped me on the back. “Haven't you grown?”

Just the kind of lame adult comment that made me want to judo-chop his throat. Instead, I plastered a fake smile on my face and said the obligatory, “I don't know,” with a shrug.

Gale smiled behind her hand, she was catching the lameness clue square between the eyes. “Ah, I think he's taller than you now, Raul.”

Garcia huffed and puffed, standing at attention like a rooster about to defend his coop.

Wow, seriously?

Jade interrupted, “I know how important it is for males to acknowledge each other's... manliness...” she began to trail off and Garcia gave her a good-natured glare. Jade spread her hands apart. “But, I thought maybe Caleb could be in on this too.”

She was just a little snarky today. I like.

I could feel my brows jack down over my eyes and she gave me a barely there shake of her head, her hair sliding over her shoulders in a distracting way. I swallowed, completely thrown off my train of thought.

Garcia looked from one to the other of us and sighed. “I don't know if I'm up to the tag-teaming I may get from you two.” He waggled a finger. “And I'm sure this is nothing, but Ms. Tulle did phone this in and we've responded to the threat... or possible threat.”

I walked over to where Jade stood, nervously twisting the charm that was attached to her zipper on the fancy backpack I'd got her. The effort not to touch her wasn't pretty but Tulle's gaze glued to us helped me squelch it.

“What's going on?” I asked.

“Well...” Gale began, “Jade was working with a clairvoyance sample yesterday and found DI impregnated in it.”

That sounded... wrong. I viciously stuffed the urge to Laugh at Inappropriate Times and got the crooked mouth for my trouble. Tulle gave me an odd look and Jade's stare clearly said, cool it dumbass!

That seemed to always make things worse. Gale had a sense of my trouble and after a quick look, rushed on before I would begin to howl.

“Anyhow,” she drew out the word, giving me The Look, “whenever a student at one of the high schools finds a DI, it's an automatic pulse to the police.”

Okay, I gave. “What's DI?”

Jade said, “Death Intent.”

I shrugged. “So?”

“It means the person that the garment belongs to will murder or has already done so.”

A quiet fell over the room. Not even the pulse-clock could be heard.

Finally I asked, “So, you guys are here to pick up the sample?” I looked at Jade for confirmation because she had been looking for it. She'd promised.

Jade shook her head. “They were here to pick it up but now it's gone.”

My brow furrowed. Garcia nodded his head and Tulle said, “I have my samples locked up each night...”

“Pulse secure?” Gale asked and Tulle nodded.

Garcia whistled. “That's pretty secure.” He looked at her dubiously. “Are you sure that you secured the room first then...” his brows rose.

She nodded. “Oh yes, I would always secure. Always have. And,” she looked at him like he was retarded, “I had to pulse it open this morning.”

So, somebody broke into Tulle's secret stash of creeper samples, taking only the one Jade had gotten the full flesh crawl over and now it wasn't here.

I looked at Garcia. “Sounds like someone doesn't want the sample to be found.”

Gale agreed, “Sounds like.”

Effing great. Shades of the Graysheets. I didn't say it though. It was too implausible.

I looked again at Jade then back to the cops. She looked nervous. I didn't like this, I had a bad feeling.

I planted my hands on my hips, eyes narrowing. “What does this have to do with Jade?”

Garcia didn't quite meet my eyes. “We'll be needing her to identify the... ah, owner of the garment.”

“No way!” I yelled. “You can't put her in danger like that!” What were they thinking the jag-ups?

Jade put her hand on my arm and Tulle tracked it like an eagle. “It's okay Caleb, I want to help them.”

I shook my head. “Jade, no. This puts you on the highway to harm's way. This is some guy that goes to one of our high schools for cripes sake. It could be the AP guy...” Jade's head snapped up and I got then I wasn't supposed to be talking about that. Bullshit! These two needed to know. Jade's eyes were big with the No look. Huh. What the hell was going on here?

Gale stepped forward. “What are you saying, Caleb?” Jade's huge green eyes were round with worry in my peripheral vision. I shrugged, saying, “Nothing, I guess I had it mixed up.” I caught Jade's shoulders relaxing.

Garcia's gaze narrowed on me, he had caught the hiding it scent and like a good blood hound he was going to track it until he found what he was looking for. He didn't press though.

For now.

After a lengthy pause he said, “Listen, if I can get your folks' pulse-consent, I will let you escort Miss LeClerc here...” Jade rolled her eyes like, seriously? He smiled and corrected to, “Jade.” He gave me the look that told me it was the best he could do.

“What about your aunt?” I asked.

“I'm emancipated, remember?” Jade reminded me.

Right... nice.

Gale's expression was puzzled. “Why?”

Jade hesitated and I knew, just knew how much she liked to bring up dear old dad. “My dad,” she answered softly, a slight blush tinting her cheeks. Why she was embarrassed about him was beyond me. He was King of All Dicks. And I knew who the princes were, yes indeedy. Several came springing to mind. Nice visual. Totally.

“Something funny, Mr. Hart?” Tulle asked.

I was really beginning to take a dislike to her.

“Nah, just thought of something funny, yet unrelated,” I expounded in a moment of cleverness that jacked her face into the pissed off realm.

Perfect.

Gale held up her palm. “Okay, so you are emancipated because...”

Garcia nodded. “I know why,” he said quietly. “It gets that restraining order moved into permanent status.”

Jade didn't say anything, she just nodded. My hands itched to draw her in next to me.

Ached with it.

I stood there doing nothing instead. It sucked pretty good. Then the distraction of the J's were upon us.

Jonesy bulldozed into the room and said without preamble, “What's with the cop huddle?” His hand was fisting two cookies and chewing with his mouth open.

Jade laughed and the tension slid out of me a little. If the J's were here... my main dudes made the cop pill go down a little better.

Nobody answered and Jonesy bellowed, “Huh?”

Garcia flinched and said, “Give a person a chance to respond, Jones.”

“Right, like you were doing any of that.”

Garcia's brow shot up and John interjected, “Answering, Detective Garcia.”

Tulle huffed saying, “I do not think I need Misters Jones and Terran here as well.” She looked at them, daggers flying out of her eyes. John paled a little, making his freckles stick out like golden measles on his face but Jonesy said, “Why not?” and shrugged. He was gonna make her answer.

Cripes.

Jade looked down at her feet while Tulle sputtered, “I do not have to explain myself to an uncouth young man such as you,” she stabbed her finger toward the threshold of the door and continued, “you may find your way out on your own accord.”

Jonesy gave Tulle a speculative look. Finally he said, “Okay, chillax... but, you still didn't tell me why.”

Oh. My. God.

“Jonester, can you just...” I made the motion for him to get out again.

“Listen, let's take this somewhere more private,” Garcia said. He approached Tulle and said, “We'll be in touch. Thank you for alerting us. We'll have a tech team here to evaluate the lock.” She nodded, thanking him and giving us kids a stern look. “Maybe a little distance from the company you keep may be a thing to consider, Mr. Hart.”

That pissed me off. Nobody dissed Jonesy. Who hadn't noticed he was being disrespected yet.

“I like the company,” I said. She glared at me and I glared right back.

Jade pulled me into the hall before one of the three of us said something really bad.

The cops made their whispered goodbyes with Tulle and she shut the door of her Domain, the pissed off crescent of her face showing until the last second.

Jade sighed and looked at Jonesy. “That didn't go well!” she hissed at him.

He shrugged. “Just showing support, Jade. Can't help it if you got an uptight Empath teacher.”

Jade rolled her eyes and the rest of the gang showed up.

Wonderful.

Garcia and Gale took in the loose group of teens. “We are going to say the bare minimum here but as of now, there is no crime.”

“Yeah there is,” Jonesy interrupted and I about died. This was getting uber-complicated.

Garcia said, “Enlighten us, Mark,” he said with a ghost of a smile.

Jonesy frowned, nobody called him his real name. “That was random, Garcia. Yeah, back on topic: we already know that someone sucked up the sample incognito-like.”

John stumbled back at the use of Jonesy having vocabulary, the rest of the group was similarly stunned.

Gale recovered first. “Who blew the whistle? We just got here. No one should have known about the stolen sample.”

Jade made a small sound and gave Sophie a guilty look. “It was just a really small pulse,” Jade said, holding her index and thumb very close together.

Gale sighed. “Okay kids, let's go outside so we don't have any more spillage.”

We trooped out there together to where the Dreaded Cruiser sat. The same one that we sat in a lot last year. I used my hand to shade my eyes and peered in the back. Yup, still gross.

“Caleb?” Garcia asked, bringing me back to the present. I backed away and turned to them.

Gale looked at the kids assembled. Now that it was after school, Bry was here, Mia, Alex, Sophie and...Tiff came walking up.

“Huh, what's goin' on?” she snapped her gum. Then a manic light came into her eyes. “I know,” she snapped her fingers in delight, “Carson Hamilton got hit by a semi-truck and even now invites us to his death bed to make amends.” She searched our faces and Garcia groaned.

“I will pretend I didn't hear a comment that sounded like you were gleeful about someone else coming to harm,” Gale said.

“But...” she began and Bry said, “Can it, Tiff,” not unkindly.

Her mouth snapped shut and she began to work over the mound of gum buried in its depths.

Alex said, “Why not? I mean, I just read that having a vivid fantasy life keeps people from committing various atrocities in real life,” he said, pushing up his glasses.

Gale looked at him, way up at him. “You're a very strange guy, Alex.”

He grinned, he wasn't strange to himself and seemed untroubled that others thought he was. Like Jonesy in a macabre sort of way.

The guys smiled and so did Tiff. Jade and Sophie looked at him like he had a third head.

“Okay, so here's the thing,” Gale began, her eyes flicking once more to Alex, then shaking her head. “We return here when the school is closed, do a routine scan,” she looked at Jade for confirmation and she nodded, “then, after our Empath gets a 'feel' for who broke the pulse-security, we can go from there.”

That's interesting. “Where's the 'from there' part?” I asked. A little vague for my liking. Using my girlfriend for whatever.

Hated it.

Garcia gave me a sharp look. I'd hit on something.

“We're going to get a baseline for who may have been responsible for the break-in, then, we're going to take a field trip to the other schools.”

“What?! Like where other kids can see her?” That's all we needed, is the attacker getting an eyeful of Jade. Yeah, that really worked for me.

“Give me a little credit, Caleb.” Garcia gave me level eyes while Sophie looked at Jade nervously. “School will not be in session when we have Jade scan.”

“What if she finds DI in more places than one?” John asked logically and Jonesy gave him a knuckle bump. Terran had the goods.

Jade said, “From what Tulle tells me, I'll recognize his... signature.”

I saw her discomfort and didn't hesitate this time, I pulled her in tight against me, her head against my chest, my arms wrapped around her. The tiny thing she was, she just fit against me perfect.

The cops didn't say anything.

“So, Jade will know it is the perpetrator...” John began.

“Instead of some random slug,” Jonesy finished.

Nice.

“Hell, let her do a sweep! Clean out the schools, Jade.” Jonesy fist-pumped the air.

Gale hid her smile and Garcia said, “That's enough Jones. I give you quite a bit of latitude...”

“Because of my awesomeness, I know,” Jonesy said without guile.

“No...” Garcia began.

But Gale said, “Raul, give it up.”

He tapped his notepad and shook his head. “Right.” He slapped it shut. He turned to me, ignoring Jonesy who smirked in triumph. “Caleb, I want you to talk with your parents so when I show up at your house it doesn’t come as a shock.”

I grinned. “I don't think my parents are easily shocked.”

A random image of Clyde languishing around the trash separators outside the house came to mind. I think my parents are mainly on board for the weirdness that was my life.

“Right,” Garcia said with a sigh.

Jade stepped away from the cradle of my body. “Wait.”

They turned, Garcia's thumb on the pulse-lock.

“When- when will you be...?” she trailed off.

“In the next day or two.”

“Okay,” she said.

We watched the cruiser pull away.

Tiff turned to Jade and I. “So, does this have anything to do with that AP dickless that's running around trying to ravage all the girls while they're in their,” she waved a vague hand around, “comas or whatever.” She snapped a series of bubbles with her gum. It sounded somewhere between a gun and firecrackers.

Bry scrubbed his face. “Tiff... shit, could ya be just a little sensitive?”

Tiff looked at Sophie and Jade, their faces held identical pinched expressions. Sophie's was the worst. Her skin had a pallor to it, she was slightly ashen under her normally light coffee skin.

“Hell, soooorrry!” she stomped off.

Bry mouthed sorry to us and walked off after her.

Jonesy nodded in semi-approval. “Tiff says it like it is.” Then he looked at Sophie and his face sobered in a hurry. Tears chased each other down her face and he said, “Come on, Soph, that's just Tiff. She has a hole under her nose and a perpetual case of diarrhea.” He held out his hands in supplication.

“Amen,” Terran said, Alex nodding in agreement.

I could hear Tiff and Bry yammering in the background.

Jade put her arm around Sophie, careful not to touch her skin. “It's gonna be okay.”

Sophie looked up, her swimming aqua eyes underscored by dark circles that looked like bruises framed them. “It's not Tiff. I know she doesn't have a filter. It's just... the threat of something I can't protect myself from.”

I hit on something. “What about your boyfriend? Buddy? Isn't he... can't he be The Man here?” I said, trying my damnedest not to let sarcasm drip from every syllable.

I guess I wasn't really successful because Sophie's tears dried up and Jade gave me The Look.

Well hell.

Jonesy grinned. “I think his man status is in question.”

Tiff came stomping back with Bry on her heels just as Mia rolled up in her car with a soft honk. Bry whipped his head around and stared. She smiled back at him and he was temporarily dazed.

Even I wasn't that bad.

Terran saw me looking at the pair and said, “You're gone too, Hart.”

Nice, busted.

Tiff stomped over to Sophie, who was a few inches taller and said, “Sorry Soph, I wasn't trying to pee in your Wheaties or anything.”

Sophie smiled. “It's okay. I'm just scared is all,” she said, tucking her cloud of hair behind her shoulder.

Jonesy hovered around uselessly at her elbow and she swatted him away like the fly he was. He walked off a few paces, grumbling.

Tiff smiled. “I just wanna kick that guy's ass,” she said, smacking her fist into her palm.

John and Alex frowned, taking a look at the Intimidation Factor of Tiff.

There was none. She was bigger than Jade but not by much. She couldn't really hurt anyone. Her mouth was her biggest weapon. I'd say that was finely honed.

Bry finally woke up and turned on her. “K... that's enough Tiff. I know that you hold your own around the house but don't go off half-cocked thinkin' you can take on some sleazy dude that's trying to hurt girls. No.”

The guys looked at Tiff. “I don't need a man to protect me. You oughta know, bro. When it comes to take downs I do okay.”

“You sure do, for your size. But look at us all now, Tiff.” He swept his palm out at the loose group of guys.

She looked around at the J's, me, Alex, whose muscles looked like tumors or something, and finally settled on Bry. Then her eyes shifted to Jade (who had finally topped out at five-three), Sophie and Mia. Among the girls, Sophie was the “biggest” and she was still a couple of inches shorter than Jonesy, the shortest of the dudes at five-ten.

Tiff huffed in frustration. Bry's eyebrows came together. “Heard you were busy getting under Hamilton's skin?”

She shrugged, her blue hoodie moving with her shoulder, a bubble popping. “What about it?”

“Did you seriously say they didn't have dicks?” he asked, incredulous, suppressing laughter.

“Nah,” she said.

The guys all looked at her.

“What?” she squeaked.

“You sorta did. You can't tell them stuff like they can't see it and it would be easy for them to scorch it off, without them getting a clue on their lacking proportions,” John said by way of clarifying.

“Yeah, whatever, they don't scare me. Let 'em try!” She crossed her arms defiantly.

John and Bry's eyes met. “Was he gonna hurt her?”

John's eyes didn't waver. “Maybe.”

“Definitely,” Sophie said.

“It's okay, pal,” Jonesy said, clapping Bry on the back, “Brett, that ass hat, said he'd take it out of your corn cob, or one of your brothers.” Jonesy stepped back, spreading his arms wide.

“Great, effing great,” Bry said. He looked at Tiff. “Do ya think you could not make it so dudes want to beat the snot outta me?”

Alex snickered and Bry swung to him. “What's so funny, Sims?”

“It's just that... you're sorta our tank.”

Terran nodded and I put my hand in my face. “No WoW talk, Alex.”

“What, Hart?”

Never mind. Brother.

“It's like World of Warcraft. The tank takes the damage so the other players can survive. You're our tank.” John made it sound like an honor or something.

I could tell from Bry's expression he was thinking getting beat up every time we were together wasn't a point of pride.

“Argh!” Bry kinda yelled.

Mia slammed her car door, leaving the engine running and he looked at her as she came, all honey hair and deep eyes.

Eyes that a guy could learn to love.

“It's okay, she's the only girl in a house full of boys. How else does she survive?” she asked him, then put her perfectly manicured hand on his arm and he was lost.

“She's just so stubborn...” he said, staring at her.

Tiff began waving her arms above her head, back and forth, crossing the wrists. “Right here! I'm right here, Bry. And you're pretty GD stubborn yourself, jackass.”

Bry finally woke from his reverie and glared at her.

“Crap!” Jade said, alarmed.

“What?” I asked, looking around, waiting for some Psychotic Event to appear.

Like usual.

I didn't see anything. Huh.

“It's my backpack! I left it at Tulle's!”

“What?” Mia and Sophie said together. I could tell that they thought she had gone temporarily insane.

Jade wavered. Finally, she relented. “Yeah. I just got distracted by the cops showing up and not finding that stupid sample.” She huffed in exasperation.

Tiff asked, “What's the big deal? That pink thing?”

“That pink thing!” Sophie yelled. “It's a Coach, fashion-impaired.”

Tiff narrowed her eyes on Sophie. “Ya know,” she began, snapping her gum, “you'd do well in hoodies. No one needs a zoo lesson.”

Oh shit.

Sophie was partial to animal prints and today she was wearing cheetah. Sophie walked over to Tiff, teetering expertly on her high-heeled boots (designer, I was sure). “A girl that wears hoodies to school and does not, by God, know what a Coach purse is needs to shut her mouth when discussing how another girl could misplace said purse.”

Tiff had blown a bubble the size of her head and swatted it out of the way before answering Sophie. “Okay, when you're not wearing a zoo, and don't have weapons attached to your shoes, I'm gonna pay attention. Otherwise. No.”

Jonesy looked on with interest. “Is this like, gonna morph into one of those awesome cat fights?”

They looked at him.

“What?” he shrugged.

John shook his head. “Stay out of it, Jones.”

“No way, I think it was just starting to get interesting.”

Jade sighed, “I gotta go back into the school. It has my pulse, everything. I wouldn't put it past Tulle to get into my pulse and...” she looked at me significantly.

Holy hell. I sent Jade some hot stuff.

Jones saw my face and I shot him a look.

Don't say it.

He said it. “Got some kind of porn thing goin' on, Caleb?”

Alex perked right up and Bry laughed.

Sometimes the merit of Jonesy's friendship was overrated.

Jonesy was nodding in an exaggerated way. “I knew you had it goin' on Hart!”

Tiff piped in, “Don't you have some shitty diapers to change or something, Jonesy?”

His face fell. “Thanks for reminding me, princess.”

She grinned like a fool, really enjoying his discomfort. “Anytime.”

Jade and I began walking toward the school with the gang close behind.

“Should you leave your tin can parked like that, Mia?” Bry asked.

We looked at the car, like a wind-up toy, out in the middle of the street. She shrugged. “We're just here to make sure she reacquires the precious and then we'll go. What will it take, five minutes?”

We walked in the double doors, a janitor at the top of the stairs, making his way down each step, sweeping as he went. He looked up. Jensen, his name tag said.

“You kids need to skedaddle. Busy cleaning here.” His charcoal eyes challenged ours.

“I left my backpack in Miss Tulle's room,” Jade said with a contrite voice. If that enticing female tone didn't get him to soften, nothing would.

It did. He said, “Okay, run in there and get it, but the rest of ya, stay put.”

We waited at the bottom of the stairs. When Jade was about at the top, I saw her hand come out to grip the smooth, tube like handrail and she flinched, gripping it harder. Her face paled and her body shook.

I had never moved so fast in my life. I think I cleared four steps at a time on my way to her. The janitor backed up, not sure what to do. I sorta shoved him out of the way and Jade fell backward into my arms. She was clammy, a light sheen of sweat on her forehead.

“What? Jade... what's wrong?” I asked.

The group were all around me and she whispered, “Boys' bathroom...”

I looked at the guys. What was going on?

“They're hurting him... need to help...” she said.

Hurting who?

“I'm spoiling for something!” Jonesy yelled like a native before war.

The janitor hollered something about getting out of the school and we ignored him.

I scooped Jade up and hauled her underneath my arm, half jogging with her, football hold-style as I watched the guys sprint for the boys' bathroom as the girls jogged after, keeping pace with Jade and I.

I heard the shouting before I got to the door and knew who we were dealing with before I arrived.

Carson and Crew.

Marvelous.

Carson and Brett had some poor kid pinned to the cinder block wall, his nose crooked and bloody, one shoe off, his pants down to his ankles.

WTF? what was this happy horse shit?

Bry and Jonesy had burst through the door, the thing banging against the wall, Alex bringing up the rear.

I was almost stunned to silence that Christi was there, torturing the poor kid along with the sickness that was her brother, Brody.

“What the blue hell are you doin' to him, ya clowns?” Tiff roared at the group of guys as her gum plopped to the floor in a disgusting wad.

Diego nodded, grinning like a loon and I put Jade into Sophie's capable embrace as John flanked my side. I slid my eyes to Tiff, who I knew first hand to be an underdog lover. This was so up her alley.

If she survived it.

Buddy was there too, just for shits and giggles. This was becoming a colossal cluster and I wasn't sure how to fix it but first things first.

“What's going on?” I asked levelly, hoping to keep the tension down.

Diego straightened, giving his full attention to Tiff. “You're an abrasive little bitch, ya know that?”

“Yeah,” she bellowed back at him and he flinched, unprepared for Tiff.

Join the crowd.

His fists clenched and he looked at Bry.

Bry looked back at him, eyes steady. “Don't even try it. You touch my sister and I'll break your hand off and wipe my ass with it.”

Diego smiled. “What do you care? This faggot was asking for it. Checkin' our junk out during suit up?” He turned on the kid. “Weren't ya?” he screamed in the kid's beaten face.

I knew that kid, Lewis Archer. He was in my... damn, couldn't think of it now.

He clenched his eyes closed and waited for more blows. I was figuring he was about done suffering through it all.

“Alex?” I said, real calm.

“Yeah, Hart?”

“Go get... Lewis from these gang-beaters and we'll let them get back to what they were doing.”

Jonesy added, “Looks like a circle jerk to me. Manned by Christi.”

Oh. God.

All hell broke loose. Brody came at Jonesy to defend Barbie's dubious honor while Carson punched Bry in the face as he was advancing and Diego ignored the guys and went straight for Tiff.

“John!” I screamed.

“I'm on it!” Terran yelled, racing in a clumsy waltz over to where Diego was trying to grab Tiff, all six-four of him.

I glanced back at a pale and trembling Jade and had just enough time to prepare for the punch to my bread basket when I did a retaliatory strike to Brett's throat. He choked, a surprised, gagging sound that was partway between a gurgle and a strangle and fell on his ass. Not to be outdone, and you gotta admire his tenacity, he swept his foot up and glanced my nut sack. I fell, the urge to throw up a burning need in the back of my throat.

This was so outta hand I didn't know where to begin. I watched Alex, struggling to overcome the throbbing thing that were my balls, to see him take a hold of Diego as he threw him through one of the bathroom stalls and the door broke off its hinges, crumbling under the six-foot, two hundred pound Diego. Alex turned, obviously in a rage and set his sights on Buddy.

I held up my hand and choked out, “Leave him!”

Alex straightened just as Buddy turned on him and Carson leaped on his back.

That solidified my opinion of their utter brainlessness. Wow.

With a roar, Alex literally shrugged the pair off of him and they flew into the opposing walls. Sliding down until their butts hit the floor. I looked around at the fallen bodies and my eyes fell on Christi.

She looked even better than I remember. I didn't let that bother me. “What were you doin' to him Christi?”

Lewis is the one that answered, and even on the floor, holding my throbbing balls, with my enemies piled around me, I could see the kid's beauty. He had one of those faces, like an angel. “That sadistic bitch was hurting me,” he said, the words totally not in sync with his looks.

“Where?” John asked, giving her the look she deserved.

“They didn't want to touch it!” she wailed.

Of course, Christi was willing, I thought uncharitably.

Bry looked at her like she was a pariah.

I looked at Lewis, his light gray eyes flinching, the lashes like black lace. “You know where,” he said in a low voice filled with shame.

I hated these guys.

Jonesy trained his eyes on Christi, giving a good kick to Buddy as he strolled past, who groaned as his sneaker made square contact with a rib.

“Let me sum this up then. You,” he pointed a finger at Christi, “did a pecker-pull on Archer here while the losers with you beat him up?”

She just stared at him. He strode over to where she was and screamed in her face, “Is it true you stupid slut?!”

She yelped and I said in a low voice, “Cool it , Jonesy. We all know what a scumbag she is.”

“Yes, we do,” John agreed and Alex nodded, his glasses hanging off one ear. As I watched, he adjusted them and they slid down his nose.

Bry said, “Don't hurt her Jones. She's horrible but she's a chick.”

“She isn't a chick,” Jones said with real feeling. “She's female.” He walked over to Tiff and dragged her over to Christi. “This is a chick. You're nothing...”

He began to turn away, Tiff looking at him in stunned adoration that he had finally tipped his hat to her when Christi chilled us to the bone with, “You're just a fag-lover, Jonesy. Deep down, that's why you go out with girl after girl. It's a put-on. You actually want to travel the Hershey highway.” She smiled at her little pun.

Jonesy whipped back around and I knew he was going for it when Bry launched at him, Jonesy fighting him like a barracuda. “Not. Worth. It. Jones!”

Christi pushed herself away from the wall and strolled around a foaming-at-the-mouth-Jonesy. “Yeah, my brother's told me about you guys. Your little hideaway. Where you all meet. The AFTD and all you other weirdos. It's all a front. You came here to save your little friend.” She reached out a hand to touch Lewis, who was looking at her with horror and he shrank away from her touch.

Not to worry, Tiff balled up her fist and hit Christie square in the nose. Her hands went to her face but not before a jet of blood like lava shot out of her nostrils in a literal stream. Tiff wasn't done by a long shot and grabbed her shoulders and slammed her knee into Christi's fashionably flat abs. She made an oof! sound and keeled over in a bleeding heap on the boys bathroom floor.

Lewis looked up at Tiff, her hands on her hips, blood all over her hoodie and said in a whisper, “Thank you.”

“Welcome,” Tiff said, jabbing a new stick of gum in her mouth.

Cripes-on-a-crutch.

CHAPTER SIX

I scrambled to my feet and went to Jade. It was at that point that I heard an ominous clicking in the hall, approaching on a stiletto rhythm, I'd know it anywhere.

Chen.

A boiling wall of heat began to engulf me, causing my hair to rise as if static electricity charged the air. I swung my face away from Jade's and looked at Brody and Carson.

The Incineration Pair.

Great, I thought, my hair starting to cook where I stood.

Chen flung the door open, all blackness and ninja. She swung her arm out and the wall of heat suddenly dissipated. Brody's fists clenched and Carson scowled. Poor saps, foiled in their heat wave by the principal.

“Can anyone tell me why there was a preemptive pyro event happening here?” Chen asked. Jensen the Janitor was peeking around her shoulder, topping her by ten inches. It was funny really. I got the crooked mouth again.

Jade walked over to me and I slid my arm around her waist, my balls a low drone of pain. It'd be a night and half the next day before they felt okay.

Carson, Buddy, Brody, Brett and Diego straggled over to the far side of the room and Chen's eyes narrowed on them momentarily then shifted to me. “How is it that you're involved here?”

I could tell that I was gonna have to think fast. I had just been in her office this week. Let me think. No fighting or making out. Well, I blew that all to hell.

I opened my mouth to answer when Lewis said, “They ganged up on me and somehow...” he gave a quizzical look at us then turned his attention back to Chen, “they came and stopped it.”

Chen looked at Lewis, taking in his beaten face, the large gray eyes, steady and haunting. Her eyes shifted to the losers. “There is a zero tolerance at KPH for abusing other students. Zero,” Chen repeated in a tone.

They remained sullen and quiet. And it was at that point that Chen noticed Christi looking pathetic and weak on the floor.

“Oh my! Who hurt a girl?” Her gaze fell on my group and I just shook my head. I wasn't going to rat Tiff out but none of us guys would touch a girl. I couldn't say the same for Carson and now, Diego.

Christi scented the possibility of sympathy and maneuvered her position until she could look up at Chen with those luminous whiskey eyes of hers, her nose bashed up. A small face with eyes that took up half of it. Even I had to admit, had I not known Christi, I would have wanted to hammer a guy that did that to her. She sat there looking fragile and beaten and it wasn't a guy. It'd been Tiff. She'd deserved it. Still, I kinda felt bad about it. Must be in my DNA I thought with dismay, the desire to protect a female. Even one as horrible as Christi.

Tiff didn't have that biological directive.

“I did it,” Tiff volunteered. Bry put his face in his hands.

“Thank you for your honesty, Miss Weller. You will receive a less severe suspension than your peers.”

John groaned, thinking of the crucifixion he would receive at home. Mrs. Terran would have him encasing the basement furniture in plastic.

For a couple of days. While cleaning the microwave hinges with a toothbrush. Pink apron strapped on for added torture.

Her attention swiveled back to Carson's group and she asked, “Why were you abusing your classmate?”

Nobody said anything. Finally, after watching the boys shift around nervously, Lewis said, “I'm gay, Miss Chen.”

Chen looked at him. Then she said, “What does that have to do with anything?”

He spread his hands out and laughed, dried blood edging his nostrils. “You wouldn't ask that if you were gay.”

“I am not trying to be condescending on purpose, Mr. Archer. I truly don't know why... were you being targeted because of your sexual orientation?”

God, catch a clue, Chen. Duh. With that group? I think so.

She scowled. “Are you certain, because that flirts with a hate crime.”

He nodded. “They'll tell you that I was provoking them. But I wasn't. It was them. They knew. Every day, day in and day out, it was, 'how's it hangin' pretty boy?' Or, 'packed any fudge lately?' I'd say that qualifies as hate to me.”

I thought so too.

She folded her arms across her chest and looked at Carson. “You admit to this? Is his retelling accurate? You know that fighting, using your ability against others, and this issue you allegedly have with sexual orientation go directly against what you pulsed your consent for. That your parents pulse-consented at the start of school?”

He nodded.

“What do you have to say for yourself? In your own defense.”

Carson tapped his temple with a smirk. “He got on my gay-dar, Miss Chen. That's it. We're all jocks here. He was checkin' out our strap placement...if you feel me.”

And he grabbed his package, doing a disgusting hip thrust.

Wow. The room filled with an awkward silence and I saw Mia turn her face away in disgust. I think that was the unanimous feel for Carson.

Chen's lips formed a grim line. She didn't say anything, but whipped out her pulse and stabbed her thumb into the pad.

Sliding it back in her pocket she looked at my group. Me specifically. “Caleb, leave the school grounds with the girls. I will be in touch.”

I didn't like leaving her here with these clowns. She was an adult, and I shouldn't have given two shits. But I did. I looked at Jensen, immediately dismissing him as incapable. Of anything.

“What about...” I stretched the arm that wasn't holding Jade toward the jerk posse.

“I have people coming.”

“Let me stay until they do,” I said.

“Suck-up,” Brett said derisively.

Jade looked at him. “Maybe he just thinks you guys are capable of stuff. He just wants things to be alright.”

Brett stared at her and I could feel my heart speed. I calmed it with difficulty. Parker's warning was in my head. That's all I needed was Clyde to pop in for a little convo with Miss Chen in attendance.

Chen looked at them. “Less is more, boys. Right now, you're in hot water.” She looked at Archer, who had gotten off the floor and was wiping off the seat of his pants. He made his way to the sink and washed his hands laboriously while we all watched. He acted like there was no amount of soap to clean him. The incident was permanently emblazoned on his psyche.

I felt Gale approaching before she entered the restroom, Garcia on her tail. Her eyes met mine and took in the scene. She smiled at me and I had a small amount of pride.

It was the first time they'd arrived at a scene without zombies.

We'd shuffled out in the hall and I said, “Let the cops ream Carson and his dipshits. I need to pulse my mom.” The gang looked at me but immediately began discussing how righteous it would be with the ass-hats on vacation for a couple of weeks.

I pressed my thumb on the pad and thought, Mom: Initializing.

Where are you?- AH

modulation stress detected there was a little issue here at school Mom.- CH

sighs-zombies?- AH

Not this time.- CH

What?- AH

Can I have some friends over? I'll explain it all then.- CH

Yes...how many?- AH

A lot.- CH

Okay...I'll make more chili.- AH

Great, Flatulence Central.

Feedback, honey.- AH

Right. I jerked my thumb off. I never seemed to get a whole pulse out without keeping my thumb on the pad and then someone heard a random thought. Not good. A vision of some of my thoughts about Jade rose to the surface and I shuddered, envisioning Mom getting some of that feedback.

See ya soon.- CH

K, honey.- AH

I crammed the pulse into my back pocket and explained to the friends.

Lewis shifted around uncomfortably, “Thanks, Caleb. I mean, I can't say I'm not flattered to be included at your place but... I don't really know you.”

I nodded, true. “Here's the deal. I can't stand those mouth-breathers. If they don't like you, well, that gets my vote.”

Archer's eyes flicked to Jonesy.

“What?” Jonesy said, a tad too innocent. We all looked at him.

“I was thinking that Jonesy may be a bit too homophobe to put up with my gay presence.”

“What?! I'm a modern dude. I can handle that your door swings the opposite way.”

John smacked his forehead. Bry grinned. The girls looked on with horror. But like with any good train wreck, we were all there for the duration. It was comical. Archer had twin pieces of toilet paper stuck up his nose to stem the blood flow and light bruising under his eyes, while trying to defend his sexual orientation. Surreal.

Broken nose for sure. All that because he was gay.

“I know you're not real comfortable about the homosexuality, Mark. You've got a rep around school. You're a player, we all know that.”

“I don't have anything against gay dudes.”

The girls looked at him with identical expressions of disbelief and Archer noticed. He started to back away saying, “It's okay. I understand. I wouldn't want the bull's-eye on my ass either. Hanging out with some gay guy, it could get you noticed.” He began to walk away with a stiff gait, speaking to injuries we couldn't see.

Jade rushed to him, “Wait!”

Lewis turned and she hugged him. I would have been jealous if I hadn't been so stunned. He looked down and gave her the most serious look I'd ever seen on a kid. “Thanks, Jade.”

“I know you,” she said as we all made a loose circle around her.

“You do, do you?” he asked with a smirk. “Who am I?”

“You're the boy that's going to save my life.”

He took a step back and so did we. Jade looked at him and he returned her gaze. “Did you... are you the one...?” he began, stammering.

She nodded. “I saw what they were going to do to you.”

“You saved me,” he said simply.

She nodded. “And you will save me.”

“How do you know?” he asked, dazed.

That made two of us.

She tapped her temple in a sad way. “Miss Tulle says I have a dash of Precognitive.”

He suddenly grinned and we were dazzled, his sudden joy in the dim school hallway a brilliant swath of light. “Me too.” He pulled out his wallet and dug around, extracting a small sketch.

It was Jade, and she had hands buried in the tender flesh of her neck, her eyes bulging, breath but a memory.

I looked at him, making my way to where he stood.

Alex stopped me with two fingers, shaking his head no. “He's Precog Caleb. He's not gonna do that. It's what he sees is going to happen.”

Jonesy was palming his chin, looking thoughtful. Great.

“Back on this gay thing...”

Alex frowned and Archer's shoulders fell a little. John said, “Jonesy, I don't think that's the focus here. Let's find out this connection with Jade.”

Tiff rolled her eyes. “Yeah, Jones, stop having penis envy and let's find out something important!”

“I don't have penis envy, Tiff. I don't need to.”

Sophie made a sound in the back of her throat and Jonesy glanced at her.

Archer held up his hand. “Listen, I knew this about Mark.”

“Why do ya keep calling me Mark?” Jonesy asked.

“Isn't that your name?” Lewis asked.

“Yeah.”

“Jonesy doesn't suit you,” Lewis shrugged.

John grinned.

“Suit me? You talk funny,” Jonesy said, trying to work up to being offended.

“I think he speaks really well,” Mia noted.

The guys looked at her and Tiff said, “Calm down fools, he obviously doesn't threaten your future romances.”

A small smile curled Archer's lips. That's when I knew he'd fit right in. Taking on the Jonester was perfect.

“Anyway, your virtue is safe. I don't find you remotely attractive.”

Jonesy stared at him. The unspoken thought having been uttered out loud. Nice.

Jonesy crossed his arms. “Why not? Is it cuz I'm black?”

Archer barked out a laugh then winced, ribs were bruised I'd bet. “No,” his grin widening. “But let me ask you this: do you find all girls attractive?”

Jonesy rolled his eyes skyward, lots of white showing. He thought about it for a few heartbeats. “No,” grudgingly.

“There you have it. I am just as picky as the next guy.”

“Not all guys are picky. Look at my dumb-ass brother. He went out with Christi last year,” Tiff said with a sneer.

Bry blanched. He'd probably been hoping that we'd all had amnesia on that one.

“Thanks, Tiff,” Bry muttered.

Lewis looked at Bry. “Not a really good judge of character, Bryan?”

“She was so hot...” he mourned again.

“That's such a tired excuse, Bry,” Sophie said to him while she looked at Jonesy. He narrowed his eyes on her.

“That just makes me want to kick her ass again,” Tiff said.

Nice.

“Okay,” I held up my palms. “Let's get outta here and to my house. Archer, are you in?”

“Yes, if you'll have me. It's not like our introduction was especially...”

“It's okay, Lewis. It's not your fault. They're like that with everyone that has something that they want,” Jade said.

“What do they want?” he asked.

“To defile anything good,” Mia said.

We nodded in agreement.

Jonesy came up to Archer and slung and arm around him. “Okay, since I know you're not like, scoping my package, then I guess you're in.”

Lewis's eyebrows shot to his hairline.

Poor Lewis. He was getting the drive-by-Jonesy introduction. Speed-of-light.

John and Alex groaned. If he could survive Jonesy he was invincible.

“Hey!” Jonesy suddenly said, stepping away and looking at Lewis expectantly. Lewis sorta cringed and I smiled. He'd be immune soon.

Numb like the rest of us.

“What?” Archer nearly yelped.

“What are ya?”

“I said... I'm gay.”

“No numbnuts, not that,” Jonesy waved that away impatiently. “What are ya?”

“Oh! I'm a Lock-Manipulator.”

We all stopped in the middle of the parking lot.

“Perfect,” John breathed out.

“Yeah,” Jade said, dreamy like.

Tiff smacked her gum. “Sounds like you're a versatile guy, even if you do look like a model.”

Tiff was kinda anti-beauty.

All the girls stared at Lewis, taking in his perfection, unmarred by the beating. In fact, the bruises only accentuated it.

The guys glowered at his girl groupies and he smirked, smug. That a-hole, he knew the chicks dug him. Not that it mattered. The irony was not lost on me.

“Whatever...” Jonesy started, scowling at Tiff, who grinned widely back at him, popping a bubble.

“So you're a Precog and a Lock-Manipulator both?” John asked.

Archer nodded. “I'm like Jade. I'm an LM, but I have a dash of Precog.” He shrugged. “It's not that useful though. My visions come in dream form, I sketch out what I can remember and so far, until today, it hasn't meant anything.”

Until today.

There was a swollen silence and Jonesy burst it like an errant bubble, “Okay, so... I'm diggin' on your skill set, Archer. You're in.”

“In what?” he asked, a confused look covering his face.

“Our coolness, dude. Our group. Our posse...” Jonesy said as if he was retarded.

“Oh,” Lewis said.

“Come on pal, you can ride in my car,” Bry said.

Archer took one look at Bry's wheels and couldn't keep the fear reined in.

Bry looked offended but Mia giggled and said, “You can ride with me, stud.”

Archer brightened and followed Mia to her tin can. The Toaster, us guys called it.

They squeezed in there together. Cozy.

Bry scowled, his hands becoming fists as Mia roared out of the parking lot with Tiff and Sophie crammed in the back like sardines in a can, Lewis riding shotgun.

“Calm your tits, Weller,” Jonesy said, clapping Bry a good one. “He's gay. G. A. Y. Gay. He's not gonna move in on Mia. Not that you're making any progress ya gigolo.”

John laughed and Alex shrugged.

“And you're one to talk?” Bry roared.

“He's got ya there, Jones,” Alex said on a smirk.

I was silent. My mind tumbling around Jade.

A Precognitive sketch featuring Jade.

In the throes of death.

Jade and I walked to Bry's car, a death-trap for sure.

It surged to life, the engine struggling, our restraints binding us together. I looked at Jade, a warm and fragrant presence pressed up against my side.

She kissed the side of my neck, her lips burning where they touched my flesh. “It'll be okay.”

I looked down at her, afraid for the future.

A future without her.

CHAPTER SEVEN

Our bellies were full. The guys had taken down a triple batch of chili and an entire casserole dish of cornbread and half a bottle of honey. The girls looked at us as we gorged like a pulse-movie (cheap entertainment, ah-huh). A gallon sized milk carton stood empty on the kitchen table.

Mom smirked. “Are you fellas going to need some more... sustenance?”

I felt like I was gonna puke. That was usually my cue to stop eating. I don't know if John had that internal barometer as he was holding out for thirds.

Jonesy said, “Thanks Ali, that whole deal at the school worked me up into a fine appetite.”

Mom gave me a significant look and I sighed. I didn't really want to go into the whole thing with the group here. Especially the uber-awkwardness of Lewis Archer. I knew Mom would be down with it (remember, everyone gets a break in her world).

“I'm sure Caleb will fill me in on everything later. And,” she smiled as she stroked my hair and I died watching my friends smirk, “my boy seems to have come out unscathed.”

Jonesy brightened. “Actually, his balls got bounced around pretty good by Brett,” Jonesy expounded.

I so didn't need my mom to know that. And, my girlfriend was all ears too.

“Thanks, Jones,” I said with menace.

“No problemo, Romeo,” he winked.

Asshole.

Jade looked at me with concern. Holy hell.

John saved the day. “Where's your wheels, Caleb?”

I sighed with relief. “Gramps has it.”

Alex and Bry perked up. “Oh yeah? What's Mac doin'?” Bry asked and Mom pursed her lips. I glossed over the details.

“He's putting some modifications on the motor,” I said as neutrally as possible.

Of course, that tipped all my friends off that something interesting was going on. I was a slow learner.

“Yeah, he fixed up my rig really good,” Bry admitted with gratitude.

“He welded your door on, moron,” Tiff said, smacking gum.

Mom looked at her, smiling. “Would you mind...” Mom asked, pointing to the separator. Tiff tried for a neutral expression and failed saying, “Ah... that's my last stick!”

Mom smiled wider, waiting. Tiff threw the gum in the trash.

Mom, the Manipulator of Manners.

“Well, I hate to pork and go but...” Jonesy said.

Alex pushed up his glasses. “No you don't.”

Mom laughed.

“True, dude,” Bry agreed.

“I'd love to check out what Mac's doing to your car, Hart,” Jonesy said.

Dad put his paperwork down, his brown eyes meeting mine over the top of his glasses. “Have you phoned Gramps to let him know you have a group coming?”

I shook my head. Gramps would be cool with it.

Mom held up a slender finger. “I think I'll phone Gramps.”

“Really?” Mia asked.

Mom looked at her. “Yes, he still retains a land line.”

Sophie looked shocked, scooping up the last of her chili with the remnants of her cornbread.

“Yes, Caleb's grandpa is,” she hesitated over quantifying Gramps. I felt her on that one. “Old-fashioned,” she finished.

Right, that.

Jonesy barked out a laugh and she gave him a stern look as she depressed the Fam-pulse. It was the only one in the house that could do verbal to a land line. It had cost the mother lode. You had to get a special internal gizmo. Who the hell had phones anymore? Gramps, apparently. Unless it blew off body parts for his mondo security, he wasn't really a tech-dude.

