Death, Doom, and Detention

EXPRESSIONLESS

The next morning, we got ready for school in relative silence. Except for the howling from Glitch when he got the last shower. At least cold water was invigorating.

“Would you kids like some breakfast?” Grandma asked when we made our way downstairs, shuffling off the landing one by one. She sat by Granddad at the table, drinking coffee and reading the sports section. I didn’t know why. She never watched sports.

I avoided eye contact. “We’ll just have cereal.”

“Think healthy,” Granddad said, referring to my culinary choice. I was actually thinking more along the lines of chocolaty, but okay. I took down a box of something with the word “wheat” in it. Brooke crinkled her nose and went for a toaster pastry as Glitch raided the refrigerator.

Since Plan A had gone awry, our sleuthing adventures would have to wait until tonight. At least Jared was back. That single thought occupied 98 percent of my brain function. The other 2 percent was on Plan

A. It didn’t hurt to do a little investigating. To grill the authority figures for intel. I wondered what

Grandma and Granddad knew about my other grandfather, the one on my dad’s side. They didn’t tell me the truth about my parents’ disappearance for ten years, and even then, I had to practically force it out of them. I doubted they would have told me if not for Jared’s appearance and everything that happened six months ago.

I cleared my throat. “So, I was looking at some pictures and I realized I don’t have a single one of my other set of grandparents.”

Grandma choked on her coffee, coughing a full minute before recovering, and I didn’t know if her seizure was due to my question or the fact that I was talking to them.

Granddad patted her back, his eyes rounding in surprise, when he said, “I’m not sure we have any.

Your dad didn’t bring much in the way of personal effects when he and your mom moved back here.”

I took a bite of cereal, going for nonchalance, then said, “I wonder if my chin is like his.”

And with that, Grandma and Granddad leveled the most shocked expression I’d ever seen on me. So I continued.

“I mean, you know, I don’t really have either of your chins, so I thought maybe my chin came from the other side of my family.”

Granddad recovered first. “Yes, well, you definitely have the cleft from your dad’s chin. That’s a signature McAlister trait if I ever saw one. Right, Vera?”

When Grandma didn’t answer, he elbowed her. “Right,” she said, jumping to attention. “Signature.

Spitting image. You know, chin-wise.”

“Do you think there are pictures of them somewhere?”

“Well, there are some records stored in the basement,” she said. “There might be something in there.”

“Cool. I might check it out later. Just out of curiosity.” I practically had their permission to snoop now and felt better for it.

Brooke thinned her mouth, admonishing me with her furrowed eyebrows. I stuck out my tongue, then proceeded to ignore her.

At least until Cameron came in. “The truck’s warm,” he said.

“If you guys don’t get cold,” Brooke said to him, picking up her backpack, “why do you wear jackets?”

“It’s frowned upon in society to walk around without a jacket. I used to catch all kinds of heck in grade school. Now I just get odd looks. It’s easier to conform.”

“Oh.” She strolled out the door with the rest of us behind her.

“Have a good day, pix,” Grandma said, her voice full of hope.

“You too,” I whispered without looking back.

Jared met us at Cameron’s truck, wearing his bomber jacket and jeans. His wide shoulders filled the jacket so nicely, and the brown color went well with his height.

“Hey, you,” he said, and I melted a little inside. He was already almost completely healed, at least the parts of him I could see.

“Hey.”

He reached out and brushed a thumb over my mouth.

An electrical current shot through me with the contact.

“You look nice.”

His hand was warm against the crisp day. “Thank you.”

He looked past me. Cameron had stopped and was assessing him with his signature glower.

With a boyish smile, Jared raised his hands in surrender. Then he opened the door for me, but from the corner of my eye, I noticed him look back at the house as though checking to see if my grandparents were watching. Then he turned and spit into the mud. A very guy thing to do, but just odd.

“At least the sun’s out,” Brooke said when she climbed in through Cameron’s side.

Glitch strode to his car without so much as a by your leave. He was getting so moody.

I scooted to the middle to make room for Jared. He slid in and closed the passenger-side door. The warmth of his body seeped into my clothes.

“So, these descendants don’t sound very smart,” I said, trying not to let my worry filter into the tone of my voice. “I mean, who would be dumb enough to jump you? Besides Cameron, that is.”

Cameron tossed me a scowl as he pulled onto Main. He was a master of scowls. Probably invented several of the more defiant scowls so popular with kids today.