Mom started talking, “Hi Pops.”

“Why hello, Peanut.”

“Is it okay that Caleb and a few friends stop by the house and look at your... embellishments on the Camaro?”

There was a pause while all us kids listened to the weirdness of verbal speakerphone.

“There a whole glut of 'em?” Gramps asked.

“Ah, yes there is.”

“Humph! Well, send them over I guess. Did ya feed them? Those boys are a pen of swine with the grub.”

Jonesy snorted, offended and the girls laughed.

Mom rolled her eyes. “Yes, Pop, they had chili and cornbread.”

“They're staying outside then. I'm not having my house all fouled up with their gastronomic fragrance. (Mom slapped her forehead and Dad smirked.) Why don't you send a smidgen of that my way, Alicia? And use a fridge dish. I don't want any of that nasty-ass petro stuff. Glass only.”

Mom paused, sighing. “Yes Pop. I'll talk to you soon.”

“G-night honey.”

The call ended and I smiled. Mom looked at the kids and Lewis said, “I take it he's a straight forward guy?”

“Dude, that doesn't even cover Mac,” Jonesy said with real admiration.

Archer's brows rose. “Coming from you, Mark, that takes on a whole new meaning.”

“Would ya stop calling me Mark? Can ya?”

Archer smiled. “No.”

Jonesy threw up his hands and they flopped down against his thighs as he stalked out the door.

Mom and the Wellers grinned.

Jade put her dishes in the sink and Mom gave her a hug.

We went to the door and Onyx came racing to meet us, his tail wagging a mile a minute.

The Boy was going to the old pack Alpha's cave. The dog could smell his intent, feel the words that smelled in his Boy's mind. He wished to go with his Boy. He made himself low and appealing, sliding his eyes away politely when the Boy made eye contact. Wag-thunk-wag.

“Ahh...! He's so cute,” Mia hunkered down, stroking Onyx's fur. He gave her the big chocolate eye and she cooed some more and rubbed behind his ear.

The Dog liked this female, she was very aggressive in her petting. She was able to scratch areas that were difficult for the Dog to reach. The Dog would wag his tail harder and maybe she would continue.

“Hey Weller!” I yelled, watching Onyx alternately lick Mia's hand and wag his butt off. Huh, he really dug her.

“Caleb,” Mom said, hands planted on hips.

I sighed, walking over to Bry, who had already leaped in his car. The window on the door-that-doesn't-open was cranked down to the seal. Kinda cool weather for that.

“Can Onyx come?”

“Come on, Hart! My car's gonna smell like dog.”

I took an experimental whiff and staggered back. “Damn man! You're worried about my dog?!”

“Language,” Mom trumpeted from the front door.

The J's walked over to see what the deal was and the smell from Bry's car was eye-watering worthy.

Bry pleaded with his eyes not to be hung out to dry with the Hot Mia around.

No dice.

“Having trouble with the beans, Weller?” Jonesy chortled.

Bry's neck suffused with a dull brick color that begun at his neck and worked up to the tops of his ears. “Payback is a bitch, Jones,” he growled.

“Yeah, but its righteous at the moment.”

Mia strolled by and Bry died a little more. “What's that awful smell?” she waffled her hand back and forth in front of her nose. “Is there a septic leak?” she asked innocently as Bry pressed his forehead into the steering wheel in defeat.

John was holding his ribs, tears running down his face.

“Easily amused, Terran?” Jonesy asked.

That made John laugh harder.

“Like you've never had an ass-trumpet, Jonesy?” Alex asked reasonably.

“Who has ass-trumpets?” Sophie asked.

“All the guys... but it sounds like right now the main problem is with the J's and my brother,” Tiff elaborated, her face an evil girl mask.

Hell.

“Ew, gross,” Sophie and Mia said, walking to her car and casting glances of disgust over their shoulders.

“Chicks don't fart?” I asked to no one in particular.

“Ya ever hear one do it?” Jade asked, her hands on her hips, her green eyes flashing.

“No!” I stuttered, caught.

“Well, there ya go!” she said as she stalked off. I guess she was riding with the girls. Go figure.

Huh.

We stumbled out of Bry's car, grateful to finally arrive at Gramps. It was a solid thirty minutes from Kent and crammed into the discomfort of his car, it seemed like forever.

Gramps was already outside, the Camaro up on metal ramps, his legs sticking out from underneath. He must've heard us roll up because he pushed off with his hands and rolled out from underneath the car. He sat up, planting his feet on either side of a board that looked like it was covered in carpet with four wheels on each corner. It looked ancient.

Us guys came over and there were guy claps all around. A couple of my dudes staggered over the ones Gramps handed out. He stared at Lewis for a few seconds and stuck out his hand for a shake instead.

“You gonna have that nose looked at son?”

“Yes sir. I just haven't had an opportunity yet. My name's Lewis Archer.”

“Mac O'Brien. Nice to meetcha,” Gramps said with a smile. “I can set that for ya.”

Lewis touched his nose lightly, then let his hand drop. Gramps wiped his hands off on his towel, grease falling away onto the cloth, making it have stripes.

“I don't know...” he said, somewhere between trying to appease and outright terror.

“Don't be a baby,” Tiff said. “You can be gorgeous again, let Mac work ya over.”

Mac smiled, spreading his hands.

“Okay,” Archer said with the barest tremble in his voice.

“Shouldn't we get an Organic?” John asked, the last voice of reason.

“Nah, remember when I got nailed and Mac did my nose?” Bry reminded.

Which time?

“Not really, Bry,” Jade said, her memory vague on which altercation that had been.

He shrugged. “It works okay, look at my schnoz.”

We did. It was slightly crooked and had a bump in the middle.

“Looks like hell, Bry,” Jonesy said helpfully.

Archer looked between Bry and Gramps. “I guess we can try, but I'd rather not have a nose like his.”

Bry huffed and Gramps said, “Adds character.” Lewis flinched. “Just pulling your leg. His nose has been broke... ” he looked at Bry.

Bry held up three fingers.

Wow.

“See? Hard to keep fixing something that's found a pathway. Keeps getting re-broke and sliding into the same funkiness.”

My friends looked at him, trying to translate Gramps' odd way of talking.

“Bry's had his nose broke enough times that whenever it happens again, it keeps going crooked the same way and it's become permanent,” I said.

Gramps looked at me like I was slow. “That's what I just said here.”

The J's smiled.

He turned to Jade. “Little Missy, pop into my kitchen and get a few cubes of ice out of the icebox and one of my thin cotton towels I use for drying the dishes. Put the ice in there and wrap it good.”

Gramps turned, giving his steady attention to Lewis. “This is gonna hurt like a bitch.”

Lewis nodded, stoic. Gramps placed both of his hands in a steepled V on either side of his nose, hiding it completely and jerked both hands to one side while pressing deeply against the bridge.

Archer howled, fresh blood flowing out of his nostrils. The pain stood raw in his eyes, tears flooding them while we watched.

He didn't let them fall.

His nose was straight as an arrow. Gramps held the only clean spot of the car rag under the flow and told him to tip his head back. Jade ran out to where Gramps was and he held out a hand for the ice cube bundle.

“You don't have a dishwasher, Mac?” Mia asked while he wrapped Lewis' fingers around the soft cloth. “Light pressure, that cold will help.”

He watched Lewis do it and clapped him on the back. “You okay?”

Archer nodded, breathing out of his mouth.

Gramps turned to Mia. “No, don't like them pulse things. Something goes wrong and a repair man comes out, whips his magic wand around, fixes it for the original cost of the appliance and I'm out the dough. Screw that noise.”

“Oh,” Mia said, getting way more explanation than she'd hoped for.

He turned his razor attention to me. “We look at the car later. Right now I want to know who rearranged this boy's face.”

“Caleb got his nuts cracked too,” Jonesy said.

Wow.

Gramps laughed. It was not funny but... yeah.

Jade looked at me with sympathy and I gave Jonesy a look that clearly said, your ass is mine, sucker.

Gramps waited. Then he asked while he wiped the grease and blood off his hands, “You have my supper, Caleb?”

Oh yeah! I ran back to Bry's car and got the fridge dish. It was originally Gramps' when he'd been married to Gram before she passed away. It was an ugly thing, white with avocado flowers and a glass lid. When Mom married Dad, she got the dishes.

I handed the dish over to Gramps, the steam from the hot food misting the lid opaque. He smiled. I guess if it weren't for my mom he wouldn't have home-cooked meals very often.

“Let's head inside and talk this through.”

The J's looked at each other uneasily as we followed Gramps inside.

I told him the whole thing. Including the creeper that was stalking the AP girls, ending with the fight today with Carson the Ass-Hat.

Gramps sat for several moments, his chin in his palm. Finally he looked at Sophie. “Have you... seen this chump?”

She shook her head, her fluffy hair lifting and swinging with the movement, her lower lip trembling.

“How many girls has this putz attacked?” Gramps asked the group.

“One girl, Mac. That's the thing. He is stalking, threatening but with this new drugs pending mandatory implementation, we're doomed. Also, the AP teacher interrupted him. Who knows what would have happened.” He threw up his hands.

Sophie looked at John sharply. “No John. We're doomed.” She palmed her chest. A hot tear escaped the well of her eyes. The boys watched her cry, not knowing what to do. Mia and Jade went over there and put a hand on each shoulder. Tiff sighed and walked over there. “Listen, just kick his ass. Take him by surprise.”

Bry put his head in his hands. I think it was difficult to be a Tiff sibling sometimes. Gramps smiled.

“She's constantly busting my balls, Mac.”

“Yeah, I get that. Kinda hard to watch out for that little tornado?”

Bry nodded.

Tiff turned, giving Gramps a Look. “I can take care of myself! I don't need A Male!” She huffed, her hands dropping from the airquotes she made around the phrase.

Geez. Bry just shook his head. “It's our fault. There's just too many guys in the house, she's never realized she's a girl.”

She rolled her eyes again. “I know I'm a girl, doofus. I just don't go all weak when A Male comes in and saves me.”

Sophie looked at her. “I'm scared. And I'm not afraid to admit it. Amanda has seen him, but he wears a mask. We can't identify him!” she wailed, frustrated.

Gramps looked perplexed, Sophie swiped her eyes angrily and glared at Tiff. Tiff responded like usual, chewing her gum till her jaw ached.

Wonderful.

“So... we really don't know who this guy is? Jade thinks she felt... ” he looked at her in question.

“Death Intent,” she answered the unspoken question.

“Yeah,” Gramps shrugged, the new paranormal terminology pretty alien-sounding to him.

“You think it's the same person?” Gramps asked.

Hadn't thought of that.

Jade nodded.

“But you can't be sure. The attacker that's stalking the girls may not be the same one that owned that piece of clothing that had the DI embedded on it?” His eyes shifted from hers to each teen that sat in his family room.

John kicked back against the couch, long legs flung out in front of him, palming his chin. Jade and Mia flanked Sophie, perched on the armrests of an overstuffed chair, one of Mom's retarded afghans flung on the back.

John nodded, understanding, but it was Alex that piped in, “I guess it's certainly plausible that there is someone else that has intent to murder. This guy hasn't tried to kill a girl, has he?”

Sophie shook her head. “No, he was trying to... you know, with Amanda and she got away.”

“Explain,” Gramps said.

“When an Astral Projection person goes into their realm... ”

“Realm?” Gramps asked.

Sophie nodded. “It's where we go in between.” He gave the circle with his finger, go on. “Before we reach our acquisition point, there is a space we call 'realm.' In realm an AP floats. It's only a little bit of time. But we're weak while we're there. We are not here in our physical bodies,” she put her hands on her chest, right below her neck, “ and we are not at our acquisition point either. This is when he tried to attack Amanda.”

“This jackass must be AP too?” he asked.

“Yes, most definitely. And not a low level either.” She looked at him significantly. “He'd have to be level five to do what he's doing.”

“Why?” Jonesy asked, his attention intent on Sophie. No jokes for once. I think Jonesy felt utterly different when Sophie was threatened. He might not admit it but it was obvious to us guys.

He loved her. We all knew it, but he'd have to figure it out on his own.

“To be able to manipulate and have that much control in realm...” she shuddered.

“Okay, what's the brass tacks of this? What does this mean for you AP girls?”

“It means that they're not skilled enough or a high enough level to defend themselves. They're ripe for the taking,” John said.

Jonesy frowned. “Shut up, Terran.”

I looked on with interest.

So did Sophie.

Gramps held up a palm. “Stay together kids. Don't let anything separate ya. Give me a chance to think about this.”

We waited and Jonesy could take it no more. “Come on, Mac... you gotta have something.” Gramps looked a little surprised, noting Jonesy being serious for once.

He nodded slowly. “I am thinking we need someone just as skilled. A guard of sorts.” He looked at Sophie. “Can you take someone with you? Like piggy back?”

What? Her look said.

“Can someone come with ya? Ya know, like one of us guys?” I asked.

She thought about it. “I don't know. It's a great idea but in realm it would be the skill of the AP, steering it like a boat or something. A low level AP is going to get the... partner in trouble.”

“What happens to you when you're in realm?” Jade asked and the room held its breath.

“What happens in realm happens to the physical body.”

Bry said, “So this rapist guy could... do that, then it would be like it happened in real life too?”

“That's what you guys weren't getting. It is real life. My life.” Sophie said, fresh tears threatening.

“Now don't get yourself worked up yet,” Gramps consoled. “You're not out of options yet. Not while we have a bunch of young bucks here to help.” He looked at all us boys. “You guys will do what needs doin', right?”

“Hell yes,” Jonesy said with real feeling, looking Sophie in the eyes.

“Absolutely,” John said and Alex nodded assent.

“I'm in,” Bry said.

“I'm not into people ganging up on the defenseless,” Lewis agreed and Gramps nodded agreement. “I figured.”

John held up a finger to stall Gramps and he looked at him. “Mr. Terran, you have the floor.”

John blushed a little then recovered. “Yeah, thanks. There is a further complication, Mac.”

Mac raised his eyebrows, knowing a bomb was about to explode.

“You've heard about the depressant drug the government wants to mandate for the paranormals?”

Gramps nodded. “Yeah. They don't want some Pyrokenetic torching the family home down because some kid had a doozie of a nightmare. It's like potty training. When you're an adult, you won't manifest in your sleep. But in those beginning years... ” He shrugged.

John nodded and Alex opened his mouth to elaborate. Sophie's eyes were large and frightened.

Gramps stood, knocking the small stool over where his feet had been perched. Whipping his head in Sophie's direction he asked, “Can you get out of this 'realm' if you are made to take this medication?

All eyes turned to Sophie.

“No,” she whispered. “I can't”

“Well that changes things, doesn't it?”

She nodded miserably.

The guys all looked at each other. We were guys, we solved problems.

Maybe this was a puzzle we couldn't find a solution for.

I looked around at my dudes, even the newest dude, Archer. I saw identical expressions mirrored there.

Fear.

Not fear for us. Fear for the girls. Fear for what threatened them.

If it threatened them, it threatened us.

CHAPTER EIGHT

We talked in circles for another hour but didn't make any headway. It was pretty dark outside and even though there was no school tomorrow and I'd be right back over at Gramps anyway cuz it was Halloween, it'd been a long day and I was ready to crash.

I'd be sixteen. No driving though. Had to wait until the lame-ass DMV opened on Monday. And their hours of operation were about twenty minutes. I'd have to fly my ass in there like it was on fire and do the driving test in between their four hour lunch.

Gramps was thunking Onyx on his butt and he was wagging his tail off. I thought Onyx had great taste. Gramps was his favorite person ( besides me, of course). I wouldn't get the cold shoulder tonight because Onyx had been able to go visit his second favorite person.

The Dog leaned against the old Alpha who smelled and felt so much like his Boy. The Dog loved this place that had the great mass of water to play in. He wished very much to roll about in the wonderful-smelling muck which still remained where the water had been, but that made the Alpha female very upset. Her words had the Bad Sound and he did not want those words directed at him. The Dog would run the edge where the water had been and push his nose forward to smell the delicious mud left behind from when the heat was here. It grew cold and his coat was now comfortable. He did not need to keep his mouth open to cool himself. He was slightly sad when his Boy called him away from the old Alpha.

“Come on, Onyx,” I hit my thigh with my hand and he pressed a little closer to Gramps then finally came.

Gramps laughed. “Looks like I've got myself a friend!”

Kinda a bad dog, I thought, liking Gramps better, the traitor. His tail went between his legs and I felt bad. “It's okay boy, you're a good dog.”

His tail started to wag again. I had to be careful not to think bad thoughts around Onyx. After all, we were connected.

Death Connection.

Gramps looked at the assembled group. “I know I didn't have a definite resolution for you kids tonight. But everyone's coming tomorrow for Caleb's shindig, right?”

Everyone nodded.

“I'll think of something by then. And, we'll do a little look-see underneath the hood,” Gramps said, touching a finger to the Camaro. “There were more pressing matters tonight.” He walked over to Sophie and gave her shoulder an awkward pat.

Gramps wasn't much for affection.

But, he did care.

It was in his eyes, the tight way he watched us pile into the cars, his large hands mangling the greasy towel with Archer's blood all over it.

I watched him watch us until Bry's car turned the bend and we were out of sight.

If Gramps couldn't figure it out we were up a creek.

A shit creek, he would've said.

Without a paddle.

****

We were quiet as we drove back to Kent. On the way home there was this long, ten-minute stretch where there were no street lights and woods flanked the road, making it feel narrow.

I had my hand buried in Onyx's fur, giving him a pet while Jade and I were squished together in the back. My eyes flicked to Bry's rear view mirror, noticing it had a spiderweb crack in it. I could still make out Mia's toaster back there, Sophie, Tiff, Lewis and Mia packed inside. Just as my eyes shifted away I caught a second set of headlights, they flicked back. Later I was never sure why those headlights mattered but unease awoke inside me and Jade turned to look at me.

“What?” she asked. I could just make out her eyes in the gloom, twilight had edged into night and there was the barest hint of the day left.

“I don't know exactly.”

“Hey,” she squeezed my arm, “I'm the Empath, remember?”

I nodded, trying to shake if off.

John turned around, shoehorned into the front between Bry and Alex.

“What did you say?”

“Oh shit!” Bry exclaimed and I felt the jerk to our left when he over corrected to the right.

The car glanced onto the shoulder, gravel kicking up and spraying noisily underneath the wheel wells. The steering column jerked out of his hands, the car sliding, lifting on two wheels then righting itself as it came to a skidding stop in the middle of the street.

A car stood, blocking our way. My unease flared, burning brightly now. I watched as the engine ran and the warm vapor from the exhaust pipe made lazy steam in the cooling night air. Guys in suits exited the vehicle.

Graysheets.

I knew this right off because Parker was with them. Ya know, that guy that's a five-point AFTD and pops up to either kidnap me or save me. I never knew which.

Great.

I whipped my head around, my neck sore from the fun of the car episode and saw that Mia had stopped the tin can and they'd already gotten out. Another government vehicle behind them.

We were boxed in.

That's what the plan had been all along.

Onyx growled, picking up on my anxiety. Jade just stared at the group outside our car. No need for words, her hand clenched in mine.

Jonesy said, “Caleb, someday you're gonna just have to kill him. Really.”

I sighed.

Maybe.

We got out of the car. Jonesy, Alex, Bry, Jade, John and me. Jonesy and Bry looked at the girls behind us and they walked over to where we stood, Tiff in the lead.

Parker and his losers spread out in a loose circle around our group.

“John.”

He looked at me. “Yes?”

“This may get exciting, I'm gonna need you.” He nodded and I turned to Tiff. She came to my side.

I looked at Parker and he stared back.

“It's not what you're thinking, Caleb,” he began. His suits stood behind him, the buttons on their black blazers undone so they could shoot a bunch of teenagers if the need arose.

Yeah, so nonthreatening.

“You wouldn't know what I was thinking if it bit you on the ass,” I replied levelly, ready.

He smiled. “We know that a certain individual has been infiltrating the AP girls' realm state and wanted you to know that we were aware.”

“Well great, that gives me a whole ass-load of relief guys!” Jonesy said, doing a mock forehead wipe.

The guy behind Parker moved up beside him and the headlights from Bry's car revealed him to us.

Skinny-Smoker. I'd know that guy anywhere. Wonder how his head was doing after the Indian Chief took care of him last year? He was like a bad penny, cropping up time after time. He should have been Carson's ring leader, they of the Slow Learner Battalion. Yeah.

“Stay out of it, smart ass,” Skinny said.

Jonesy smiled, he was so genuinely not freaked out about them. It would've been funny if it wasn't so serious.

“Make me, nicotine slut.” His teeth were a white crescent that flashed in the murk and were gone.

Skinny-Smoker's hands balled into fists. “Let me teach this snot nose some goddamn manners, Parker.”

Parker nodded and they moved forward together.

Crap.

I took stock of where the girls were. Tiff was on board, defiant as always. Jade was behind me with Sophie and Mia standing behind Alex and Bry.

Parker talked conversationally as he came nearer. “We hate to take care of things like this but it seems its the only way you get the message.”

“Beating up teenagers doesn't give me any message except that you guys are losers and I don't trust you. I got that message loud and clear.”

Skinny-Smoker was almost on top of Jonesy when Alex took him by the back of the collar and flung him toward the forest border, just ten feet or so outside of where the gravel shoulder had been.

We watched his body arc and land with a thud on the slope beneath the trees.

They charged us and Onyx sprang forward, going after Skinny-Smoker's partner.

Stocky.

They came from behind us as Parker and Stocky advanced.

John screamed, “Caleb!” as I yelled, “Tune-up Terran!”

Tiff grabbed me, Jade latching on to the back of my shirt, Onyx' teeth buried in Stocky's thigh. His high keening was bad. The ass-end of the gun readying to brain my dog was worse.

I held my hands up and called what was close, the swirling death energy surged through my fingertips as my arms lifted above my head. I let it all go with a great mental shove, that feeling of emptiness filling me in its absence.

I didn't know what I was calling until the night was filled with a thousand bugs, evacuating the forest like a gray shroud of death.

That's what they would be for the Graysheets, death in the air, on wings.

A great cloud descended toward me and I whispered the command in my mind: throat, ears, nose, mouth...

I could feel them, their will as a unit, swarming to follow my command. They hovered above Stocky, his arm swinging down to strike Onyx's head. They infiltrated his nose, choking off his airway. The gun fell away, clattering on the pebbled asphalt. They swarmed over Onyx, making a halo around his head but not entering any of his airways or other orifices. Unfortunately, they did the same with Parker. I could see him smiling through the shadowed net of the insects. But they slowed his progress and that was all I needed to keep him at bay.

I turned and John was concentrating for all he was worth. He was facing off against a Graysheet, the bugs were swirling around his head but couldn't pierce the invisible shield that he'd erected.

The agent was a Null. I watched as John began sweating, rivulets of moisture running from his hairline to jaw. The other guy was having a tough time too. But knowing the government, they'd recruited a five-point.

I watched as the other Graysheets fell to their knees, choking on bugs, flailing and spinning their arms around, guns forgotten as they struggled to breathe.

To survive.

Archer inched towards their cars, his hand gliding along the pulse locks of their car. I heard the locks snap in compliance. I smiled. Another fun thing for them to figure out.

“Caleb!” Jade shrieked.

I turned as the first zombie enforcer reached out and grabbed me by the hair, jerking me off my feet.

Having a zombie's incredible strength used against me was awesome (in a bad way).

And it hurt like a bitch.

I could feel Parker's connection to the zombie and I used mine to control the one that was squeezing me against him.

“Don't bother, Caleb. They won't answer you. Besides, you can't control your swarm of insects and handle my soldiers. You're going to sit still and listen to what I have to say.”

I struggled, frantically looking for Jade.

What I saw stopped my breath in my throat. Zombie enforcer two had corralled Mia, Jade and Sophie up against Bry's car.

“No he's not you asswipe,” Tiff said, latching on to my arm, the only piece of flesh revealed. Her fierce bravery drove her to stand perilously close to Parker's zombie.

It snarled, lifting its lips off its teeth and I used what Tiff gave me like a pump at the gas station, recharging my Death Battery. A surge of energy filled me and I flung it into the zombie.

“Release me!” I screamed into its brain like a jackhammer.

It staggered backward, dropping its bone crushing hold and I fell forward into Tiff.

“No!” Parker screamed, zombie two's dead gaze breaking from the girls and meeting mine.

“Get him!” Parker roared.

Jonesy barked out, “Make the bugs go up their asses, Hart! Up. Their. Asses!”

Really? Terrific idea.

The zombie was almost on me and my juice was sorta low when Alex stepped in, grabbing the zombie and halting his progress. Without breaking stride or grip, Alex said, his glasses long gone, “You owe me Hart.”

Right.

It was like that old Terminator movie where the two terminators square off. The zombie wanted to get to me and that was as far as his thought process went. He latched onto Alex's forearms, the same height as Alex. Alex mirrored his actions and they struggled against each other. Finally, Alex bent down and swung the zombie over his shoulder in a fireman's carry, sprinting in the direction of the woods. He got sufficient momentum and heaved the zombie into a tree. There was a dull crunch and snap, the zombie slithered down the tree trunk like a puppet whose strings were severed, disconnected.

“That oughta do him!” Alex said pridefully.

He just didn't understand zombie determination.

The zombie soldier sat up, back broken. Using its arms, he came forward in a halting crawl that was so fast it took our breath away.

“What the fuck?” Jonesy screamed, running to Sophie. “It's like a zombie spider. Terran, do something!”

John was busy trying to let us do our stuff while the Graysheet Null was powering all over the top of him. As a point of fact, John was as pale as a ghost.

Not funny.

I turned too late and Parker had grabbed me from behind. I took my left hand, wrapping it in the fist of my right and drove my elbow into his torso. I was rewarded with a release and a grunt.

But zombie two had reached my feet and jerked me off them. I landed on my back, the wind knocked out of me as the asphalt bit into me painfully, my teeth snapping together on a rattle. He used his arms to heave himself on top of me, pinning me with his weight. His breath was like old coffin in my face.

Bry had his hands buried in the zombie's back and was pulling for all he was worth but the directive from the AFTD, one as powerful as Parker, was going to be a challenge to break.

My breath was coming too fast, I was trying to look around the zombie to see what was happening with the girls.

Jade.

It was then that I felt a familiar connection.

“Mr. Weller, please, allow me,” Clyde said as his fingers sunk into the clothing of the zombie. He wrenched him off of me and flung him behind his body in a high arc, the zombie landing with a deafening crunch on top of the Graysheets' hood. The engine shrieking steam on impact.

I looked up at Clyde, his hands planted on his hips, every hair in place, looking like he'd just stepped off his day job.

“That was very well done, Clyde,” feeling relieved and nonplussed in a confusing slush.

He inclined his head but then his face changed, became empty.

I jerked up into a sitting position and turned around, looking at Parker. “I can get to him, Caleb. He's not all yours. Don't make me,” he said through the wall of bugs that swirled just above the surface of his face.

Tiff looked at me in horror, could he take Clyde?

I looked at Clyde, thinking of all we had been through and what he meant to me.

He was more than a zombie.

I turned on Parker, giving him a jab that had him holding his throat, his breathing coming in such sucking gasps that the bugs went in his mouth like a vacuum.

He began gagging even as the bugs began to escape again from his will alone.

Clyde shook off the trance-like state with an effort. “He wished for me to restrain you, Master.”

Parker was writhing around on the road, hacking and spewing bugs in a flood of vomit.

I nodded. “I know. Couldn't have that, Clyde.”

“Very unseemly,” he agreed and I smiled.

Jonesy said, “Alex, deck that dick that's workin' Terran over.”

“Your wish is my command, Jones,” Alex said as he walked over and cold-cocked the Null.

“Master, I have summoned the policewoman.”

“What? You mean Gale?”

He nodded.

“How?” I asked, thinking that this was going to be a PRIMAL cluster in about three seconds. That's all I needed, the cops again.

“She is connected to you as this one is,” he gestured toward Tiff. “She does not come in the capacity of policewoman but as...” he trailed off thoughtfully.

John came over and said, “Back-up?”

Clyde nodded. “I believe so.”

“So, Gale's got the Undead Radar thing now, Clyde?” Jonesy asked and Clyde frowned just as she showed up.

It was just like seeing your teacher in public outside of school.

Weird.

Here Gale was, without Garcia, in beat-up jeans and a T-shirt, pulsing off her car and leaping out. No make-up, her hair still wet from the shower. She jogged over to us, her busy eyes missing nothing.

“What-the-hell is going on?” Gale yelled.

Parker wouldn't stay down, getting his second wind, he reined in his zombies. I didn't think he was going to be able to do much with scuttlebutt. Alex had put a hurt on him pretty good.

Clyde took in her appearance. Both her showing up and her unsightly outfit. He wore a disconcertingly natural grin as he looked at her. He was glad to see her.

Too glad, I thought uneasily.

All the Graysheets were out for the count and the bugs came to me, their quarry unconscious, their job done.

With a deep breath I released them. They swirled in a loose circle in the sky, like tiny, inky stars, colluding into a tight bundle, dropping into the forest like an opaque bomb of death.

Parker excavated his gun from underneath his jacket and pointed it at Gale.

Clyde's expression went from one of neutrality to rage in an instant, like water rinsing off soap suds from a dirty dish. It was that fast.

“I will tear your spine through your entrails if you discharge that weapon,” Clyde said casually.

His eyes were not casual.

Parker's eyes flicked to Clyde's. “You're not fast enough, carcass.”

“Do you wish to test me, necromancer?” Clyde's eyes glittered back at him like obsidian marbles, his intent clear.

“I can nail her and you wouldn't get to me.”

“Mayhap or no. You would breathe your last but a moment later, Death Master.”

Parker deliberated. Finally, his zombies behind him, gun still trained on Gale he said, “I only came to warn you. All this,” he spread his hands at the fallen Graysheets, “was unnecessary.”

“Use the pulse, dumbass,” Jonesy said, making a rude noise with his mouth.

Parker looked at him, “Don't disparage me, Mark Jones.”

Jonesy didn't say anything.

He shifted his attention back to me. “Stay out of this AP issue, Caleb. It doesn't concern you. As a matter of fact, neither does the clairvoyance sample that has so conveniently disappeared. He holstered his gun and looked at me for a long moment. “It's in your best interest to stay away.”

I shrugged, dismissing his message. “Duly noted, Parker. But think about this, you're the one that brought it like ya did. We just responded like we had to. You always put me on the defensive.”

Jade walked away from Bry's car and stood beside me.

“Why don't you try explaining things instead of manipulating us all the time. Obviously, unless you kill us, there is no negotiation. And, for the record, if someone means to hurt one of us, especially one of our girls,” Tiff huffed in the background and I ignored it, “we're not going to stand around and watch.”

I could see that Archer was moving around all the cars, locking them for a slow getaway for the Graysheets.

Nice.

“Stop coming after these kids,” Gale said. “I know your face, I know who you are.”

He leaned into her space and Clyde was beside him instantly. “As you were,” Clyde said, his body one tense, tight line.

Parker looked at him and sighed, leaning back.

“If Caleb doesn't do what I tell him, he'll see a rain of shit come down around his head the likes of which he never imagined. He doesn't think so now but I am his friend.”

John barked out a laugh. “Priceless,” he said, shaking his head.

“I'm leaving now, Parker. And you're gonna watch,” I said, tucking Jade against me and backing away toward Bry's car.

“Do you think that if I'd really wanted to hurt you I couldn't have?” Parker said in a low voice.

I had wondered. It had seemed like a weak assault by Parker standards.

Whatever. “Like Jonesy said, pick up the damn pulse. Don't run us off the road and manhandle my friends. That isn't gonna ever work for me.”

Parker stared.

His zombies stared harder.

Clyde gave his steady regard back and the zombies took each other's measure. It didn't bode well for the future. A line had been drawn in the sand and they were gonna cross it.

I could feel it in my bones.

CHAPTER NINE

Sophie

Sophie fluffed her hair one more time, giving her lips an experimental pucker as she put on the last of her stay-on-all-damn-day lip gloss.

It better, she wanted to look hot for Buddy.

Actually, she didn't really give a flying you-know-what about Buddy. If she was honest.

It was all for Jonesy.

She sighed. They'd been through so much together but none of that seemed to matter. People said girls were EMO. She didn't think so. Jonesy was tender one minute, his heart in his eyes, then the next he was dating one of the million and one bimbo-sluts in the high school.

Pick one, they were like ants. Sophie wanted to wreck the little hill they scurried around on. Well, the hell with that noise, she wasn't going to wait any longer for him to get over his hairy case of commitment-phobe. Besides, it was Buddy that was supportive of her. Especially with the mega-creeper that had attacked Amanda. Buddy was AP. He said he'd protect her.

She sighed. She did totally hate who he hung with sometimes. Sophie had never liked Carson Hamilton or Brett Mason. Add in Brody and Diego... well, she thought they were dangerous. She'd told Buddy. He'd said that they were guys to hang with sometimes. Well, she sure-as-hell wasn't going to hang out with him when he spent any time with them.

She threw on her matching cheetah panties and bra and slid into the tightest pair of pants she could without the Dreaded Muffin Top and put on a turquoise blouse, laced up the sides, a sliver of the cheetah showing.

She liked it. Maybe Mom wouldn't see that bit revealed.

Sophie rolled her lips one more time and turned away from the mirror to make the short walk to school. That was the only good thing about KPH, she could walk.

Not that she needed to.

As she exited the house Buddy was there in the driveway, he was a senior and had wheels.

She couldn't see his face very well but in the shadows that played tricks in the morning light she thought that his face looked funny.

Feral.

Her step faltered for a moment, but she picked up her pace, her high-heeled shoes clicking on the hard cement of the sidewalk, dipping her head down a little to get a better look at him inside the car.

As she moved closer, she saw his face more clearly.

Trick of the light, Sophie thought. Shaking her head, her misgiving slid away into her unconsciousness.

Caleb

I had my head in the cradle of my arms on top of my pillow. I was completely exhausted. I'd gotten everyone home and Gale and me had talked for two, solid hours about everything that transpired with Parker. I swear, the parents were never gonna let me do anything again.

Happy Birthday to Me.

I rolled over and looked out my window where I saw Halloween had come in clear and cold. The sky an irreverent blue, snubbing its nose to summer. I turned over on my back and pulsed Jade.

I swiped my thumb over the pad and the luminescent green characters floated and collided, errant flakes of color coming together to form:

Jade LeClerc- Hot One.

Seeing my pulse customization I laughed. I had changed everyone. Terran's had been the first to go (with his lame last name add). When pulse customization came out, I sucked up the application and it had been so worth it.

Hey babe smiles, you're the birthday boy. Or...should I say the emancipated boy?- JLeC

Yeah, I feel pretty profanity-block! emancipated after last night.- CH

I know, right? It was horrible. What about Clyde?- JLeC

Mom let him stay in the back until I could get him to the cemetery today.- CH

Really? Is he... hanging around the separators again?- JLeC

Yeah stress in voice modulation pattern- CH

Sorry, I have this dumb thing on hyper-sensitive emotive response.- CH

I turned my pulse to “none.” I didn't need every little tweak of emotion rippling through the pulse to the girlfriend. Duh.

Idk if that's okay, Caleb. Remember last year when Carson and them jumped you? It was because your pulse was on high I was able to feel their intent...- JLeC

She was right. I left it on “none.” I wasn't some kind of candy ass, as Gramps would say.

Did you tell Andrea?- CH

No way! She'd ground me forever and make us break up again.- JLeC

I didn't want a repeat of that. It caused a panic to stir in my guts, uncomfortably churning. I looked at my pulse controls that rode the top of my screen and saw emotive control, with a check mark in the box “off.”

Right. Well, I guess I'll see you at Gramps. After I take care of Clyde sighs - CH

Don't be sad, Caleb. It's your birthday. Forget Parker. He's just trying to intimidate you.- JLeC

I don't think so, Jade. He knows something. His tactics are lame and scary but he's right. If he'd wanted to hurt me, or incapacitate the guys, he would have brought more... everything. Profanity-block! he could have brought twenty zombies and we would have been in for it. He knows something, and it's bigger than some loser after the girls, somebody with DI. It's bigger. And I want to find out.- CH

I was afraid you'd say that.- JLeC

Don't worry, I won't bring you into it.- CH

How can you not? I am part of it. I'm like an island in a sea of danger. Threat to me, threat to our group. I'm scared. I've been raised with fear and the potential for violence my whole life and I don't want to choose that path. Not if I can avoid it, Caleb.- JLeC.

I understand Jade. But sometimes there's necessary violence. There's your dad's profanity-block!, it doesn't make sense. He just does it because he can, like automatic. Then there's people that are premeditated. Well, we gotta be too. We gotta beat them at their own game.- CH

You know I love you.-J LeC

Yeah, I do. You're starting to worry me.- CH

No... don't be. I just, I want a quieter life where I feel safe and happy... - JLeC

I can do that.- CH

I believe you think you can. But I don't know, Caleb. I don't want to be with anyone else. I do feel safe with you. Then this stuff happens...- JLeC

The stuff that's happening now has to do with that sample you touched and the AP creeper that's gunning for the girls. For once, I'm not in the middle of the cause.- CH

But ya will be.- JLeC

Yeah.- CH

See?- JLeC

What do ya want from me Jade? I'm not going to stand back while some murderer sets his sights on my girl. Sophie's not my problem but she's your best friend. And whether Jones wants to admit it or not, he loves her. He'd never forgive himself if something happened to her. We can't stop being guys because you girls get cold feet or feel like things may get outta control.- CH

I know, it all makes sense.- JLeC

Then what is it? You're killin' me!- CH

Just try! Just try not to be violent. Promise me...- JLeC

I closed my eyes and touched my pulse to my forehead briefly. I had to be truthful. It was the only way.

I can't, baby. I can't. If someone threatens you, I'll kill 'em. It's what I am.- CH

It's what you've become, Caleb.- JLeC

I thought of the last year and a half, all the zombies, all the action. All the violence. Yeah, I was definitely who I was because of what I'd been through. But none of it was my fault. It just was. I had zero choice.

That's true. And now that I am where I'm at right now, I will respond to threats with a plan. I'm tired of profanity-block! happening to me and me reacting to it. I want to manage stuff that happens. I want to be in control and not have things escalate. That's why I'm taking judo, that's why I do all those stupid AFTD drills that Smith assigns me. I don't want to be a victim. And I sure-as-hell don't want my girlfriend to be.- CH

You're right. I know.- JLeC

Is it your aunt?- CH

pause in pulse communication.

I effing knew it.

sighs yeah.- JLeC

Don't let her tear us up, Jade. She wouldn't know normal and right if it hit her between the eyes. I mean, what is she basing her vast stores of knowledge on anyway? Her upbringing? Disgusted- CH

Caleb! I know she's a pain, but she took me in and saved me from my dad. Saved me. I owe her.- JLeC

You owe her respect but she doesn't get to lay out how ya feel.- CH

I know, but I am having to lie. Well, not lie exactly but I'm not telling her all the truth. Like last night. Could've never told her about that.- JLeC

She had me there.

Okay frustrated this is too involved to pulse. Let's talk more at Gramps. We can find a second even with everyone there.- CH

K, I do love you, Caleb. I understand that this stuff isn't your fault, or mine.- JLeC

I love you too. Hang in there, K?- CH

smiles K.- JLeC

Pulse set to hibernate.

I sat on my bed for awhile. Even my gnawing hunger wasn't enough to make me move. I didn't like the shit that Andrea was feeding Jade.

I didn't like that she was listening a little.

****

I turned to Jade, candy up to my armpits in the back of her car.

“Here,” she called, flinging another bag at me. I deftly caught it and stacked it with the rest.

“Really?” Jonesy asked. “Are we feeding the starving Cambodians here?”

I surreptitiously looked for Mom. I didn't see her.

“Can ya not say that stuff within hearing range of my mom, ya putz?”

Jonesy gyrated his hips, doing a dance step. “I looooovve.... my political correctness!”

Sophie huffed. “You are so not PC, Jonesy.”

Archer nodded. “I concur.”

“Quiet, fag-tag,” Jonesy said neutrally (actually, he was barely containing his mirth) as Mia made a gasping noise and Jonesy winked at Lewis.

Archer grinned. “It's no problem.” He shrugged and continued, “It doesn't bother me that you're going to miss Halloween, Mark.”

Jonesy's brows shot to his hairline. “How so, Archer?”

“Have fun with your car locks.”

“Oh-man! Come on! Give me a break...” Jonesy wailed.

Tiff snapped a bubble. “I like the car seat for your sister parked in the back, Jones. Sexy.”

Jonesy's eyes narrowed on Tiff and John and Alex laughed.

“Okay, I will discontinue my ridiculing your sexual orientation,” Jonesy said, clearly lying.

“For how long?” Alex asked cautiously.

“Ah....” Jonesy slapped his leg with his open palm.

Jade and I smiled. It was his way. Someone new came into the group and he'd razz them to death until they were well indoctrinated in Jonesyness.

He had his work cut out for him with Lewis Archer. He looked like a model, dressed like one (what guy really gave a rat's ass about wardrobe, really?), spoke well and was smart as hell. He had been foiling Jonesy at every opportunity and interestingly enough, was not freaked about all the gay slurs.

Lewis threw up his hands in a nonthreatening way and said, “I am not offended any more about you being black than you are about me being gay.”

Jonesy gave him a puzzled smile then he figured it out a slow grin came over his face. “You're okay, Archer.”

“Yeah, I know.”

“What's all this talk about gays and blacks,” Mom asked, charging toward Jade's pickup.

Hell.

Jonesy saved it, “We were just discussing how nice it is that the prejudices of the past have been put aside.” He said it all with a straight face but Mom's eyes narrowed to slits. She didn't buy it.

John and Alex gave Jonesy the Admiration Look because he had pulled out all the verbal stops.

“Ah-huh. Tell me something that I'll believe, Jonesy,” Mom said.

“I'm hungry?” he said.

She nodded. “That I believe. Here,” she handed off two cases of pop to him. Make yourself useful instead of standing around trashing your latest victim.”

“What?” Jonesy spluttered, turning with the pop for me to put in Jade's truck.

Onyx came sprinting outside and with a running leap, landed on the middle of the front seat. He'd sure gotten over his hatred of cars. I remembered when he'd growl every time I'd try to get him to go into one.

The Dog watched the Boy's companions fill the foul-smelling box with holes that were sometimes open with the fragrant Treats. The Dog loathed the thing that moved. It made him have a feeling of unease. Perhaps his Boy would open the hole and he could put his nose to the wind. That was what the Dog liked about the evil box that moved. He would close his eyes and the wind would flow over his nose, catching very interesting smells. He especially wished to go this time. He could smell the excitement of his pack, his Boy's companions and felt their intent to travel to the old Alpha's cave.

He loved the old Alpha. He was very much like his Boy. He ran from the pack cave and leaped into the awful box which moved. He opened his mouth to cool himself and the wonderful Treat smell permeated his senses, dulling the underlying odor.

The foul-smelling box odor.

Jade laughed. “Look at him! He's already in there.”

“Yeah, I don't know why but he seems to know when we're going to Gramps'.”

“Honey, you give him too much credit. He's just a dog, he can't know that you're going to Pops. After all, you go with Jade all the time. To school, judo, wherever...” Mom trailed off.

I didn't agree. He was a smart dog.

He was a good dog.

He knew.

I looked at him and he met my stare, his tail wagging, the exaggerated swing hitting the crystal that hung low from the rear view mirror, a thousand rainbow shards leaping sporadically across the interior.

Jonesy was working over the locks on his parents' Uncool Car and finally, Archer took pity on him.

But only after letting him struggle with it for about ten minutes.

Archer palmed the pulse lock and all four snapped open.

“Finally!” Jonesy yelled. He narrowed his eyes on Archer, then swung his face to the group.

“Who wants to ride with me?” he asked proudly. He was so thrilled to have his license, even if he did have to drive a car with a baby seat in it.

The group was quiet.

“We're gonna go with Bry,” Tiff said by way of answering.

“But... it'll be crammed back there! It always is,” he said, looking at each of us.

We weren't getting caught dead in that thing. I smiled.

“Tell you what,” Mom said, “Helen and Bill are coming later with Micah and they can drive their own... ” she looked hesitatingly at the car.

“Babymobile,” Tiff said, blowing a massive bubble.

Mom jumped after she snapped it.

“I'm outside Ali, the silence was kinda deafening for me,” Tiff said, getting a load of Mom's distaste for The Gum.

“I don't know, I thought it was peaceful,” Mia said and Tiff threw her a look while Mom beamed at Mia.

Brother.

Time To Go.

“K, let's go,” I said as I saw Buddy pull up in his car.

I looked at Sophie. “What?” she asked innocently.

I could see Jonesy pull it together with an effort.

Buddy's car was kind of cool. It was something that Gramps might take a second look at. It was a vintage Corvette. Buddy was one of those guys that dug working on engines. Looks like he'd done a bit of work on this one. It flowed low to the ground in a cherry red that sparkled in the sunlight, looking edible. John and Alex dropped their loyalty to Jonesy like a hot rock and walked over to the car oohing and aahing.

Jonesy wanted to deck them all, his hands in tight fists by his side.

Sophie didn't look at Jonesy but walked over to Buddy, giving him a squeeze on his muscular forearm and a soft kiss on his cheek. He looked down at her and drew her in against him, deepening the kiss briefly then releasing her.

Mom's eyes met mine and she cocked a brow. I shook my head a little.

Not now, my look said.

Jonesy was struggling to unclench his hands and not pound Buddy, I could see it riding him monkey-style on his back. Yeah that.

I went over there and clapped a hand on his shoulder. He whirled on me, ready for whatever and I said with ventriloquist lips, “Cool it. Don't let him see you pissed.”

Jonesy pulled it together as Buddy did a casual stroll over to Jade's aunt's truck. He rapped his knuckles on the hood. “Whose beater is this?”

Maybe I'd been premature in telling Jonesy not to get pissed off.

Jade looked at him and answered for me. “It's my aunt's. And, it's what she can afford, Buddy.”

Sophie looked at Buddy, who shrugged. “Didn't mean anything by it.”

He turned to Jonesy. “What about you, Jones? You got wheels?”

John paled. It was a little like being in the bull ring with a raging bull.

Horns caressing the earth.

Mom saw it all 'cuz, that was about the only thing good about being old. Sometimes you caught a whiff of the flavor of the atmosphere.

This one screamed volatile.

“Oh, he did his parents a favor and brought their car here. He's going to catch a ride with Bry.”

Buddy eyed Jonesy, then looked over at the Parental Wheels. “Good thing you didn't have to be seen too long in that thing. Talk about a de-maning.”

“Actually, I think the term you're struggling with in your mental muddle is emasculate,” Archer expounded and Jonesy gave him a look of profound gratefulness.

I guess he'd passed Jonesy-muster.

Forever.

Archer smiled. I guess he didn't mind sticking it to one of the guys that held him while his buddies beat him. I don't know if I could've managed that.

He was a classier dude than me.

Buddy was smarter than Carson and Brett. He looked over at my mom, realizing there was an adult present.

He blew out a huge breath and said, “Thanks for your thoughts, Archer.”

There was a tense moment, my mind and the others flipping through the beating of Lewis, his association with Carson and them.

He was coming up short in my tally.

He looked at Sophie and made up his mind. “Don't we have a party to go to?”

Mom let out the breath she'd been holding and Sophie looked relieved.

Jonesy looked disgruntled.

I was pretty sure the other guys' faces looked like mine.

Wary.

We separated, taking Jade's, Mia's and Bry's cars to Gramps.

Jonesy watched Sophie gracefully fold herself into the 'vette, only the clenching flutter pulsing in his jaw letting me know how he hated it, how he wanted to fix it.

But it was mainly his mess. He'd made it, now he was gonna have to deal.

I didn't like that because if he'd just caved with Sophie originally we wouldn't have to put up with a Carson Associate. Made the group weak.

I gave a last wave to Mom as we drove off to Gramps.

A final ooh-rah to the year, to my childhood.

May the night be filled with treats.

As it turned out, there was nothing but tricks.

Figures.

CHAPTER TEN

Gramps had three ginormous bowls out for the candy. They looked like huge, galvanized tubs. He and Jade worked together, Onyx completely getting in the way of Gramps' effectiveness.

“Okay, okay... ya affection monger. Quit that now,” Gramps said, scratching behind Onyx's ear for the millionth time.

Just one more of the wonderful scratches... the Dog thought, pushing his nose against the old Alpha's calloused hand. The Dog could smell that the Alpha was very hard, predatory on the outside, but was soft and tender in his deep core. The Dog knew how Alpha he would need to be to camouflage this weakness, it was an enormous talent for an Alpha to possess. The Dog thought him an excellent Alpha. Superior to all.

Best of all, the old Alpha was not nose blind. He knew who the Feral were.

All of them. The Dog knew the old Alpha recognized the Feral that roamed within the pack right now. He would know how to expunge this threat.

Mac

Mac gave Black Dog another pat and wondered how he'd be able to get everything he needed to get done with that dog's nose in all of it.

He loved Caleb's dog. Always had. There was something special about the mutt. He couldn't put his finger on it, but he'd bet his bottom dollar on it.

His nose never lied.

Mac's eyes followed the two newcomers. Well, one actually. The Archer kid, queer as a damn three dollar bill, was looking a lot better than when he'd seen him last. Fixed that pretty nose of his right up. Nice kid. Well-spoken and obviously smart. Mac shook his head, the gay thing was a toughie but what to do? The ones that had beat on him were worse in his estimation.

They weren't gay but they were cowards. That rated higher in Mac's Loser Code. As a point of fact, they were ranking very near the top currently.

This latest fiasco in which they'd tried to gang up on one boy told Mac all he needed to know about the direction that little gang of brats was going.

Nowhere.

He thought they were prime candidates for The Solution.

He felt the smile he had on his face turn to a grin.

Caleb

I watched Onyx brown nose Gramps as he got a big-ass, dreamy grin on his face. I walked over there, leaving the argument of who was going to start the bonfire behind.

“What are you thinking about, Gramps?”

He turned sharply to me. “Just daydreaming.”

Jade took the last bag of candy from him and frowned after she touched it.

Looks like he'd been doing a little more than daydreaming.

But Jade didn't say anything. She did give me The Look though.

She sidled past me, giving me a peck on my cheek, standing on her tiptoes to do it. “I'm gonna go run interference between Buddy and Jonesy, K?”

Yeah, I heard that.

I watched her walk away, bundled up like we were in the Antarctic instead of a suburb of Kent. Her huge pink puffy dwarfed her smallness. I turned reluctantly away from the great view of Jade.

“Need any help, Gramps?” I asked.

“Nah, bout got this whole deal wrapped up,” giving me a speculative look when he saw I was scoping for witnesses.

“You got something you need to get off your chest, Caleb?” he asked, planting his big hands on his hips. His eyes, so much like my mom's, bored into me.

I told him about the Graysheets event on the way back from his house yesterday.

The Parker Encounter. Sorta extra terrestrial. Not that there were aliens.

What a dumb idea that was.

I finished and watched as his fists curled into hammers at his side. “Those sons of bitches,” he hissed, looking at me through eyes that had darkened to storm clouds. “They just won't leave ya alone. And why is Parker reeling you in, trying to warn you?” he spoke out loud, scrubbing his face, thinking about if it was connected.

How it was connected.

He put up a waggling finger. “Somehow, those damn Graysheets are behind this. I don't know how but I think you're gonna have to figure that out, Caleb. Better not to get surprised again. Better to sniff this thing out before it bites you in your keister.”

Suddenly he barked out a laugh and I cocked a brow.

When he finally settled down he said, “I love the bug idea! That's a hoot... death-by-bugs. Who said you weren't creative? You get that from me,” he ended on a self-satisfied note.

Nice, glad I could be the source of humor for the day.

The Parents and Bill and Helen drove up about the same time.

The guys stopped what they were doing to watch the avalanche of crap exiting the Jones' vehicle. It was incredible. All that for a four month old baby.

“Jonesy, get over here and help Mom with Micah's stuff!”

“Oh hell,” Jonesy muttered under his breath, leaving his post of watching Buddy and Sophie drape all over each other.

He trudged over there like the death march. Totally not wanting to help.

I could see why. Micah was hollering, her little fists flailing and pumping in the air, her skin a sea of chocolate swaddled in pink.

I was intensely glad I was an only child. I saw similar expressions on John and Alex's faces.

Jonesy got over there and Bill handed off all the stuff. Somehow they got this ginormous play yard thing unfolded out of the car and he and Jonesy set it up a safe distance from the bonfire that Gramps had saved from being small.

Now the flames were ten feet high. It was amazing that the neighbors wouldn't call the fire department.

I asked Gramps about that.

“I'll put up that sign again,” he responded.

“What sign, Mr. O’Brien?” Archer asked.

“Mac,” he corrected.

Lewis nodded, waiting.

Cripes.

“Well, my neighbors got a little hot under the collar when they found out I was a believer in home defense. Didn't like all the weaponry I had.”

Lewis frowned and John and Alex smiled. They knew all about Gramps' take on Home Defense.

Establish the arsenal.

Uh-huh.

Gramps answered, “The sign that says that 'I respect their passivity and if there is an intruder, I would not use my guns to protect them'.”

Archer laughed. “Really?”

Gramps nodded. “It took care of a bunch of their ragging and bitching.”

Archer looked around, taking in the blazing fire and huge lawn.

And he hadn't even been inside the house yet.

“So, let me get this straight. You don't follow any of the mandatory environmental sanctions and when you are called on it, you throw out the sign.”

“Yes. I don't win any popularity contests and neighbor relations are kinda strained...”

I did a mental eye roll. Like he cared.

Gramps smiled at my expression. “But here's the thing, they can do the pansy dance while I prepare for the possibilities that our fine country now offers.”

Archer raised a blond eyebrow.

“Conditional protection. They protect American citizens within a very narrow scope now,” he said, looking at me significantly.

I gotcha.

“You must have gotten under their grandfathering year by this much,” Archer said, putting his index and thumb almost together.

Gramps nodded. “Most people are too lazy to know their rights. While they had their thumbs up their collective asses, I was filling out paperwork at all the government buildings.”

Archer smiled, turning to me. “He kinda reminds me of you, Caleb.”

Gramps shook his head. “No. Caleb reminds you of me, pal.”

Archer smiled and that's when I noticed that the baby's wailing had quieted down.

“God, look at that!” Archer whispered, awestruck.

It was Jonesy, all Man of the Hour. He had a strong forearm wrapped around Micah's small body, humming a little tune and swinging his hips back and forth.

No gyration at all. Brother mode, all the way.

Sophie's eyes were trained on Jonesy and he hadn't noticed that every teenager was staring at him, plus my parents. The crackling of the fire was the only noise, save his tuneless humming.

“I'll be damned,” said Gramps.

Yeah.

Tiff broke the silence with, “Well, Jones, I never would’ve thought... ” as she walked over there to see the baby sleeping soundly.

Helen came over next to Jonesy, her hair swinging stiffly on her head as she walked. I watched Lewis look at the rock hard assembly of it, grimacing.

Jade said, “That's so cute, Jonesy!” She ran over to admire Jonesy holding Micah.

Finally, Sophie walked over there as if compelled and Buddy frowned.

I felt a little for him. He was no competition for The Baby and all its cuteness. Not even close.

Alex and John came to flank me while we watched Jonesy suck up all the attention from the girls. Especially Sophie.

He hadn't had a lick of attention from her since the talk yesterday and now he was the center of the universe because of his baby sister.

Who would've thought?

The quiet was broken by the first round of trick-or-treaters.

Helen took Micah from Jonesy. It was the way he expertly rolled Micah into her arms that was impressive, his big arms flowing like water into her embrace, the hand-off smooth.

Huh. I guess there was more to Jonesy than we knew. Didn't know he had it in him.

Apparently, neither did the girls. Tiff was eying him up pretty hard.

Then Helen ruined it all by saying, “He's a champion diaper changer too. I'm so proud of her big brother.”

Buddy laughed. “Nice Jones. Poop Patrol.”

Jonesy froze, his moment of glory compromised by the uncoolness of human feces.

Helen frowned, Micah still snoozing in her arms. “Who are you?” Then her eyes really narrowed. “Are you in high school?” Her eyes roamed to Sophie next to him, a look of concern there.

He nodded. “Yes, I'm a senior.”

“Humph!” she stalked off. Her hair bounced as she moved, Micah's pink head getting smaller as she disappeared into the house.

Sophie gave him a sidelong look. He shrugged. “Sometimes people think I'm older.”

“It wouldn't be your conversational skills, Buddy,” Tiff noted in a droll way.

He scowled and she grinned back, gotcha.

Lewis smiled at Tiff at the same time keeping his distance from Buddy. He was so not a part of the group. While Lewis was naturally in, even with his gayness, Buddy stood out like a turd in a punchbowl. Forever floating and stinking. What Sophie saw in him... I didn't know.

Gramps brought out a huge cake and set it on the picnic table. The thing looked like the leaning tower of Pisa. I glanced at Mom and she shrugged.

“It's the big birthday. I thought you'd like a quadruple layer chocolate fudge,” she said.

I looked at it, precariously leaning. “I don't know, Mom... will it even fit on the plates?”

Jonesy turned on me. “Come on Hart! You can't let a little thing like size get in the way?” He spread his hands wide and the chicks laughed.

The Appetite was rearing its head.

Per usual.

We put Archer on first shift with handing out candy and Tiff immediately said she'd get him his slice of cake and bring it to him when she relieved him. He was low man on the totem pole and had to suck up the chore with the first wave of brats.

We dug in. Actually, the cake collapsed on its side and we sorta shoveled out our pieces, Mom frowning that it hadn't stood the test of gravity better.

It was Lewis' voice that made me stand, cake forgotten, spork clattering on the glass dish.

“Caleb,” I heard Archer say loudly, his tone underscored with an emotion I knew well.

Fear.

My power, which I had been ignoring pretty easily, swelled to the surface in response to my fear. It knew that it was my best defense. Hours of Judo. Days of punishing pull ups, flutter kicks and push-ups. But when there was a threat, the fingers of death stretched their limberness.

Gramps met my eyes as he hitched up his retarded pants and Tiff nodded. We jogged out to the front of Gramps' house (which actually looked like the back) and there stood Buddy's pals.

Brett, Carson, Diego and Brody (with that broomstick-rider, Christi hovering around), had landed like a bunch of misplaced losers on Gramps' driveway.

“Trick-or-treat, Hart,” Carson said, his mask an artfully done clown. Even I thought it was creepy. I looked over my shoulder where Jade and Tiff stood together. But Tiff's eyes were glued on Diego.

He wore a gnome mask.

How had that prick known?

Tiff was never scared, she was the bravest person I knew. Including guys.

The Parents cruised up with Bill, Gramps standing sentinel in front of the loose group of adults. His arms were crossed over his chest and he said, “Until I see the whites of your eyes, I'm not interested in you on my property.”

Carson stepped forward toward Gramps and he loosened his arms by his sides, swinging slightly. He was ready. And I was sure that they were not ready for Gramps.

Jade came up behind me and said something in my ear.

“Shh... not now, Jade.”

Should've listened.

Onyx was suddenly behind me, greeting someone.

I turned. The Skopamish had arrived.

So much for control.

I turned to John. “What were you doing?”

“There was no way, Caleb,” Terran said, shrugging, like, who could keep these charmers in the ground?

Right.

“We have come to offer assistance, Master,” the Chief said.

Wonderful.

The three of the Skopamish did a nonchalant circle around Carson's group. One of the Skopamish's eyes lit on Christi speculatively.

Dad crossed his arms over his chest. “I thought we were working on better control, Caleb?”

I could feel a flush rising to my cheeks in embarrassment.

Mom sighed.

“Put a cork in it Kyle. Reprimand all you want later. Right now we have the pesky little problem of these cowards having the brass cajones to show their sorry faces on my property.” He looked at them and paused. “Not really, they've got said faces covered with masks. It makes more sense, that.”

Archer looked miserable, his attackers squaring off with his brand new group and their reason for the attack hanging like an awkward cloud in the air.

Jade came to stand beside me. “I tried to tell ya!” she whispered in a hiss.

“Yeah, sorry,” I said.

The Skopamish turned to Jade and nodded. She jumped a little then said, “Hi.”

“Greetings, female of the tribe,” the Chief said.

Jade gulped and Gramps said, “Enough with the pleasantries. I can't understand with their injun gibberish.”

Oh My God.

The Chief frowned at Gramps, his brows dropping like an angry line above eyes that glittered black in the LED lights glaring from the front porch.

A gaggle of trick-or-treaters ran up.

Holy hell.

There were witches, goblins...

And a partridge in a pear tree. That's no shit.

The pear tree took a look at the assembled group, frowned at the losers in the masks and decided the Indians were the safest bet.

No way.

Gramps lurched forward to grab the kid, but too late, his hand passed through a branch that wiggled on the kids back, duct-taped like glue.

“Trick-or-treat!” he shouted up in the Chief's face.

The zombie turned to me, his feather swinging slightly.

Jade handed the candy over and I gave it to the Chief.

The kid pushed his bucket forward and the Skopamish Chief dropped a Snickers in there. We were just about out of the mess when he did something unexpected.

He grinned. The rot of his mouth was a gaping hole of death, the tongue a blackened wick like a candle, burnt down to nothing.

Huh, I always miss the mouth.

The kid screamed. Realizing too late that he was not dressed up.

He really was the walking dead.

My dead.

The kids ran in a wailing, screaming pack out the gate and tore down the road.

Archer looked at the Indian zombies, then his eyes landed on Gramp's. “You have a contingency plan with the neighbors for this?”

Gramps hesitated, palming his chin thoughtfully. “Not yet.”

“Humph!” Dad said.

Archer grinned and the rest of us put our attention back where it belonged.

On the masked posse.

“I'll ask again. What are you doing here?” Gramps reiterated.

Carson turned to Buddy, shoving his mask up. “You ready?”

All eyes went to Buddy, Gramps' disappointment in Buddy riding them like glasses.

Buddy didn't look uncomfortable under the scrutiny. Sophie did. It was beyond awkward. Here were the jerks that had caused us trouble for almost two years, their latest a gang-bang beating on a perfectly good guy just because. Because they could. They really didn't need a good reason. And her boyfriend hung with them.

Not cool.

He turned to Gramps. “Thanks for having me but I promised the guys here that we'd go out and trick-or-treat.” He shrugged and Gramps just stared at him.

“Fine. But next time,” he held up a finger, “if there's a next time, you can meet them out there.” Gramps pointed to outside his gate. On the street. “Now, Mr....?” Gramps cocked a brow.

“Hughes,” Buddy responded.

“You may think long and hard about the company you keep. Just a thought.”

Duh.

Buddy didn't say anything. He turned to Sophie and laid a kiss on her cheek. She didn't flinch but all of us could tell that she felt terrible about the scene.

Carson watched Buddy walk over to the 'vette and get in, Brett and Brody getting in with him. Carson, Christi and Diego remained behind.

I just knew that Carson was going to say something stupid.

Count me clueless.

His eyes narrowed in on Gramps. “You're not gonna tell me what to do old man.”

Gramps asked me without looking away from Carson, “Is he emancipated, Caleb?”

Oh shit.

“Yeah,” I said out loud and Gramps grinned.

“Ya know, I've been dying,” and he looked at the zombie tribe standing nearby and guffawed, “to show you your ass. Ever since that middle finger salute you flipped me last summer.”

Mom said, “Pops.... I don't think. He's a teenager... ”

“No Peanut, he's a ruffian. And until he has his clock cleaned he's going to continue until there is a consequence that will get his full attention.”

The Chief turned to me. “Does the elder necromancer need our assistance?” he asked, his breath some of the foulest I had raised. It was like his morning breath was compounded by his age.

I leaned backwards a little and Gramps flicked his eyes to me. “What's that injun saying?”

Carson took that opportunity when Gramps was turned looking at me to move in.

On my grandfather, the putz.

The Chief let out a shrill war cry of warning that about had me pissing my pants. The other two surged forward as the alarm sounded.

I knew the fist would land on Gramps before the Chief could get there. But to compound the problems Diego went for Tiff, which I think was a move to scare the bejesus out of her, no more.

I really did.

It worked tremendously well, she screamed like a girl for the first time ever. It shocked the boys into halting our progress as we waded into the group in front of us.

With the bruises riding underneath Christi's eyes she came with Diego as everyone tumbled out of Buddy's car, the redness of the paint job looking like blood in the gloom of the night.

Christi used Tiff's hesitation like a weapon and wrapped her beautifully manicured hands in Tiff's hair that was not in a ponytail for once. She cranked her head back, slapping her face so hard Tiff staggered back, falling on her butt.

And woke up one pissed-off chick.

She sprung to her feet and fly tackled Christi, both girls hitting the concrete hard.

Archer had backed up by my parents, his skin drained of color. He could have passed for one of my zombies. I took stock of where Jade was and noticed a Skopamish was standing point beside her.

Guarding.

Not so dumb after all, the Tribe. It was starting to make an argument for postmortem IQ. Uh-huh.

Gramps had recovered and was fingering his jaw even as he had somehow grabbed a hold of Carson's arm and jacked it up between his shoulder blades. “Say uncle, ya punk, or I'll tear your wing outta its socket.” Carson began screaming like a girl and I grinned. Shaping up to be a primo night at Gramps'.

The sirens silenced my good mood immediately and I looked up just in time to get bashed in the face. Jonesy missed grabbing Brett's arm by a millisecond.

It was a good one too, rattled my teeth. Mom screamed and I hoped in my stupor Dad would keep her outta the fray.

“Caleb!” Jade screamed. Then I heard her say to the Indian. “Help him!”

Oh no.

I wasn't down and out but my thought processes were slow. The zombie hesitated, thinking about splitting his duties.

I didn't want him to leave Jade, but his primary duty was to protect me.

The zombies weren't big Shirkers of Duties. He barreled into Brett like a bowling ball with a pin in sight. I sprung up and gave my jaw an experimental swing left and right as the cop car pulled up.

Guess who?

My gaze swung to Archer and he looked back. “Guilty.” He shrugged, holding up his pulse.

Effing swell.

Garcia and Gale came at a jog, Garcia taking in Gramps holding Carson and the zombies rolling on the ground with the teens.

It was Christi and Tiff that were the exciting ones. Tiff had straddled the taller girl and was whaling on her face.

With her fists. She was doing a pretty good job of it too, based on her words. “Stay down you stupid bitch!” Whack-thunk-jab. “Don't you take a cheap shot like that again!” Swing, punch... hair-pull.

Okay, that last was kinda all-girl, even I had to admit.

Gale tore a screaming Tiff off of Christi who lay dazed and bleeding, her face rearranged.

Again.

Diego came at Gale from behind and shoved her, which loosened the hold on Tiff, who didn't have time to defend herself against the two hundred pound Diego, his fist raised in an arc.

Aimed at her face.

Violent intent screamed in my brain like a match ignited and the zombie that had been head-banging Brett, went from a spider's crouch to leaping in the pathway of Diego's fist. The momentum of the jump had looked like the best basketball lay up ever. Garcia watched, breathless, as my zombie plowed into Diego, his blade raising above his head with uncanny aim.

I missed my opportunity to stop him, my slowness fueled by my indifference.

Dad screamed, “Caleb!” Garcia's face turned toward me with a comical expression of disbelief and unreality.

Join the crowd, he oughta be immune by now.

Like the rest of us.

“Oh heck, this whole thing is going to wake the baby,” Helen mourned and Bill looked at her.

Yeah, that is what all this was about, the baby waking.

Really?

Gale took a swinging jab at the zombie's arm as it was descending. She gave it everything she had but the zombie was strong.

And determined.

It was enough of a deflection that the blade sunk into the meaty part of Diego's shoulder, directly underneath his collarbone. It was a far cry from where it had been headed.

The heart.

The zombie dumped Diego, his wailing causing Helen to scowl.

That was the funniest part of the night. Helen was definitely immune.

He turned on Gale with a hiss, obviously pissed at his foiled stabbing. “Necromancer, you have caused my strike to not be true,” his breath rattled out, death fumes vaporizing anyone within three feet.

Gale was probably scared but she was coughing and doing the pre-retch because of the smell.

A gun went off in the air and everyone jumped but the zombies. They turned their death glare on Garcia with menace and new focus. The Chief turned to me with a questioning look and I gave a slight shake of my head.

Inside the house, Micah began wailing.

Great.

Helen huffed and shaking her head, rushed inside.

Gale turned to me for a translation of... injun.

I opened my mouth to answer when Gramps interpreted for me, “You queered his aim.”

The Chief looked at Gramps with something like appreciation.

He understood Gramps. Interesting.

Garcia shook his head, his gun smoking. He looked at each of our faces, then scowled at Gale. “Okay. Maybe it's just me, but I'm starting to think that my life would be easier if I just hung out with you, Caleb.”

Jonesy said, “Can't beat that logic, my man.”

Garcia threw up his hands and walked it off.

The zombies stood still. And believe me, when they wanted to be, they could be like statues.

Gale slunk out of the way of the closest zombie and walked over to me, her thumb jammed into her pulse pad.

Meanwhile, Archer was on his knees by Diego playing medic. Now that was true irony. Bet Diego never thought that the guy he'd beat up was going to save him.

Tiff strolled over there and yelled at Diego on the ground, her foot crushing the mask he'd worn with a viciously placed jab underneath her heel, “You'll be okay, Diego.” The hilt of the blade stuck out of his body like a rude exclamation mark. The mask broke into pieces and as she turned Gramps looked at her, then looked at Christi. “Stand up job there, Missy.”

Tiff grinned, shoving a fresh stick of gum in a mouth that was bloody from the sucker punch delivered by Barbie. “Thanks.”

Mom said, “I want a birthday for our son that is zombie and hoodlum-free. Why is that not possible?” Dad put his arm around her, saying nothing.

Helen came outside with Micah and scowled at everyone. “She was sleeping so peacefully!”

Garcia blinked at her once. Then came to himself, flipping open his notepad just as the medics arrived, then looked at me and my zombies. “I think, they can... ” he trailed off.

“Okay,” I said. He wanted me to make the zombies disappear.

They were really tuned in and came over to me, bodies straight, quivers slung over shoulders and torsos decorated with warpaint. Their feathers and beads, level and tight in their bindings.

“Master,” the Chief intoned, his cadence clipped and formal.

“Thank you again for coming to my call, Tribe of the Skopamish,” I said, even as I knew I hadn't called them. Once raised, it was lookin' like the second time was a cup running over, the power its own beast, running amok while I wasn't looking. Leaking out in search of what it sought.

The Dead.

His head titled, the feather that sat up at attention on the back of his head doing the lean. “We knew you were here, Master.”

That was interesting. “You knew?”

He nodded. “We can feel you... above the place where we dwell in slumber.”

I looked over at Gramps to see if he was catching this and he nodded. He was listening.

I shifted my weight. “You need to go back now... to your resting place.”

He frowned, giving me his solemn regard. “We await your return.”

“Thank you,” I said and he inclined his head. These zombies were not the most chatty I'd raised. I gave his shoulder a man-clap and he gave me the barest of Mona Lisa smiles, a sliver of that rotting mouth showing, then it was gone.

I looked at him. Actually, I looked slightly down at him. They were not tall men. Sinewy, muscled, hard and lean. Dangerous. He looked over at Diego and gave me one last parting comment, “That one will transgress again.”

I nodded. No shit.

I glanced briefly at Jade, who was standing by Sophie and John. Safe and uninjured. At least there was that.

I walked to the lawn, three eruptions of dirt and the meat of the earth splattered in crumpled bits around the lawn. They walked over to their respective places and like candy in tubes, stood over the holes. The ground rippled under their feet, the push of my power reversing, flowing over their bodies, the mingling of the surge finding their resonating signatures. They shot down into their graves like torpedoes, honing in on a signal only they could track.

And me.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

The medics piled Diego in the back of the ambulance and off he went in a wash of blue and red lights, bursting from a strobe on top of the vehicle.

“Have you pulsed the parents?” Garcia asked Gale.

“Yes.”

He nodded, notepad open, pen poised. “Okay, Mr. O'Brien, can you start from the top and give me the total run down one more time?”

Gramps sighed, going over the whole episode again.

Jade and Sophie were by the gate, handing out candy for the trick-or-treaters. Carson's group, including Buddy and a beat-up Christi were being interrogated by Gale. Christi’s attention was caught up in Tiff, shooting her dirty looks about every three seconds.

Finally, with the interviews over and the candy gone, Garcia herded the group together. Archer hung back as far as he could get away with, warily gazing at Carson and Crew.

“Here it is,” he said as he looked at Carson. “One more altercation instigated by you or any one of the kids you run with and it will be jail time. You're of emancipated age, correct?” Garcia said, not really asking.

“Yeah,” Carson answered, sullen.

Garcia let the silence stretch out until Carson responded with a little more enthusiasm, his eyes dropping from Garcia's.

Garcia went over, in detail, his rights as an Emancipated Adult. The days of eighteen being the Big One were over. Now, if you transgressed illegally, you could have your ass hauled in and thrown in the old slammer.

Carson was skirting that fine edge. He was about ready to be screwed out of a get-out-of-jail-free card. That was the one Garcia talked about last year. I think my understanding had caught up with that.

Gramps looked at Archer and said caustically, “Looks like I'm going to be headed down to that courthouse again.”

Lewis raised a brow.

“Restraining orders.” He looked around at the assembled jerks, his eyes flicking to Christi again and that garnered a smirk, she glared back, one eye swelling shut as I watched. “Several restraining orders.”

“Do you think that's really necessary, Mr. O'Brien?” Garcia asked. Then he added, “I think they will think twice about coming on your property again.”

“I think this group are slow learners. They may need The Solution.”

Garcia's brows came down above his eyes in a thud. “What does that mean?” he asked slowly.

“What it means is I would then be in a position of strength.” His eyes landed on Carson. “That's right, ya candy ass. The next time you think you can take on my old ass, you better have more than those two hands and an attitude. If you set foot on my property, I'll have the proper paperwork to back up my solution.”

Carson said, “Yeah, my dad will take care of you. Even I know you're breaching all kinds of environmental crap here.” He swung his hand out at the extensive environmental rejection of Gramps' property.

Gramps gave the first grin since the cops showed up. “He can try. I cross my T's and dot my I's. As Caleb would say, bring it.”

Huh.

Garcia frowned. “Do I want to ask what The Solution is?”

Mom moaned in the background and Garcia's frown deepened.

“Nope. But everything I got is a-okay. Cleared. Legal-for-me-to-possess. So no worries.” Gramps shrugged then turned his attention to Carson. “Leave. Now.”

Garcia nodded. “Go ahead and go home. Now, just because you're emancipated does not mean that your parents, as guardians, will not be notified of this incident. That you keep cropping up as a perpetrator does not bode well for you, Mr. Hamilton. But,” he tapped his notepad, flipping it shut and pushing it into the chest pocket of his uniform, “you did show some restraint with not using your Pyrokenetic ability.”

Everyone's eyes swung to me. I could feel the heat in my face and was totally grateful for the night that would hide my embarrassment. Jade had moved up quietly behind me, slipping her small hand into mine. My shoulders relaxed, her presence comforting.

“This will be your second strike too, Caleb.” My mouth dropped open. How could this be? I hadn't done jack. These idiots had come here to Gramps' and started all the shit. As usual.

Mom rushed forward. “Just you wait a second,” her eyes flashed and she raised her finger at Garcia and Gale came forward, circumventing whatever rant Mom had been going to start.

“We are aware of the history here, Mrs. Hart.” When Mom opened her mouth again, Gale continued in the pause, “But he already has a strike against him. He is willing to use. That means that when an altercation happens... ”

“We know what it means, Officer Gale,” Dad said, obviously pissed, Mom pressed against his side. “As long as you remember how I responded to last year's gang-beating of Caleb.” His eyes met the cops and Garcia flinched a little at the intense eye contact. “These boys have established a trend. They beat this boy,” Dad paused and indicated Lewis. “Four boys against one. Not great odds. About the same odds that Caleb endured.”

Tiff snapped and crackled a bubble about five hundred times, drilling the still air like a woodpecker. “Don't forget that 'ho, Christi.”

Mom slapped her forehead and Gramps got the crooked mouth. I did too. That Tiff.

“Yes, thank you Miss Weller for your information,” Garcia said, looking at Christi's pulverized face. He sighed.

Bry crossed his arms and said, “That Diego's gonna be gunning for Tiff.”

“Yes, Officer Garcia, what assurance can you offer, Caleb?” John asked and Dad smiled.

Brody snickered and Christi laughed. I guess being smart was a big amusement for the siblings.

Jonesy was on it. “Sibling IQ still in effect, Dumb Ones.”

Nice. I gave him a knuckle bump.

Brody's hands clenched into fists. “Shut up, Jones.”

Jones folded his arms in front of his chest. “Make me.”

“Okay!” Garcia yelled over the guy's posturing. “I am not going to call back up. Because, if I do, everyone is going to spend the night in the cell!”

Helen did a sound in the back of her throat. “I have an infant here, I'm not going anywhere. The police station is full of germs.”

“Go mom,” Jonesy said, the sarcasm ringing like a dull bell.

Gale smiled. “Listen, I think this whole thing can be toned down a notch if all the uninvited guests leave and the invited participants remain. We have begun the paperwork with the strikes duly noted. You all have been put on notice and know where your standing is with the law. One more strike and it's,” she made her finger do a swipe against her throat in the universal slice gesture. “Got it?”

Gramps raised a hand. She called on him like we were in a classroom. Outside in the dark, on Halloween.

Yeah right.

“Yes, Mr. O'Brien?”

Gramps legs were spread and his arms folded over a barrel chest, his gut a thing that'd be on a thirty-eight year old. An in-shape one. “Yeah, when are these jack-wagons going to get their butts off my property?”

“We're going old man,” Carson said with a smirk, Gramps glowered not even realizing he'd made a move toward him when my dad said, “Mac,” Gramps turned to him, “just let the police escort them out.”

Gramps looked at Mom, then me. “Fine, but be quick about it. I'm not known for my patience.”

Ya think?

Garcia herded everyone off Gramps' property and we filed back to the fire. With a poke, prod and a few more chunks of wood, it blazed back to life and we sat back down in the loose circle of assorted seats.

There was a long silence in which Gramps broke it with, “I don't abide fools gladly,” he said slowly, palming his chin.

Dad and Mom sat perched on a log bench, quiet. Finally Mom, because she couldn't help herself said, “I'm starting to feel like we can't protect Caleb, Pops.”

Dad looked a little miffed and she put a finger over his lips. “It's not that you couldn’t protect us if you had to. But,” she spread her hands away from her body, “you work and I'm at home.”

She didn't say the obvious thing. Last year, Jade's loser dad had flung his drunken ass at the house, manhandled Mom and hit Jade. I could kinda see her point. Clyde had come in and cleaned things up. Been thorough about it too.

Gramps stabbed the fire with a metal stick, twisted and smooth with age, having roasted a thousand marshmallows. He looked up at her, all the teens eyes on him. “Listen up Peanut. Caleb is a good boy, but he's got a streak of bad in him,” he swiveled to look at me. Just the truth, that look told me. Then his attention came back to Mom. “He will do what needs doin'. He doesn't need me, or you, or Kyle. He's got a battalion at his disposal. Didn't you tell me on the phone that Clyde has been hanging around the house?”

I could see Mom gulp by the firelight. “Yes,” she said reluctantly.

Helen's brows arched. “Are you kidding me, Ali? You have a corpse, what... as part of the family?”

“It's complicated, Helen,” Dad interjected.

This was so uncomfortable. My friends all looked at me. Jade already knew and squeezed my side where her arm rested.

“I'll put him back!” I said loudly, defensive.

“Hey man, far be it from me to discourage you from having a pet corpse around,” Jonesy said, his hand over his heart in sincerity.

Brother, gee thanks for that.

I sighed loudly. “He's not a pet, Jones.”

“He's something,” John said and Alex nodded, rubbing his shoulder where it hurt from grappling with the dorks.

“He's like a bodyguard,” Bry said and Gramps smiled like, exactly.

Gramps slapped his knee and Jade jumped with a squeak.

“Jumpy,” Tiff said, popping another bubble and Mom gave her The Look. Tiff saw and chucked the gum into the fire. “Fine. It was gettin' old anyway.”

Amused, Gramps continued with his thoughts, “You know, maybe Caleb shouldn't... put Clyde back. Ever.”

“Wait a second, Mac,” Dad said. “That's not even a remote possibility.”

Gramps' eyes narrowed. “Is there a law, Kyle?”

Dad paused, not answering immediately and I saw John's eyebrows shoot up. Dad was usually pretty glib on the rebuttal.

“No. But it doesn't make it right.”

“Right for who?” Sophie said. “As I see it, with everything that's happened,” she shrugged, “it seems safer.”

“Furthermore,” Gramps gave a vicious stab at the fire with his poker, “I'm thinkin' Caleb movin' in with me for a time may be safer for everyone.”

Mom's eyes got big. “No Pops. I don't want him to not live with his family. Split up. I'm sorry, that's a bad idea.”

Onyx wagged his tail and leaned into Gramps. He liked the idea, I could tell.

Gramps looked at Mom and Dad steadily. “I am family. He can drive to school.” He shrugged.

My friends and Jonesy's parents were quiet.

Finally, Dad said, “If things get unsafe, like before, we may take you up on it.” He looked at the assembled group. “But I do not foresee that inevitability, after all we're plumb out of serial killers and the Graysheets have cooled their jets so what could happen?”

Death Intent and Astral Projection attackers, that's what.

I exchanged a long look with the J's and Jonesy looked ready to ignite a verbal firestorm when I said, “Thanks for the offer, Gramps. I think I'll hang with the Parents a little longer.”

He clapped me on the back and my ass moved forward an inch. “Good deal, kiddo. I got your back.”

Yeah he did.

He and Clyde.

CHAPTER TWELVE

“Okay, I gotta ask, ya dick... where's the wheels?” Jonesy asked. He went on before I could respond, “I was fully expecting a ride home today. A chauffeured ride. You've wrecked my potential for coolness today.”

Like anyone was capable of that.

I crammed my backpack in my locker after jerking out the pulse-reader. I had synced all my classes finally and now I could thumb them and be prepared for subjects. A totally alien concept until this year. Something I learned from Terran when I wasn't zoning out while he was extolling the virtues of academia. God. Just shoot me.

Speaking of John, he came cruising up with his fro of copper hair bouncing, standing equal with Alex, who as a Body, should have towered over everyone. He did, for the most part. But I thought of Alex as more, overwhelming. He overwhelmed all of us with his physique. But that personality hadn't gotten big like the rest of him. He was still the same awkward sex and tech-obsessed guy we'd met last year. In a package like a super hero.

“Where's your car, Hart?” Alex asked and I sighed. I guess I was gonna hear it today. Bry and I were the only ones that actually had cars, Jade borrowed her aunt's and Mia brought hers but it was The Toaster. It was a two guy or three girl ride. We had stuffed Archer in there with the chicks one time but he hadn't cared. There was no awkward turtle male-female vibe goin' on there.

Huh.

“It's getting a conversion. I'm using my credit, ya asswipes.”

Lewis joined the conversation, “Your grandpa has the credit for that hot rod we saw at his place?”

I nodded.

“It's a Camaro. A 1974 LT-1, clueless,” Jonesy said.

Archer shrugged. “Not a car worshiper, so bite me.”

“Bite you?” Jonesy asked, tense.

“You seem interested, Jones,” Alex said with a sly smile.

“Knock it off, muscle head,” Jonesy said, dismissing him.

Archer grinned at Alex.

John said, “How'd he get the Camaro,” He looked at Jonesy with a smirk, “to the conversions center?”

“Drove it,” I said.

“No shit?” John asked with a stunned expression.

“Yeah,” I said slowly, “So?”

“Did he use fossil fuel to get there, Caleb?” Archer asked.

“Probably.”

Archer frowned. “That's a huge fine.”

“Nah, he's got some in the garage just in case the neighborhood gets outta line,” I said.

Jonesy laughed, shaking his head. “I think he keeps those 'grandfathered' cards around like a deck and flips them out to the Person in Authority when he needs to. End of story.”

Bry walked up to us looking around. “Where are the girls?”

“They're coming,” I said, lifting my pulse. I'd just got a pulse from Jade. She was finishing something lame for Griswold then she'd be here. I relayed that.

“What's she doing for Griswold?” John asked.

I shrugged, hadn't asked. Was all about the time.

Sophie, Tiff and Jade walked up. Bry asked, “Where's Mia?”

All three girls gave him a speculative look and his face turned a little red under their scrutiny. “What?” he asked, jamming his hands in his pockets.

“Your noticeable interest, dillweed,” Tiff mentioned delicately.

Wow.

Mia walked up right behind them, saw all the awkwardness and said, “What?”

Jonesy smiled and Bry shot him a warning look. “Bry was busy pining for you, wonderin' about your location so he could stalk you with accuracy.”

I couldn't believe it, even from Jones. So low. Bry's mouth was moving but no sound was coming out. Mia looked at him in amusement and Bry looked ready to murder Jonesy.

“So... you wanted to know where I was, huh?” she asked him and his face became redder.

If possible.

He nodded. “I'm just worried about you guys with the jackasses that go here.”

Mia shrugged a slim shoulder and flicked her hair behind her shoulder and Bry blushed. Again.

He had it bad. The girls knew their charms and they circled us dudes like lionesses with prey in sight.

Sophie stalked over to Jonesy, her hips rolling smoothly on her weapons-for-heels. Jade floated over to me, her lips a raspberry perfection in the middle of her kissable face. Eyes like green quartz captured me. I was helpless to look away even as in my peripheral vision I saw Mia stroll over to Bry and lay a hand on his muscular forearm. I watched his Adam's apple bob in response.

Tiff watched with blatant suspicion as the females prowled toward the boys. And in seeing our reactions had some kind of epileptic eye-rolling fit where the whites of her eyes were the only sign of life in her face.

“Humph!” she huffed, folding her arms over her hoodie. “Idiots,” she muttered under her breath. But It didn't matter because Jade was up on her tiptoes, pressing those berry lips to mine, her small hands balancing on shoulders made strong and broad through working out, beating my body into submission on the mat.

Oh shit. The mat. Judo.

I pulled away in a hurry. “What?” Jade asked, completely unaccustomed to me pulling away. That's because it didn't ever happen.

Duh.

“I have judo today,” I smacked my forehead.

“What, you forgot your brain today, Hart?” Tiff asked, pointing at Jade, then rudely pointing at her own crotch. “Or are you just letting the little head... ”

“Tiff!” Bry yelled and she smiled. She was all about diggin' on whatever flustered people.

Brother. John smiled at her. There weren't enough opposites in the world. But they were polar. John kinda liked how snarky she was. I found her kinda annoying but she was like a dude in a girl's body. It was weird.

I was about ready to sail out the school doors when Buddy walked up. Without the losers.

Good thinkin'.

He looked at Sophie standing by Jonesy, his face hardening. Alarm bells began to sound in my head. Hell, I'd have to be late and do some really crappy drills now.

But I couldn't leave a potential mess. Jonesy and Buddy squared off and the other dudes backed up.

“Why don't you fuck off, Buddy?” Jonesy asked in a pleasant voice, the girls gasping at the strength of his wording right outta the box.

Buddy smiled. Nothing got a guy juiced like another one telling him where to go without any preliminaries.

He looked around for adults. Seeing none, he got chest to chest with Jones, two inches taller and about the same weight.

John said, “Hey, there's... Jonesy, don't do this. She isn't your girlfriend.”

Jonesy leveled the first dirty look he'd ever given John like a laser. John glowered back like, rein it in you anger management addict.

Alex told John, “Don't mediate, let it play out, Terran.”

Bry slapped his forehead and Tiff said, “Pound. His. Ass. Jones.” She smacked her fist into her open palm.

I moved Jade behind me, she had an ability to be a magnet for violence and it wasn't finding her when I was around. I took in the group and saw that Bry had done a similar maneuver with Mia. Tiff was way too close to the potential fight and John and Alex were hanging back.

It was Sophie that got in the middle. Chicks needed to stay the hell away when guys started swinging. It was simple logic.

That seemed to really evade females. Logic.

Jonesy hissed at Sophie, “Back off, Soph.”

“No,” she said quietly. He flicked his eyes to hers.

“You don't like me, not really. I'm just a girl that won't let you date and dump her, Jones. Get over yourself,” she shrugged like it didn't matter.

It did to Jonesy. I could see the struggle of it on his face, contorting his features.

Buddy gave a smirk even as Sophie's arm wound around his waist. “Who's gonna fuck off now, Jones?”