In response, Brooklyn flashed her version. “She’s just being honest. If you’ll remember, you guys made a mess of downtown Riley’s Switch a while back. Not just anyone could have done that.”

Brooke was right. When Jared showed up a couple of months back to take me when I’d been dying, Cameron knew what he was. And since Cameron had literally been created to protect me, he didn’t take kindly to Jared showing up to take my life. Not without an appointment at least. The two of them fought like two gods hell-bent on destroying our small town.

They may have laid aside their differences to figure out this war thing, but the animosity between them hadn’t subsided completely.

With a shrug, Cameron conceded to Brooke’s logic.

But Jared was still eyeing him, a hint of provocation in his expression. “I guess there were just more of them than I’d expected. I let my guard down.”

Cameron spoke then. “What kind of archangel can’t handle a few watered-down descendants?”

Jared latched on to that like a bully trying to pick a fight. “The kind that can stop your heart before you have time to blink.”

Brooke looked over at Jared as we pulled into the parking lot. School was only three blocks away from the store, but riding in Cameron’s warm truck was way better than not riding in Cameron’s warm truck.

“Could you guys not start this crap again? It’s been weeks. Why the sudden animosity?” When Jared turned to look out the window, she said to me, “See, everybody’s acting strange.”

And she was right. When we got out, everything got even stranger. Well, not immediately. For the most part, it was a typical Tuesday. Kids standing in their respective groups. Teachers hustling to their classrooms, massive coffee mugs in hand. Principal Davis glaring. Just a regular day at Riley High.

Until we stepped inside. While kids were there as usual—raiding their lockers, walking to class—

unlike usual, the halls were deathly quiet. Eyes were cast downward and movements were hurried, wary.

“Dang,” I said, suddenly uncomfortable. “Is there a new no-talking rule in the halls?”

“I hope not,” Brooklyn said, reading a text on her phone as we wound through the stoic crowd. “Your grandmother says hey.”

“She’s texting you now too? That woman is a menace.”

“She’s funny,” Cameron said, sticking to us like a Post-it note. He took his job as protector very seriously.

“I’m glad you think so.”

Spotting Hector Salazar, a kid I’d known since kindergarten, leaning against his red locker, I waved a quick hello. He was a bona fide nerd and proud of it to the point of arrogance, but I never held it against him. He was smart. He knew it. Who was I to argue? Super smart or not, though, he usually waved back.

Instead, he lowered his head and stared at me, his gaze expressionless.

“What the heck did I do to Hector?” I asked no one in particular.

“What?” Brooke barely looked up from her phone, but Cameron took hold of my arm and pulled me to a stop. He was really strong. Like supernaturally strong. So I stopped fairly quickly.

“What did you say?” he asked.

I looked up in surprise as Brooke turned back to us and Jared came closer to hover and stare menacingly at Cameron.

Suddenly self-conscious, I said, “Hector gave me a really odd look.”

Cameron straightened and eyed the crowd from his perch atop his shoulders. Man, that guy was tall.

“What kind of look?”

Jared did the same before giving me his attention again.

“A look. I don’t know. I waved and he just stared.” I lifted a shoulder. “I haven’t done a thing to him since the first grade. And that was totally his fault. I mean, I’m all for sharing, but there’s sharing and then there’s robbing your classmates blind.”

Brooke laughed. “What did he want from you?”

“My blue construction paper. All of it. Honestly. It’s not like construction paper grows on trees.”

Cameron appraised the crowd before parking his gaze on Jared. Jared returned the sentiment and the glower-fest began anew.

I elbowed Brooke and she glanced up to take in the stare-down before questioning me with raised brows.

While Cameron’s eyes were filled with uncertainty, Jared’s were narrow, challenging. Again, it was so unlike him and, well, more like Cameron. Their roles had been switched. What on former planet Pluto was going on?

“Where’s Glitch?” Brooke asked, checking around.

“He had to go straight to class,” Cameron said before stalking past us.

We followed. “Really? He didn’t say anything.”

“I don’t see the new kid. Let’s just get you to science.” Normally, getting to class was not one of

Cameron’s priorities.

The boys seemed to be lost in thought as they walked us to first hour. We stopped outside the classroom, and I turned to say good-bye to them. Well, mostly to Jared. I wondered if there was a chance

I could see what had actually happened to him.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” I asked him, inching closer.

His smile faltered and he camouflaged any emotion behind an empty expression. “I’m certain of it.”

“Can you tell me what’s going on?”

He crossed his arms at his chest. “No.”