Oh shit.

Jonesy sprung at him from the balls of his feet, his fist popping out and jabbing toward him like a spring, Buddy flinging his head in a smooth avoidance maneuver.

Unfortunately, Sophie was too close and as she stumbled to remove herself from the fight, tottering on her heels, the side of his fist caught her in the face and she went down flat. Buddy couldn't save her but Jonesy was the most graceful person I knew and he dropped after her, swinging in an arc to catch her before she landed on the floor. He took the brunt of the fall and rolled her on top of him and then to his side. It was actually beautiful to watch.

If Buddy and Jonesy hadn't been in the middle of trying to beat the snot out of each other.

Buddy began whaling on Jonesy and I waded in.

See how that worked out? No judo... work out anyway.

Jonesy was using his fists to punch back defensively but couldn't do much because an unconscious Sophie was prone beside him. It didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out he didn't want her hurt.

Cuz he could hurt Buddy. Jonesy was what Gramps called a scrapper.

I slammed my foot into the pinch of Buddy's torso, that tender spot where ribs ended and organs roamed. Yeah, that works pretty good on incapacitation.

He sprung up and turned on me, crouching defensively. I had a heartbeat to realize that Buddy knew more than he let on and then he was after me in an aggressive flurry of arm swipes and jabs that made my judo training come to the surface in a defensive roar. I used the sides of my hands like I'd been taught and swung from my core, centered.

Deliberate.

Still, he came. There was a crowd growing but I saw them as background, it took all my concentration to engage my opponent. Who was definitely a martial arts guy. No doubt.

Everything melted away as I fought him, and to my intense shame, I didn't even have a bead on Jade.

He punished my ribs with his hands and I struck him hard with the instep of my foot in the middle of his chest and he flew back and landed with practiced hands, his butt never hitting the ground.

He'd landed like a cat. Nine lives. I moved forward again and then suddenly Chen was there.

“Nice, Hart,” some random kid said. Carson came up and clapped Buddy on the back. Buddy shrugged it off. Probably thinking about his unconscious girlfriend with her head in Jonesy's lap. Nice turn-of-events.

Chen gave Buddy and I looks. She took in Sophie in a heap, Jonesy pushing her hair back, her cheek swelling with a red mark like an angry comma on her face. I looked at Jonesy and saw that he had tears in his eyes. His heart in his face.

I know what I would have felt like if I hit Jade. Accident or not.

I looked around for her and didn't see her. Panic struck. Where was Jade?

But Chen's next words stole my thoughts away from Jade and back to her. “My office, Mr. Hughes and Mr. Hart. Now.” She walked away knowing we'd follow.

I didn't. I needed to know Jade was okay. I searched the crowd.

There! I saw a flash of black hair and pink. Someone was with her.

Who? I moved between kids, parting them like a human sea and as she was revealed so was Brett. He had a hold of her wrist, its delicate diameter captured in his big hand and all I could think of was last year. Him dragging her off for his molestathon.

Jade's eyes got wide and she yelled, “No Caleb, it's not what you think!”

Thinking? Who the hell said anything about that? I was a roaring inferno of male rage, my female threatened by a known threat. A primal siren sounded and that's what I listened to. It led my fist straight to his face, my other one following like a loved one, one right on top of the other.

Until he was on the ground, Jade screaming. Someone huge picked me up from behind and I knew how to get out of that. But I couldn't move, whoever it was had arms of steel. I literally couldn't move.

But I took heart. I looked down at Brett, a bleeding disaster at my feet and smiled, spitting out the blood from my own mouth as I did, where it hit the floor with a splat.

“Settle down, Hart!” Alex bellowed in my ear. “Chen's gonna call the cops,” he said more quietly. I settled down and he let me drop. I stood on my own without those crushing arms of his holding me and looked at Jade.

She looked back. I didn't like the look on her face. She looked scared.

Of me.

That's not what I'd been gunning for. I didn't want Brett touching Jade. Period. It wasn't complicated. He was a proven asshole with bad intent and he wasn't going to train those plans on Jade.

“Come here,” I said to her, using my palm to gesture for me, cupping my hands toward myself.

She hesitated and I had an awful moment where I thought she wouldn't. Then she gingerly stepped over Brett and came into my arms.

Chen literally shoved students aside. Her rage was a palpable thing. A living, breathing thing in the commons. I don't think I'd ever had that level of rage directed at me before.

Well, in the spirit of new experiences...

Jade held onto me like I was the last solid thing in the world. I treated her the same. I glued her onto my body, tucking her underneath my chin as I faced off with Chen.

“Get away from Miss LeClerc, Mr. Hart.” She looked at me, her words vibrating with unmasked hatred. It was a little confusing. So I had a fight, big deal. Was it really worth her foaming at the mouth like a rabid bat?

“He won't hurt me,” Jade said in a voice that trembled. I stroked her hair.

“Obviously! Mr. Hart is so nonviolent. Jade, move away from him. Now.” She did, her fingers reluctantly trailing down my chest as she backed away. I looked for guy support and found Bry's eyes. He gave me a nod. He knew what the deal was.

Brett supporters making an appearance and all this shit going down without me, but with Jade there in the middle.

No.

I walked over to Chen and she didn't say anything. She pointed to her office though, using a stiff finger. She was pissed beyond speech. I saw Mom and Dad were already there, twin expressions of pissed off riding their faces.

And Gramps was there. He wasn't pissed, a slight smile curved his lips.

Nice.

Jonesy's eyes met mine from the floor, Sophie cradled like a fragile doll in his arms. God help the poor schmuck that would try to move her right now. We had a moment and then he gave me a nod.

I had it. His gratitude.

That was the most important thing to me.

I turned my back on my friends and walked toward my family, my guts churning.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

“We're trying to be supportive, Caleb, really,” Mom said, her elbows planted on the kitchen table, palms spread. She clenched them back together again and sighed. “But you leave us no choice.”

My hands were in tight fists by my side, my supper untouched in front of me.

Gramps was scrubbing his face. He crossed his arms in front of him. I noticed that his plate was clean. Onyx lay covertly beside him, hoping for a morsel.

“Alicia,” Gramps began.

“No, Pops. I need to handle this.”

“And that's worked out so well, Peanut,” he said levelly.

Dad sighed. “Mom's right, you've become more violent.”

“Humph!” Gramps cackled. “In my day that little altercation would have been swept under the rug.” He looked at the Parents steadily, his gray eyes darkening. “This is part of becoming a man. Before everything got sissified, boys would hammer out their differences and move forward. Then, if you involve girls, well, it becomes even more important. Chen would do to think about that. She'd probably cut down on the fights if she just let a few run their course.” He folded his arms across his chest and flung out his legs in front of him.

“Hammer things out? What? with fists?” Mom asked.

He nodded slowly and Dad sighed. “Yes, if that's what needed doin', fists worked very well. Or kicks, or a ...”

“Mac,” Dad said in warning.

“Right,” Mac said, realizing Mom was getting the Big Picture. Gramps turned his attention to me. “That was some fine hand work, Caleb.”

“Thanks, Gramps,” I said.

He continued looking at me. “Not bad on that other boy...?”

“Buddy,” I supplied.

“That's it!” he snapped his fingers. “How old is he?”

“Senior,” I said.

He palmed his chin, raking his hand over the stubble. “Seems older.”

“Yes, that's what Helen said,” Mom remembered.

“He take judo too?” Gramps asked, digging around.

I shrugged. “He does something. I was havin' to bring it.”

“Pullin' out all the stops, eh?”

“Yeah,” I said.

“Anyway,” Mom looked at all of us, “Andrea is going to see this as a real problem. Jade's father is a known violent offender. She will see Caleb's actions in the worst possible light. And... I can't say I blame her.” She narrowed her eyes on me.

I shifted in my seat.

“Ms. Chen mentioned that Brett claimed that Jade's hand was hurt in the scuffle between you and Buddy. That he was just looking at her injury.”

I was calling bullshit on that.

“I'd like to believe that, Ali, but given his track record with the boy... ” Dad shrugged.

Gramps asked, “What did Jade say?”

That was the thing, I hadn't had a chance to pulse and get things straight with her. “I haven't pulsed her yet.”

Gramps stood, clapping his hands on his thighs. Onyx took that as his cue to jump on Gramps. He laughed and pushed him off gently. He looked at me. “I was there at the school to bring you your wheels, Caleb.”

Right! My car. Totally overshadowed by the crap at school.

I stood and Dad put a restraining hand on my arm. I looked him in the eye. “It's Jade or the car, Caleb. We have to begin to discipline you for this behavior.”

Gramps hung his head, saying nothing, but shaking it in mild disgust.

I looked at Gramps with an apologetic expression. “The car. I'd never let Jade go.”

“Unless she let you go, Caleb,” Mom said and I looked at her.

Thanks for that gem. Whatever.

Gramps clapped my back. “It's okay, tiger. The car you can wait on, the girl won't wait.”

Glad Gramps got it. My parents were certainly not there yet.

I left my supper cooling on the table as I followed Gramps outside.

First time ever.

Initializing: Top Five Contact

Hot One

Hey- JLeC

Hi... are you okay?- CH

sighs yeah... but, it was really scary today, Caleb. I'm not gonna lie.- JLeC

I know. I mean, I wasn't scared but it was scary with Sophie and all the fighting recently.- CH

Andrea knows, Caleb. She's totally not wanting me to go out with you now. It's like the whole thing, just... put her over the edge. She just sees my dad when this violent stuff happens.- JLeC

Eff.

Emotive stress evaluation medium I am nothing like your profanity-block dad! You know this! I don't use and I don't beat girls. Everyone I beat deserves it.- CH

laughs I agree with that.- JLeC

Brett got what he deserves. He put his hands on you Jade. I'm gonna do more than beat the profanity-block! outta him next time.- CH

Caleb, no. He seriously wanted to see my wrist.- JLeC

Emotive stress evaluation med-high you were hurt?- CH

No! He thought he'd seen my hand get hit when you and Buddy began... what... you did.- JLeC

I knew it. He just wanted an excuse to touch her. The interfering prick. I got an idea.

What did ya read off of him?- CH

Pause in pulse communication.

A lot of stuff. Maybe it'd be embarrassing.- JLeC

I was seething inside, my blood like lava.

Try me.- CH

sighs well, he definitely has some... romantic feelings for me. And... I don't know the rest but there was some disturbing impressions...

Like what?- CH

Big surprise on the romance vibe. Dick.

Idk exactly but it had a similar feel to the DI sample that's disappeared.- JLeC

Great, that's all we needed was for Brett to pop some kind of murder. Just the thought of him having those ideas swirling around in his small brain made me tenser, knotting my muscles as my hand clenched the pulse.

He's not the guy, Caleb. If that's what you're thinking.- JLeC

Some Empath you are laughs- CH

You don't help me anymore by keeping your thumb depressed.- JLeC

Good, a guy's gotta have some secrets.- CH

So... did your parents drop cattle over the fighting?- JLeC

Yeah they did. You're soundin' like Tiff.- CH

laughs kinda. She's rubbin' off on me!- JLeC

Listen...embarrassed since I missed Judo today I'm gonna have to be sharp on the time tomorrow...

I'll get ya there, baby.- JLeC

Baby? I like that. I could get used to that.- CH

The word?- JLeC

No, the way you say it.- CH

It's a pulse.- JLeC

Doesn't matter. I hear your voice in my head, see you in my mind as you've said it...

OMG! That's so romantic emotive response high- JLeC

I get it right once in awhile.- CH

More than that, Caleb smiles.- JLeC

What about Andrea?- CH

Let's just work around her.- JLeC

You mean con her.- CH

sighs yeah, for now.- JLeC

I don't like the sneaking around profanity-block!, Jade.- CH

I know, but maybe we can just inch along until it all blows over. Maybe she'll forget about it- JLeC

Doubt it.

K, we can try it. I'll see ya tomorrow after school.- CH

How many days?- JLeC

Three vacation days.- CH

Wow. I guess it could've been worse.- JLeC

I thought of how Jade would be in school, unprotected. Felt pretty long to me.

I guess so doubtful- CH

Love you.- JLeC

I love you.- CH

****

I spent the day with Gramps, both of us freezing our butts off in the garage, going over the Camaro in detail.

“I don't want you to drive this without an idea of everything in it and how it all works. If we go over it with a fine tooth comb, you'll feel more confident.”

I didn't tell Gramps I was already feeling okay about it. It was a car. It had been retrofitted with a pulse lock, that looked really weird on an old car, the black square of the pulse pad standing starkly against the white body paint. “It's okay, Gramps. I think I got this.”

He smiled and Onyx ran over to stuff his nose in Gramps' hand until he pet him.

He petted him and Onyx thumped his leg on the concrete floor. Gramps gettin' the sweet spot pretty good.

We stood there quietly for a time and then Gramps asked, “Where's Clyde?”

That was the thing that the Parents were also having a cow about.

“I put him back to rest.”

“Didn't you tell me that Parker said he wouldn't be able to go back anymore?”

I nodded. “It was kinda like that. But, I don't know the details. It's not like there's any history here.” I lifted my shoulders in an exaggerated shrug.

“Precedence?” Gramps asked.

“Yeah. Parker's it. Everything I know about corpse lore I get from him when he comes to do weird shit all over the top of me.”

Gramps didn't correct my language, lighting a cigarette instead. I raised an eyebrow. Mom was gonna crap a brick if she caught him smoking within a Mile of the Homestead.

“Gramps... Mom's gonna rant if she sees you... ”

“Grocery store,” he said in a flat voice.

I laughed. “What? You got Mom-radar?”

“Yup.”

He inhaled deeply and stabbed the last of the cigarette out in a old coffee can full of sand. He put the lid back on it and stuck it behind a bunch of car crap. It blended in perfectly.

Sneaky for an old guy.

Or just sneaky.

Gramps looked at me through the filtered smoke of a new cig. Wiping his hands carefully on one of his car cloths from the endless supply in his back pocket, he said, “the way I see it, you have a few problems.”

I nodded. I was pretty consistent in the predicament department.

He held up a finger. “First, this Buddy character. He makes me nervous.”

I felt my eyebrows jerk to my hairline. “Why?”

He took a big drag on the smoke, the ash dangling at about an inch. He flicked it into the can again. It was a hugeass ashtray.

He scrubbed his face with his free hand. After a hesitation he said, “I don't know.”

Then he waved that away for the moment. “Then there's the hoodlums. They're never gonna quit.”

Yeah, I got that. Totally.

He paused. Then, “there's Clyde.”

We looked at each other for a pregnant moment. “You have to figure out what to do with him. He's more than he was. He's not alive exactly but there's gonna come a time that he will evolve into something. Something that's dead but deserves to live. You got me?”

I did. I nodded. But I was sixteen years old. What was my responsibility here? I didn't even know where to begin with it all.

Gramps saw my ambivalence. “Chew on it, Caleb. You don't have to make some clear cut solution at this moment. But chaos will strike again and when it does, he'll come. Hell! He came to your defense when you were on the way back from my place,” his gaze continued boring into me. “Then, there's your girl.”

I spoke for the first time, “What? What about Jade?”

“She seems to get trouble attached to her like Velcro.”

“What's Velcro?”

He waved his hand, flicking ashes into the can. “Never you mind. Sticky crap. Anyway, between that idiot Brett, her dad and,” he paused, stabbing the blunt end of his smoke in my direction, “her aunt... it's a challenge. A challenge to finesse around that aunt of hers, a challenge to protect her from her dad. And, to keep that brutal guy away from her.”

“Yeah, it's all that, Gramps.”

He studied me. Finally, he said, “You got a plan?”

I shook my head. “Mainly, I just react.”

He nodded, barking out a laugh. “Yeah, that makes sense, considering your age and the cloth you're cut from.” He smiled, amused.

I wasn't really thinking it was so great.

We looked at each other through the veil of his smoke. No plan, both reactors.

Naturally.

****

Normally judo was a chore I worked through. A skill to have because... well I needed it. Look at the last almost two years. But today, when Jade pulled up, the windshield winking at me in the sunlight, I jogged to the truck.

I was really needing a testosterone purge. I'd been cooped up in the house, with my girlfriend in school with Mr. Sympathetic.

That'd be Brett.

Jonesy had pulsed and said Brett was licking his wounds all day, making eyes at whatever girl would give him sympathy. It made me want to do a repeat performance.

Jade left the car running and I hopped in, throwing my gear bag in the back, my hand glancing the crystal that hung from the mirror as I moved in for a kiss. I didn't do one of the soft ones either that I could get away with when we were together all the time. I was feeling on edge. Hadn't seen her since the fight. Even though it had only been yesterday, it felt like weeks to me. I grabbed her behind her neck and with my other hand I wound that against the back of her and dragged her into my body, pressing my mouth over hers, digging my fingers into her hair. She molded her body to mine, moving against me and I gave a little groan.

I guess there was a couple ways to take care of the testosterone purge.

She pulled back, breathless, her face a soft pink. She giggled. “Wow, where'd that come from? Not that I'm complaining,” she said with a whisper and a grin.

I shrugged. “Feeling cranked. Need to get to judo and work some of the stress out.”

She turned in her seat and pulsed the truck into reverse. “I don't think you were too concerned over being punctual, Caleb,” she smiled.

I let my restraint go and semi-tackled her unsafely while she drove, landing a bunch of pecks along her collarbone where the necklace I got her lay. “Stop! Caleb... I'm driving,” she laughed, shivering a little.

“Ah-huh. Whatever, practice multitasking, Jade,” I said, my words muffled against her flesh.

She must've pulled up to the dojo but I was still... busy. Doin' the Jade worship.

I stopped my nuzzle of her when there was a sharp rap on the glass of the truck. I whipped around, my lips hot from the assault of her skin and looked into my sensei's eyes.

Busted.

So busted.

“K, so this is so beyond embarrassing. I'm just saying... ” Jade whispered.

I kept my eyes forward, on my sensei. Like I'd been taught. You never lost eye contact on the mat. Against an opponent. I'd have drills.

But I'd have more if I broke the gaze.

That I knew.

I carefully opened the door and he did an offensive jab before I could escape the confines of the cab. I was awkwardly hoisted, half-in, half-out of the car. No room to maneuver.

But of course, that was the beauty of it.

My head moved evasively, the air from his strike pushing against my chin.

Close.

I crouched and drove a foot sweep into his tender knee, exposed as it was, and he nailed me in the bread basket. My air squeezed out. If I'd been sloppy he'd have had me, but I'd kept my core tight like he'd taught me.

“I'm getting Jade!” Sensei screamed at me and my adrenaline surged in a sickening jar, ripping my guts up in a warm slide that felt like vomit in reverse.

I lunged at him, using my momentum without any of the finesse he taught me and Jade let out a scream.

“Roll!” he screamed.

I did, my shoulder landing with a bruising impact that made my teeth rattle, my legs following in a compact somersault that had me springing to my feet in a crouch, my hands one after another in defense formation.

He planted his hands on his hips and smiled. I straightened.

“Not bad Hart. Hated that lazy superman you just did though. I mention the girlfriend and you go sideways on your training.”

It was standard lecture mode now.

“Don't abandon training that should be automatic because you want to get all emotional,” he said.

My eyes flicked behind him and Jade was on her knees, hands gripping the car door that I'd left open before I flew out of there. “Is this... part of your training?” she asked, confused.

I laughed and shrugged. “He keeps me on it. You just never know with Sensei.”

Jade looked over at him doubtfully. Taking in his contained strength, his muscular, compact body.

Poised for violence.

I wasn't real intimidated, but we were close in size. I looked at it from her perspective, he'd be scary for Jade.

Sensei Anderson must've thought so too. He moved forward in a non-threatening way. “I'm Caleb's judo instructor. Hunter Anderson.”

Jade popped out of the truck and looked like she would shake his hand but he gave a little bow instead. She smiled and bowed back.

She loved getting out of touching if she could help it.

“Do you want to check out a practice?” he asked her.

She shrugged. “Sure. I can do the homework later, I guess.” She looked at me a little uncertainly, did I want her to stay?

I smiled. Dumb unspoken question, I always wanted her around. I held out my hand and she walked toward me, our hands entangled for the two minutes it took to walk into the dojo.

Anderson followed behind us.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Jade

Jade sighed. If she had to go through one more clairvoyance sample she'd scream.

But looking at Gale and Garcia's faces, she just couldn't be selfish. She needed to try and find the DI. Match the sample to the perpetrator. Of course, Jade thought that there was a lot of people she wanted to kill from time to time. It'd been explained to her though. It wasn't a pissed off, spur-of-the-moment internal monologue of “I wish I could slay them.”

It was a murder that was yet to happen. That's what had felt like a rotting oil slick in her hand. Someone that would kill. A teen.

Someone she very likely knew.

It wasn't an exact science either. That made her mad. There were no absolutes. She could touch the perp, as the cops called him, and if he wasn't on the wavelength he was when he wore the sample, she may not get it from skin on skin. It was the proverbial needle in the haystack.

And Jade was tired of looking.

Bobbi saw her frustration. “Let's take a small break, Raul.”

He looked at Jade and nodded, seeing she was a little tired. They sat down at the cafeteria tables that were at K-M. Jade thought about how worried Caleb was that this was the school she was at today. Tulle counted it as extra credit. It was a field trip for high schoolers, Jade thought, remembering her comment.

“Just think of all the extra experience you'll gain from handling all those alien samples, Jade,” she said. Then added, with a small smirk, “And all the focus you'll have available to you without Mr. Hart as a distraction.”

Jade had just stared at her. It was Jade's conviction that Tulle thought entirely too often of she and Caleb. She frowned and the grin faded from Tulle's face. After all, Jade was emancipated and didn't really feel like she wasn't on equal ground with Tulle. She'd gone through all the stupid legal hoops to do it and now... by God, back off.

Jade had left without so much as a backwards glance. Not doing the ass-kissing that Tulle so obviously needed didn't help Jade out though. Tulle had her nose plugged up her butt every opportunity she could. Even Caleb had noticed.

Bry Weller came by while she was at the table, enjoying a Granny Smith apple, the cops were talking quietly together until his approach. Her face puckered slightly as the sour tartness filled her mouth.

“Hey,” she smiled at him, pleased to see a familiar person.

“Hey Jade. How's it goin'?” he asked, eying up the cops.

“Okay,” she said, giving a significant look to them. He nodded his understanding.

“Are you ditching class?” she asked with a grin.

“Nope, senior.”

That's right, Jade remembered, he'd slide by this last year.

“How many classes do ya have?”

He held up two fingers.

“No way!”

He nodded, a slow grin spreading over his face.

Garcia said, “Hi, Mr. Weller.”

He nodded at him. “Hi Officer Garcia,” he turned to Gale and nodded to her too.

“Hi Bry,” she said.

“Whatcha guys doin'?” he asked.

Garcia stood, his broad shoulders stretching the uniform he wore and Jade wondered if he worked out. She guessed he'd have to just to keep up with their group alone. Lots of rescuing with her friends. She frowned, thinking it be nice if they didn't always need rescuing. Which of course, made her think of her dad. Not that she wanted to. Ever.

“You know we can't really talk about ongoing investigations, Bry,” Garcia stated, his eyes steady on Bry's.

Bry stared back at him, then his gaze shifted to Jade. “Are you in danger?” Bry asked, thinking about Caleb. That Caleb wouldn't be thrilled with Jade working with the cops.

“Of course not!” Gale said with too much enthusiasm and Bry's eyes narrowed.

Garcia watched them and said, “It's more of a suspicious activity than a real threat, at this time. She's not in any real danger.”

What? Bry wondered, he didn't think there was fake danger. He didn't like it. He bet Caleb hated it. Bry didn't like some of the paranormal bullshit. Bry liked shit he could feel, touch. Annihilate. Yeah, that really worked for him.

He frowned at Garcia then his face cleared when he took in Jade. Caleb was a lucky dude, he had a gorgeous girlfriend that wasn't a rager. Nice. He'd be nervous as hell with a chick like that though. He took in her fragile beauty. She was tiny, and beautiful and... unprotected.

He gave her a thin smile, his feelings of unease at helping the cops there between them. “K, well, I'll pulse Hart and we'll do another hang session,” he raised his brows in question.

“Sure,” Jade smiled, that sounded fun. “Maybe you can get Mia to go too?” she said slyly.

Ah hell, Mia! Bry thought with barely contained anxiety. Now that was a girl, that one. But outta his league for sure.

“Yeah, sure,” he said, raking a hand over hair that was almost a skull trim, it was so short.

Jade gave a coy smile. She knew Mia liked him, but she wasn't an aggressive girl. He'd have to make the first move. Jade thought about letting him off the hook, giving him a subtle hint. Then thought better of it. Shouldn't interfere.

Guys.

Speaking of guys... Jade whipped out her pulse as Bry walked away, collecting her lunch trash in one hand she headed over to the separator as the cops gathered their gear.

Initializing:

Stud.

Jade thought it was funny that Caleb felt so cool about customizing his contacts. Jade rolled her eyes. She'd had hers customized the day... no, the moment she got her pulse. She had to admit she loved that she was the Hot One. A sexy little smile curled her lips.

Hey- CH

pause in pulse communication.

You okay? emotive response med.-high- CH

sighs stop it! I'm fine, I'm with the power twins.- JLeC

Oh! And Bry came by at lunch and said he wanted to hang with everybody.- JLeC

K, cool.- CH

How are we going to celebrate you getting your car finally?- JLeC

I'm gonna pick you up and we'll go somewhere quiet and spend some quality time together emotive response high.- CH

I thought you turned off your detector?- JLeC

I did. The profanity-block! thing overrode my manual directive.- CH

Nice smiles—JLeC

Yeah, for you! - CH

K, I'll see ya after supper?- JLeC

nods I want a full report.- CH

Thorough, right? smiles- JLeC

Absolutely manual override on emotive detection.- CH

Jade smiled again, he was so sweet. Her heart sped a little at the thought of what quality time meant with Caleb. A subtle blush colored her cheeks before she responded.

Love you.- JLeC

Me too.- CH

Jade swept her thumb over the pad and thought her pulse to hibernate, slipping it in her front pocket of her jeans.

She turned, looking for the cops.

Garcia gave her a wave and she walked toward them, thinking about the icky ride back to KPH in the cop car. The back was always so rank.

Grodie.

Sophie

She was concentrating as much as she could, her palms lightly sweating, but realm was the same as always, like a soft cloud of nothing, whiteness... oblivion. There was not a solid thing in the world in there. Her terror of being attacked was draining her of the power to get to her acquisition point.

“You have to stay there for at least a full minute. That's only sixty seconds. If you don't stay the proper interim, you cannot reach your Point of Acquisition,” Proctor elaborated.

For the hundredth time.

Sophie knew that, she understood what the hell she had to do. She was scared. Amanda had been attacked. Other girls were talking about a shadow form in their realms. She just knew with her luck that it would happen to her. And she wouldn't get out of realm.

She wished Buddy was in her AP class. But he was at another time block.

Her teacher leaned down close to her, his curly hair mingling with hers. “I won't let anything happen to you. I got to Amanda too, remember? You have to trust me Sophie.”

Sophie squeezed her eyes shut. Clenched them. She knew Mr. Proctor was a good man. She knew that these exercises would strengthen her ability. Which was gauged as a level four. Her eyes snapped open and realm slipped away like mist in the sun.

Proctor straightened, his lanky build unfolding itself to standing. He shrugged. “I don't know what to tell you. Thirty-eight seconds. That's two seconds more than yesterday.”

Sophie sat up, her shoulders slumping, defeated.

One of the other AP girls smirked. “We've all done it Sophie, you need to get over your fear,” she sneered and Proctor looked over at her.

“That's very unhelpful Madison. Considering you've been in realm... what, twice?” he placed his hands on his skinny hips and stared at her until her eyes dropped.

He turned away to the white board and Madison gave Sophie a look like, wimp.

That was fine, Sophie thought. She was the highest level in the class besides Amanda so that lame bitch could just bite her in the ass.

Dead center.

And she wore stupid clothes too, fashion challenged. Sophie grinned back at her and Madison's smile faded. Girls were bitches.

She was exempt, of course.

The bell shrilled and Sophie walked to the door to meet Buddy. There he was, lookin' so damn fine it made Sophie's breath catch in her throat. Sophie eyes took him in head to toe and couldn't find the flaws. Six-foot one of gorgeous Latino hunk. Blazing eyes, nearly black in a face a dusky olive color, the muscles that showed keenly striated from workouts.

He wasn't all for show either, he'd even given Caleb a run for his martial arts money. And held his own.

He was almost as cute as Jonesy. The jerk.

Speaking of jerk-alert, Sophie walked up to Buddy just as Jonesy sauntered by, his eyes narrowing on she and Buddy.

Sophie smiled into Buddy's gorgeous browns and did a long lean. She pressed her lips to his, he snapped his arms around her and pressed back.

With heat.

Jonesy walked by the AP class after promising himself he wasn't doing it to get a glimpse of Soph. Just as he did she kissed that pecker-wood, Hughes.

Damn, if that didn't just rustle his Jimmies.

He stalked off without turning back, so pissed he could hardly breathe. He didn't know why she got under his skin so bad.

She was sandpaper on a wound.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

I stared in disbelief at the auto-pulse that we'd all received in our readers. John and I looked at each other, then bent over the communication from the Top.

Kent Paranormal High, Administration:

Immediate thought affirmation required-

Freshman will assemble after their lunch hour for their depressant inoculation, followed by each subsequent lunch block until the last with our graduating seniors.

For those that are ill or have an excused absence, you will be reassigned to receive your sanctioned inoculation by the school nurse within seven days as of today.

Booster inoculations will be given annually.

Chen, Claudia, KPH acting principal.

We all thumbed our readers:

In receipt- auto response.

John shook his head, pushing his fro away from his eyes, where it promptly fell forward again. “I don't like this. It leaves you guys unprotected.”

Alex held up his pulse-reader. “Don't have to,” his huge hand dwarfing the thing.

Damn, he was big.

Jonesy cocked a brow. “K, why do you get a pass?”

“Parents are freaks about sanctioned crap, right?” Tiff asked, a bubble bursting. Jade jumped and I laughed.

He nodded. “Yeah, I have a Philosophical Exemption.”

Jonesy frowned, wagging his finger at Alex. “That means your parents say, 'we don't dig this shit and we're not gonna dance'?'”

Alex nodded.

John shook his head. “Obviously, they didn't actually say that.”

“Well no, Terran. But Jonesy got the main part of it right.” Alex said, shrugging.

Tiff rolled her eyes. “My parents wouldn't look at this crap if someone paid them.”

“What, they don't care about you getting the depressant?” I asked, not being able to believe having parents that didn't get in to all the shit personally.

She shrugged. “They're busy. They got all us kids and a ton of work to just live. Me getting a depressant inoculation so I don't have a 'death vibe' or something in the middle of the night won't matter to them.” She lifted a shoulder in a shrug, sitting at the edge of a table in the commons, her feet swinging at the edge.

I looked at Alex. “So, if you did get the stick, what would happen?”

He shrugged. “I'd be weak again, I guess.”

“That'd suck, Sims,” Jonesy said with real feeling.

“What about you? Do you care, Jonesy?” I asked.

“Nah, I can't screw around with the lights. And,” he waggled his eyebrows, “it was kinda fun making Micah's lights go on and off.” He made a shrieking baby noise and Tiff's brows fell like a brick over her eyes.

“Ya ass hat! Your mom's probably really tired and you're making her get up to take care of the baby?” She crossed her arms, huffing. “Ya know, I wish I had just a little more AFTD! I'd resurrect an ant hill and have them march up your ass!”

John and I laughed, Jonesy scowled and Alex said, “And you guys call me perv-boy?”

Just then a really hot girl walked by, tinier even than Jade. She heard his last comment and paused.

Alex flushed a deep red. It was something to see, a six-four, muscled out sophomore embarrassed because a miniscule girl walked by and noticed his words.

“Perv-boy?” she arched a perfect eyebrow.

Cripes.

Alex shifted his weight as Mia walked up, saw the girl and said, “Hey Randi.”

She turned to Mia. “Hi.”

The girls smiled at each other and then Randi said, “Is this guy a perv-boy?” with a perfectly straight face.

Without skipping a beat, Mia said, “Yeah... I think.”

“Huh,” she said, eying him up. “Too bad, you were kinda cute.”

Jonesy's mouth dropped open and she walked off, using every ounce of girl charm as she did.

She totally knew every guys' eyes were pegged on her like flies to manure.

She gave Christi a run for her money. Different lookin', smaller but just as hot.

Maybe she didn't have the troll attitude. That killed all beauty in my eyes.

Alex looked at Mia and said, “Nice, Mia. You could have totally saved that for me.”

“No,” she shook her hair and the honeyed strands slipped all over her shoulders. “It was too precious for words. Besides, you sit there and talk about asses, blow up dolls... ” she looked at him.

The rest of us did too.

“Hey,” he backed away, “I haven't said anything perverted in a long time!”

Jonesy said, “Yeah, a whole week. Great restraint, Alex.”

We laughed and he glowered. It'd be okay. He may get a girlfriend that didn't mind his perv-vibe. I looked after Randi. She'd been interested.

Tiff smiled. “I betcha Randi would dig you... even with your weirdness.” She grinned wider. “Ya know,” she popped off the table onto her feet, “I'll set ya up, Alex.”

“No way, you absolutely don't have to,” he said, his face contorted in alarm.

“No... I like it,” Jonesy said. “Set up Goliath here with the waif-princess.”

Alex groaned, putting his face in his hands.

“No homo, right?” Jonesy asked. “Cuz, we already got one of them in the group.”

“I'm not a homo, Jones!” Alex said loudly as Lewis walked up.

“Are you guys focusing on gay stuff again?”

God, awkward-much.

I shook my head, how to explain this. John waded in, “No, this hot girl came walking by...”

“Merranda Chen, dimwit,” Tiff said to John... who was anything but dim.

Fan-effing-tastic, principal's daughter. Mental forehead-slap.

“Anyway,” he gave her a look, “she heard him saying something about being a perv...”

“He called himself a perv?” Archer said, struggling for clarity.

John shook his head.

“Let me,” Jonesy said.

Oh no.

“The deal was is when hottie came by, Alex had just been defending his lack of perviness...”

Archer held up a finger, “I have to offer dissent here, it was you that last week told me about that guy that committed bestiality... ”

“Not now, Archer,” Alex said through clenched teeth.

We all looked at him again.

“Oh for shit's sake, it was on the news!” he yelled.

Jonesy looked at him. “So you share this with Archer? Okay.” Jonesy said slowly, giving Alex a significant look. “So, he was defending his non-perv status and then Miss Hotness cruised past, heard him and immediately asked if he was a perv.”

Archer laughed. “How'd that go?”

Jonesy grinned. “Mia confirmed his pervness and she walked off, none the wiser.”

“Choice,” Tiff said.

“Dude!” Alex yelled at Jonesy.

“If it weren't true you wouldn't have been outed by the cute girl,” Tiff said with a flash of logic.

“Wait,” Archer said and we looked at him. “I don't think you can really label Alex that way. 'Outed' is more for people in my position.” He shrugged, striving for accuracy at any cost. Huh.

Jonesy shook his head. “Nah, I like it as a label for muscle-head here.”

Sophie and Buddy walked up. “Can you believe this?” she started complaining right away, brandishing her pulse-reader around like a weapon. Of course, it meant way more to her than to the rest of us.

I was okay with not raising corpses while I slept.

Yeah.

Jade came up right behind her. “Maybe you could get out of it,” she said as she slid her arm around me. I pulled her in against me, feeling better that she was there.

Buddy sucked Sophie in against him and Jonesy opened his mouth.

Always a bad idea. “Let stud there protect you. He's got the moves,” Jonesy said, all sarcasm.

Buddy did have the moves. I knew first hand. I'd have to be on my game if we ever went again.

He looked at me, his gaze steady. I stared right back.

John looked at the two of us. “You guys aren't going to have a problem, are you?”

“No, we've buried the tomahawk,” I said.

“Interesting choice of words, Hart,” Buddy said.

“Yeah,” Alex agreed, giving me a considering look.

Zombies, tomahawks, zombies, tomahawks. Hmm... the Hart Anthem.

“Hey, snap out of it,” Jade said, mock-punching my shoulder.

Jonesy laughed. “That's Caleb. Default-violence-automatic.” He threw up his hands like, duh.

Jade frowned and Tiff smiled.

Jonesy got back on topic. “Yeah, have your boyfriend watch dog it, Soph. He's AP.”

Buddy narrowed his eyes on him. “Spoken like someone that doesn't know shit about Astral Projection.”

“What's to know? You float around in realm,” Jonesy danced around, skipping, flapping his arms like little bat wings. “Then land somewhere cool. Ya complainer.”

Wow.

Buddy stalked over to him and they stood toe to toe.

Great.

“Listen you shit-for-brains, there's some creep out there trying to sexually assault the girls in this school, right now. So realm isn't that great of a place to be... you got me?”

Jonesy stared at him, all swagger gone, as serious as I'd ever seen him. “Then do your job, dick. You're her boyfriend so protect her.”

“I am!” he bellowed in Jonesy's face.

Sophie went forward and Tiff gripped her arm, shaking her head like, short memory?

I looked at the healing bruise on Sophie's face. Kinda slow on the learning curve there.

Jonesy leaned into the scream and in a low voice, commanding, said, “See that ya do. Otherwise, we'll have to run interference. And our groups don't exactly run together. Do you feel me?” Jonesy asked, his nose a fraction of an inch away from Buddy's.

There was a tense moment, all us guys on point. Then Buddy seemed to pull back into himself and with a stiff nod, walked off, pulling Sophie after him.

We listened to her heels as she clicked away, looking after her.

Jonesy looked the longest.

****

Target acquisition:

The agent read the pulse message carefully. Twice.

His superior was ready to move forward. The attempt on the first girl but a practice run. The one they really wished to terminate was now ripe for dispatch.

Sophia Morris.

It was perfect, really. With the implementation of the depressant she would be a lamb led to slaughter.

What the agent enjoyed was it was not a straight kill, he would play with her first, compromise the structure of her mind, her body.

Then she would die.

It was inevitable. She simply knew too much. A political liability.

Covering his tracks through assaulting her first was a perfect cover for their real intent.

The agent smiled as he swiped his thumb over the pad of the latest model in pulse technology. Untraceable thought pulse. Pulse and disappear.

He was a ghost.

His smile faded as he thought there may be one that could disrupt his plan.

The Cadaver-Manipulator. Parker's pet project. Caleb Hart. But he had a handle on that situation.

An unbreakable grip. He was unstoppable. And Hart was just a boy. Very nearly a man, but still malleable.

The depressant would weaken him as well. It would work according to plan. If Parker didn't interfere.

If things began to unravel, he would default to Plan B.

Jade LeClerc.

She had a vulnerability that appealed to the agent.

Very much.

The smile returned, filled with malice and pride.

We were alone.

In my new car.

It was a beautiful thing.

Jade was pressed up against me and somehow we'd ended up in the back seat, the old car had an automatic pulse but it was located where the original transmission gear shift had been, on the floor and between the seats.

Totally in the way for making out.

Totally.

I was above Jade, my hands roaming her body, gently kneading the smallness of her ribcage and traveling to her hips, we'd been pretty close to going the whole way for awhile, holding out for... I didn't know. It was so hard to think in the steamy ass car with her suppleness like a burning line beneath me. I propped myself up on my elbows and swept her hair back from her temples, staring into her eyes, so green even in the dimness of the car.

“I know how much you want to,” Jade said in a low voice. Breathy.

Couldn't hide a thing from her. I wasn't one of those jerks though. The guys that just wanted to take a girl for what he could and move on to the next. I loved Jade.

I always had.

I stroked the hair away from her face. “I'm not ashamed for you to know how much I want us to be together.”

A tear rolled out of her eye.

Talk about a mood killer.

I rolled on my side and tucked her in against me. “Tell me. I'm not an Empath, Jade.”

I was frustrated. It wasn't just that I wanted to have sex. It was I wanted to with her. No other girl. Jade. She was the one for me. It was the next logical step.

I wanted us to be together. In that way too.

“I'm just not ready yet,” she said.

Her tone alerted me. Something was up.

“Is it me?” I asked.

She shook her head, turning to kiss my bicep, the feel of her lips a burnt memory on my skin.

“No. I... I ... ” she couldn't go on.

This was something else. And I didn't need Empath skills to pick up on it.

“What?” I asked, pulling her chin toward me until her eyes met mine, using the pad of my thumb to wipe the tears.

“It's my dad,” she said in a near whisper.

“What about him?” I asked. What the hell did he have to do with any of it?

She tried to look away and I said, “Don't. Look at me, Jade.”

She did.

Her lip trembled.

What the hell was going on?

She felt my question in her mind and answered it before I could ask.

“He... came and threatened us. Me and Andrea.”

I felt my balls clench, the rage instantaneous.

“Why?” I asked, seething, my anger like a taste on my tongue.

“He got served the order and it sent him into some kind of rage.”

“What did he do, Jade? You gotta tell me,” my voice controlled, emotions in a riot.

We looked at each other.

Finally she admitted. “He beat on Andrea.”

Oh brother. I hauled her up into a sitting position. “Why didn't you tell me?” I shook her. “Why didn't you tell the police? Garcia or Gale... anybody?” My eyes searched hers.

“He said he'd kill me if I told,” she admitted in a voice filled with fear.

God this guy.

He was gonna have to go. I could feel my pulse hammering at my temple in a dull throb. My anger in a cage I could barely contain. So help me if I was there with LeClerc and zombies showed up. I wouldn't be able to stop the dead. My intent wasn't strong enough.

Hell, I wanted this guy dead.

Dead and gone.

I looked down and Jade had paled.

I noticed my hands were still wrapping her arms. Her bare arms. Too late.

My bad.

She'd just gotten the streamlined version of her dad's end. My true fantasy.

My fervent wish.

She shook her head. “That's not the way Caleb.”

“Listen to me, Jade,” I said quietly, “he's not gonna stop. Sometime, like what just happened, he's gonna be there and I'm not. Pulse the cops. Put them on notice. Let them know that he transgressed the order,” I said, tearing a frustrated hand through my hair.

She nodded. “I will.”

“Let me be with you. You don't have to do it alone, ya know.”

She nodded. “I know.”

We sat quietly for a moment, the hot mood shattered like molten glass.

“What does this have to do with us... being together?”

She looked up at me from the crook of my arm. “He called me names, said I was... ” she didn't want to repeat it, I could tell.

“What?” I asked.

“It's ugly,” embarrassed.

I waited.

“He said that you'd just 'tap me' and throw me away. That it's what men do. That it's all women are good for. That he knew you had... already.

Not true.

“That I acted like a slut. Looked like a slut.” She hung her head in shame.

My head felt thick and I had a surge of thudding vertigo. I'd never wanted to kill someone so bad in my life. Not when Smith had her by the hair, not when Brett had hauled her off.

But for crushing her spirit and making her feel less when she was so much more.

Yeah, I wanted him to die.

I wanted his suffering first.

It filled my mind like a cup full of water, spilling over the edge and running onto the floor.

I thought of my words, moving my hand to her clothing, off that skin.

The skin that knew so much.

“I'm not gonna lie, Jade. I want you so bad you make my body ache. It's the truth.” I looked down at her face, the soft triangle overwhelmed by the size of her eyes and went on, swallowing, “But I don't want you just for that. I love you, I want to be with you. Only you.” I cupped her face, my thumb running over her jaw, wearing a hole there.

I deliberately moved my hand in a slow caress to her neck, wrapping my fingers around the smallness of it and she gasped, the tears flowing freely now.

“You love me,” she said, her eyes filling with the sure knowledge of it.

“I do,” I said, never looking away.

“You don't think I'm a whore,” she said in a soft voice.

I shook my head slowly. “I could never think that,” I said. The truth of my words echoing through whatever thread let her feel what people were really about.

She got up on her knees and leaned into me, her hands grabbing my shoulders for balance. “I'm ready,” Jade said. Her eyes held mine.

I smiled. Just the words I'd been hopin' to hear.

Instead, I did the right thing. “I've got all kinds of time.”

She smiled. “Like how much time?”

“For you? Forever,” I cupped the smallness of her face, her skin a silken brush under the warmth of my palm.

She pressed her lips to mine and we sucked up some more stolen joy. My arms around her. Protecting her from everything.

Including myself.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

We left the police station, Garcia and Gale fully aware of LeClerc. It wouldn't stop his dumb ass, but it would put Jade in a more powerful position if he thought going back over there was a good idea.

Garcia had followed Jade and I out into the gray day, rain threatening. Around here, it was the Pacific Northwest fall/winter; six months of gloom, gray and rain. Jade wore her pink puffy and it was a siren of color against the fade of the day.

“You kids need a ride?” Garcia said, looking at Jade.

She shook her head. “Better for me not to go home right now if you're gonna talk to Andrea.”

Garcia turned around and walked toward her. “You did the right thing, Jade.” His eyes searched hers and I took her hand. “He doesn't get to go to your home and terrorize women. It's Not. Allowed. That's why there's laws against domestic violence.”

Jade's eyes filled with tears that didn't fall. “I know, but she's scared too. And she'll be angry with me. Because I told. I told,” Jade whispered again, her eyes pleading for understanding.

Gale heard that last and said, “Someone has to break this cycle, Jade. This is the very reason Andrea has custody. He's not safe for you to live with.”

Jade nodded, she knew.

I broke the somber mood with, “Hate to let you down, with how much I love to ride in the back of your cool cop car... ”

Garcia glowered, his strong arms sticking out from stable hips that had seen some gym time.

“But,” I rushed on, “I have wheels now.”

Jade smiled, her sad mood dissipating.

“Oh?” He laughed. “Okay, Mr. Hart, show me your car.”

Gale rolled her eyes. “Do we have time for your car worshiping, Raul? Really?”

Jade threw a sympathetic glance her way but it didn't matter, us guys were on the clear path to Male Communion and the females would have to deal.

Garcia moved around my car appreciatively. Finally, he asked, “How could you afford this, Caleb?”

“Bry and I worked all summer. I was a landscaping slave and gave the money to Gramps.” I shrugged.

“Oh... so this was Mr. O'Brien's?”

I nodded. “Yeah, he never got rid of it from when he was a teenager.”

Garcia gave a low whistle. “That's a find and a half!”

“Yeah.”

“How much did he pay for it when he bought it?”

“Two grand.”

Garcia barked out a laugh, Gale and Jade giving him a peculiar look. “Those were the days. You know, my Dad had something like this.”

“Oh yeah?” I put the flat of my hand on the hood and Jade gave me a withering look like I was settling in for a long talk about cars.

Huh, go figure.

Females just didn't understand the importance of owning your transport.

He nodded emphatically. “Yeah it was a 1969 Mach I.”

“A Ford... come on, Garcia!” I all but yelled.

Chevy or nothing, that's what Gramps and I thought.

He shook his head at me. “It was The Car to have back then, trust me.”

I opened my mouth to defend Chevy when Gale interrupted, “Okay car aficionados.... ”

Garcia corrected her pronunciation in perfect Spanish.

“Whatever, we have work.” She gave him the pre-rant look. Ah-huh.

He had it. “Right.” He turned to me and rapped his knuckle lightly on the hood, close to where my palm lay, “Nice ride.”

“Thanks,” I said.

He walked off to do a little drive by at Jade's house.

We hopped in my car to go do something equally important.

I was going to visit Clyde. I needed to come up with a plan for him. He was a sentient being, not some undead pet. Gramps had me thinking about everything way too much.

Or maybe I was just starting to think about everything.

Maybe this adulthood thing wasn't so great.

I pulsed the engine and it came on with a low roar, purring when coaxed by my foot on the pedal.

After market stuff my ass. I was bettin' Gramps had juiced this thing to the moon.

A few fat drops of rain splattered the windshield and I pulsed the wipers on. They flung themselves back and forth, swiping the rain away.

Jade smiled and we drove off together. To the graveyard.

Home sweet home.

Clyde stood on his grave, legs spread, hands hidden under the same jacket he always wore (no change of clothes necessary), his burning gaze pinned on my car as I drove up to the furthest point that I could.

He was already out.

I hadn't called, but he'd risen.

Gramps was more right than he knew. Clyde was so much more.

Jade and I walked in the graveyard, weaving between the graves carefully, finally coming to stand before him.

He gave an incline of his head, briefly glancing at Jade. “Miss,” he said carefully, her role as my girlfriend understood. His formality was just who he was.

His eyes shifted to me and I was surprised to the soles of my shoes.

He looked painfully alive.

Living. Breathing. Vital.

I came to him and said, “I am feeling you, Clyde. I'm feeling you as dead,” the hum of him resonating like the rest which lay at my feet. All around me. “But you look like you're alive.”

Clyde nodded. “I have a confession, Master.”

I held up my hand and he hesitated. “Why don't you call me Caleb now.”

“Caleb,” he intoned, tasting it on his tongue, rolling it around to see if it sounded right.

Must've 'cuz he continued, “The policewoman comes to this place.” He pointed to the grave beneath him. She comes... and visits here. Takes respite in my presence.”

Oh shit.

Out loud I said, “What do you mean... she visits you? What, she comes by for a chat?”

“Caleb,” Jade said in a low voice, her hand on my arm. I cranked it down a notch.

Clyde became silent, looking at me with gravity.

“Sorry,” I said. I hadn't really meant to jump down my favorite corpse's throat.

“Apology accepted.” He paused to deliberate on his words. “She is not a master necromancer. But she has... a certain enigmatic energy that I can feel right here.” He made a gesture that made it look like her “signature” hovered above his grave.

“Can you hear her?” I asked.

He nodded. “I cannot respond, I cannot evacuate my place of rest,” he gestured to the disturbed earth. “But I can feel her energy.” He curled his hand into a fist and laid it where a beating heart should have been.

Cripes.

Jade spoke up, “I think the better question is why Gale is coming here in the first place. Big time creepy, Caleb.”

Clyde gave her a look.

I looked back. He was sharper than I would have liked and was understanding the nuances of innuendo. Was that even allowed? Right? Possible?

Apparently it was.

I paced a little back and forth, the sprinkling rain beginning to soak through my T-shirt. God forbid I'd wear a coat. I didn't even own an umbrella.

Hell, that was for tourists.

“Okay,” I stopped my frenetic pacing. “I don't know how creepy it really is, Jade.”

She looked at me like... please.

I shook my head. “You know how hard it is to tell other people how it feels to be an Empath, right?”

She nodded.

“Well, for Gale, it would feel good to be around the dead. Right?”

“It is the way that I feel as well. I feel energized around Officer Gale. Alive... more,” Clyde said and I stopped walking and turned to him, his face as serious as a heart attack, as Gramps would say.

“What are you saying?” I asked as Jade put a wet arm around me, the warmth of her seeping through my wet clothes.

Clyde's eyes bored into mine in the daylight, the ethereal glow of late day slanted and reflected around us as a light rain fell. His eyes seemed to burn from inside their sockets, so deep a gray they were charcoal. “She has caused me to live, Master. You restored me to this earth while she allows me to remain. Alive. I live because of her. While death screams all around me... I live because of her.”

My head spun. While my insane life rolled forward, and I thought I'd come to terms with Clyde, he'd made some decisions by himself.

The main one being the acquisition of the cop, Bobbi Gale.

Wasn't this just special? My parents were gonna die. And what did this mean? That the cop was what? Infatuated with my corpse? Was Clyde even a zombie anymore?

I let my power slide out of my body on an exhale and filter through to the graveyard, flowing through Clyde like a stream to a lake. Filling him.

The tether of death responded instantaneously, snapping taut between us, a silken web of sameness, like steel but tenuous and strong simultaneously. His mouth fell open, and mine mirrored his. Jade snatched her hand back, rubbing it like it'd been burnt. Feeling it up close like that was overwhelming.

For me, it just was what it was.

Crows landed and watched Clyde and I with glittering eyes, some tilted their heads.

They were all dead, of course.

So was Clyde, he was absolutely dead. And absolutely changed. Dead but alive. Somehow, he was other now.

I didn't know what to do with that. But I knew who I was gonna talk with about it.

Bobbi Gale was going to do a little explaining. Explaining the weirdness of visiting Clyde.

AFTD or not, there was something going down here.

Jade

Jade watched Caleb say a few more quiet words to Clyde, then in a spine tingling flesh crawl, she felt Caleb put him to rest.

It raised the fine hairs on her arms. They rose as if electricity rode her body, a blanket hovering just above her skin. She shuddered. She didn't let Caleb know how much the whole death deal creeped her. It didn't matter, she wasn't on the receiving end of the dead, she was just a bystander. Still, her power rose, reaching out to the call of the dead and the two were not dissimilar.

A complement. That's what Tulle called psychic abilities that were not the same “flavor,” but similar enough to blend together. She and Caleb's powers were a blend. Sometimes that wasn't a good thing.

Like now.

Clyde floated above his grave, the earth reaching up its brown fingers, clasping his form, pulling him down in a warm embrace. The rain soaked the dirt even as it swallowed him.

Caleb stood a moment more, his back to her and Jade saw the man he would be. He sat on the cusp of it, she thought. She let her eyes roam the back of him, the shirt plastered to his shoulders, seeing the muscle that he'd built there. Each incidence of violence, impressing him to work harder. She sighed. Jade guessed that it was what he could control. His physique and the dead. Everything else was a mess to be cleaned up when it happened.

Like her dad.

She was so glad that Caleb wasn't even a little bit Empath. Once in a while he'd get a flash of intuition, but she didn't think that was anything. If Caleb knew how terrified she really was of her dad he'd make Ali and Kyle make up their spare bedroom. It was just too awkward thinking about living with the Harts. But she felt bad about making him more a part of it than he already was. He was way overprotective and had a lot to deal with. Parker. Carson. AFTD and now the DI sample and her locating the owner. Jade wasn't even touching on the AP jerk that was stalking her best friend.

And from the looks of it, some weird thing between Clyde and Gale. What was that about?

But before Jade could really think about it all, Caleb was walking toward her, and she looked at him, really looked at him. He was almost as tall as his dad now, towering over Jade, his hair a rich chestnut, looking black now in the rain, hanging in soaking ropes he kept flinging out of his eyes. His gaze shifted to hers and noticed she was staring at him.

Caleb's eyes returned the heat he found held in hers.

She couldn't hold them off forever, sometime they'd consummate their relationship. Caleb said he'd wait. She didn't know why she wanted to. She loved Caleb, she didn't want anyone else. She knew that.

But words were powerful and her dad's still rung in her head.

What if she was with Caleb and he didn't want her anymore? What if he... left her?

She shook her misgivings away, she'd felt his intent, his feelings for her. He wasn't a user, he did love her.

Her head rose and met his eyes again. Caleb reached her and dragged her into his body, the smell of the rain and the faintest hint of the cologne he used wafted to her in their close embrace.

It felt like it was just the two of them out in the rain, a world apart.

But Jade was wrong, two eyes watched the young lovers.

Jealously.

The agent studied Jade and Caleb. He had watched the entire event with the zombie. Had seen the parlor tricks of Parker many times and it never failed to rivet his attention. The way the ground spit out the dead, then enveloped them in its morbid embrace still struck him with an odd sense of disassociation. Then the birds had appeared, like a macabre audience. He shook his head.

He would dispatch Hart for free. He was an unnatural. The boy made him uneasy. He detested his determination, his innate sense of justice. The agent thought him naïve. His absolute loyalty was especially troubling. His colleagues thought he could be bought. The agent was certain he could not. He'd studied the boy for some time. He knew the caliber of young man he was. He would never do what he was told. But, the agent was confident that he could be made to see reason. If the right buttons were pressed.

His attention turned to the girl.

The only time Hart was tender, soft... was with the LeClerc girl. He stared at the two as they married their bodies to each other. Hart held her head like a fragile treasure, wrapping his arms around the girl, dwarfing her with his size. He had size. Someday, he would be a big man.

The agent hoped to be the one to cut him down before that inevitability.

He smiled, using his stealth to release him from the clutches of the forest that backed the cemetery.

He melted into the twilight, his black clothing obscuring his form.

The crows watched him with glittering eyes, suspicious.

One let out a single caw, seeing his master turn to look at him sharply.

I broke my kiss with Jade when I heard one of the crows caw a shrill warning. At least that's what it'd sounded like.

My crows warning me.

I scanned the gloom. The rain was lessening and I couldn't see anything but unease crept over me.

“What?” Jade asked, pulling away a little.

“I don't know, something,” I said, giving a little shrug even as I pulled her in next to me, shielding her with my body.

“It's not nothing, Caleb,” Jade said, totally picking up on my disquiet.

I tried to form my words and not sound like a tool, “The crow sounded like it was... warning me.”

Jade laughed and I frowned at her. I began walking, dragging her along behind me. “It's not funny Jade.”

“Excuse me if I don't listen to the dead bird!” Jade said, exasperated.

I turned on her, grasping her shoulders. “Listen to me,” her eyes widened but I plowed forward, jamming my thumb onto the inky black pulse pad to trip the locks on the Camaro, “I have a big damn bad feeling about this.”

She scooted into my dry car and I went after her, locking the doors with a thumb swipe once inside. “What?”

“All of it. I don't like you getting sucked up with the cops... the thing with Sophie is too close to you, there's Brett's dumb-ass... ”

“Don't bring him up, he's not even an issue.”

I narrowed my eyes on hers. “He is so an issue, Jade. You just refuse to see it. He wants you and thinks if he hangs around long enough it'll happen.” My eyes searched hers and she could see what was in them.

“It will never happen,” she said with certainty.

My hands clenched on the steering wheel, the knuckles white. Finally, I turned my face to hers and she started a little at my expression. “Cut him off at the knees, Jade. Don't even say hi. Just give that jerk No Hope.”

She looked at me for a long time.

Then I added, just for good measure, “Do it for me.”

Finally, she nodded. “Okay.”

“Come here,” I said, swinging her legs to the side and pulling her onto my lap. “Where were we?” I asked and she gave me a small smile back. Her heart beat where I could see it, making the dream catcher charm pulse with its rhythm. Our lips met and we spent some more time steaming up the inside of the car.

A perfect end to a long day of revelations and confusion.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

“So, Gale wants to do Clyde,” Jonesy said with real feeling.

“I like it,” Alex added.

Jonesy frowned. “You would, perv-boy.”

Alex shrugged, “It is what it is. I'm not one to cramp people's sexuality.”

Wow.

John frowned. “I guess that's really big of you, Alex,” he said with something like awe.

Tiff laughed. “Alex... you're gonna go with the cop wanting to date a zombie?”

I held up my hand, this was getting way outta control. Why had I thought it'd be okay to tell the group. Jonesy? Was I high? Hell.

Jade put her hand on my arm, her look saying, nice going.

Yeah.

“Listen guys... I don't know for sure why Gale is visiting Clyde at Scenic.” I shrugged.

Jonesy gave me a significant look. “Let's do a run-down of the facts, Hart.” He raised his brows.

Jonesy facts. Subject to change... anytime.

Great.

“First, he's a guy.”

John interjected. “He's a dead guy that died in the 1930s. He doesn't think like modern people.”

Jonesy looked at John levelly. “I repeat, he's a guy.”

He had him there. John looked properly chastened.

“Yes, it doesn't matter what era a male is from. As a matter of fact,” Alex began, “I read a study that said the sexual appetites and methods... ”

“No,” Tiff said, snapping a bubble. When she recovered she said, “Just... no.”

Alex frowned and shut his mouth with a snap, rolling his massive shoulders into a shrug. His gaze narrowed on her. “This from the gnome-phobe.”

She gave a small shudder then said, “Bite me, Sims.”

Alex smirked, giving it consideration, making Tiff frown harder and Alex's smile widen into a grin.

Archer said to Jonesy, “This is all so entertaining. All the time you guys spend on sex, while no one is actually having any?” he said, nodding.

Everyone looked at Jade and I.

Hell.

Jade blushed so hard I thought her skin had changed permanently to a dusky red.

“Okay,” I said, containing my embarrassment with a supreme effort, “the deal is what to do about Clyde? We are here in the hideaway to come to a vote. Get a plan. Me telling you guys about... ” I paused here for phrasing purposes, “Gale's compulsion to visit Clyde is not the point.”

“Secondary?” John clarified.

I nodded. “That'll work.”

“Second,” Jonesy continued, raising a finger.

Huh. Jonesy the locomotive, no brake in sight.

“He's not really dead anymore.” Jonesy looked at us.

I shook my head. “No... I felt him, guys. He is definitely dead. Done. Lights out. Taking a dirt nap... ” I looked up at the ceiling of cars, trying to think of additional idioms from Gramps.

“Chillax, Hart, we gotcha.” Jonesy rolled his eyes just as Sophie squeezed through the opening.

“Hi!” she said. “What did I miss?”

Tiff barked out a laugh and Bry put his face in his hands.

“What?” she asked.

Jonesy said, “And three,” he nodded to Sophie in greeting, “Gale is AFTD but she may just be the juice old Clyde needs to stay above ground.”

Bry nodded, scrubbing his face then said, “No more six feet under for him!”

Tiff nodded, cackling.

Sophie gave a confused look to the group. “Boy, I definitely came in too late. What's going on?”

Jonesy bit into some of the secret stash of candy, tearing half the Snicker's bar right off. Through a mouthful he said, “Gale wants to do the nasty with Clyde.”

I slapped my forehead and John groaned.

“No!” I said, defending Gale's honor. “She's been going to the cemetery to spend time by his grave and, well, I don't know exactly what it's all about.” I leveled a spiteful look at Jones.

He shrugged.

“That's really weird, Caleb,” Sophie said, a look of distaste puckering her fully glossed lips.

Jonesy stuck his palm out like, see what I'm sayin'?

“Anyway, I think we've gotten terribly off topic,” John said, centering the group.

“Oh, I don't know, I like the first part. I'm thinkin' we should let that romance develop,” Jonesy said and winked at Sophie.

“Eewww!” Sophie said.

Tiff frowned. “What's wrong about it?”

Alex smiled.

Everyone blanched at her comment but she went on, unfazed, “Okay, I know it seems gross but let's address that somehow. From what Clyde says, she recharges his battery.” She popped off the milk crate and began to circle the area of their confined space, the ceiling cavernous, the floor space barely adequate. “Caleb raised Clyde right?” I nodded slowly, a dawning horror of revelation just out of reach. “Then you jerked him out of the ground how many times after that?” She looked a question at me.

I didn't know, I'd lost count.

Her eyes narrowed. “You don't even know how many now, do ya?”

I shook my head.

“And Parker said, he may never go down again. What would you think if sometime you go over there and he's not in his grave?”

I thought of Clyde the last time I'd seen him. Standing on his own grave, the wind lifting his hair as the rain pelted his clothes to his skin. The body he possessed alive, the one that held ownership now, his death signature a singing tone in my brain.

“Who wants to believe Parker, raise their hand,” Jade said.

Nobody did.

“Okay,” Tiff pegged us with her eyes. “I'll give you that, he's a murderous dick.” Bry barked out a laugh and she grinned, continuing, “But he had some wisdom to sling our way.”

“Yeah, like monkey's throwing their own shit,” Jonesy muttered.

Tiff laughed. “Yeah.”

“It doesn't answer the question of what to do,” I said.

The group was quiet for a second. Then Jade offered, “I don't think it's up to us. I mean, if Gale wants to ... ” Jade couldn't bring herself to say it.

“Commune,” Alex offered with a lecherous smile and Jade gulped.

“See,” she began, “it's really none of our business, right? I mean, it's not against the law?”

Sophie shifted uncomfortably. “Yet.”

She had a point.

Jonesy looked at Sophie. “They have any more idea about the attacker, Soph?”

She stared at him then said after a pause, “No.”

“How's realm going?” Jade asked.

She shook her head, her soft hair bouncing around with the movement. “I'm not doing so hot. Proctor’s up my ass about it.”

Alex smiled and John gave him The Look.

Sophie sighed. “Not literally, ya perv.”

Jonesy pointed at Sophie and said, “Yeah, what she said.”

Alex laughed.

Archer said, “Like I said before: obsessed about sex. And it appears that wars with ass obsession.”

“Speak for yourself, Lewis,” Jonesy said.

“Anyway,” Sophie said, “I don't think he's that worried, he's Level Five so what does he care? He's all Mr. Confident because he got to Amanda before the guy could do the deed. But it was close,” Sophie said, her hand going to her mouth, covering it entirely while her aqua eyes held water.

Lots of it.

Jonesy, not one to know what to do if the water fell said quickly, “What's that schmuck boyfriend of yours doing about it?”

It shut down the almost tears episode and she glared at him. Exactly what he'd been going for.

“Listen, there aren't two or three Buddy's. He is aware of it, he spends time in realm but he's only Level two.”

“I knew that guy didn't have it,” Jonesy said and Sophie rolled her eyes.

Credit where it was due, I thought. “Well, he's got something because if I ever go again with him, I'm gonna have to bring it.” Remembering the fight where it had been a near thing that I didn't get my ass kicked.

The guys were silent, they'd been there.

“Sorry Caleb,” Sophie said.

“Don't worry about it,” I said, thinking she could have better taste. She didn't know it, but Jonesy was perfect for her. Of course, Jonesy hadn't woken up to that little fact either.

“Like I said, you can't help who you like,” Alex shrugged.

It was perfect timing because Mia came in the hideaway with that chick that had the inside scoop on Alex's perviness.

Randi.

I thought Alex would shrivel up and crawl up his own ass.

He gulped and looked at Mia like she had brought a demon into his lair.

It was almost funny but then I thought about how nervous I'd been with Jade at first.

Jonesy couldn't let awkwardness lie so he took one look at Alex, six-foot-four of two hundred and forty pounds of awkwardness and almost rubbed his hands together in glee.

Hell.

“Well hiya Randi!” Jonesy said. “Wuzzup?”

Randi looked at him curiously, her almond-shaped eyes widening. “Mia invited me.”

“Hey Randi,” Sophie said.

She flicked back hair that was even blacker than Jade's. “Hey Sophie!” She seemed relieved to have another girl she knew around.

Archer said, “Let us 'lessers' hang, Mia. The stuck up ones can converge and pet each other like alley cats.”

Mia laughed. “It's okay Lewis, I am totally okay with being a lowly Photographic.” She scrunched up her nose delicately and pointed a finger at him. “You're a...?”

“Lock-Manipulator.”

“Right,” she snapped her fingers. “I forgot, sorry.”

“No problem,” Archer said and suddenly she noticed his shoes.

No irony that the Photographic forgot Lewis' ability.

“Wow, those are super cute,” she said, then added, “where'd you get them?”

“Nordstrom's,” he said, the faintest blush covering the perfect skin of his face, the broken nose that Gramps fixed barely noticeable, the bruises- gone.

Jonesy strolled over to him, touching the lantern absently, its sudden illumination startling Randi into a gasp. “Wow,” she breathed out.

He continued looking at Archer's footwear. Then the pants, shirt and jacket. He was well put together, all his clothes coordinated and perfect. Yet, he somehow made it look natural, like he wasn't trying.

Unstudied elegance.

I wasn't sure if it was a gay thing or an Archer thing. Whatever, I wasn't sure it mattered, he looked like he was stylin'.

The girls all came over there and began oohing and ahhing over his great wardrobe and even I could tell he was loving the attention for his efforts. He had the fashion thing totally handled.

Jonesy ruined his moment of glory with, “Hate the fruit boots, man.”

Archer's perfect brows jacked down over his eyes.

Mia turned to Jonesy, taking in his classic jock ensemble of jeans, tennis shoes and hoodie. “Coming from you... I'd say that's a compliment.”

“What?” Jonesy said, hand to his chest. “So I don't worship clothing...”

“Totally,” Sophie said.

“Yeah,” Tiff agreed.

“Shut up, Tiff. You wear the same crap I do,” Jonesy said.

“Don't tell my sister to shut up, Jones,” Bry said, body tense.

Jonesy looked at him. “Didn't mean anything by it, pal.”

“I'm just sayin... ”

“You tell her to shut up all the time,” Alex said logically.

“Yeah,” Bry admitted.

Jonesy threw up his hands and Bry said sheepishly, “I can, man. It's a sib thing.” He shrugged.

I didn't get it. Of course I was lucky enough to be an only child.

“I don't get to tell my sister to shut up,” Jonesy mumbled.

Bry nodded. “Trust me, pal, your time will come,” he winked.

And the awkward moment was over like that.

Until we heard the noises outside.

My head swiveled to Jade. “You didn't feel anything?”

I looked at the group and John looked embarrassed. My eyes narrowed on him. “Were you tuned up?”

He shrugged. “I didn't want any undead surprises.”

Great. Now we had company and we'd all been offline.

“Can ya warn us next time before you give us a dead arm?” I asked.

“What the hell is that?” Archer asked and Jonesy's eyes widened as I punched him in the place where the bicep begins on the outer arm and the shoulder starts.

With my knuckles.

“Damn Man!” Jonesy wailed. “Why the eff am I the fall guy for the demos?”

John smirked. Nice, his look said.

Archer looked on with interest. “Can you... ya know, move it?”

“Hell no! He screwed me for the next two minutes, the prick!” Jonesy said with characteristic drama.

I laughed and Jade said, “Caleb, I hate to say it but we need to see what's going on out there.”

“Yeah, ya ass hat, let me take my gimp arm that I can't use anymore and see what I can defend, ya moron.”

Alex guffawed, pleased.

We tumbled out of the hideaway and came face to face with Parker and his zombies.

They held Gale between them and Parker had one zombie on point, his steel grip latched onto Garcia.

The night was not looking up.

Parker's eyes met mine.

Stick a fork in me, I was about done on Parker. He was popping up all the time, cramping my style, trying to kidnap me one moment, then warning me the next.

Piss. Off.

Jade moved behind me and I wondered what to do in this mess.

But of course, that didn't take long. In the distance I saw a figure begin to grow as it gained proximity. Moving toward us with alarming speed.

It was Clyde.

Handy timing.

And he had rage etched on his face in hard lines. He came before Parker and met his gaze.

“Master,” he inclined his head at Parker. I was baffled, wondering what Clyde was up to. He turned his glittering gaze to mine, in the light of twilight his eyes were black pools of nothingness, the gray unrevealed.

They were telling me something I couldn't know.

The cops struggled and Clyde looked at Parker. “Release the young woman your subordinate restrains.” Clyde let his gaze slide to Gale, her eyes wide in her face, the zombie who held her had his forearm parked across her chest.

Parker stared and Clyde's lips thinned into a flat line.

He had never looked more dead.

He had never looked more alive.

The knuckles on his hands knobs of steel, braced to pummel.

“Caleb,” Jade whispered, her voice quaking.

“I know,” I said, thinking about what to do.

“Ask yourself why the cops are here, Caleb?” Parker asked like he knew the answer.

I shook my head. “I think the question that really matters is why you're here, Parker. You keep showing up and bad crap goes down. People die, disappear, whatever.” I spread my hands, restating the obvious.

“They're following you Caleb. You're in danger. You and your females.”

I drew Jade into the circle of my arms and Clyde saw it, his hands clenching.

“I told you to stay out of it. That means Jade too.” Parker looked at her intently and I said, “Don't you look at her. Don't you ever look at her,” my voice vibrating with emotion.

Clyde responded, his mouth opening in an involuntary hiss. I breathed out a relieved sigh when I saw his tongue was pink and whole in his mouth.

“Rein your zombie in, Hart. He's out of control, you know,” Parker said.

“No,” I said.

The zombie that held Gale tightened his grip and she whimpered. I knew how tough she was. That let me in on how hard the zombie was leaning on her. Testing her resolve.

Clyde didn't like her resolve being tested.

He swung an already clenched fist at the zombie with such force he split his skull on impact. It opened, spilling brains that looked fresh and gray over the top of Gale. The spread of it seeping and leaking onto the ground at her feet. A little made its way down her chest and began to leak into her uniform.

Clyde gave the gore a look of dreamy desire.

Then Gale's resolve broke with a scream and in a broken cry she shouted, “Clyde!”

Her fear clutched at the tether of my AFTD in a merciless and guttural pull. Clyde feeling it like a miserable vibration as if a taut string had been plucked.

He responded by unhooking the arm which still clung tenaciously across her collarbone, tearing it from the socket and flinging it.

At Parker.

He batted the arm away and with a look that stung me like a barb, sent a shuddering sword of energy toward the remaining zombie that held Garcia, the stab clean.

Death energy. I recognized it immediately and sent a spiraling command to Clyde like a tidal wave. It struck him and he flung himself on the zombie just as it wrapped its clenched hands on Garcia's neck, ready to spin his head off the column of his spine.

We couldn't have that.

Clyde snapped his arm forward and with a viscous jab at the zombie, it staggered back, releasing his hold on Garcia.

Garcia recovered quickly, ripping his gun out of its holster and leveling it at Parker.

Who had grabbed Mia.

Bry looked like he was gonna barf but it was the new girl, Randi, that saved the day. She'd let herself go to the ground and without a twitch, her body rose in ghostlike form, hovering above him. The distraction of her small body in front of him made him pause for just a moment, transfixed.

What the hell was she?

Alex and Bry leaped forward, tackling Parker and Mia was released. She fled, getting out of the way of the melee.

Clever girl.

Randi's body slid back into her physical form a few feet away, where she lay unconscious.

Jade screamed, “Caleb! Look out!”

A legion of ravens descended on the group. Called by Parker.

I flung the only command I could think of at them, scattering the power like birdseed at the flock. “Stop!” my mind bellowed.

Clyde covered his ears, getting some overflow and I instinctively pulled that thread back from him and redistributed the command at them.

They squawked, shrieking in agony as their masters fought for control. Three fell from the sky, six... then ten.

Really dead. Eyes exploded, globs of flesh and liquid splattered the soaked ground around us, the rain of yesterday making everything a mix of mud and gore. One crawled around in a circle, cawing for assistance.

“Oh God,” Jade said in a sick voice, her dainty hand covering her mouth. I turned her against my chest, my eyes going to Parker.

Who was strung between Bry and Alex, Garcia's gun trained on him for good measure. I watched as Alex's eyes shifted to Randi, laying on the ground. Unprotected.

I felt him. I did.

Our eyes locked and he left Parker to go to the girl on the ground.

Parker looked at me. “Don't do this. If I get caught, they will come, and you will be unprotected.”

Please. Pull my other leg and it plays jingle bells.

“Like you've been some form of protection here, Parker?” I said, not asking. “Hell! I'd love to see what you did when you didn't want to protect me!” I restrained an eye roll, Jade's head pressed to my chest, her arms wrapped around me.

Gale had been thrown to the ground when Clyde tore the zombie that'd held her apart. She was on her knees, preparing to get up when Clyde was there, his hand out to help her to her feet.

She took it.

And Parker snapped his gaze to mine. We both felt it. Clyde's connection to Gale, separate from mine.

And before we could say a word, he pulled her against him, hissing at Parker.

“You've got problems, Caleb Hart,” Parker said.

Yeah, I was getting that.

I looked from him to Gale. Her eyes were wide and dazed, held in the arms of my zombie, her AFTD vibration synced with his like a tuning fork of death.

This was so out of normal I didn't have one idea in the world of what to do. K, one thing at a time.

Parker.

Then Clyde.

“You're coming with me Parker,” Garcia said, whipping cuffs off a utility belt full of useful goodies. Jonesy gave the belt an appreciative look and Alex was riveted by the cuffs.

Figures.

I did roll my eyes then, taking in the mess of the crows, Gale held by Clyde and then I felt a subtle vibration in the air.

“Crap Hart!” Jonesy yelled as our hair lifted, the incoming stealth chopper lowering like a giant black bug, insect like chopper blades spinning above our heads. A Graysheet was planted on the legs of the chopper, an automatic pinned on Garcia.

He didn't say a word, twenty feet above us he didn't have to. His intent was clear. Garcia dropped the weapon.

Clyde put Gale behind him, crouching.

“No Clyde!” I yelled too late.

I watched him leap in slow motion, his hand wrapping the metal foot of the chopper, his other hand grabbing the muzzle of the gun. The Graysheet fired off a round and it plugged Clyde in the chest.

Gale screamed, like she'd felt the round, not he.

Clyde jumped like he was bitten, batting the automatic, spinning it off into the distance where it speared the water-logged ground, sticking up like a dirty baton.

Using the hand that had disarmed the Graysheet, he wrapped it around his black shitkicker and pulled. The Graysheet balanced, looking like he'd self-correct, but fell anyway, the fifteen feet of wet ground rushing to meet him. In the face.

His body broke when he hit the ground, making a sucking wet sound as it landed.

I'd never get that noise out of my head as long as I lived and after I died.

Sophie shrieked at the impact, gore spreading around his body like soup spilled.

Jonesy ran over to Sophie and pulled her to him.

Clyde swung his foot over the bar, bleeding a steady stream from a body that shouldn't have had blood. But it did. Somehow.

“No!” I screamed at him.

Enough, I thought. His hands paused.

Another Graysheet got out of the cockpit, his gun pressed on Clyde's temple.

Parker screamed, “No!”

The Graysheet stopped mid-trigger pull. I hadn't even felt it. He wasn't a Graysheet, he was a zombie.

A zombie soldier. His gun now aimed at Garcia.

“Let me go, Garcia,” Parker said in a low voice. “Everything will be revealed in time. Let. Me. Go”

Garcia let out a disgusted sound, looking as frustrated as I'd ever seen him. Bry pushed Parker away, eying him up.

Parker smirked at him. “Pretty ballsy for a mundane, Weller.”

Tiff said, “Why don't you go crawl back in whatever hole you live in, Parker,” snap-crackle-pop with the gum. “Instead of harassing the local teens?”

He narrowed his eyes on her. “You'll come to respect us someday.”

She met his eyes, her small hands planted over her neon orange hoodie. “Never you,” she spit out and Bry mirrored her expression. It was then that I saw their resemblance. Not in the physical, but in their emotional framework.

Disgust rode their faces, laced with disappointment like cyanide.

“Do you want me to drop the chopper?” Jonesy asked in his how's- the weather-voice?

Hell yeah!

“Don't, Mr. Jones,” Parker said.

“Yeah? Why not, ya pain-in-our-ass?” his brows raising to his hairline.

“We have a Null on board,” his eyes shifted to John briefly, then back to mine.

Huh, guess they weren't such slow learners after all.

“Looks like a stalemate,” John said evenly.

Yeah, that.

My eyes rose to Clyde. He understood, dropping the fifteen feet from the helicopter, his feet kissing the ground gracefully with a hop and a jog. His timepiece bumping against him as he ran the few short feet over to Gale.

Their hands reached out and twined together and as I watched the blood began to slow out of the hole caused by the bullet wound, then stopped.

The zombie kept its gun focused on Garcia. It reached behind itself, and smacked its hand on a pulse-pad. A retractable rope of nylon, bound in a sinuous green lowered. Parker backed up to it, coiling his fingers around its width.

“You may not believe it now, but I was trying to save you. I am trying to save you,” his sincerity was baffling. Why couldn't he like... pulse me? Whatever.

I didn't respond, just watched him as he hugged the rope. It slithered back to its perch, a green snake encapsulated by a zombie-raiser.

Like me.

But not.

We watched the chopper take off, almost noiseless, the zombie perched on the foot of it never faltering. The gun in its hand shone in the low light of encroaching night like an oily sword. Pointed at Garcia.

Ready to defend.

When he was a dot on the horizon of our vision, he disappeared in the cockpit that opened like a gaping black mouth, then they were gone.

“I could have landed that sucker. Like, on its head,” Jonesy said, slapping his fist into his palm.

John shook his head. “It was a no-go, dude. He had a Null, you couldn't have gotten past that.”

John was right but I was looking at Clyde. And Gale. Gale and Clyde.

He had her against him again and she didn't look herself. I didn't even know what she looked like. Dazed.

Mia, Sophie and Jade looked at Gale and she sort of came back into herself. I watched as her eyes filled back up with her personality, realization striking.

She was in the arms of a zombie. A dead guy.

She backed away from him as if stung. His eyes showed the loss of her. Tightening around the edges. The fine muscles of his forearms bulging and clenching with restraint. Restraint not to take her back into his embrace, to respect the distance she had inserted between them.

There were muscles there to clench. Oh yes. I had done a dandy-ass job of raising Clyde. He came to my call like a ripple in the water. I placed a finger on the surface and he rose from the barest touch. But the connection he had now with Bobbi Gale rivaled the one we shared. I turned my attention to her.

“Here's the thing,” I began, “we know you've been hanging around Clyde's grave.”

Jonesy pressed his palm to the lantern that we'd hauled outside the hideaway and the orb burst to life. Garcia covered his eyes, the gloom receding from the brightness like a blanket pulled back.

“What's this, Officer Gale?” Garcia asked, looking from her to Clyde.

Wow, this was pretty awkward. I went on in the middle of it, “Clyde told me that he can... ah, feel her presence above ground.”

Garcia frowned. “What does that mean? And tell me in a way that doesn't make me see cross-eyed please.”

Gale twisted her hands, clenching them. “I don't know why I did,” she said, looking down at her feet. I'd never seen her shy, she didn't wear it comfortably, a foreign emotion. She glanced at Clyde, his body tense like a live wire, hanging on her words, his eyes smoldering black fire.

“Tell him, Roberta Gale,” Clyde said, his words vibrating with intensity.

She stared at him, then looked at Garcia. “I think, last year... when I met Clyde... ”

“The corpse?” Garcia asked rhetorically, catching flies while his mouth hung open, his expression incredulous.

She flinched, but was brave and continued. “Yes,” she said defiantly. “He's dead, I get that, Raul.”

“Then what in the blue hell are you circling here, Bobbi?” he asked, completely oblivious to the teens as witnesses.

Tiff stepped forward, spitting her wad of gum out, where it landed on top of the brainless zombie on the ground with a wet slap. “I know.”

We all looked at her.

Tiff looked at Gale and she returned her stare. “He's not dead to you,” she said with sureness.

Gale nodded. “I think he stopped being dead when I met him.”

Clyde looked at her with a tenderness that belied his actions. His toughness, strength and integrity underscored by his soft regard of her, stripping him of nothing.

Garcia was speechless, his wheels turning, none of the scenarios he thought of were good. I could tell by his expression.

I touched on an idea and turned to Clyde, his face already turned to me.

“Clyde?”

“Yes... Caleb,” he said with difficulty, honoring my request to use my name even as his default tried to kick in.

“Did you answer my call?”

He nodded slowly. “I did.”

I could hear an unspoken something in there, I moved Jade away from me and walked over to him, all about this moment, this possibility that was forming in my mind.

He knew what I was really asking and answered my unspoken question.

He put his fist to his heart, so tightly clenched the skin looked like a rubber band. “I felt her duress. I had to come, I had to answer.”

No, my mind denied. “Did you respond to my call?”

“Yes. I did. I felt hers as an echo, a distress call.” His eyes never left mine. “One of my kind was abusing her, I could not abide that.” His eyes searched mine.

“Did I misstep, Master?” His gaze begged me for understanding.

I shook my head. I didn't know all the consequences of this but we were in trouble here. It was a whole new can of worms, as Gramps would say.

Big trouble.

Huge.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

Sophie

The agent had her. Just a few more seconds and he would be inside. He swarmed her mind, fingers of his ability pressing carefully everywhere until he found the spot where he could encroach.

There! He was in, he saw her immediately, her mocha skin in sharp contrast to her light aqua eyes. She was dressed as all AP girls, as they saw themselves. Sophia Morris had a long dress of white. Gauzy, it floated as she moved, looking around herself furtively.

She knew someone had breached her defenses.

He had to get to her before she saw him. He was allowed no witnesses.

He surged forward and in a moment of inspired intuition her mind located him. She turned as his hand passed through the cloud of her hair, missing definitive purchase.

Sophie ran, screaming in her mind to Proctor, uselessly. She had just entered realm, he would not be concerned yet.

A lot could happen in less than a minute. She tried to hide but he was everywhere and nowhere. She evaded, his hot breath on her neck.

“Mr. Proctor?” Randi asked.

Thomas Proctor looked up from his stopwatch impatiently. Sophie had been in realm only twenty seconds. He really wanted to stay on top of her time. Sophie had reached a plateau of progression to PofA. She could no longer traverse realm. She was stuck there, never advancing. God knew she had the talent. This scare with the other AP girl had put the kibosh on pressing her onward, challenging herself. He found himself mildly insulted that she didn't think he could protect her. After all, he was a Level Five.

His eyes met Randi's. Just a Level Three but tough as nails. She'd been in and out of realm but didn't have the skill or ability level to get to PofAs like Sophie. She'd be a domestic. Traveling locally and not globally. Oh well, not everyone could travel everywhere.

“Yes?” Proctor asked, impatience slipping into his tone.

“The bell rang... we want to be dismissed,” Randi said logically, her eyes, dark and exotic, difficult to read. He frowned, Proctor had been so caught up in seeing Sophie through realm he'd cut the timing of the drill too close to the end of class. He sighed, exasperated, seeing that boyfriend of hers, Buddy, already hovering at the door waiting for her. He'd have to bring her out of realm.

Damn.

His thoughts were abruptly shattered when Randi screamed, “Mr. Proctor!”

He jerked his head to where she was pointing as the Hughes boy rushed forward.

A large bruise began to bloom on the side of Sophia's face like an ugly flower.

It was the size of a fist, Proctor thought frantically as he glanced down at his stop watch and belatedly realized she'd been in realm too long.

Two and a half minutes.

She had not moved on to her PofA. She was being held in realm.

Against her will.

Proctor laid on the floor, slipping the tether of consciousness, his last wakeful sight of Sophie, blood beginning to trickle out of her nose, her breathing coming in gasping fits.

Sophie felt him before he laid hands on her and cracked his fist on the side of her face. She free fell slowly, spiraling downward and he followed, his hands tearing at her dress.

Sophie tried to fight him off, but his hands were everywhere and she could feel her panic set in.

She'd never been hit before, the pain was an enormous throbbing mass against her face. She looked at him as they fell together, committing his face to memory. If she got outta this she was gonna nail this creep.

Seeing her stare at him the agent backhanded her. What he really wanted to do was knock her teeth down her throat. That'd subdue her. Realm was difficult to work within, it was a balance of a non-real environment and he was chosen specifically for his ability to maneuver within its constraints.

He did, gripping her wrists and launching them above her head, her shoulders shrieking in protest.

Sophie screamed. She screamed for Proctor, she screamed for Buddy.

She screamed for Jonesy.

The agent smiled, he knew no one would assist her, smiling as the blood from his blow leaked out her nose, a nice bruise swelling her lovely face.

He would enjoy this.

A sound alerted him and he turned, seeing the damned teacher come at him.

“Get off her!” Proctor shouted, the sound of his voice swallowed in the pillow-like environment of realm.

The agent threw Sophie away from him and began his attack on the teacher.

It was a twofer. He'd kill them both. Happy day.

Sophie got up on her knees, her dress a shredded mess and watched the attacker come after her teacher.

Proctor was defenseless against the assault. It was obvious to Sophie that he'd received hand to hand combat training. Proctor may have scared him off the first time with Amanda but he wasn't going anywhere now.

He was expert.

And he was killing Mr. Proctor.

Sophie watched as he rained blows along his torso, driving Proctor to his knees. As Proctor fell like a downed tree, his eyes met Sophie's.

Regret lay in their depths.

Sophie closed her eyes, resigned.

Despair washed over her like spoiled milk.

“Listen to me, don't be a hero,” Randi said as Buddy looked at Sophie.

It was just the two of them, there was no one to ask for help, last block of the day and Randi had been late leaving. Proctor had laid down when he saw damage on Sophie, realizing too late that the attacker was with her in realm.

Or someone was.

Their gazes locked, Buddy deliberating. When he looked at Proctor and saw bruises appear, he turned toward Randi. “Get help!”

Buddy laid down next to his teacher just as blood began to pour out of his mouth.

Internal bleeding.

Organ damage.

Buddy went under.

Sophie opened her eyes and Buddy was there. The relief was so overwhelming she couldn't breathe.

The attacker turned and Sophie whimpered, the teacher at his feet, clearly dead.

His attention was fixed on her, his eyes shifting to Buddy's at the last moment, his smile faltering.

Buddy didn't wait, he rushed the attacker, hoping he'd been worn down by attacking a defenseless girl and beating their teacher to death.

The agent met the new arrival and immediately knew him for what he was.

They circled each other warily, each sizing the other up.

Buddy began. Fresh, young and aggressive. He peppered deliberate jabs along the agent's rib cage, feeling the attacker's foot catch him on his knee. He began to buckle and countered with a foot strike of his own, sweeping the leg.

As he fell, Buddy launched himself on top of him, hitting his esophagus in what he thought was a killing move.