I leaned forward and put my hand on his. “You know you can tell me anything, right?”

He raked his teeth over his bottom lip and stared intently. It was the sexiest thing I’d ever seen. Then, with his beautiful mouth tilted up at one corner, a playful grin sparkling in his eyes, he asked, “Are you getting anything?”

I dropped my hand and rolled my eyes.

A deep laugh, soft and gorgeous, sounded in his chest.

“How do you always know?” I exhaled loudly and gave up. “Never mind.”

He took my jacket and pulled me closer to him. “You’re giving up?”

The world tumbled in my periphery, dissolved into nothing. “No.” Then when I could catch my breath, I said, “Never.”

“We need to get to class,” Cameron said, completely breaking the spell I was under.

We turned in unison to look at him. Mostly because he was standing really close.

Brooke stepped closer as well, shouldering between Cameron and Jared. “Are we in a huddle for a reason?” She glanced at each one of us in turn. “I don’t want to be left out of the loop.”

Jared’s mouth softened into a breathtaking grin. He reached over Brooke and shoved Cameron backwards. Not hard, just enough to let Cameron know he was not welcome.

But Cameron came back. He leaned closer and said, “I’m not leaving until you do, reaper.”

“I’ll see you later,” Jared said. “I’d hate for blondie to stroke.”

Cameron scoffed and stepped back, waiting for Jared to follow.

“Are you going to tell me what’s going on?” I asked.

“Not until I know more.”

“Fine.” I shooed him away with both hands. “Get to class. History awaits.”

He laughed. “I don’t think Mr. Burke likes me.”

“That might change if you’d stop correcting him.”

He raised his hands helplessly. “Your history books are full of errors. I’m just trying to help.”

In science, the class was studying the effects of sugar on cellular structure. I was studying the effects of

Jared’s presence on my nervous system. It was kind of scientific. Jared was the stimulus and I was the test subject. Oddly enough, every time the stimulus was presented, the test subject’s cells flooded with adrenaline. Clearly it was a valid test. I should publish.

But I couldn’t help but wonder what had happened exactly. It would take something very powerful to bring down Jared. He was almost indestructible. Who could do that? What could do that? And his behavior was different. To deny that would be infantile.

But still. That grin.

I was busy replaying that grin of his in my mind for the seven thousandth time when I felt a sharp jab from behind. I sprang to attention. Ms. Mullins was standing in front of the classroom, her expression questioning, her gaze focused directly on me.

“Um, yes?”

She smiled. “You’re right, Lorelei. At least someone studied.”

When she turned back to her slide show, I sank back and rolled my eyes in relief.

Brooke leaned forward from the desk behind me. “Nice save.”

“I’m going to pass out your papers now,” Ms. Mullins continued, “and based on the scores I saw last night, I’m going to present you with a prediction: I predict that at least eighty percent of the class is going to fail the test on Friday if it doesn’t study. These scores leave a lot to be desired.”

When she got to me, she looked down in disappointment. “You can do better, Ms. McAlister.”

I scrunched farther into my seat and took the paper. My grade wasn’t horrible. I wouldn’t be grounded for a 78. But I would get a good talking-to. Mostly from Grandma. She freaking loved A’s. But I’d had a horrid vision that day when I brushed against a senior with bulimia. Surely that counted for something.

“Score!”

Brooke, another A freak, must have aced the assignment. Again. I turned back to her. “I’m totally copying next time.”

“I wouldn’t suggest it,” Ms. Mullins said, coming back through the aisle.

With a startled gasp, I glanced up at her, unable to curb the guilt in my expression fast enough. I laughed breathily instead, trying to recover. “Oh, right. I was just kidding.”

Her sparkling eyes crinkled with mischief before turning back to the class. “Okay, we have ten minutes. I suggest you use that time wisely.”

She brushed past me as I studiously opened my book, going for another save. Was it too much to hope for two in one day? But the contact as Ms. Mullins walked past shifted gravity. Like a wind that blew one direction one minute, then another the next, the world tilted to the side.

In the next instant, I heard a muffled pop. I grasped for my desk, but my fingers slipped on something warm and sticky. My chair disappeared out from under me and I toppled back, arms searching blindly for something to grab on to. I landed hard. My spine and shoulder blades hit the tile floor with a thud a millisecond before the back of my head cracked against the hard surface. I looked around, wide eyed. The desks vanished. Students ran for cover, screaming and crying, and I found myself lying next to the prone and lifeless form of Ms. Mullins.