Unfortunately, the attacker had cat-like reflexes and anticipated the delivery, evading it smoothly as he hit Buddy directly in the chest. The breath wheezed out of him but Buddy had already struck again and this time he got the attacker in the chest.

An impasse.

Buddy tried to breathe but felt his vision grow dim, the sensation of being torn from realm, uncomfortably-painful. It felt like a turn on a roller-coaster, chaotic and jerky, he was thrown out of realm and into his physical body with a sickening lurch.

His rage at not delivering the death blow to the attacker, was unparallelled to any he'd ever known.

He'd almost had him.

Buddy rolled over and evacuated his stomach on the floor of the Astral Projection classroom.

He was in good company, Sophie was vomiting beside him.

But she was in good hands, that prick Mark Jones was holding her hair away from her face as she did.

Perfect, Buddy thought. What a classic SNAFU.

Situation normal, all-fucked-up.

Caleb

I ran to the AP class, filled with students, adults trying to corral them outside.

I swept into the classroom and was greeted by Jonesy holding Sophie as she puked her guts out, Jade beside me.

When Sophie looked up, Jade gasped. Her face had been beaten, one side of swelling in an ugly red lump, squeezing one eye shut.

Beside her lay the body of Mr. Proctor.

I knew he was dead.

I could feel him.

My eyes met John's. Alex was hovering around the new girl, Randi. She was talking to the school nurse and the cops assigned to the scene.

Gale and Garcia.

I was beginning to think there wasn't anybody else on the force. It wasn't long before all the kids were gone and it was just the cops, Jonesy, Alex and Randi.

Jade and I stood there as the dead techs came in. I heard gloves snapping on and the smell of powder residue filled the air. The fragrance bringing a memory trigger of last year, the graves, the killings.

Smith.

I felt a presence at my back and my eyes met Tiff's. She knew what the deal was. A lone tear escaped her eye. The only time I ever saw Tiff cry.

I didn't know it then, but I'd never see her cry again.

I guessed I should leave. It wasn't really my investigation, besides they had this. I started to exit the classroom and Garcia said, “Hart, don't leave. Jade can.”

I shook my head. “No way. I don't want her away from me until I know what's goin' on here.”

Gale raked her fingertips through her hair. “What's going on is the AP teacher has been killed and the school nurse was brought in to use the first batch of depressant in an emergent situation.”

She'd kinda lost me and Garcia clarified. “The kids needed to be saved. The attacker returned and this student,” he glared at Buddy, “went into realm without adult supervision, playing hero.”

“I wasn't playing. If I hadn't gone in after her, she wouldn't have survived that guy.”

Really.

Buddy looked at me and I raised my eyebrows.

“He was about to hand me my ass, Hart.”

“Language,” Gale intoned.

I ignored her, focusing on Buddy.“What... was he like a pro or something?”

He nodded. “Or something,” he said, licking a cut beside his mouth and wincing. As I looked at him I didn't see many places that hadn't been abused pretty good, his face a mass of welts, cuts and dark marks that would be bruises tomorrow.

He moved closer to Sophie and Jade came forward scrunching down next to her. Jonesy stood, allowing Jade access and the girls talked quietly together.

Jade reached out to touch the welt on Sophie's face and gasped.

My head whipped around. “What?”

Garcia forced his notepad back in his pocket crooked, the tip sticking out awkwardly. He left Randi's side, questions forgotten.

His eyes met Jade's. “What is it?”

Her throat hollowed out and I knew she was frightened. “I know who did this to her.”

Garcia got down on his knees, staring intently. “Tell me.”

Jade tucked a hair behind her ear, looking shamefaced. “I don't know a name.”

Garcia exhaled in a frustrated rush.

“I'm sorry,” Jade said, her lip trembling.

I came forward. Garcia wasn't going to bully Jade just because she didn't have all the answers.

“I know the impression,” she said hesitatingly. “I've felt it somewhere before. I recognize it.”

He stood, planting his hands on his hips, legs spread, brows furrowed. “But no name?”

“I have a face,” Buddy interrupted. “Obviously,” he added.

You fight a guy and ya tend to remember it pretty well. The face. Before it becomes unrecognizable. Like Brett's, I thought with mild satisfaction.

“But you don't know who he is?” Gale asked, standing beside Garcia.

“Nah.”

Garcia flipped open the notebook, pen poised. “Description?”

Buddy crossed his arms over his chest and shrugged. “Maybe five-nine, two hundred...” he combed a frustrated hand through his hair.

“That's it? Big guy,” Garcia said, indicating a Santa Claus belly with his hands.

Buddy shook his head. “No way, this dude was solid.”

“Two hundred pounds?” Garcia asked, doubting. “That's what I weigh.”

Buddy looked at him. “Me too. What, we're both six foot? That's about right. This guys spends time at the gym. Real time.”

Garcia made a low sound in the back of his throat, insulted. Obviously he spent some time at the gym too.

Buddy corrected Garcia's assumption with, “No, like a couple hours a day. He knows martial arts too, hand to hand, the works.”

Garcia's eyes narrowed on him. “How old are you...?”

“Buddy Hughes,” he said, supplying his name.

Garcia waited.

“Senior,” he said.

Garcia began at his feet and when he got to the top of his head he said, “How'd you manage to be Johnny-on-the-spot here?”

Buddy looked at Sophie and said, “I was waiting for Sophie. We're goin' out.”

Garcia looked at Jonesy and he took that as his cue to leave, having been quiet this whole time. Subdued. Very un-Jonesy like.

“I'm gonna take off,” Jonesy said, looking at Sophie one more time. “You gonna be okay?” he asked her.

She nodded. “Buddy's here, it's okay Jonesy.”

Jonesy's eyes tightened but he nodded, looking at me and Jade and gave us a guy salute then he was out the door.

Buddy watched him go with something like relief.

Jade watched him go with knowledge in her eyes. I didn't have to be an Empath to see his frustration, his concern over her nearness to danger. He wore it all the time now. Buddy saw it too.

Garcia watched the empty doorway where Jonesy had exited, missing nothing. Every dynamic of the group was naked to his knowing eyes.

“So Buddy?” Garcia began, pen poised. “You spend some time on the mat?”

“Enough,” he shrugged.

Garcia turned to me, “Didn't you guys get into a scrape not long ago?”

We nodded, saying nothing and he snorted out a laugh. The dead techs frowned at him. “What was so funny?” their expressions said.

He sobered up. “Not chatty about it?”

We shook our heads. “Fine,” he said.

Sophie stood, with Jade's help. “I can help with the description.”

Garcia's face lightened. “What can you add?”

“Well, he kinda looks like every dude. He's a...”

John was outside in the hall and said loudly, “Nondescript.”

Sophie looked at him. “What he said.”

Garcia went to the open door and closed it on Terran's face. Terran pressed his nose practically against the glass of the small window that bisected the door. I stifled a laugh.

“But... he has a scar,” she said.

“Great. That's a good detail to remember Sophie.”

She pointed to her temple and said, “It's here,” she pressed her finger very close to her eyebrow, “and it's like a star.”

Gale frowned, inching away from the teacher's body that was being encased in the body bag behind her. “Like an injury scar?” she asked and I looked at her quickly, that was kind of a brilliant leap of logic.

Sophie shook her head. “No, it was perfect, like it was made.”

Garcia palmed his chin, thinking. Finally, he tapped his pen to his notepad and made it disappear into his pocket.

“I've pulsed your parents, Sophie,” Gale said. She turned her attention to Buddy. “I couldn't reach your guardians.”

We all waited for Buddy to speak.

He shrugged. “Been emancipated for going on two years now. Out on my own.”

“Really? That's a very independent situation you have there Mr. Hughes.”

They stared at each other. I was starting to get that Buddy Hughes was a self-contained guy. He didn't rush in to fill those awkward silences where the other person waited for you to talk. He just didn't.

In other circumstances, I thought we might have been friends.

Garcia opened his mouth to say something more but Gale interrupted, “Look Raul, let's have the kids go home.”

“Is there gonna be someone assigned to Sophie?” Buddy asked.

Good question, I thought.

Garcia nodded. “Protocol. Although she is no longer a minor, there was an attempt on her life.”

The nurse walked up to Garcia. “I need to speak to you privately for a moment.”

Garcia held up a finger and said, “Just a sec, kids.”

They walked over to a corner, speaking intently to each other for a few minutes. We shifted our weight, none of us talking. Jade and Sophie's eyes kept turning to the shroud of black plastic zipped over Proctor. Sophie's eyes welled with tears that ran over her wounded face. Buddy pulled her in against him, stroking her hair flat, where it would bounce back as soon as his palm left it.

Garcia walked back over to the group, a troubled expression on his face.

“What?” I asked.

“The depressant...”

We nodded.

“Miss Connolly here, administered it to take you kids out of realm. That's not really its intended purpose.”

Jade asked, “Isn't it supposed to suppress paranormal ability during sleep?”

He nodded slowly. “Yes. But when,” he looked at Randi, “she got help, the nurse knew that if you were already using your Astral Projection ability, already engaged, as it were, that it would take you out of it, quickly.”

He watched us make sense of it.

“So, if you're not using but you're asleep, it keeps you from using it. But if you are using it stops it mid-use?” I asked.

He nodded.

So, it was like a weapon. You could inject that crap in a gun and hit somebody with it and it'd halt their ability.

Almost Null-like.

Powerful. And not good. If that stuff got passed for more than a depressant used for suppression during sleep, there'd be a buttload of misuses. Abuse. Exploitation.

The Graysheets would love it.

Nifty little drug. An inhibitor and suppressant, both.

Okay interesting but, so what?

The nurse looked really uncomfortable. Finally, she said what the problem was, nailing us with the horribleness of it, “There is a residual of twenty-four hours.”

Well shit, maybe it wasn't what I was thinking.

It was.

“Both Buddy and Sophie will be vulnerable tonight for sleep. They may go into realm, beyond realm, to a Point of Acquisition. If the attacker were to meet them there... ” she let the sentence trail off. Then continued, “It's not safe for either of you to sleep tonight,” she said, looking into their eyes, hers full of worry. “We can't give you a stimulant, it will be dangerous with the depressant already in your system. I'm sorry. I did what I needed to so I could get you out of realm. Unfortunately, now you are still in danger.”

She looked at Garcia. “Do you have a Null on staff? Somebody that can watch over the kids?” She gave Buddy a considering look. “Young adults,” she corrected.

Garcia thought about it, giving me a surreptitious glance.

Smith, we were both thinking. He'd been a helluva Null.

Of course, he'd been a lot more than that.

He nodded. “I think I can find somebody.”

He looked at Buddy and Sophie. “You two will have to be together tonight. No arguments.” He looked at Sophie, seeing the damage to her face, his expression softening. “Let him stay at your place. You're younger and there is no one living with him,” Garcia jerked a thumb at Buddy and I got the feeling that Garcia wasn't thrilled with him. He should have thought he was great, saving the day and all, but Garcia was slow to trust.

Probably a good way to be.

CHAPTER NINETEEN

“That's quite a story, Caleb,” Dad said, his stare telling me that there may be more to it.

I threw my hands up while Mom bustled around in the kitchen, getting the last of supper on the table.

“I swear, for once, I didn't have anything to do with it.”

He looked at me, his stare level. “It's extremely alarming that Sophie was attacked. And the depressant they're using... ” Dad shook his head, mildly disgusted.

“What Dad? We all got the dose last week. I thought you were for it.”

Dad nodded. “In theory I think it's a stupendous advancement. But that's not what this nurse told you,” he took off his reading glasses and began cleaning them with the end of his work shirt. “What she's advocating is something that works in a latent context, inert. It's duality makes it dangerous. Take the case in point.” He finished, indicating the problem with Sophie and Buddy needing a Null to stand watch in case the attacker tried for her again.

Mom plopped down on the bench, putting her chin in her hands, elbows on the table, foot swinging a mile a minute. “If I were Sophie's mom I'd want some assurance that horrible attacker couldn't enter her... realm?” she asked like a question and I nodded. She had it right.

“And the teacher dead,” Mom shook her head sadly. “It's a tragedy. That someone can enter another person's realm and whatever they inflict manifests on their body.” Mom shuddered.

It was worth a shudder.

“Die in realm, die in life,” I said cryptically and Mom frowned. I shrugged, it was the truth. And it was taught in Sophie's class.

“Oh!” Mom remembered. “Sensei Anderson phoned.”

Pulsed, I translated.

“And he wanted to remind you that lessons will resume next week. You remember he was getting the dojo overhauled?” She asked, popping a hot bite of mashed potato in her mouth and doing the food juggle.

I did remember but I thought it'd been scheduled for next week and told her that.

She dismissed me with a hand. “I think I am pretty capable of keeping track of things, Caleb. It was always next week.”

Dad raised his eyebrows. “We know you're capable, Ali.”

They exchanged a look and I rolled my eyes.

Parents.

Sometimes they were so lame they sucked the oxygen out of the universe. My universe.

I stood after giving Onyx a covert morsel. I walked my dishes over to the sink and jerked on the hot water, scraping the respective scraps into their proper place. Mom thought she was training me. But what it really was is I was training her not to hassle me every time I did the boring daily crap.

I turned and she had a look of pride on her face.

Who knew separating the trash was such a big deal?

I grabbed Onyx's disgusting ball and headed for the door to throw it in the forty degree weather. It was fall but winter was coming, the temperature hovering above freezing. Rain would drive down what wanted to fall as snow but without the commitment. Typical Kent weather. I thought about that. We'd get six months of this then spring would come.

I threw on a hoodie with Onyx at my heels.

It smelled like rain, a storm coming.

I had that right.

Principal Chen cruised back and forth on the stage. All black and in mourning even when one of her teachers hadn't just got creamed by a whack-job.

She was extolling his virtues and I hadn't known him so I was kinda unfazed. And secretly thrilled I wasn't being called to raise him or any exciting crap like that. It would've sucked balls.

Sophie sat next to Buddy, with dark circles under her eyes. Well, eye, that was. The other one was a slit, the side of her face pretty bashed looking. I had a hard time wrapping my mind around a man doing that to a girl. There were a lot of guys that felt that way. Some that didn't. Jade sat at my right and Jonesy on my left. He'd been awfully quiet since yesterday. Jade held hands with me and Sophie. Jade had been at Sophie's last night. Which had made me vaguely uneasy. It didn't make sense that I would worry. Buddy was there, a Null that was a cop and Jade wasn't AP but somehow, I didn't like it.

Love wasn't rational.

“In summary,” Chen said, using her Nazi march across the stage, a pulse-mike attached to the lapel of her Sensible Black Suit, “there are sufficient grief counselors for any student that wishes to discuss yesterday's incident involving Thomas Proctor.” She looked out over the sea of faces, many of which had taken the time to glance at Sophie and Buddy. She actually looked worse than Buddy. Probably because she hadn't been able to defend herself. I would have given a lot to see Buddy and the attacker. I wondered what that guy looked like. I really did.

“No one need shoulder this grief on their own. Thank you for your attention,” she finished.

I guess I was just desensitized to everything, being a Cadaver-Manipulator and all. I sorta felt he had been neglectful with Sophie. He shouldn't have tempted fate after that Amanda chick had almost been a casualty.

Chen got down off the stage and we were dismissed from assembly. Waste of time but there were actually students crying. Brother.

Sophie was crying. But I'd give her that. Jonesy watched her with a frustrated look on his face.

“God I want to mangle that prick that did that to Soph,” he said to me in a low voice, his fists clenched as he watched Buddy and Sophie together. Her nose was red from crying, her face distorted on the side that'd been hit.

“I hear that, man,” I clapped him on the shoulder. If someone touched Jade I'd have a physical reaction. I knew because I had.

Speaking of that I turned toward her and motioned her over. “Hey.”

“How's she doin'?” I motioned with my head toward Buddy and Sophie.

She shrugged. “Still kinda shaky. It was okay with the Null last night. She didn't think she'd get any sleep but she did sleep.”

“Good.” I looked at her and she put her hand on my arm, the palm burning my skin. Everyone melted away around us and her mouth made a little “O.” She may know what I was thinking about now.

“He hasn't been back,” she said.

The J's looked at her. “Who?” Jonesy asked.

“My dad,” she whispered.

“What about Andrea?” I asked.

“She was pissed that I said something, of course.”

That didn't make sense to me. You'd think she'd want the cops involved, protecting the two of them.

She nodded. “Yeah, I know, it's weird but it's like a code in our house.”

“What is code?” John asked.

“Not telling,” she said automatically.

“I could never do the code,” Tiff said, hearing that last.

Jade shrugged. “I know it's not normal, but it's all I knew before I lived with Aunt Andrea. And that is all she knows.”

Tiff snapped her gum. “That's seriously effed up.”

Bry frowned. “Come on sib-spawn, stop elaboratin' and get your butt in the car. It's bad enough I had to suffer through that weak assembly with all the cry babies.”

She narrowed her eyes at him. “Just a sec, briefs-in-a-bunch.”

He exhaled impatiently, stalking off to talk to some other seniors.

Jade smiled at Tiff. “I wish I had just a little,” Jade made her index finger and thumb have a tiny little space between them, “of your feisty attitude.”

“No,” the J's and I said together and Tiff whipped her head in our direction, her eyes like slits.

Jonesy saved it, “There can only be one Tiff,” spreading his hands wide

“Damn straight, Jones,” she said in cautious agreement.

Cripes.

He winked at us as she began to walk away.

Randi came walking up at the same moment as Alex was backing away from a group of people and he plowed into her, spilling her pulse-reader, purse and all that girl related crap all over the place.

As a bonus, she fell on her ass.

Tiff noticed all this and said, “Nice job, dimwit, creaming Randi. Could you go a step further? Maybe just sit on her and get it over with.”

Alex actually looked green. Here was this chick that he had a thing for and he had just used his two hundred and forty pounds of pure muscle to sideswipe her. Into the floor.

Nice.

He recovered, running over to her and tried to help her up. She glared up at him, completely intimidated-not. Perfect.

He ignored her look and jerked her up by her arms and she yelped.

He'd grabbed her too hard and let her go immediately, misjudging his strength in the midst of his desire to right the wrong. Wow.

She fell again.

Jade cringed and walked over to Randi, as did Sophie and Buddy.

“What's going on?” Buddy asked.

Tiff blew a huge bubble and before she could suck it in, John popped it, splattering it all over her face, some of it trying to climb into her hair. She swiped a ton off her face, rolling the gum into itself in a sticky wad and glared at John. Who calmly looked back. “I've been dying to do that since forever.”

“Good for you, jackass. Now the crap's in my hair!” Tiff said, unhinged for once, flailing around trying to get all the gum with the rest of the gum.

It was priceless.

Bry laughed and knuckle bumped John. “The things I can't do because she's my sister.”

“That was kinda compulsive, Terran,” Jonesy said with a smirk of pure admiration.

“I know, I'm sort of shocked myself,” he said.

“Argh! This nasty shit is everywhere, John!” Tiff said, beyond annoyed.

He grinned, high color riding his cheekbones, his hair a darkly burnished orange flame on his head.

Alex smiled and Randi laughed, brushing her butt off and taking the hand that he offered. His grip swallowed hers whole and it struck me they were the most unlikely couple. He was tremendous and she was built like a China doll. Fragile and delicate, she came to maybe mid-chest. I guess perv-boy would have to catch a clue. I was thinking she was feistier than Tiff even. I looked at Tiff again.

Probably not today though.

The Dump

“I know I'm not a longstanding member of the group,” Archer said, looking around the inside of the hideaway, “but I was wondering what your parents thought of the last Parker episode, Caleb?”

Jonesy opened his mouth to elaborate when Lewis said, “Thanks for your willingness, Mark, but I am interested to hear what Caleb has to say.”

Jonesy glared at him. I still couldn't recover when he called him Mark.

We had reconvened at the hideaway with a loose plan to go to Gramps'. His house was huge. It wasn't lake weather but he'd have the fire going and food galore.

And no Nazi parent in sight. Mom had been on the warpath (I saw one of the Skopamish in my mind's eye and almost laughed). I thought my friends could use a break. We'd miss her pizza but Gramps had ideas.

Interesting ideas.

“He's a problem. But Parker's an untouchable problem. Garcia said that when he filed his report about the chopper chock full of zombies that he was stonewalled.” The group looked at me weird.

“His words, guys.”

John clarified, “He was met with resistance and a basic lack of cooperative info exchange.”

Tiff snapped her gum. “Nice, Terran. Now, if you'd just put that smartness to use with gum.”

John blushed. I thought it was too funny. The one time John had got a wild hair diggin' up his ass to be spontaneous he pulled it on Tiff.

Nice.

I shrugged. “So, it's the cops' call. My parents are leaving it in their hands. Now,” I looked at Lewis, who didn't really have the full flavor of the group, “the first time he was gonna take me. I'm not gonna lie, it sorta set the tone from that point on.”

Archer smiled. “I would think so.”

“Can ya talk like a teenager, Archer? Or is that part of the gay thing?” Jonesy asked rudely.

Sophie said, “Jonesy, lay off. I think it's cool how he expresses himself.”

“I can dumb down my sentences directed at you, Mark. Would that be equitable?” Archer said with the ghost of a smile on his lips.

John laughed. “Need a translation, Jonesy?”

He shot a look to John I interpreted as, go die. “No! I get what he's saying, but all that fancy talk...”

“Well then, Mark, reiterate what I just said,” Lewis said. And I was pretty sure this time our group may have been busting at the seams with brainiacs. Terran, Sims and now... Archer. Gayness aside, he was Smart as Hell. Mom would have said his gayness didn't define his intellect or some happy shit like that. Of course, the beauty of that was that she wasn't here.

So why did her thoughts come to my mind? I shook my head. Haunted by the parental dynamic.

Jonesy looked helplessly around him. Getting nowhere he huffed, crossing his arms. “I'm pretty sure. But... whatever.”

Archer smirked and Alex gave him a guy clap.

“Hey... where's Jade?” Tiff asked, seeing how strange it was that Jade wasn't here with me.

“Mia's pickin' her up,” I replied. It got me thinking. I looked down at my old watch and saw she was taking her time. I looked up at Bry, the lantern hissing around the conversations that were going on.

“Did ya talk to Mia?”

He nodded then frowned. “Yeah, she said she'd be here... ” he looked at his pulse, his eyes snapping up to mine. “Thirty minutes ago.”

“What?” Archer asked, not understanding our immediate alarm.

Jonesy smiled. “Here's the deal, when something happens around Caleb, it could be life threatening.”

Way to break in the new guy, Jones.

“Pulse her, Caleb,” Sophie said as a logic girl move. Communication is Key.

Right! I swung my pulse up and thumb-swiped it.

Initializing...

The neon green characters illuminated, floating together and flashed-

Hot One- Top five contact.

I waited impatiently while nothing happened. I tapped my foot, itched my head, shifted my weight. The group hanging on the head of a pin. The silence became bloated.

Finally.

Pulse inoperative. Non-receiving.

My head jerked upright and met Bry's eyes. “Can't reach her... ” he said, dread filling his face.

“Inoperative,” I inserted, panic clutching my body, adrenaline making surging bile rise, engaging the gorge reflex.

“Non-receiving,” he added, his eyes holding all the weight of the world.

It was a miracle that we got to Jade's house in one piece. We put maniac driving to the test. We piled out of the car and Sophie and Tiff came charging alongside us.

Bry stopped Tiff with a hand on her arm, dragging her over to him before she could bash through Jade's front gate. My eyes flicked to the house, all in white. Silent.

Silent as a tomb.

“No, sister,” he shook his head.

She tried to tear her arm away. “Knock it off, Bry! That's Jade in there... and Mia,” she added in a low voice and Bry flinched.

He shook her slightly. “You don't get it cuz you're a girl. But you're my sister. I can't let anything happen to you. Got it?” His eyes bored into hers. “Mom and Dad would have my butt in a sling. But more than that, you're a pain in my ass, but I love ya.”

She stopped her gum chewing, eyes wide.

“Promise me you won't do something stupid,” he said, shaking her again for good measure.

“Okay,” she said in a quiet voice.

Wow, a miracle.

John came up next to them. “I'll keep an eye on her.”

Bry swept his eyes to Terran, taking in his lanky build and extreme height. But it was his eyes that convinced Bry.

It was like Gramps said- it's not the size of the dog in the fight. It's the size of the fight in the dog.

John Terran had a lot of fight.

Bry knew it and nodded his head.

Tiff rolled her eyes like she was having an epileptic fit. Jonesy was all ready to be on point with Sophie when Buddy showed up.

Flanked by all his friends.

Bry and I exchanged an uneasy glance as Diego, Brett, Carson and Brody walked up. Christi was there as the cherry on top of the misery cake.

Fuck me, I moaned inside my head.

“Who invited the ass hats?” Jonesy said, inciting them instantaneously.

Sophie raised her pulse in the air and Jonesy said, “Soph, seriously? Like things aren't stupid enough?”

She rolled her lip between her teeth, the bruise below her eye a grotesque green and violet, the swelling gone, a fine network of bloodshot lightning running through it like spider webbing. “I wanted Buddy to come.”

Great idea, I thought miserably. I glanced at Jade's house and Bry and I nodded at each other, getting ready to infiltrate.

“This is swell for you doofuses to show, but I think Jade and Mia are in trouble... ” I began.

“Yeah, as much as we'd like to parley, I think you need to piss off,” John said and Alex grinned. Terran the Glib.

Always.

Diego didn't think so, striding forward and getting right up in John's space. Personal like.

Even then I think we could have toned it down. Except that I had kinda put the knowledge of Brett digging Jade on the back burner. And here I was, frantic to get to her and he was almost as much. And like the dim bulb he was he tried to ruin our stealth by barging through the gate.

I intercepted him, his face healing from the last beating I gave him. “Don't just step in the shit, Mason. I don't know what's going on.”

His brown eyes glared into mine. “Well I do. Her dad's been here twice this week already and if I know him, he's doin' something right now.”

Doing something.

I went to move toward the gate and Brett stopped me at the same time that Tiff clocked Diego. I had just enough time to see that John was shocked out of his sneakers she'd just smacked Diego when all hell broke loose.

Diego grabbed Tiff around the neck and I swear to all things holy that John bared his teeth like a pit bull and head butted Diego, his lips pulled away from his teeth. Diego staggered back, his hold on Tiff loosening.

Bry screamed like an enraged bull and went after Diego, leaving the rest of us vulnerable.

Alex looked at me in a complete panic when I gave him the glance like, come on.

“I took a nap,” he shouted.

Hell. That meant his REM sleep had kicked in the depressant and he'd be worthless for awhile. A strong body without a clue.

“Earn your pay, Sims!” Jonesy screamed as he pile drived into Carson.

“I don't know how to fight!” Alex screamed as he stood there looking like the brick shit house he was without a map.

“Fake it!” I yelled, moving toward Buddy. Because to me, he was the real threat.

While Jade languished in her house with her crazy ass dad I went to town on Buddy.

As I saw it, he was in the way of rescuing my girl.

Jade was in danger.

We squared off.

Jade

Jade looked over at Andrea, a beaten and bloody pulp on the floor and tried to make herself smaller. She couldn't rescue anyone. Her crushed pulse, along with Mia's, littered the ground around her.

She couldn't pulse Caleb. Tell him goodbye.

She watched her dad pace the living room, holes in the wall standing witness to his fists. When Andrea had fallen like a slender tree to his abuse, he had begun on the walls.

Jade knew from experience she would be next.

Mia locked eyes with Jade from across the room where LeClerc had separated the girls. She was somewhere beyond fear.

Raw terror bulged in their depths. It struck Jade that Mia might have never experienced anything like this before. She shivered, trying to keep her teeth from chattering. That would attract notice.

From Him.

He had booze in one hand, clenched in his meaty fist, chugging it down as he muttered something about her behavior, swinging the bottle around in manic glee.

Her sluttiness.

Jade knew it was untruthful, meant to hurt. She guessed it was better than his fists. But not by much. She scrunched into the corner more, trying to align herself into a ball. She knew the best way to defend her organs. He could still get to her kidneys though. She turned her back into the corner.

He whirled on the girls and Mia whimpered, her eyes widening. Jade bit her tongue until she tasted copper. Mia couldn't be heard. He'd gagged her with Andrea's pantyhose. He'd stuffed the biggest part in her mouth and wound the legs around her head and tied them.

Mia screamed and it came out as a muffled wail as he approached. He grabbed her honey-colored hair and tore her upright. Tears streamed out of her eyes from the shock of it, her scalp literally on fire. Mia put her hands in front of her in supplication and he back handed her. Her head snapping around painfully.

His eyes sought Jade, bloodshot and frantic, the booze forgotten and empty beside Andrea's still form. “This your whore friend here?” he asked in a quiet tone that was so much scarier for its softness. He shook Mia by her neck and a series of muffled yelps sounded beneath the nylon. An imprint of his hand stood at livid attention on her cheek. Her creamy complexion made it stand out like a stop sign on a cloudy day.

Jade shook her head. “No. I don't know her. She's just some girl, Daddy,” Jade said, hoping if he thought Jade didn't know her, she'd become unimportant. He'd focus on her instead, leaving Mia alone. She was innocent after all.

It had worked before when Mom was alive, Jade thought, clenching her hands so tightly the nails bit into the flesh of her palms. The pain chased the sadness as he came toward her, dumping Mia at his feet.

Jade didn't watch his approach, instead she watched Mia's eyes fill with emotion.

Desperation.

And underneath that, horror.

Jade closed her eyes in defeat.

Skopamish

A dull bell sounded and the Chief of the Skopamish heard it as if through a vast lake. Water rippling in all directions. The sound of it washing over him in deepest slumber. He stirred, remembering his duty, something important lay outside this time, this consciousness.

His eyes snapped open and he was greeted by a darkness so complete it was black velvet that caressed his mind, his soul. He breathed and dirt filled his mouth and with it the smell of rich earth reached him.

“Master,” his mind breathed, remembering that which called him.

He rose, his body seeping through the dirt as through a sieve, solid yet porous, he flowed through the soil which held him as he rested. He departed his grave, the fresh air moving against his skin like a warsong.

He spit the earth that lay upon his tongue onto the sodden ground at his feet.

He rested no longer. He was needed.

The one who owned death. Transcended death, needed him.

He would come, as would his warrior brethren.

He had burst out of the earth amongst strange dwellings that had fires that did not burn brightly.

He turned his gaze to his brothers, they nodded in recognition, readying their weapons for battle.

Their master had given the battle call.

The warriors of the Skopamish were ready.

With a shrill cry they ran with sure feet to where the master fought to recover a woman of the tribe. His intent was as clear to them as if he spoke it.

The Chief of the Skopamish clutched his tomahawk tighter as he ran.

The blade was soon to be wet with the blood of the enemy.

CHAPTER TWENTY

“Hart!” Buddy yelled at me as I came closer. I didn't even pause. Jade's name beat like a pulse in my skull. I couldn't think for its rhythm.

“Listen to me,” he said, his crouch defensive. “I don't want to fight you,” his voice sincere.

I straightened, never taking my eyes off him. Sensei would have been proud.

He did too, the fighting of the other boys around us the backdrop to our words.

“Jade's in trouble and you dickheads showed up. She could be in there now! Her dad... ” I began but he interrupted me, “I know man. Brett told me.”

My eyes leveled on his. “True?”

His shoulders relaxed. “Yeah, let's go get her.”

Effing finally, a break.

Then the Skopamish showed up. Their chests heaving, rotting eyes like dull raisins in their skulls. Their eyes found mine like a witching wand seeking water.

“We have answered,” The chief said, his tomahawk a dull silver in the late afternoon, the last of the sun winking off the metal like a fallen star.

“Caleb!” I heard someone scream for me and didn't immediately recognize the voice.

I ran past Diego and Bry in an embrace that would have been funny if I could have seen past the blood. Jonesy and Carson were heaving their guts out, having whaled on each other so bad they were puking. It was Archer and Alex that had stayed by Sophie and Tiff... like unlikely guards.

I tore past them, the Skopamish flanking me like soldiers.

In a way, they were.

They were mine, the rightness of their presence a balm to my shredded nerves. I came through the gate and Brett was at the door, jerking on the knob.

“It's fucking locked, Hart!”

And beyond that locked door, I could hear Jade screaming.

One wailing shriek on top of another.

A burning began in my feet and rose to my head in a rush of heat that engulfed my body. As if from a distance, I heard the shrill cry of the warriors at my back, the sound of the daggers escaping their sheathing a crisp metallic song behind me.

Seized by inspiration I shrilled Archer's name, “Lewis!” I bellowed.

He sprinted, graceful and fluid. He could have been the star on the track team I thought wildly, with a touch of shock.

“Yeah!” he screamed at me as he ran.

“The door!” I hollered.

Thank God he was smart.

His hand went right to the knob and it gave under his command like a key turned in a lock, cut to fit.

He swung the door open and we flowed through en masse.

Jade

Jade lifted her head, feeling like it weighed a thousand pounds and looked at the group when they burst through the door out of her one good eye. Her dad had kicked her with his boots until her side was numb. She knew she had broken ribs.

She could tell. If she could protect her body for just a little longer he'd get tired.

Beating someone was hard work, she thought dreamily, shock taking up residence for the duration.

Three someones, if you count Mia, Jade thought as her lucidity began to desert her.

She took in Caleb as he came through the threshold and his eyes pierced hers, his protectiveness and concern for her something her Empath skills felt as if he'd touched her. Jade guessed that their connection was deep enough for that now. She was grateful beyond words. But she was tired.

Jade decided it was time to sleep, her defensive strength leaving her finally. Caleb was here.

It would be okay, she thought as her vision turned from fuzzy to dim... then finally, it became blissfully black.

Jade sunk into the uneasy unconsciousness of abuse. Her body struggled to neutralize the injuries inflicted on it.

No small feat.

Caleb

I saw Jade slip away before my eyes, the Skopamish getting the play by play on a direct circuit to my emotions. There was no holding back when your girl was a broken doll at the feet of her own father.

Pure rage surged through me and I thought I reacted quickly, but Brett was already at her side, having been two steps ahead of me.

I should have seen that flash of metal sooner but my eyes were trained on Jade and I didn't notice until it was too late.

LeClerc held a knife up high above his head, a deadly arc, making its way toward Brett. Brett evacuated its twin from somewhere in the folds of his hoodie. His fist held the hilt and he came up as LeClerc came down. The blades intersected each other.

Intent formed in my mind before I was aware and the chief surged forward, his feather bouncing as he leaped at the pair.

LeClerc's blade sunk to the hilt in the side of my zombie who didn't even flinch. His hand was already moving fluidly, the tomahawk an extension of it. His arm was a thing of fluid grace that had been many times practiced.

Brett sunk the blade into LeClerc's belly, LeClerc wore an almost comical expression of dull surprise. As my zombie shifted his weight away from the side compromised by the blade he sunk the cutting edge of his tomahawk into LeClerc's thick skull.

It joined the blade that Brett had used to gut him, the mother of pearl hilt gleamed dully in the bluish white light of the LED's that lit the room. The knife made a grotesque ornament protruding out of his fleshy belly. LeClerc fell like a bowling pin. His body lay beside Jade's. The chief of the Skopamish put his moccasined heel against LeClerc's hitching chest and with a practiced jerk, the meat of the metal slid out of his skull.

My zombie looked at me, his death gaze steady.

What could I do? He'd done well. I nodded in appreciation.

He'd killed for me. He'd murdered LeClerc.

The war cry sounded, his tomahawk raised high in the air in triumph, blood and thicker bits clinging to it.

Brain matter.

Death sung around me and my head snapped to attention. A new thread had begun to weave with the Indians.

Jade was dying.

I ran to where she lay, sliding like I was hitting home base, her head in Brett's lap.

I could feel her death like a stale metallic taste on my tongue.

Not Jade! My mind screamed.

“Do something Caleb!” Sophie yelled.

Bry ran over. “Hang on dude, the medics are coming.”

I looked at him, my hand on Jade's chest, her pulse thready. “Did ya think to get an Organic?”

He nodded once.

Maybe there was time. I didn't want to tie her to me... like Onyx was.

I looked around, catching Mia's battered face looking back at Brett. His face told me something.

“What do ya need, Hart?” No guile, all business.

I couldn't ask, I didn't have the right.

I did anyway. “I need to take some of your life force.”

Brett looked at me for a full ten seconds, then he looked at Jade and his face got tender.

My jaw clenched.

“Okay. She can't die, Caleb. She's one of the good ones.”

“Yeah,” I said, feeling like that was the only thing we'd ever agree on.

I kept my hand on her chest, the heartbeat beating with irregularity. I grabbed Brett's hand, he looked at me but wasn't scared.

He was scarred from his past and those lessons had made him unafraid.

I opened myself to my power and it came. I could feel the Skopamish, beyond them I could feel the gophers, field mice, bugs. Then the power fluttered at Jade, feeling her life ebbing, waiting to claim her.

Death waited for Jade to come into its embrace.

I gritted my teeth, staring at Brett, his face a mirror of mine. “Do it,” he bit out.

I did. I called the fingers of power and drove them into Brett, he gasped in surprise. “It's cold,” he said through his teeth, grimacing with the pain.

I nodded, transfixed in the process, I began to transfer his life energy to Jade. It flowed like warm taffy, strung between the two of them, a tether of life and death.

Jade gasped, rich color filling cheeks that had grown ashen, shock stealing her coloring, her warmth. Her eyes snapped open and she grasped my free hand. Then she noticed her face was in Brett's lap and instantly intuited what we were doing.

Not too shabby on the Empath vibe.

“Stop it,” she whispered. She looked up at Brett with green pools of emerald fire, they shimmered as he held her stare. Through his pain, he pushed the hair out of her face.

“No,” he said softly, with a tenderness that made me want to commend him and kill him in equal parts. I seethed and I was grateful. It was such a confusing wash of muck that I didn't know when the Organic arrived until she tapped my shoulder.

I turned to look into Jezebel’s somber face. “I think I'll take it from here, Caleb. I have two patients instead of one.”

I opened my mouth to protest and she held up a hand. “One would have been bound for the morgue, but for you,” and her eyes took in Brett's and she nodded in his direction, “and your friend here.”

I didn't correct her on the friend part with an effort.

The medics converged and Brett fell backward into the arms of one and Jezebel shifted Jade to herself, immediately beginning her body scan as she called them.

She looked up at her lead medic. “We need transport. Like yesterday.”

He dug his pulse out of his red smock and pulsed for transport.

“What?” I asked, wanting in the worst way to touch Jade.

“We need a chopper. You've staved it off, Caleb, but it's a near thing, she's sustained extensive internal trauma.”

I gulped, thinking of my own nightmare last year.

I looked over at her dead dad and a cruel smile twisted my mouth. The Skopamish moved forward, a mirror of my emotion standing on faces that never wavered from mine. Waiting, eternally waiting.

He lay in a pool of blood that spread around his body, creeping across the floorboards toward where Jade and Brett lay.

I was beyond glad that he was dead. The zombies felt my fierce joy, pulling their lips back from their teeth in matching smiles that looked like grimaces.

My friends stepped back from them, looking anxiously at the warriors.

Jezebel and the medics gave nervous glances their way. “Are they going to... ?” Jezebel asked.

“Nah, they're cool,” I said, looking down at Jade. She gave a weak smile at me and I breathed a little easier.

I heard the pulse-sirens before they showed.

Gale and Garcia popped into the house. Cops-in-a-box, I thought with humor that was laced with the edge of hysteria.

Garcia waded in, gun naked in his hand. He saw me and made a low noise in his throat. I knew it had been a swear word.

“Why am I not surprised?” he asked to no one and everyone in the room.

“Not now, Raul,” Gale said, indicating the blood and gore of LeClerc that was spreading into the crevices that ran between the wood slats, inching toward the mop board that hugged the wall and bisected the ground.

“See it was like this... ” Jonesy began and there was a collective groan in the room. Garcia whirled on him. “Absolutely not.”

He turned to the medic and Jezebel. “Will the girl live?” She nodded tersely but added, “She would not have if it hadn't been for Caleb and Brett.” She smiled at us and I looked at Brett, who was an alarming shade of nothing, holding his chest like a five-hundred pound guy had used him for the receiving end of his ass. He nodded at me.

He was going to be okay. We both looked at Jade. The medics put her on the stretcher as the whir of chopper blades could be heard over the house.

Garcia made the circle motion with his hand. “Get her out of here, I'll pulse the morgue and get the body out of here.” His eyes took in all the kids standing around, many with white, shocked out faces. “You kids get outside, now.”

Jezebel stood, noticing Andrea for the first time. Her hand flew to her mouth... she ran to her and dropped to her side. Rolling her over gently she used a practiced hand and opened it above her head, then her heart. Her eyes met the cops'.

She didn't have to say it.

I could feel her, Andrea was part of it now.

Part of the dead.

Jade made orphaned in a night.

LeClerc had beaten his own sister to death. My eyes met the J's, Sophie's, Tiff's, Archer, Alex, Bry and Mia's battered face. I saw the same thing in all of them.

Sorrow.

Sorrow for Jade. And what she'd come home to. A home without family.

I hung my head as I followed the stretcher out, not daring to touch her with her aunt's death in my mind, swirling like slow poison in my consciousness.

She looked up at me and I saw she already knew. Somehow, with not one ounce of AFTD, she knew that death had welcomed Andrea into the fold.

I saw something vague standing in her gaze. Maybe it was a trick of the light, but I thought I saw something in the swimming green that gave my heart pause, made my soul hiccup.

Accusation.

I looked at her until she was in the helicopter.

Then I looked at where she'd been until the chopper was a dot in the sky that was edging toward twilight.

Bruised and beaten, the dark looked like I felt.

They loaded Brett into the ambulance and Jezebel hopped in last, her gaze meeting Garcia's. “He'll be okay, needs a few days to recover.”

“And the girl?” he asked, his eyes searching her face. I realized at some point in the last couple of years that we'd become more than just a call to come to, a scene to take note of, contain.

He cared. He cared about us.

Gale stood by his side and put a hand on his arm. “They're here.”

The dead techs came in, splitting into two groups, they swarmed like bees over hives. Two hives, both LeClercs, both dead.

I swallowed, looking for the Skopamish.

But they had vanished.

We filed outside. I used my call to locate the tribe and they were tucked away in their graves like they had never been.

But they were here. The chief murdered LeClerc. Or was it Brett who was the murderer?

Garcia looked at the group, numbering fourteen and scowled. “Start talking,” he began without preamble.

Jonesy opened his mouth and Gale gave a shake of her head and he reluctantly closed it again.

Mia is the one that started talking. It was an hour before she was done. She had to stop twice to drink water. Bry didn't even try for subtle. He gathered her against him and held her tight until she stopped trembling.

The shaking didn't really stop until she finished. She didn't move away from him. Carson's group was quiet. Even Christi. It proved the severity of it all. I mean, if Queen Skank could shut her whore mouth for more than three seconds, shit was bad.

I whipped out my pulse and told the parents. I asked Mom if she'd go to the hospital for Jade.

My eyes were burning with the need to cry. I clamped down on it like my life depended on it.

Garcia smiled. “I think we need you to follow us, Caleb. Somehow, I think there's more to the story than you're letting on.”

I looked at the blood and other stuff all over the floor, the chalk outline of Andrea and LeClerc, their bodies in the shrouds of plastic death and could only nod. Maybe I wasn't getting out of this after all.

Was there something illegal about using a zombie as a weapon?

Because I had to say, it had been pretty damn effective. Or, because Brett actually struck first, gutting LeClerc like the swine he was, was he the actual killer?

The question that seared my brain was where would the finger of blame be pointed when the dust settled?

Who would it land on?

Questions swarmed in my head like an ant hill poked.

I pulsed Gramps on the sly. I needed back up.

I followed the cops to the hospital. Like a caravan, my friends followed after me.

You'd have thought it was funeral procession.

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

Mom spoke softly next to Jade's ear, scooping the hair away from her face as I entered the room with the cops on my heels. My parents parted like water and there was Jade, wires entering her everywhere like small snakes.

I took a shaky breath and approached her bedside, my eyes flicking to Jezebel's. “She's out of the woods but has sustained internal damage, three broken ribs, a punctured lung and esophageal bruising.” She looked at me for a moment more then said, “It could have been worse. I haven't asked her but... ” She looked down at Jade. “Did you... ?” I could tell she wasn't sure how to phrase things.

Jade answered the unspoken question. “I know how to protect myself pretty well.”

I closed my eyes at her words. She'd had this happen before.

“I was just lucky that he'd already beaten everyone else and the walls. He was tired. If he'd been fresh... he would have killed me, instead of Andrea,” she said with a gasping hiccup as she covered her mouth with one of her small hands.

“Don't, Jade,” I whispered, taking the hand that wasn't covering her mouth, holding it in mine. I looked at her, thinking about her curled up in a ball in the corner while LeClerc beat on her. How she'd known how to position her body to minimize the abuse. It blew me away. I was stunned by the circumstance, their deaths.

Her logic in the face of fear.

Her eyes glistened and I squeezed her hand, afraid to touch anywhere else. I felt my Dad's hand on my shoulder. Not saying anything, just being there.

Jade looked at Jezebel and asked, “Is Brett going to be okay?”

Jezebel nodded and I frowned. Couldn't help it. Brett would live. He'd been a tool I'd used.

Garcia came forward. “I'm sorry for your loss Jade.” His eyes stared into hers with sincerity. “And I know that this isn't the best time but we need to ask you a few questions.”

Jade nodded but spoke, landing the biggest bomb we'd had in weeks, “He was wearing it,” she said, the tears that threatened spilling over her cheeks and dampening the awful hospital smock she wore.

We all stood in a loose group, staring at her stupidly.

Garcia leaned forward, understanding it was big. “What? Who was wearing what, Jade?”

“Brett,” she whispered, taking her hand back and wringing it with its mate.

The sample.

John and I looked at each other. It hadn't been my zombie that had struck the death blow. He had just guaranteed its goal.

It was Brett who had always intended death.

The Death Intent of LeClerc in his mind. Weeks ago, months maybe.

Garcia looked stunned. “Brett Mason was the DI?”

She nodded. “I recognized the hoodie right away,” she said. Then continued, her eyes glancing down, the blackness of her lashes like soot on her pale skin. “I didn't put that together right then... ”

“Shock,” Jezebel said and Jade glanced at her, giving a small shrug.

“I don't know,” she said.

“So, LeClerc was going to bite the big one anyway? It wouldn't have mattered what we did? In the end, Jade's flash of awesome precog told us what was gonna happen,” Jonesy said, throwing his hands up in the air like, see how all this coolness comes full circle?

Mom said, “Okay, Jonesy. Let's take a break outside the room for awhile.” Her eyes gave him the look and he seemed to get that being gleeful about Jade's dad's death with her right there was somehow uncool.

“Sorry Jade,” he said, contrite.

“It's okay,” she said, turning her face away into the pillow.

Brother.

Garcia whipped out his notepad and looked intently at her. “So this is your final testimony. Brett Mason killed your father with premeditation?”

She knew what that meant. We all did.

Maybe Brett was gonna go down. I loved it in theory but it wasn't right. It didn't matter how much I wanted his ass to fry. He had saved Jade from certain abuse, he had wanted to the whole time. In a way, he was braver than me. I had wanted LeClerc dead but I would've never planned it.

He did.

Gale nodded. “I think it's time to hit the Mason kid with a few choice questions.”

Garcia shook his head, his razor stare cutting into me. “I think Caleb may have a few things to add.”

My parents stood behind me, their presence a warmth at my back.

“Let's go out in the hall where we can talk about these things privately.” He gave me a look, his eyes making a subtle shift to where Jade lay then back to me.

Gotcha. He wanted to talk more about LeClerc.

I pressed a kiss to Jade's forehead and she gave a shaky smile. “I'll be back.”

She nodded and I left, the pale moon of her face burning in my mind, clenching my gut.

I folded my arms, getting pissed. “I told you, I didn't call the Skopamish. They just came.” I slapped my thigh with my hand, the sound of it ringing in the strange acoustics of the hospital corridor.

“I'm not blaming you but the morgue has found an interesting wound in LeClerc's skull. And it's not like you have been forthcoming with details at the scene before our arrival.”

“Stop busting my balls, Garcia.” I heard Mom gasp in the background. Dad was probably catching her as she swooned.

“Caleb,” Dad warned.

“Right, sorry.” My eyes said differently, Garcia's stare locked with mine. It was enough. I saw the rooster feathers on him stand at attention.

Gale put a hand on his arm. “Listen Raul, let me ask a few things, K?”

He looked at her sharply, his feathers definitely ruffled. She looked at me for a moment. “Listen Caleb. This is important, we need a sequence of events. We need to establish who killed LeClerc.”

“Jade told you,” I said for the fifth time, exasperated. “Brett had planned on killing him. I don't know why!” I threw up my hands and paced. “Ask him why he was gunning to murder LeClerc,” I stated, plugging my hands in the front pockets of my jeans.

“We plan to. But right now we need to go over each thing that transpired, in the proper order, then go to Mason with the run down. We've already talked to Mia Cote and she corroborates everything we know so far. But this bit,” she pointed her finger at me, “your zombies showing up...”

“His fully armed zombies,” Garcia said, arms folded across his chest.

“What was your first clue?” I asked, not bothering to hide the sarcasm.

Garcia leaned in toward me, hissing softly, “The mortician found a most unusual skull fracture.”

I didn't say anything.

“It looked like a small ax. As a point of fact, the blade exactly matched a small ax, wielded from a lower position. A defense position. Or possibly the attacker defending another.”

Death by Tomahawk.

“I know it was the Indians, Caleb,” he said for only my ears, straightening.

“Yeah. They came,” I shrugged like, so what?

Garcia threw up his hands.

Dad said, “Do we need counsel here, Officer Garcia?”

Just then Gramps strolled in and the situation went from bad to worse.

“What in the blue hell is going on here? Why are the cops up in his grill, Peanut?” He directed his question at Mom, who after all my inappropriateness looked a little green.

Oops.

Dad all but did a face-palm on the spot. “Mac, I think it's best if you let us handle it.”

Gramps eyes narrowed to slits. “I have no doubt that you have many things handled here, Kyle.” He looked Dad in the eye, his glance sliding over to include Garcia, “But when it comes to clusterfucks, I think I may have the corner of the market on righting them like rain.”

Mom gasped and Dad's mouth set into a thin line. “Pops,” Mom moaned in word-Nazi-agony.

Tiff came up on that last and barked out a laugh. “I just heard clusterfuck? What's that mean?” She said, the echo of her bubble bursting sounding off like a bomb in the hollowness of the hall.

Gale jumped and Gramps answered, “That would be the general malaise of what follows Caleb here,” he jerked a finger in my direction and I stifled a grin. Gramps had silenced my parents, the cops and my group had stumbled up and were all staring at him with delayed shock.

Adults never said what they really meant. Gramps was a breed of his own.

Garcia nodded. “That is an apt, if not extremely inappropriate identifier, Mr. O'Brien.”

“Right, I know,” Gramps agreed.

Wow... just wow.

Dad raked a hand through his hair, making it into a spiky mess. “Okay, Mac, let's bring you up to speed here,” he said, planting his hands on his hips, resigned.

Garcia snapped his notebook closed. “I think I have enough here to begin questioning Mason. But,” his eyes never left mine, “I am going to need full disclosure. Miss LeClerc will be questioned extensively as well.”

Gramps face jerked to Garcia, his gray eyes darkening, reminding me so much of Clyde my chest tightened. “What's wrong with the little Missy?”

“Her dad beat her up... ” I began.

Gramps' face turned an alarming shade of red and his hands clenched into fists. “That SOB,” Gramps began and Mom did slap her forehead then. “Let me get my hands on him, beatin' a girl like that. Bastard,” Gramps seethed from between clenched teeth. Garcia and the guys nodded their assent.

“LeClerc's dead. Brett Mason already did the deed,” Garcia spread his hand away from his body, problem solved.

Gramps gave a snort. “The kid that's always in Caleb's business?”

Gale nodded and added, “He's the one. We'd like to say more but it's outside the scope of confidentiality.” She shrugged and his eyes narrowed on her.

“If something is going to get saddled on my grandson here, I will definitely become part of the scope of knowledge.” His eyes held a threat and a promise, the two cops getting nailed with it. I wouldn't have wanted to be on the receiving end of that look.

Garcia seemed to gather self-restraint like an ill-fitting cloak around himself. He turned away from Gramps and looked at me. “Stay put, Caleb. I'll want to get more details after I talk with Mason.” He raised his brows.

“Okay,” I said neutrally. I wanted to get back to Jade, my eyes straying to the door.

And I was weak with hunger.

This whole raising the tribe, subsequent brawl and the demise of the LeClerc family had worked me up into a flaming appetite. I laughed and my parents looked at me like I was crazy.

Tiff came up beside me and clapped me on the back. “I gotcha Hart. It's all too weird for words.”

“Yeah,” I agreed. Sometimes Tiff got me.

“Well at least that ass clown is history. He was a pain-in-our-ass,” Jonesy said.

“Jonesy. Not now. Please,” Mom wheedled. Trying to make a stab at appealing to his sense of reason.

Good luck with that.

John sighed. “I have to agree. LeClerc was always going to be a problem. I mean, didn't Jade get a restraining order?”

I nodded. “I think that's what put him over the edge.”

“Batterers feel like their control is gone when the law steps in,” Alex said, shrugging. “Actually... ”

“No,” Archer said, shaking his head. I smiled, Lewis was getting the deal with the group. Alex was a socially awkward penguin.

“Humph!” Alex said, irritated.

Archer held up his hand. “I'm just saying that maybe you referencing one of your many,” Lewis paused, “interesting reference materials may result in Mrs. Hart going into convulsions or... ” he shrugged, “anything else.”

He had him there.

I looked at Mom and she did look a little... stunned.

Sophie and Buddy walked up and Jonesy scowled. “Is Jade okay?” she asked anxiously.

Not really but... “Yeah, she's gonna be okay but,” I tapped my forehead, “her dad beat Andrea to death. And now, she doesn't have anyone.”

Sophie gave me steady eyes. “She has you, Caleb.”

“She does,” I said, never feeling something pass my lips that felt that real, that right.

Gramps approached Sophie and I, the rest of the group a loose bunch around us. His eyes flicked to Buddy then away.

Keeping him in sight.

I heard that. Buddy needed watching.

“You here to see little Missy?”

She nodded.

“You need company?” he asked, gruff.

“That'd be great, Mac,” she said, her smile reaching eyes that were now open, the swelling gone.

He grinned, pleased that she'd say yes.

I watched them walk in Jade's hospital room together, my eyes meeting Buddy's. He was the one thing I wasn't sure about.

Was the enemy really my enemy? Or did I keep him close to me? What's that phrase Gramps used?

Oh yeah. Keep your friends close, keep your enemies closer.

Made perverse sense.

Bry looked at the group. “I'm starved.”

Tiff and Mia rolled their eyes.

Tiff said casually, “Ya pig.”

He shrugged at her. “So sue me.”

She huffed, viciously chewing her gum, her jaws flexing and clenching without mercy.

“Somebody needs to do a McDonald's run,” Alex said hopefully, looking at everyone, gauging if there were any takers.

“Yeah, we don't want any of the nerds in this group to like, digest their brain matter or something,” Jonesy said.

Nice.

“Listen, I can't go because of Garcia... ” I began, trying to explain the lock down.

“Yeah. Garcia thinks he might raise all the corpses in the hospital and they'll come to his call, causing mayhem and other troublesome shit like that.” Jonesy began doing the classic zombie shuffle, his arms like planks, straight out in front of him.

“Language!” Mom hissed from fifty feet away.

Jonesy dropped his arms, caught.

I sighed, turning to Jonesy. “Listen, ya moron. You know that actual zombies don't shamble around.” My tone of voice said it all. Duh. Really?

He slapped his knee, howling, the noise causing about ten thousand nurses to turn and look at us. “It got ya all spun up though, didn't it?”

It had.

I scowled at him.

“It's not authentic,” John said, siding smoothly with my logic.

“But it's funny,” Mia said, her face a mass of bandages. Her perfect nose broken.

“What?” she asked, forgetting.

Bry gave her a side hug. “You just took everyone's breath away with your great looks.”

“Oh,” she said quietly. Her face told me it'd been great for her to forget for a little while.

Tiff came up to her. “I'm glad that prick's gone,” she said with typical Tiff fierceness.

Yeah.

Dad came over and whipped out his debit pulse. “I heard McDonald’s and wanted to fund the run,” he winked at me and in that moment I was fiercely glad he was my Dad. “Let me put a credit on this. How much can you kids get by on?”

The guys put their heads together. Finally we came up with a total.

Dad's mouth came open in shock. “Can you tone down the food?”

I shrugged, maybe we could each have only two cheeseburgers? “Okay, if we cut that in half, it'd be only two cheeseburgers per dude and one for each chick. They eat like birds anyway, Dad.”

He got over his initial shock, and putting his debit pulse behind his ear, he thought the command for the credit. His pulse disc accessed a bunch of secret code from his bank account then transferred money for that singular purchase. Moving it away from the pulse implant, he handed it to me.

“How much?” I asked him.

“Four hundred,” he said.

“K,” I turned to John. “You're in charge. I gotta stick around until the cops are done in there.” I handed him the card. The slimness of it almost disappeared in his long, tapered fingers.

“John,” Dad called.

He turned. “Credit that change back, pal.”

“Absolutely, Kyle.”

“Nah, Kyle. I'm thinkin' we can use that for a porn credit, ya know, surf the web. Learn some skills... ” Jonesy said with a straight face.

Alex piped in, “You can do that with a credit?”

Dad stared at him and I groaned.

“It was a joke, ya doofus,” Jonesy said, sorta appalled.

“Oh,” he said quietly and Dad's eyes went to his again.

“I guess I'll go with them, Mr. Hart,” Alex said in the deepest well of awkwardness I had ever witnessed.

“Excellent, see that you do,” Dad said.

“He's a vaguely disturbing boy, Kyle,” Mom said, watching his huge form stuff itself through the doorways that exited the hospital, a permanent furrow wrinkling her forehead.

Yeah.

I looked at Dad, seeing the ghost of a smile hovering around his lips. Mom's were in a grim line. There'd been so much transgression of political incorrectness in combination with grammar slurs and swear words it was doubtful she'd make a full recovery.

Gramps and Sophie came out of Jade's room. I walked away from the parents and as I passed through the door I saw the number hanging slightly crooked on the front.

Thirteen.

I swung the door open and walked inside with my heart in my throat. I needed to be with her, talk to her, lend whatever comfort I could.

Except for me, she was truly alone now. I couldn't even be happy that the complication of Andrea was gone. I wouldn't have wished that death on my biggest enemy.

Well... I wavered. Maybe a few.

A feeling of responsibility stole over me. My nerves were like a teabag left steeping too long in a cup, the events tied together too tightly for comfort.

The biggest one was why had Brett planned to murder LeClerc?

Somehow I didn't think I'd like the answer.

Just a gut feeling.

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

We loaded up on the gutbombs, the parents watching in muted horror as the guys plowed through whatever the girls couldn't eat.

Not a crumb left.

The wrappers covered, I swear, the entire waiting area. I hadn't realized what kind of stupor I was in. Must've been running on pure adrenaline. The guys all gave each other the food coma stare. We knew what would happen now. The Hunger had been satiated and now the carb load had slid down the pipe and clogged the drains. We had our eyes at half mast with our legs splayed when the cops came back into the room.

I wanted to be alert, really I did. But I was part of the communal glob of teen sloth.

I sat there.

Gale took in the array of brightly colored gold wrappers, cardboard shake containers and the parents' total lack of fluster and grinned.

“Lunch break guys?” she asked.

“It's a trough thing, actually,” Tiff said, wiping a napkin against her mouth daintily. Right before she jammed an unladylike wad of gum in her craw.

Nice.

“What?” Garcia asked her, brows to his hairline.

“Ya know, pigs use troughs to eat from, Garcia?” she asked him slowly so he'd like, get it.

He nodded slowly, knowing she would elaborate without prompting.

“Anyways, these guys just mowed through thirty cheeseburgers. So yeah. Swine.” She popped a bubble, looking interested in their response.

“What did you have?” Gale asked her, looking like maybe she shouldn't have.

“Whatever they'd leave us, the hogs.”

Tiff definitely had some kind of animal fetish. That made me think about all of Alex's messed up bestiality references. I laughed out loud.

Tiff looked at me. “Share your weirdness Hart.”

I couldn't. But that didn't mean that once I got on the Inappropriate Thought Highway I was gonna stabilize anytime soon. I started to get the crooked mouth.

“Looks like Hart's gonna implode,” Jonesy said with sure knowledge.

Mom sighed as I started to howl. The images were simply too much and John said, “Is this like that thing with Chen?”

King of Hysteria. Yup, that's me.

“I guess comic relief or something?” Garcia said, miffed and puzzled.

“Or something,” Alex said, interested about what would make me laugh hysterically in the middle of a Hospital Nightmare under the full scrutiny of the cops.

Me too.

I didn't stop until Archer came over and said, (the joy-sucker), “Is this really helping, Caleb?”

Jonesy glared at him. “Can it, Archer, don't even try for sensitive. Better to just let him get it out of his system. He'll have a laughing fit, then some other crazy crap will happen and then this again... it's a ... ” Jonesy paused, thinking about it.

“Coping mechanism,” John finished.

“Don't psychoanalyze me ya putz'!” I said, wiping my eyes.

Gramps walked in. “What's your trouble, Caleb?”

“Tiff started talking about what pigs we are with our food and it put Caleb into a laughing fit,” Alex said, clearly puzzled.

Gramps palmed his chin. “Seems to me the Weller family is awfully focused on animals.” He looked at Tiff and Bry, continuing, “Aren't your parents always having a turnip or turtle or whatever?”

They gave him blank face and I erupted into another gale of laughter.

Gramps clapped me on my back. “Listen pal, man up. Jade wants to see you. She probably won't understand why you're in here putting on the Caleb Comedy Show.” His eyebrows raised.

Right, that sobered me right up.

Mom said, “Thanks Pops. I didn't know if he was going to calm down in a timely fashion,” she said.

Gramps looked at her, shaking his head. “I don't know where he gets that laughing problem from.”

“Humph!” Mom grunted and he smiled, his lips barely turning up.

As I left I watched a bunch of the parents swarm in to flock around the kids.

The cops would have their hands full. Good, I'd get the full Brett report later. Right now, all that mattered was seeing Jade.

I was breaking about a million hospital rules as I lay beside Jade, spooning her body outside of the thin hospital sheet. I couldn't put my arms around her middle, because her ribs were busy mending. It'd still be about three days before she was good enough to be released.

I whispered in her ear. The force of my emotions easy to feel, to hear, “It is not your fault. Let it go, Jade.”

She had been crying since I'd stepped in there. She blamed herself for her dad snapping. I disagreed. He'd been a walking gunpowder keg since the day he'd popped up like spoiled and drunken toast in the graveyard last year. Yeah. He'd been a bomb. He was just dying to get ignited. I'd tried to tell her.

He would've exploded sometime. It was inevitable.

She turned her body toward me and I was instantly aware of her closeness. I gulped.

“I forced her, Caleb. I forced Aunt Andrea to emancipate me so I could get a permanent restraining order.” Her eyes searched mine and I tucked a stray hair behind her ear and she winced. My eyes shifted to the lump at her temple, a long gouge of flesh torn almost to where the hair I held was.

I let it slip from my fingers like silk on satin.

Could I kill LeClerc twice?

She gazed at me, knowing what I'd been thinking. I looked away for a moment so the hate that burned in my eyes wouldn't be so transparent. It was bad enough that she was touching me.

I got back on topic, she needed to see reason. “Listen, we're all emancipated automatically at sixteen, right?” She nodded and I continued, “Remember all the problems when it was eighteen? The underage narcotics, the fighting, gun control, all of it?” She nodded again. I waited until I was sure I had her full attention. “It's like this, she made it formal because she knew she couldn't stand up to him. She let you be the fall girl. If you were the one that asked for the formal emancipation document to implement the restraining order then he couldn't be mad at her.”

She gave a gasping sob and I gently pulled her head in against my chest. “Shh,” I crooned to her, “It'll be okay, Jade. He can't hurt you anymore. But he's not gonna hurt you now either. His past actions aren't going to keep on hurting you.”

She pulled away and looked at me, her nose puffy and red from the tears, her eyes all the greener for the red that had burst like lightning in their depths. “She wouldn't have been dead if I hadn't... ”

“No!” I wanted to shake her. “Don't ya see? He would have tried this some other time, for another reason. Any reason. Pick one. He didn't need a special reason to abuse you and your aunt. You know this.” My eyes searched hers. Finally, caving to girl wisdom I asked, “What did Sophie say?”

Jade's eyes shifted away from mine. “She said what you did, kinda.”

Kinda?

Her eyes rolled back to mine. “The Indians scare her.” I could see by her eyes that she wasn't a fan either.

Huh. Well they get the job done, I thought. An image of the tomahawk impaling LeClerc's head made a fine memory.

Out loud I said, “Okay, I get it. Some of the gang's a little freaked by the Skopamish. But Jade,” I took her head like a fragile egg in both my hands, feeling the smallness and delicacy within the cradle of them. I had to fight the urge to kick LeClerc's ass again. He was dead but I yearned for retribution.

I thought of the fun I could have with his zombie ass... my mind wandered. Then I remembered where I was and snapped back to attention.

I continued, “They took the fall for Brett... the chief saved Brett.” I swallowed through my stab of loathing, going on, “If he hadn't been there, it would have been worse.”

Translation: more victims on the LeClerc abuse/murder tally.

She nodded through more tears. I was frustrated, I didn't know how to comfort this. I got that she was upset about Andrea. Her shitheel dad had killed the only stable parent figure she had. But, my zombies were the bomb. They had saved the day. Saved that ass hat Brett. Who, I had to admit, had done okay by Jade.

I liked that he had the nut-sack to do LeClerc.

It'd be nice and clean if Brett went to prison. But I couldn't let that happen.

I kissed Jade, sliding off the bed, our hands slipping away like reluctant glue.

“I'll be back. I gotta see what's doin' with Mason.”

Jade smiled. “That's why I love you Caleb.” My agenda was an open book to her. She wasn't a Telepath. She didn't know my words, but the motives were pretty clear.

I grinned. “Nah,” I waved her sentiment away, trying to lighten the moment, “It's my looks, Jade. And my cool zombies.” I smiled.

But she didn't. “Definitely not the zombies, babe.”

I bent forward, pressing a feather's weight kiss to lips that had a cut framing the side of her mouth. A dark mar on her almost colorless skin.

“I love you too,” I said with more seriousness than I'd wanted.

I turned away and headed for the door, to answers about Brett. Maybe he'd need saving from his actions.

Even if he didn't want any.

The J's, Gramps and the parents were the only ones left by the time I got out there, the other kids having gone home to their families. I had to admit, I was grateful to not have the whole pack here.

Garcia nodded at me. “Okay, so we have a little more info.”

I tried to act casual. Gramps saw right through it but didn't out me.

I loved that old guy.

“It seems that Mr. Mason had been keeping an eye on Jade's place for months,” his eyes flicked to mine. I tried to remain neutral but he saw what there was to see.

Anger.

He held up a hand. “Listen, son, these are the facts. I can't change them, I can only relay them.” His eyes locked with mine and I unclenched my hands, trying for composure and missing it by a mile.

“Anyway, he had seen LeClerc show up on a bender... ”

My eyebrows shot up.

“Drunker than a skunk,” Gramps elaborated.

Right.

Garcia nodded, pausing to recover. He nodded at Gramps. “Brett knew the signs and gathered his group together to back him.”

“Back him for what?” I asked.

Garcia shrugged. “Don't think there was a grand plan there, Caleb. I think he knew Jade was going to be in trouble, he took his friends to try to make sure it didn't happen. And your group collided with his.” He made a smacking sound as his palms slapped together.

So coincidence? He saw my look.

“In a way. But I think he was carrying that knife for awhile. It'd worn a mark in his jeans.” He gave me a significant look.

Holy hell, he'd been packing metal and I'd been none the wiser.

Gramps and I exchanged a full glance.

“It would have been a different outcome if Brett Mason had that weapon last year,” my dad said ominously.

Yeah, like they would have carved me up like Swiss cheese. Jezebel couldn't have saved me. Even Clyde wouldn't have been able to.

Garcia gave me a look. “There is no historical precedence for using zombies as weapons for assault... or murder.”

He hadn't spent enough time with Parker's.

“But, if that tomahawk,” he paused, “it was a tomahawk, wasn't it?”

“Skopamish again, Caleb?” Gramps interrupted.

I nodded.

“Huh, they're Johnnies-on-the-spot,” he said as he palmed his chin.

I looked at Garcia, his patience on thin ice. “Yeah, it was a tomahawk.”

He inclined his head as if he'd already known that. “Anyway, if Brett hadn't struck first,” he shrugged his shoulders, “it would have been bad for you.”

Dad looked at him, his brows jacked down over his eyes. “I am sorry, this is so confusing to me.”

My dad was never confused about anything. Gramps looked on with interest.

“How is my son, in a position of defense for his life against a known felon, in any way compromised by his actions? Further, he is able to use whatever is at his disposal to protect his physical body and those around him. Unless I misunderstand my constitutional rights?” Dad straightened.

Garcia waited and Gramps said, “Yeah, that about sums it up.”

Garcia sighed. “That is how it will work with Brett. The weapon is illegal, his use to defend himself... not. But it leaves us in a conundrum. He used a weapon he should not have had access to. He then used it to murder the attacker. It is clear cut. He will be punished for the possession, not the use.” He paused then gave me cop eyes. “But you... you're different. You will set a precedence, Caleb. You and your zombies. Parker's zombies too.”

He looked at my folks and they shifted their weight. He had them in the cross hairs. “Your boy has a powerful weapon at his disposal. If he were to fall into the wrong hands,” he turned his attention to me, “or decide on a different life path, it could end badly. And let's face the facts here, Caleb. Zombies are not inanimate objects to be wielded. They move, they breathe, they think, somehow. They could be assassins.”

I thought of Clyde and all that he was.

All that he was becoming.

Garcia was right. I had the potential Arsenal of Assassins for use.

For hire.

“Our son is not like that, Officer Garcia,” Mom said in a deeply offended tone.

His eyes shifted to hers. “It may not be up to him, Mrs. Hart.” His eyes traveled back to me. “Someday you could command many and someone could command what you control. It's not simple.”

No shit Sherlock.

Gramps said, “What are we talking here?”

“Graysheets,” Gale whispered.

They'd made a try for me twice this year. But without a kidnapping. Only warnings.

Their executions of said warnings needed work.

“Parker's got something up his sleeve, I'll admit it. But it's speculation as to what.” I shrugged.

“The only good thing that came of this was we know who the DI is,” Gale said.

I guess there was that.

“Duly noted,” Gramps said for me.

“I'm your friend here, Caleb. I just want you aware of how close this came to you being in irrevocable trouble.”

I nodded, I was getting that.

“I think I want to go talk to Brett,” I said.

“That's not a good idea,” Dad said immediately.

I shook my head. “If he hadn't been watching out for Jade,” my words squeezing out from between my teeth, “she might be dead. He saved her. As much as I hate his ass,” I looked at Mom, daring her to correct my language but she was still shell shocked, “because I do. He deserves my thanks. And I did rip off his life force.” I shrugged.

That had to suck balls.

Mom said quietly, “I feel sorry for him, Kyle.”

Dad looked at her in surprise. But her stare was all for me, standing tears in her eyes. I couldn't begin to understand what about Brett could make her sad.

“Because you'll be his first visitor, Caleb,” she said, answering my unspoken question.

I let that sink home.

His friends hadn't come.

His family.

Nobody came.

I nodded, decision made.

As I walked away Garcia called my name and I turned back. “I have to know.” He stared at me and I watched him think about his words. “How many do you think you could raise, Caleb. How many zombies?”

I thought about how much power it took to subdue myself so I could raise just one zombie when the whole graveyard pulsed in response to the call. The zombies coming to my distress. Not needing any juice from Tiff or Jade anymore. How my ability simmered underneath the surface of who I was in a constant river of power. The current sure and swift.

I opened my mouth to respond but it was Gramps that said it best, “Legion,” he said as an absolute.

Gale's eyes widened and Garcia nodded with resignation, unsurprised by the answer.

I didn't refute Gramps' tally. As markers went, it was dead accurate.

No pun intended.

I headed to Brett's room, gratefulness and resentment combining in a sour play of emotions, the cheeseburgers a churning lump in my stomach.

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

“Hart,” Brett croaked out a greeting as I came in, the door shutting itself behind me.

The first thing I noticed was he looked like shit. His skin was ashen, the platinum blond of his hair making it appear more washed out, not less. His eyes looked like two black piss holes in a snow bank.

I restrained a grimace and walked over to his bedside.

We stared at each other uncomfortably for several seconds.

Finally, I said, “Thanks, man.”

His eyebrows rose.

“Ya know, for saving Jade.”

Slight color rose on his cheeks. “Yeah, it was no big deal. I was just there. I wasn't gonna let that asshole lay hands on her again.”

Right, I thought, my bullshit meter singing a tune to beat the band.

Some of what I thought must've shown on my face because he pressed his lips together. “Listen, don't bust my balls, Hart. I know she's your girlfriend. Hell, you all but brand her in the hall every day.”

I do? I scowled at that.

“But I live close, I got a bead on LeClerc. I knew he was getting ready to do something.”

“You're no precog, Mason,” I stated.

He nodded, the first genuine smile of the day appearing on his bloodless lips. “True. But that's the difference between you and me, Hart. I've learned through hard lessons when violence is coming. I've read the signs. I don't need no paranormal skills to see.” He tapped the side of his head. “I got built in radar right here.”

I thought of his dad beating the tar out of him, the gophers attacking daddy dearest on the front lawn. Yeah, he might have a small point.

Or a big one.

“The cops said you'd been watching her house for months.”

He nodded. “Yeah. I always kept Jade in my sights.”

“Why?” I asked, frustration leaking out of my voice.

“Girls like Jade, they don't go for dudes like me. But,” he made serious eye contact, “she was one of the only people that was nice to me when things turned to shit at the house. The only one. I never forgot, Hart. Never.”

I took in his expression. I could see he hadn't.

Swell.

“So the cops said I was in trouble for the weapon. But not the deed.”

I nodded. “Yeah, you lucked out.” I paused for a second, “You okay with... all this.”

The murder.

He nodded slowly. “Yeah I am. He was a fuck. He would've killed Jade. Ya got that, right?”

I did, my eyes told him so.

I shrugged. “Well, he killed Andrea but only because he got to her first. And you saw Mia?”

He shook his head.

“Broke her nose, punched her face,” I said, thinking of her beauty being covered in battery, a patchwork quilt of abuse. An image of LeClerc as my zombie to torture came as an unbidden image again. I shook it off with regret.

Brett closed his eyes for a second then opened them. “He deserved it.”

I nodded in perfect agreement.

“Okay, well, that's all I wanted to tell ya,” I said, walking away.

“Hart,” he called in a hoarse voice.

I turned, my hand on the door, my foot in the hallway.

“Your zombie did okay,” his eyes were steady.

Translation: you're not a total dick.

I nodded and left.

An uneasy truce established. Did it give me relief? Make me feel like our shit together was done?

Not on your life.

Or death.

****

It wasn't three days until Jade came back to school, it was four. I stuck to her like a wart on her sexy booty (not that her hotness could ever have a blemish). She looked weak and it made me sick and anxious, not necessarily in that order. LeClerc's death should have made me feel she was safer. Instead it had heightened something primal deep within me and I'd learned to listen to that warning.

Through hard experience.

It was completely creepy that Jade, Sophie and Mia were sporting a ton of bruises and cuts on their faces. The story swirled around the school in a siege of gossip that swept away talk of anything else.

Everything else.

Thank God there were only three days this week. Thanksgiving made the usual lame Monday feel like Wednesday.

I was constantly feeling like I needed to bash heads. Everyone was so insensitive. They'd see Jade walk by, weak, pale and battered and whisper. I wanted to tear their heads off and shit down their throats.

A Gramps-ism I really believed in.

Instead, I stood by her while she was beyond embarrassment, mortified. She was alone and vulnerable. Her aunt gone, her dad dead, his status of abuser and murderer firmly established forever in the archives of KPH gossip. A legacy that Jade had to shoulder.

But not without me.

The worst part was that she couldn't live in her own house until the probate people figured it all out. They said as much as a half year. Meanwhile, she was hangin' at Sophie's.

It didn't matter that she was emancipated. She was still in school, her high school education negating her ability to live independently. That meant foster care. Those knuckle-draggin'-mouth breathers didn't care about the trauma she'd just experienced. To them, she was a sixteen-year old girl that needed to be placed within the Kent School District. Period, end of discussion.

Jade didn't know where she'd live. Neither did I. It drove me crazy. Her future determined by adults that didn't know her, didn't care.

We walked down the hall together, her body tucked against mine, my arm around her waist. She didn't say hi to anyone or look at them. They were leaking their communal feelings all over her. We got to her Empath Core and she turned to me. “I want to go back to my house, Caleb.”

I put a finger under her chin and held it softly while I looked into her eyes. “We can go together, Jade.”

She'd been having panic attacks about the beating and one looked like it was comin' on. She breathed deeply, evenly, trying to stave it off. “I want to get my stuff. My dream catcher.”

I raised an eyebrow. Of all the things she could get from her room, I wouldn't have thought that would be the priority.

She nodded, feeling my questions burning a pathway through our skin connection. “I can't stay at Sophie's forever. They're gonna place me, then I'll have to go somewhere... ” her eyes slid away from mine but then they flicked back. “It's always helped me sleep. I don't have dreams when it's there.”

“Are you having nightmares, Jade?”

She nodded. “Oh yeah.” Her eyes full of fear.

I stroked her hair, careful to miss the scalp laceration. “Okay,” I whispered against her hair, “we'll get it tonight.” I pulled away, the vanilla smell of her a taste in my nose and stared at her until she smiled. “Okay,” she responded on a shaky exhale.

“It'll be okay Jade,” I said.

Of course it was gonna be okay.

It was later when we were so far from okay words were not sufficient.

I was complacent in the immediate threats having been neutralized.

Dumb.

****

“Pass the taters!” Jonesy shouted, from the far reaches of Gramps' old table. I was guessing he had all four leaves in the sucker, it was about fifteen feet long right now.

Gramps frowned and Helen said, “Ask correctly or starve.” She had baby Micah balanced on her shoulder, doing an alarming bounce maneuver while Micah's small head jiggled around and she looked ready to spew something gross somewhere.

I gulped. Disgusting. Babies, barfing... the noise. Then there was the whole feeding thing. Uber-awkward.

I watched as the potato bowl was lugged through a bunch of hands to Jonesy, who scooped his second helping onto a plate that had two slabs of turkey and four rolls piled up on it already.

Mom sighed. She wasn't for gluttony. I wasn't sure why since she'd had to cave to my Feeding Needs awhile ago.

I watched Jonesy as he Worked the Food. This was a special ritual in which he added just the right amount of grated cheese, real butter, salt, freshly ground pepper and sour cream in an unseemly blob in the middle. He then rotated the whole sloppy mess into some kind of a crooked tower and began shoveling. It was a conversation stopper.

But not for Jonesy. He was consumed.

Determined.

And he was in good company as Alex and John were constructing matching towers. I looked at my own artistic rendering and shrugged, stabbing the goodness with a fork.

What was priceless was the Terrans had elected to accept the invitation to attend the huge Thanksgiving feast for the first time. Mrs. Terran had her lips pursed in a line that could have cut paper, watching Jonesy's disaster disappear into his mouth like a magic trick.

She then looked at Helen who looked back unblinking. As if on horrible cue, Micah let out a huge belch. It was guy worthy.

I was sorta hoping these two wouldn't talk the entire evening.

Of course, that couldn't be a possibility. Joan Terran started right in on Helen Jones. 'Cuz... why not?

“So Helen, tell me how old your new addition is?”

That must've been code for baby. I shifted my eyes in Mom's direction and she looked vaguely green.

Helen was too slow and Jonesy wasn't going to let a mouth full of food stop his conversational urges. “Five months,” the mashed potatoes looking very white in his brown face. “Right, Mom?”

Helen ignored the manners and beamed at him because he actually knew how old his little sister was.

For Jonesy that was pretty impressive.

I could see that Joan was trying to restrain herself but she was compulsive and said, “Dear boy, could you not show us the bowels of your mouth and what it contains?”

John's face flushed a deep crimson as he sat opposite Jonesy, very much wishing he could have parents that would overlook small things like food in the mouth. Mom would have thought it but she wouldn't have said it.

Helen pasted a fake smile on her face that somehow went with her helmet of hair and said, “Thanks, but I think the bigger deal is Jonesy remembered his sister's age. That's not really a detail all teenage boys care about.” And she was back to beaming at Jonesy.

Joan narrowed her eyes into unattractive slits and John turned more red, growing alarm taking up residence on his face. Obviously his mom was not Done with her Point. I recognized that expression. Mom and I gave each other a look and I saw she was going to try to deflect the mess when Micah chose that time to spew barf and take a baby nuclear warhead at the same time.

It was an explosion. Micah sprayed a stream, exorcist-style, behind Helen's shoulder, plastering Gramps' wall while crap shot up out of the back of her diaper, coating her pink baby outfit a dull and penetrating mustard.

Dijon. But not in a good way.

Then the smell hit us in a steamy vaporized wave. The girls stood up out of their seats, their hands covering their mouths.

Gramps started laughing and Joan turned red in the face but recovered saying, “You cannot control the children?” through clenched teeth, beyond offended. In fact, I'd say it would be a lifelong scar for old Joan.

Helen recovered, she was Jonesy's mom after all. “I think you can do a better job,” she leaned across the table, dangling baby Micah across the scattered and empty plates that lay between them and continued, “by taking her while I get a change of outfit.”

Jonesy stabbed his spork in the air, having never paused through the whole organic explosion, “Totally legit plan, Mom!” he sounded off.

Joan grappled and stood, backing away from the squirming baby, warding her off with a stretched out palm, the other hand covering her nose.

Helen watched her with a smirk then turned to Bill. “Honey, hold Micah while I fetch her diaper and stuff.”

Bill looked so happy to have Poopy Baby, clutching her gingerly around her torso, careful not to stick a thumb in the crap.

Joan knew she had lost that round. Getting owned by a five month old. She pursed her lips again.

Mom had weaseled away like a coward and now returned with the peace offering. “Pie?” she asked the room, hoping to distract. The poop fumes mingled in a nauseating surge with the smells of pumpkin pie.

All the men, unfazed when faced with dessert, gave sounds in the affirmative and Jonesy asked, “Can I have seconds of that too?”

“Thirds, Jones,” Gramps said, eying him critically. Jonesy hung his head. “Okay, Mac.”

Gramps nodded and pounded Jonesy a good one and Jonesy's eyes bulged, barely hanging on to the load he had in his mouth. Gramps walked into the kitchen and I heard the tap turn on at the sink. He returned with a bucket and washrags.

Helen returned and gasped. “I'll clean that up, Mac.”

Joan wrinkled her nose.

“Nah... I've cleaned up my share of puke in my time.” He gave a covert glance at Joan.

I was amazed. Helen and Gramps had joined forces and were tag-teaming John's mom.

Nice.

Mom sliced the pie while Gramps cleaned up the baby puke and Jonesy plowed through the remains of his plate, his forearm circling it protectively.

Jade smiled and I noticed with some relief that she looked almost healed. She should be with the daily healing sessions she was getting from Jezebel. This would be the only day she got off. Her last session was tomorrow.

We walked over to the couch, leaving the adults to mess around with each other. Pie could wait, I wanted to hang with Jade.

Alex came over with John. Jonesy was still eating.

“I have another session tomorrow,” Jade groaned and John frowned.

“You don't like them? I hear that they feel great.”

“Not so much for an Empath,” she said and he nodded. It would be pretty intimate to be paired with somebody even if they were an Organic.

“Don't complain, Jade. Remember how it used to be? Surgeries were the norm, infection rampant, lawsuits, common,” Alex said.

She nodded. “I know, but it takes so long. I just want it to be over. Every time she does another healing, I get reminded about... everything.” She suddenly looked at Alex. “How come you're not with your grandparents?”

“They're out of town, John's parents are in charge.”

We looked over at the Geritol pair. Brother.

Alex saw our expressions. “I can handle them. They're the same age as my grandparents.” He shrugged then looked at me.

“How come your grandpa is so cool?”

I didn't have a clue.

We sat their contemplating Gramps' impossible adult category.

Then Jade said, “I guess I could go with you to judo, then you could drop me off at the healing clinic?” She flicked her black hair behind her shoulder and I stuffed an insane urge to bend down and wallow in it.

She smiled at my dazed pause and waited.

I nodded then remembered my friends, we'd want to do something later. I lifted a chin to Terran. “Come with us and wait out the class and we'll go to the dump or something after.”

Alex nodded. “Yeah, my grandparents didn't make me go to my lame cousins house, it's better here.” He rolled his eyes and Jonesy walked up.

“The ones that live on a farm?” Jonesy asked.

Alex nodded. “Yeah.”

Jonesy waggled his eyebrows.

Alex scowled and Jonesy said, “See. Now that's what I'm talking about. That's where Alex gets all his first hand know-how about the animals.”

We all looked at Alex hoping he'd elaborate.

He turned red instead.

Jonesy began nodding his head, a big grin slapped on his face. “Now that's what I'm talking about. Bestiality my ass.”

Jade shook her head with a laugh. “No! He doesn't dig ducks and stuff, he likes Randi.”

The blush went from pinkish to a deep red.

Gotcha.

Jonesy looked on with interest. “That little tiny girl?”

Alex glared at him.

“That chick you just about squished when you were klutzing around? Nice.” Jonesy smiled. He loved making Alex froth at the mouth.

Actually, that applied to everyone. Universal Jonesy protocol.

Alex clenched his hands, embarrassed about his gracelessness in the Presence of Hotness.

Alex forced his face into smoothness then said, “Do you think your sister's nasty ass has been contained so we can go have pie?”

Jonesy shifted his weight. “Probably. She can't help it dude. She's like totally ignorant of the bowel process.”

“Ignorant but efficient,” I corrected.

“Yes,” John agreed, giving Mrs. Terran a covert eye shift.

Jade laughed again. “You guys and babies! God, get over it. Someday all you guys are going to have to suck up diaper duty.”

I saw matching looks of horror on John and Alex's face. Jonesy was grinning big now. “Yeah. I'm gonna pull up a chair and watch you guys do the fanny fat finger on a diaper change. Front seats for that one baby!” He fist-pumped and Helen looked over at him. “Jonesy, get over here and hold your sister, she's fussy.”

Alex smiled. Jonesy scowled and ran his ass over there to soothe a now-clean Micah.

As we followed him over to the table, I could hear the dishes clanking around in Gramps' sink basin and the low voice of he and Mrs. Terran talking. Hand washing the china Gramps insisted on using every year.

It made me nervous.

We sat down and porked through the pies. When we were done, there were eight empty dishes, a mix of anal adults with a few loose cannons ready to go off.

Typical holiday gathering.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

I pulled up to Sophie's house, the neighborhood like a ghost town. The day after Thanksgiving was either 1) an excuse to do nothing and recover from the trough gorging of the night before or 2) get trampled to death shopping at some horrible store for Black Friday. Or you could be like me, I recovered after my swine behavior and was now going to judo practice to work out my aggression.

Which I'd noticed was pretty profound lately. Gee, I wonder why.

I saw the front door open and Sophie stood in the sliver of interior that it revealed, her pajama bottoms pink sparkly unicorns.

Huh.

Her mom appeared behind her and I noticed that her skin was almost black compared with Sophie. Her mom's eyes met mine and I gave a small flick of my fingers in greeting. She turned to Sophie and I could tell they were having Words. I knew her mom was strict, that's why I wasn't getting why Buddy was such a great guy in her eyes. Didn't she know he hung out with Carson's crowd? That should send her adult radar into a tailspin of worry. It'd do it to my parents. Of course, it didn't take too much to get Mom spun up.

Jade slipped out from between them as their arms were flailing about. Sophie's mom called out and Jade raised her hand in goodbye, skipping down the stairs and to my car. I watched as she moved toward my car, looking completely well. Healthy. I got out of the car and ran to the other side, opening the door for her.

She looked up at me and put her small hand on my chest for balance and kissed me. It was brief 'cuz of the audience, I got that. I wrapped my arm gently around her waist, pulling her in. “That okay?”

She nodded. “I feel great again.”

“No dreams?”

She shook her head. “No...but... ”

“What?”

“I'll need a little extra sleep. Jezebel said that helps the healing sessions. That I will want a little extra sleep.”

“So what you're really saying, is you want to take a nap during judo? You're not going to see me own my moves?”

She laughed, scooting in the car. “No, I think I saw plenty of your moves the other day with Buddy!”

Yeah, there had been that. I smiled at her and closed the door. I whistled to interrupt Sophie arguing with her mom.

“We meeting you after?” I asked loudly.

She crossed her arms and glared at her mom. “We'll see, I have a big buttload of chores to do before I can go.”

Okkkkaayy.

“K, about an hour or so.”

She nodded, stalking into the house. Her mom rolled her eyes, the whites showing like twin orbs in her black face.

The door slammed and I gave a chuckle. I was so glad I didn't have two females in the house. Like a sister.

With a little shudder I hucked myself into the Camaro and pulsed on the engine to start, giving a sliding glance at Jade. Her neon green zip up framed eyes that no longer held bruises marring their beauty. She looked like herself again, abuse-free.

I took a deep breath, trying to shake the vague unease I felt. It was just residual. I just wasn't over the crap with LeClerc.

We drove to judo, my mind brushing superficially along the edges of recent events. My unease grew instead of lessening.

“What's wrong?” Jade asked, as we turned onto the road judo was on. It used to be a ballet place. An image of pink tutus came to mind and I laughed.

Her brow arched.

“Nothing. I'm just thinking.” Not going to tell my Empath girlfriend I had a creepy vibe. Not happening.

“Share it,” Jade said, not letting go of wanting to know my amusement.

“My dojo used to be a ballet place.”

“Really?” she asked skeptically.

I nodded. “Really. I just, I don't know. It gave me a weird visual when I thought about it.”

“Pink tutus?” she asked.

I swiveled my head toward her in surprise.

She laughed. “It's what I think of too when I hear the word ballet. I didn't like... peek.”

Good thing. She may see some images that didn't have anything to do with dancing.

We got to the dojo and Jade got out of the car before I could open the door for her. “Knock it off, Jade. Let me help you,” I said, kinda pissed.

She plugged her hands onto her hips. “Don't be pushy, Caleb, I'm not an invalid. I got beat up, it's over. He's gone. Ya don't need to baby me.”

We sorta glared at each other. Finally, I said, “You don't make being your boyfriend easy sometimes, Jade.”

She searched my eyes. “I know that you want to help. But I don't need this much,” she waved her hand toward the door and at her body, “body guarding. I just don't.”

“Give a guy a break, Jade. Any dude that wasn't a dick would want to keep ya next to him after that effin' mess. Right? You gotta feel me on your safety here,” I said, my hands on my hips, my gaze steady on hers.

She came closer, my anger at her stubbornness dissipating the closer she came, her hold on me that strong. Jade wrapped her hands around my forearms, my hoodie sleeves jacked up to my elbows and I realized too late that she would feel my unease.

She gasped a little. “You're worried.”

I nodded. No use hiding it now.

“It's not just what happened.”

I shook my head, sighing. “I don't know what it is. Been feeling it all week. It's like, there's something just out of reach that doesn't make sense.”

“Parker,” Jade pressed her eyes closed, searching. Searching my consciousness.

Her eyes sprung open. “It's that creepy attacker. The one that almost got Sophie.”

I shrugged. “Maybe. If I knew, I could figure something out. Plan a defense, be prepared.”

“Sounds like you have a little overlap ability.”

It was possible. But if that was the case, I wasn't diggin' this. It was too vague to do anything with. Except maybe call in the undead troops again and get my ass in trouble for nothing. Yeah, like I needed that.

I heard a jarring noise and sprung away from Jade, moving in front of her protectively and burst out laughing when I saw who it was.

Bry rolled up in his hunk-o-crap car. It was a testimony to its powers of perseverance that it still ran. John, Alex, Jonesy and Tiff rolled out as Mia's toaster pulled up, Archer riding shotgun.

Jade reached behind her and pulled on her pink puffy, it consumed her shape. She looked like a big piece of candy in the thing.

I got a pulse-vision visual on that one. X-rated. I grinned and Bry came over and gave me a knuckle-bump. “Whatcha ya thinkin' about, Hart.”

“Stuff,” I said. Like I'd say.

Tiff came up in a bright orange hoodie (hunter orange, Gramps would have called it) and said, “We have to hang out through your boring practice Hart?”

“No Tiff, beat it. We'll watch Hart own the mat without ya,” Jonesy said, coming to my manhood defense.

“Why don't you show us your moves, Jones?” Tiff said, goading him.

He shrugged. “I don't need any of that martial arts shit. I can give a reckoning with my fists alone,” Jonesy put up his fists like a boxer.

“Nah, you'd shit an orangutan if you had to go toe to toe with someone.”

“What's an orangutan?” Alex asked, interested.

“It's some kind of monkey, animal-whore,” Jonesy said, without rancor, eyes on Tiff.

“Really, Mark. Alex can't 'whore' anything if the pimping is being done by an animal,” Archer clarified.

That made too much sense for Jonesy to figure out and he glared at Archer. “You... we saved your ass from a fate worse than death. Now you need to side with me on everything, it's an honor thing.”

Archer crossed his arms over a perfectly ironed button-down. “No. Alex was part of the group that came to my rescue. Your brutish tactics were effective but in this instance, you're not being logical.”

I put up my hands, Jade's arms wrapped around me from behind to stay warm, her cold hands buried against the skin underneath my hoodie. How she was not a boiling inferno in that puffy I couldn't figure out.

“Orangutans aside,” I began, immediately getting the crooked mouth, “I'm gonna be late while you guys are out here posturing.”

“I'm not posturing, Hart. I don't think Jonesy's got it,” Tiff said and I frowned at her. What was this about?

Jonesy walked over to her. “What's your real problem?” his black eyes held hers. He wasn't threatening but he'd gotten John's and Bry's attention.

“Ya know, Sophie's my friend too. And you running around, chasing every skank in the school has turned her to Buddy. You're so busy trying to show everyone how you're all that, that you missed the coolest girl there was,” she huffed, folding her arms over her chest.

“Ya know, I don't care who she dates!” Jonesy said, sounding as false as I'd ever heard him.

“Do the self-lie tune all day and into the night. The rest of us know the truth.” She stalked off just as Sophie and Buddy pulled up.

Marvelous.

Tiff had poured the fuel before the flame and right now, the edge of it was igniting.

Sensei Anderson appeared at the front door, throwing his arms out to his sides. Crap. I looked down at my watch and realized I was already three minutes into class time.

I brought Jade around gently by her hand, feeling how cool it was. “You okay?”

She smiled and looked behind her to where Jonesy was glaring at Buddy and Sophie, Tiff smiling triumphantly.

“That nap is sounding good.”

I got it. She'd leave the rest of the gang to hash it out while she slept.

I stroked her jaw. “K, you stay in the car and use that thermal blanket.” As an afterthought I said, “I'll pulse the lock.”

She scrunched her nose. “Really?”

I nodded. “Yeah. I won't be able to concentrate if you're out here unprotected while you sleep.”

“Caleb... ” she began then looked at my face.

Whatever she saw there must have been enough to convince her. “Okay,” she said reluctantly. She slipped out of my hold and turned to the car. Once she was situated it was almost comical, her pink puffy like a cloud of roundness, then on top of that the plaid thermal blanket was over that. It smelled vaguely of vanilla from all the times we'd spent wrapped up in it together. I smiled one more time then closed the door, her eyes, the color of her namesake, already closing as she turned on her side.

I depressed my thumb against the square black pad that rode above the door handle, the clicking of all the locks a satisfying sound.

I walked past all the bickering, Buddy and the other guys with their hands in their pockets as Sophie and Tiff had words. I got that maybe Tiff had gone too far by saying what she had to Jonesy. I gave the guy nod to the troops and they followed me, relieved as hell to leave the girls to their arguing. I swung my head around one more time to look at my car. Jade was in there.

Safe.

She wasn't, but I wouldn't know that for another five minutes or so.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

I walked into the dojo and was met by a silence that was absolute. I looked around for Sensei, who had just been at the doors, looking like he was pissed at my tardiness. Usually, if I was tardy, I paid on the mat. But he was nowhere.

The dojo suddenly seemed ominous, the mirrors that reflected the friends at my back like a fun house. The feeling of infinity from all the reflections in the room swelling in a disquieting vibration, discordant and piercing.

I turned to John. We shared a moment, Lewis and Alex standing between us. “What's going on, Caleb?” Alex asked, his stance stiffening.

Lewis looked around, his eyes searching every crevice of the dojo. “Where are all the other students?” he asked logically.

“Where indeed?” a voice said from behind us. I whirled around and there stood Skinny-Smoker of the Graysheet fame.

Great.

My eyes slid past his and immediately took in my car, a sleeping Jade still inside, locked and safe.

I relaxed. Whatever these jag-ups brought I could handle if I knew where Jade was. I could sure use Sensei's help about now.

Maybe they had taken care of him, fear coiling in my belly.

Immediately I thought that if they'd killed him, he'd be hell on their asses as a zombie. I was mildly surprised at how practical I'd become.

Intensely practical.

That made me smile and John said, “This is not looking good, Caleb,” as he inclined his head toward the direction of five more men as they poured out of the back of the dojo. Artillery was standing bare in their practiced hands. Not trained on us yet, but a beat away from it.

“Caleb... what's going on?” Archer whispered.

“Graysheet action,” John replied, strain evident on his face.

I stared at him. “What do they have?”

John didn't bother to look at me. “Telekinetic for one... ”

I realized that a Null in training would know what ability he was subduing. Right now, our asses were in a wringer if they had a high level Telekinetic on board.

“Pull the leash on your boy, Hart or we'll kill him,” Skinny said, casually lighting up a smoke.

His absolute lack of concern while talking about the death of a J made me want to take a flock of zombies to rip his arms off but I sat on it.

Debating.

“Why are you here?” I asked instead, stalling. Giving myself time to think.

He smiled at me, the grin obscured by the wall of smoke. He pointed the cig at me and said, “You're a smart boy. I want you to think about it and tell me why this is a special place for you?”

One heartbeat

Two.

Three.

A feeling of unveiled horror washed over me in a sick adrenaline surge.

He laughed. “I see you are your father's son. Understand that we know you don't apply yourself at school. But your IQ scores are off the chart. You hide a fine mind behind that persona you perpetuate. But you haven't fooled us.”

My power unfolded like shuffling a deck of cards. The play of them throwing out a call with trembling and spiky fingers of energy. There were no dead around us. I felt an absolute absence of them.

“The dead. I can't feel the dead,” I said in a low voice.

“See? What did I tell you, high IQ.”

“Answer me,” I said softly.

“We want the girl. She's a liability. You stay out of our way while we handle the security issue of her.” The group of Graysheets swirled around him like a loose-fitting garment, all in black, lethal.

My mind swirled. “And Jade?” I asked, my heart trapped in my throat.

“She's collateral damage. It's the Morris girl.” He smiled a small smile, the cruelness like arsenic on his face. “She has witnessed some things that she should not have.” He saw my face and said, “Don't worry, you won't be blamed, after all, what could you do?” He grinned, his nicotine stained teeth as obscene as his expression.

He laughed at me as he put his cigarette out in his hand, his singed flesh filling the studio with the smell of charred skin.

I gulped. I looked quickly outside and Buddy and Jonesy were beside a collapsed Sophie, their knees bracketing her body.

I whipped my head around, thinking furiously.

“There's nothing you can do. Just leave. Let the girl go. Both of them.”

“I'll kill you if you touch her,” I said and felt something vital clicked into place.

Intent becoming promise. If Jade had felt me now I would surely have been a DI. I was certain.

The kiss of his death like a taste in my tongue, a smell filling my nostrils, the fiber of my being coming alive.

His eyes narrowed. “I think Parker misjudged you. Misjudged you greatly.”

I stalked toward him before I knew I'd moved. The gun rising to meet my chest. His eyes met mine, the irises yellowed. “You could kill. I think you're more instinctual than he gave you credit for.” He barked out a laugh and with a signal one of his drones opened a storage closet.

I could feel the steel of the gun pressed against my hoodie, the coldness of it seeping through the layers. My eyes followed the Graysheet as the body of Sensei was revealed through bars.

Locked bars.

I closed my eyes for a moment, thinking about the death of my teacher.

Then they popped open. He wasn't dead. No way. I couldn't feel his death when I'd tested the area for it. But even from where I stood I could make out the frenetic movement of his eyes beneath his lids.

John's breath sucked in.

Our eyes met.

“He's the guy, Caleb.”

My guts roiled. The lunch I had threatening to make a reappearance.

A bunch of small pieces of the puzzle came together.

Buddy ran into the dojo, took one look at the Graysheets and said, “Don't do it. She wasn't going to say anything. Call it off,” he said, his eyes frantic.

Archer turned to him. “Okay, I give up. Who are you?”

Buddy ignored Lewis.

“Stay out of this. You've been compromised. You never get emotionally involved with the target. I told Parker you were the wrong fit, Buddy.”

I looked over at who I'd thought was Buddy. Taking in his stature, as a guy. It was so obvious now that he was older. If I'd been paying attention, I would've seen it right away.

Of course, someone had.

Gramps. He'd had his eye on him from the very beginning. And I'd fought him, finding him a worthy opponent.

Too worthy.

Now they were going to kill the girls.

I looked at the car again, Jade sleeping safely inside.

Then I looked at Sensei.

The connection came like a jagged avalanche of glass, tearing my guts up.

Sleeping safely inside my locked car, Sensei was the attacker. He was behind locked bars.

Asleep.

My memory burned with the image of Sophie collapsed on the asphalt outside the dojo, then paused over the bundle that was Jade. In my car, the blackness of her hair covering her face except for the tip of her nose.

Sensei Anderson was the Astral Projection attacker. He was currently protected by six armed Graysheets, I didn't have any dead at my disposal and they had a Telekinetic on board.

Anguish pierced me like a sword finding its home, bile burning a brutal pathway up my throat.

Jade

Jade burrowed under the scratchy blanket that was in the back of the car, the seat's tight configuration a perfect embrace for the cocoon of rest she felt hovering at the edge of her consciousness. She heard the door locks snap into place and gave a small smile at Caleb's over protectiveness. She made a show for him but it secretly pleased her that he cared about her so much. She just didn't want him to feel like he had to. He was an awesome boyfriend. Except for the zombie thing. She was with Sophie, they were kinda scary. Their eyes especially.

Jade's breathing became heavy and even, the misery of her memories slipping away, her body using the deep slumber to finesse the last little bit of the healing session she'd just come from. Her body knitting into perfection once again.

Jade awoke in space filled with whiteness and looked around. She had never felt more awake but knew she was somewhere strange, the perimeter of where she was cloud-like, the walls a soft, billowy material. She was in a cotton ball world. What a weird dream.

Then she noticed what she was wearing. A long dress draped her, in the deepest emerald. The deep vee of the bodice had a glittering fine webbing of jet black stones that sparkled like diamonds, making the dress look like it had a black wash covering it, sparkling above a green sea. It reminded her of her dream catcher at home. Her hand flew to her neck automatically, to find only her collarbone, bare of the gift from Caleb. Her only jewelry was a bracelet in a shimmering jeweled rainbow from the softest black to a deep onyx that rode her small wrist, slipping coldly along the bone on the left. It slid back and forth over the bump as she looked at what she was wearing, the fabric felt like satin but hung like silk, a high heeled shoe peeking out from beneath it, raven's wing black.

Her pulse sped up. Something was wrong. The quality of the dream was entirely too real. The things she wore, bizarre. She reached out to touch the wall and an emotional torrent crashed into her, stealing her breath.

This was not a dream.

This was realm. Jade became instantly afraid. She had no right to be in realm. That was for Astral Projectionists. Not Empaths.

Unless... Jade looked around frantically, her hair coming loose from its elaborate binding, a black strand falling against the skin of her back, tickling her.

Her eyes locked on a form coming through the wall, slowly revealed to her as if hidden by mist.

Sophie came through the wall, the whiteness of her gown in direct contrast to the coffee kissed color of her skin. Jade's eyes locked with hers and she knew that Sophie realized instantly that something was wrong. She grabbed a handful of her white gown and ran to Jade, her silver spiked heels making no noise in realm, absorbed like she'd never been.

“What are you doing here?” Sophie asked breathlessly, clutching Jade's arm.

“I don't know, I was gonna ask you. I fell asleep in Caleb's car and woke up here.” Jade spread her hands away from her body, Sophie's hand falling away from her.

“Why am I in realm? I mean, that is where I'm at... ” Jade asked, trying to still the trembling in her hands, finally giving up and clenching them together.

Sophie shook her head, her fluffy hair tightly contained in an elaborate up do, a few tendrils clinging tenaciously to the back of her neck. Jade watched Sophie think about it. Then slowly, she turned her forearm over and an angry puncture became visible.

Jade and Sophie looked at each other. “The depressant,” Sophie began slowly. Jade shrugged, she'd missed her dose on Wednesday because of the healing session. “I was given the three month dose like everyone but it should only allow realm at night... ” Sophie's eyes met hers.

“Unless they gave you a different dose,” Jade said.

“A different kind,” Sophie emphasized.

Then it dawned on Jade. “What if they gave you something specifically that was different than the normal dose? That would make you sleep and allow realm at the same time?”

Sophie looked at Jade. “That would mean that the attacker guy was working with the government. That Amanda as a victim was a decoy.”

“She was never the one they wanted to get. Buddy interrupted him trying to get you,” Jade said, realization dawning within her in an ugly spiral.

Sophie's aqua eyes searched Jade's green ones. “Why am I here though Soph? I'm not AP!” Jade said, grabbing Sophie's hands.

From behind them they heard a male's voice say, “It's a twofer, that's why.”

They turned and Jade was stunned beyond words, her mouth dropping open.

Caleb's judo instructor stood there in an absurd looking white tuxedo. The bow tie and cummerbund were a deep scarlet.

Like splashes of blood on his clothes.

Sophie and Jade backed away, the fingers of their hands entwined together like two fragile insects caught in a web.

The spider came.

Caleb

Sensei Anderson had to die. The bars of the closet locked from the outside and six Graysheets guarding him didn't negate that necessity.

So he would kill Jade and Sophie. Because Sophie had seen a foreign leader murdered, then sign a forged document as a zombie. She was witness. Okay.

Jade because... why?

I pressed my chest against the barrel and through gritted teeth asked, “Why Jade?”

He smiled, clicking the hammer back. “To cripple you, of course.”

What?

He looked into my face and said, “We take away the thing you care about and there's no reason why you won't join us. We have much you need to accomplish.”

Suddenly I understood what my advantage was. They needed me.

Alive.

My eyes swept my friends, John, Alex and the new guy, Archer.

“Archer!” I bellowed at him.

“I got you!” Archer said from a pace behind me.

Using my body as a shield he slid behind me and wrapped a hand around the barrel of the gun. I heard the hammer click and knew he'd locked the gun up. Skinny-Smoker got a surprised look on his face and I slammed the barrel, stock first back into his chest in a smooth jab, my palm shrieking with the force of the move. Archer ducked and rolled and I felt my body lifted off my feet and I flew backward, slamming into the only wall without mirrors.

The Telekinetic had used his power to heave me like a rag doll.

My teeth snapped together on impact and I bit my tongue, blood welling into my mouth like a copper river.

John grunted and the Telekinetic faced off with him, another Graysheet breaking away with the Telekinetic.

I figured that turd was a Null.

I gathered everything that was my power in a tight fist as I slid down the wall, my bell rung, my head spinning and had a singular thought:

Clyde! my mind shouted, the call shattering the boundaries like glass brick, the shards flying in a radius even I didn't know how far it reached.

I heard Tiff yell and collapse to her knees outside, her hands covering her ears and knew I'd hurt her somehow and I was sorry.

I didn't know where Clyde was but that was my last coherent thought before I gave Alex the look.

Lewis was more than a Lock-Manipulator and rolled on the ground as a fully automatic weapon made its way toward him.

Buddy dropped to the ground in a dead faint and I knew he was going in to help the girls.

Maybe.

As my dull brain understood it, somehow... he was a Graysheet.

Alex grabbed the barrel of the gun that was pointed at Archer's forehead and flung it away before a bullet was driven into Lewis' face.

Skinny-Smoker recovered and screamed, “Shoot the Body!”

The sound of a bullet hitting home sounded in the echoing space, the impact spinning Alex around and making him topple like a mighty tree, his arm sailing backward to try to soften the impact.

Archer tried to grab the barrel of the other Graysheets's gun but it was sizzling hot from the discharge and he howled in response, the second gun trained on him.

The door swung open so hard it shattered the glass of the dojo window that sat beside it.

It was Clyde and Company.

I swear I was so stunned my heart hiccuped while my bowels clenched.

Gramps had arrived with the puppy.

I fought fainting for the first time in my life, my head a spinning thing atop my neck.

I forced my head between my knees and then stood up, throwing my palm behind me in an effort to stay upright.

Gramps was engaged with the two Graysheets who had caused John to pant and sweat to run down his face, a fine trembling causing his arms to shake.

“Why don't you gents disarm before I have to blow a couple holes in ya?” Gramps said conversationally, the puppy pointed at the men.

Clyde clenched his hands and hissed.

Gramps eyes flicked to Clyde then landed back on the Graysheets.

“Shut up old man, we know what you were about back in the day, but it's this boy's turn to meet his maker and I aim to make it happen,” the Graysheet said, Archer's face a shade of pale that shouldn't be a skin color.

Gramps gave a grim smile and responded, “A follow-through guy? Well... me too.” And with that, he blew off the agent's hand at the wrist, with a whole lot of peripheral shot pelting him for good measure. That KEL-TEC KSG bullpup shotgun would put a ton of shot-love into a person.

Yes indeedy.

The agent screamed, grabbing the stump of his arm while blood geysered out of it like a fire hydrant. He began staggering around, his follow-through long forgotten.

The other agents woke up as if from a dream, seeming to notice the Threat that was Gramps too late.

He raised the shotgun to the two that were working John over while I ran to Alex. “Are ya okay?”

He nodded, his lips blue.

Definitely not okay.

“You two stay like that, I got plenty of shot for the both of ya. Move and I make you holy.” Gramps laughed at his own pun.

Cripes.

Skinny-Smoker began working his way toward the bars that held Sensei Anderson and I just knew that he meant to keep us from him. If we could get to Sensei, we could save the girls.

“Gramps!” I yelled.

“Yup,” he yelled back, the shotgun steady on the two Graysheets.

“My judo teacher is trying to kill Sophie and Jade!”

“Bastard,” Gramps said, the puppy unwavering.

Right.

I turned to Clyde and saw that somehow, in the midst of the chaos, Onyx had come.

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

The Dog had heard the desperate call from his boy and broken the directive about letting the liquid go and to return to the cave immediately. Instead, he had escaped the prison that was attached to the boy's cave, heading toward the call. He could feel one of the dead creatures coming as well.

They converged together and the Dead One made the Dog understand that there was a feral pack of great strength with many alphas that threatened the Master.

Who, of course, was his Boy.

He ran. The Dog ran until his lungs burned, and the pads of his feet ached. When he thought he could run no more he used that energy that the Boy's call had given him. It ran on a current into his body, allowing speed, dexterity and a momentum that the Dog did not usually possess.

He did not tire again.

Instead, his nose had found the scent of the call. The scenery as he ran the back roads rushing by him in a colorful blur of grays and blacks.

He came into the cave that contained the enemy pack of feral and instantly felt the injury to the Boy. With primal glee he was able to sense many injuries, small and large, to the alien pack.

The Dog wagged his tail. That was very good. He looked up at the Dead One. He was a fierce Alpha, the Dog would wait for his signal.

When it came, the Dog would be ready.

I watched Onyx wag his tail and shook my head slightly, I couldn't believe my eyes.

It couldn't get any weirder but then Clyde asked, “What assistance do you require, Master?”

And my mind screamed Jade, help Jade. But he couldn't. I could raise a thousand zombies but she was somewhere I couldn't rescue her.

Clyde got it though. “Where is the one that would dispatch the young women?”

I pointed to the bars where Skinny-Smoker stood, his pistol drawn, his other hand holding his chest where I'd jammed him with the locked gun. Clyde moved toward him with fluid grace, his stride never breaking.

He wore his old-fashioned, three piece suit like a uniform, the suit open to reveal a vest that was buttoned up, a long chain for his watch winking softly under the LED's that had automatically pulsed on as darkness descended.

One of the Graysheets came forward and Gramps said, “Can't take them all, Caleb!”

He had the puppy held on two of the Graysheets while a third lay bleeding out on the mat where I had practiced a thousand times. But that left Skinny-Smoker and the one that came toward Clyde, a switchblade sprung and ready in one hand and a small pistol in the other hand.

He got a shot off as Clyde came and the slug struck him in the torso, tearing the material of his vest, shredding it as it entered.

I ran forward as Gramps yelled, “Stay put, Caleb.”

I wasn't much for listening. I grabbed a fistful of the back of Clyde's suit and my power surged through him.

That's when I felt it.

Tiff had barreled into me like a caboose on the corpse train, lending me her juice so I could do Clyde.

I did.

Leveling our combined power and shoving it into him with a guttural surge that caused him to stumble, Clyde righted himself as the agent tossed the gun, shells expended. He spun back, jabbing the knife into Clyde's chest cavity.

Clyde grunted softly as I poured more juice into him, desperately trying to mend the damage as it happened. Clyde encircled the agent's windpipe with his hand, lifting him to his tiptoes.

He met his fingers around the agents neck and squeezed. I could hear the vertebrae grind against one another in a futile attempt at resistance. Then, succumbing to the pressure, they were crushed to dust inside the column of flesh.

Clyde, being a practical man in life, was one in death as well. Turning the dead agent, he used him as a meat shield of sorts, the head bobbing around grotesquely. When Skinny-Smoker began shooting at Clyde, he plugged the dead agent instead. Tiff and I moved with him, behind him.

When he reached Skinny-Smoker, Clyde hit the gun that Skinny held and there was a sharp crack as it smacked into one of the mirrors, the shattering glass raining down on the floor.

Clyde threw a wicked punch and Skinny-Smoker deflected it smoothly. I came around the side of Clyde and the agent's eyes followed me, turning his attention to me instead of Clyde.

“As long as I don't kill you, I'm in the clear,” he said, swinging at me and I felt the air press against me as I narrowly avoided it. I began my offensive jabs right away and he should have buckled under the weight of the onslaught, his nasty smoking habit making him weak.

He was not, he did not.

Skinny-Smoker whirled with a roundhouse style kick on Clyde, making him pinwheel his arms backward into Tiff. They hit the floor together in an ungainly pile.

I faced Skinny-Smoker just as Onyx launched himself on his exposed forearm, the suit long shredded. Onyx sunk his teeth into his bare flesh and Skinny howled in pain.

But mainly frustration. In a smooth move, he landed his opposite fist on Onyx's head and Onyx slid down to the floor. Hurt.

He hurt my dog.

Jade was in danger.

Those thoughts collided together and adrenaline and death got tangled together in a body numbing surge of energy.

My zombie was struggling off of Tiff and I looked at Skinny-Smoker.

I charged. The tension of the day like an oil slick on fire, the flame a thing of unending heat and destruction.

He met my charge with one of his own and we grappled. Our sizes were similar but he didn't have his girlfriend in jeopardy as a motivator.

Or a zombie that was becoming something else.

Clyde pulled him off of me and tossed him by the seat of his pants into the one mirror that was unbroken.

He crashed into it, a shard of glass the size of a ruler, stabbing him through the chest, one end sticking out of his back.

Slick with blood and other things.

His mouth opened in an “O” of surprise. He fell backwards, tumbling to his back. As we watched the shard pushed through in reverse, gutting him again. His hands wrapped around it but he died as we watched.

The Telekinetic agent used the distraction of his fallen comrade to throw the puppy across the room. John, too tired to keep a hold on both the Null and the Telekinetic, looked at me, “Sorry Caleb.” His face a solemn as the tomb.

Speaking of which, Clyde faced the two agents, trying to protect me from them as Gramps launched himself at the Null.

I realized it was the guy who had almost had his arm hacked off by the Skopamish.

It was working pretty well now as he began to try and beat the snot out of Gramps.

I wanted to protect him but had the Telekinetic to deal with.

I let my power go, sliding into the dead agent with the glass poking out of his chest.

I was betting he was as good of a fighter dead as alive.

His eyes sprung open finding mine immediately. He sat bolt upright, tearing the shard of glass out of his chest and launching it like a torpedo at the Telekinetic.

See how that works? I thought wildly.

It made a meaty sound as it struck the Telekinetic. Who with a shocked gasp, turned his energy on the agent that was now my zombie, flinging him into the framework from the mirror that had been shattered.

The Telekinetic held him pinned there like a macabre butterfly while he writhed around.

Gramps beat the Null into the ground, the knuckles of his big hands shredded. He scooped up the puppy and twirled it around like a baton and made a quick jab at the back of the Telekinetic's head.

He slid to the floor. Out.

Skinny-Smoker stood at the ready.

Waiting.

His dead gaze trained on me, his devotion obvious. I turned my back on his stare.

Gramps turned to me and I sucked in my breath when I saw the mess of his face. Then I looked at the floor. The Null was a bloody pulp.

“Gramps, get Jade awake!” I pointed to the Camaro and he ran out there. Using the but of his puppy, he jammed it against the glass and Clyde and I moved forward.

It was Archer that grabbed my ankle.

“Help me get over there and I'll get you to the guy.”

I looked at the bars and realized they were locked. Even Clyde couldn't tear them open.

But he could and did drag Archer up by his armpits.

We hauled him over to the prison type bars and he held his palm out, swiping it against the plate sized pulse pad. It slid open with a whisper and a hiss.

We moved toward Sensei Anderson, murder in our step.

Sensei Anderson

The agent looked at the delectably vulnerable girls that stood before him, dressed in clothes their subconscious’s had fashioned for them and nearly sighed.

To finally be allowed to cause suffering amongst the weak and vulnerable. To know the girlfriend of Caleb, who had been abused in the past, to taste her fear like subtle and fine wine upon his tongue was an aphrodisiac of the highest order.

He moved toward them, the fear from his approach clenching the lovely features of the diminutive and finely sculpted Jade. He would have her underneath him and begging for mercy momentarily.

The other agents would be holding the boy and dispatching whom they deemed necessary. By the time they discovered his treason, the young women would be beaten and broken dolls, simple vessels for his abuse and release.

He moved toward them with a light heart.

Jade

Jade's heart lay broken. She would never say goodbye to Caleb, she would suffer and die in this place of abject neutrality, never seeing anyone she cared about again. Sophie alongside her. Permanently gone.

Permanently.

She could feel his evil from where she and Sophie stood shaking and terrified. She knew what he planned. It was a mercy that she could not inadvertently convey it to Sophie.

Then Jade saw Buddy slide out of the mist of the wall and tackle the judo teacher from behind.

They grappled. When Anderson caught sight of Buddy he yelled, “What are you doing? You're supposed to be protecting Parker!”

What? Jade thought, stunned.

Sophie and she looked at each other, then back at the fight.

Buddy was not who he said he was. He brought that to light when he screamed back, his hand buried in Anderson's hair, delivering a knee to his chiseled gut, “I can't let you kill her!”

They fought. Sensei Anderson, or whoever he was, systematically tearing down Buddy's defenses, crippling him slowly.

“No!” Sophie shrieked and rushed Sensei.

“No Sophie!” Jade screamed, trying to catch her as she ran away, grabbing air instead.

Sensei anticipated her so smoothly it made Jade ill. He hit Sophie once and she fell, her slender body crumpling to the softness of the floor of realm. Buddy was a broken and bleeding heap at her feet.

Anderson looked at Jade. “Now where were we? Oh yes, I was going to rape you.”

He gave her a chilling smile and with a last kick in Buddy's ribs he made his way to Jade.

Caleb

“Hart!” Alex shouted.

I turned, my hands itching to grab a hold of a mentor turned attacker.

Buddy's nose moved and became crooked as I watched, blood spouting from both nostrils. Bruises appeared, peppering his skin as we stared.

“Caleb!” John shouted. “You've got to kill him. If the girls aren't woken up, he'll get to them.”

We stared at each other, the window open to the elements. Jonesy peered in, holding Sophie's head in his lap, her face having a new welt swelling on her temple.

“Please Caleb,” he said, naked terror in his eyes. “Kill his ass.”

We turned, my decision made.

Death Intent beat in my brain, its rhythm true.

Jade

Jade screamed and ran. His hands wrapped her from behind before she had begun to turn. She could feel the strength in them and was so afraid she felt her bladder burn for release. He turned her around, tearing the straps from her gown as he did and she screamed, her mouth filling with air and screaming again, one on top of the other.

Until he hit her.

She saw stars as he fumbled with her dress, tearing it down to her waist, her upper body naked before him. She lay there stunned as he tore at his pants.

Suddenly, when she was utterly without hope, he began to fade, his body becoming transparent. Then she heard someone trying to call her name.

He sounded so worried.

She knew that voice.

She opened her eyes and the attacker was gone and Caleb's grandpa looked down at her, shaking her shoulder.

Hard.

“Ouch!” she yelped.

“Little Missy! Thank everything in heaven,” Mac said, shaky.

He drew her up into his arms and lifted her out of the car like she weighed nothing, carrying her to where the others were gathered.

Broken glass bits glittered on the top of her puffy like dull jewels.

Jade looked up into her savior's eyes and realized he was badly beaten.

She also realized she was alive.

Jade wept.

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

I saw Gramps bring Jade in about the same time that I saw Sophie stir in Jonesy's arms.

He didn't even make a pretense of being indifferent.

Streaming tears ran down his dark face, his hands clutching her against him as he kissed her face everywhere, missing only the darkening bruise at her temple.

“Got her!” Gramps said, holding Jade close to his chest.

I swung my attention back to Sensei too late.

He was awake and gave me a jab to my vulnerable neck. It would have been a killing blow if Clyde had not broken his hand blocking it.

But zombies don't feel pain and there wasn't a blow torch handy so we were in luck.

I crouched as another jab, intended for my head, missed its mark and I struck my foot out in an inelegant and unbalanced move toward his knee.

It worked and he fell, grabbing my forearm as he went down. I rolled into the maneuver with practiced smoothness.

Fighting your teacher was a little like a chess game you couldn't win. I didn't know anything but what he'd taught me and he was outmaneuvering me. Alex was down, Gramps had Jade, John was useless physically and Clyde's hand was wrecked.

I gave Tiff the barest glance before I had to peg a hand to Sensei's head, his hands trying to wrap my throat.

Tiff grabbed Clyde's hand and I thrust my power toward her like a spear, blindly hoping she could wield another's AFTD weapon.

She could. She did. Using it like a scalpel she held my zombie's hand and poured the death energy into his hand, mending it as I fought for my life, Sensei riding me, his fingers digging into my neck like talons. My vision began to dim and I heard Gramps yelling in the background.

Then Clyde was above me, our eyes meeting, human understanding overriding his zombie nature.

I heard a voice shout, “Halt, police!”

Garcia.

Clyde and I hung suspended for a moment, then I gave the order. The only one that mattered.

Kill, my mind whispered.

It was not the word, but the intent he heard.

Clyde put his hands on either side of Sensei's head and I felt the steel bands of his hands loosen from around my neck to release the hold on his head but too late.

Clyde met his hands in a clap, Sensei's face collapsing under the force, a pressure not known in nature. A devastating blow that caused his features to meld in a dance of flesh, bone and blood.

I was instantly splattered with gore. I must've passed out for a second because when I became aware again it was pandemonium. Garcia was screaming at Gale at the top of his lungs and she was crouched protectively in front of Clyde.

Who was under threat of fire from Garcia, a blue flame dancing on the end of a weapon made for this.

Made for the murder of a zombie.

But not Clyde. He was mine and I was his.

Apparently, he was Gale's too.

I staggered to my feet, swiping Sensei's brains out of my face so I could see, some of it landing with a wet splat on the mat. Clyde glanced at it, distracted with instant lust just as Garcia reached for Gale, latching onto her arm.

“No!” I screamed with everything I had. I knew how Clyde would react.

Hissing, he tore Gale away from Garcia and put her behind him protectively, her small body covered by his. “Do not lay hands on Roberta, Officer Garcia. I will hurt you.”

Garcia backed away, shifting his eyes to mine. “What in the blue fuck is going on here, Caleb!” he said on a voice stressed to breaking, all semblance of civility, any presence of mind that told him there were teens around, bystanders. Gone.

Utterly.

I didn't even know where to begin. We had killed people here, my zombie had. Alex lay bleeding and the girls needed medical attention. I could hardly talk because of my abused throat. But I opened my mouth to try.

Then Parker showed up.

Could things get any more screwed to Sunday if I'd wished for it?

Garcia swung his gun to Parker and he smiled in response. Man he was a cool customer.

Bred from merciless deeds, I thought cryptically.

“Stay where you are,” Garcia said, on the edge of doing things he swore he'd never do.

Gramps put Jade on her feet and she got behind him, looking at me. I strode over to her. She met me, burying her face in my chest. She just missed the brain splatter by an inch.

“Are you hurt?” I whispered against her hair, the smell of vanilla a shock to my senses, blood and violence the only scent I'd had in the last hour.

She shook her head, turning her face into me.

I looked at Parker. I think hate was not a strong enough emotion but it'd have to do.

He put his hands out in front of him. “I'm sorry, Caleb.”

“You seem to spend a lot of time apologizing, Parker,” I replied, my voice raspy from the fun with Sensei.

He nodded. “I know this has gotten out of hand but we had an agent assigned for your protection and a Kamikaze for the Morris girl.”

I felt my eyes narrow to slits and he watched my expression. “I wasn't in charge of her execution. That was a directive above me. All I could do was assign one of my agents to protect you. Jade, well, I couldn't do anything about her safety when Agent Rogers went rogue.”

My head was spinning. I was furiously trying to make sense of it all when Parker's zombies strolled in, loaded with weapons everywhere. I'd never seen better armed... anybody. The one that we had screwed up pretty good by the forest was as good as new. Obviously Parker could remake his zombie's like clay. Refashioned at will.

Great.

Garcia said, “I don't care how much I have to work and how many strings are pulled. You're going to go down, Parker. You can't just mess with these teen's lives anytime you feel like it, you're not above the law.”

Parker ignored him, his zombies eying the flame nervously, shifting the heaviness of their weight as they flanked Parker.

Parker stared at me and Gramps said, “Is this the one that keeps cropping up like a bad penny?”

I nodded, as explanations went, it wasn't too bad.

“Get Agent Tracker,” Parker said to one of the zombies, who returned, holding up a beaten Buddy. Only his eyes looked whole out of a face with a mask of bruises.

Parker inclined his head toward me. “He wasn't interested in following directions at the end. He became attached to the subject, the target. Big mistake.”

Buddy glared at him. Or should I start thinking about him with his real name, Tracker.

Jonesy and Sophie came in and she looked at him. I could see her torn. Stay with Jonesy or go to Buddy, her face said.

Jonesy made up her mind for her. “Don't go near him, Soph. We don't know who he really is.”

Buddy/Tracker looked at her. “You know I wouldn't hurt you, right?”

She looked at him for several moments then nodded her head.

He relaxed and she asked, “I... I just have to know, what is your real name?”

He shifted his gaze to Parker and he shrugged. “Logan Tracker.”

“And you're a Graysheet?” she asked.

His eyebrows rose on his butchered face and he winced.

“That's what they call us,” Parker explained.

“I'm an agent for the government.”

I felt so enlightened.

“That's enough, Tracker.” He looked at the zombie who held him. “Bring him.”

Parker looked back at me and said, “I think you know what will happen, Caleb. I know about your latest episode with LeClerc. Have you asked yourself what the consequence is of using your life-force? What it does to the person that receives it? The person that gave it.”

I must've looked confused because Parker sent a call to the dead that I felt echo in my bones, thrumming so hard my teeth ached.

A zombie entered the dojo I would have recognized anywhere.

It was the warrior that I had juiced with the life-force of the Graysheet when Jonesy had downed the chopper.

He looked as alive as Clyde.

Jade turned to look at him and he gave his steady regard to us.

To me.

He then turned his glittering eyes to Parker who said, “This is who made you.” The zombie turned his attention back to me and breathed, “Master.”

I guess Gramps had had enough. “Okay, I hate to break up old reunion day but I want some cotton-pickin' answers and I want them yesterday.”

Garcia's arm began shaking with the effort to hold the glowing flame on the zombies. Finally, he let it drop.

“I do not answer to you, Dear Sir. This is between Caleb and I. He will be my partner, not now but someday. Whether he resists me or not. He will be my salvation. My release. Until that time, I give you caution.” His dark eyes studied mine. “You have unleashed two consequences upon yourself that will not go away. The first is the life-transference you caused between Miss LeClerc and Mr. Mason. The second is the obvious problem that stands at your left.”

I looked at Clyde, who had Gale pressed in his arms in the same way I did with Jade and a horrible feeling of finality stole over me.

He saw my expression and nodded. “He is becoming, Caleb. He will have needs. Human needs. You restored him and all he needs is a living battery for life.” He clenched his fist and held it above his heart. “An AFTD battery. If not you, another will suffice.”

His eyes bored into mine and I finally understood. He could be human again, still zombie but live again. He needed an AFTD to do it but it didn't need to be me.

Gale and I looked at each other and her face held an expression I didn't want to see there.

Love.

Desire.

Determination.

Garcia scowled at Parker. “Are you telling me that this... zombie doesn't need to go to ground? That he can have a... what? Relationship?! Are you insane?”

Parker shook his head. “Not insane, just right.”

He looked at me again. “You'll come to me, Caleb. When you seek answers, I will be there to give them to you.”

Logan Tracker broke away from the zombie that held him and ran for Sophie, she hesitated for a moment then met him where they crashed into each other. Ignoring his obvious injuries he crushed her to him and kissed her head.

I heard him whisper that he loved her, his arms trying to keep her even as the zombie tore him off her.

Parker backed out of the doorway with his zombies. The last one mine. It was a painful separation as he left. Sorta like sawing my arm off with a butter knife.

Its eyes never leaving mine it said, “I will wait.”

Tracker was hauled away, his eyes glued on Sophie's, hers never leaving his.

Tears glittered and ran, sluicing a pathway along the planes of her face to her jaw. Trembling crystal gems hung, then fell to dampen her clothing .

Then they were gone.

Leaving more questions than answers.

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

Garcia slapped the cuffs on my wrists and Clyde was literally frothing at the mouth, Gale pleading with Garcia to stop.

My eyes met Clyde's. “Do nothing.”

Clyde's face contorted with emotions he shouldn't have had. But he did. Because of me, because of Gale.

“I should not have killed them, Master,” Clyde said, his strange speech perfect from him.

Gramps said, “You can't arrest him! Those lowlife government saps were trying to kill him! His friends, the girls. Think Garcia!” Gramps shouted.

Gale opened her mouth to speak.

Garcia swung around and yelled in Gale's face. “You... don't you talk to me. You're in love with this zombie, you aren't thinking with a clear head!”

As the metal bit into my wrists I watched Gale try to control her emotions. Clyde had wrapped his forearm around her chest, the main part of it underneath her chin, pressing her against him.

Garcia looked at her with a disgust that bordered on hatred. She glared back at him. “You've never understood the paranormal, Raul. You're letting your prejudice and anger over this mess cloud your judgment. Don't arrest a sixteen-year old because he used Clyde to defend himself. If he hadn't he'd be dead, or everyone would! See reason,” she said, imploring him to listen.

But he was merciless. “It's Clyde now, eh? He's a corpse, Bobbi! Think about it.” His eyes met hers and he hauled me off, Jade sobbing as I went, Gramps' arm around her shoulders.

Gramps' eyes did a scan at the assembled cops that had come as back up and knew he couldn't offer any assistance but to watch me go to jail.

Onyx had woken up and stood by Clyde, giving a lone and plaintive whine.

I totally understood.

Garcia loaded me into the back of the cruiser none too gently and slammed the door.

The locks engaged and Gale was left with the back up cops on scene, the dead techs swarming around Graysheets that would never be identified.

Clyde above ground forever, tied to Gale in a way that I couldn't fathom, hadn't planned.

Jade and Brett with some connection as a result of me using him as a tool to save her life.

And me facing possible criminal prosecution for intent to murder.

With an undeadly weapon.

––––––––

THE END