“Yes.” His tone was short, clipped, letting me know he’d said all he wanted to say on that subject.
We don’t always get what we want. “Did she know about the zombies? Is that why she was afraid?”
He hammered his elbows into the desk, rattling the entire piece. “Yes, Miss Bell. Yes. She knew about them, but she couldn’t see them, and so she began to imagine them around her every second of every day, and it was more than she could deal with. Finally she killed herself.”
How awful. Poor Mrs. Ankh, to feel death was the only way. Poor Mr. Ankh, left to pick up the pieces. Poor Reeve, a little girl drowning in sorrow and confusion. No wonder he insisted she be kept in the dark. He didn’t want the same fate to befall her. “I’m sorry.”
He waved my sympathy away. “The past is the past, Miss Bell.”
Such easy words to offer—but was he actually living them? “Just so you know, I saw a rabbit cloud in the sky. Zombies could be coming out tonight.”
He arched a brow, saying, “And you want in the rotation.”
I’d told myself I wasn’t ready to see Cole again. I’d even questioned my ability to fight. And still I found myself saying, “I do.” I couldn’t waste an opportunity to slay my enemy.
Mr. Ankh grilled me about my health. Was I feeling okay? Had I had any moments of weakness? Had I had another panic attack?
I answered the first two bluntly but sidestepped the last one. “Look, I was born to kill zombies. So, tonight, that’s exactly what I’m going to do. Whether you’re on board or not. And yes, that’s a threat.”
He grinned at me, but it wasn’t a nice grin. “You can’t do anything if you’re unconscious.”
He would drug me? “Try,” was all I said.
He studied me for a long while before sighing, nodding stiffly. “Fine. You’re determined. I get it. And this time, I’ll let you have your way. You’ll have to hurry, though. The slayers are at Cole’s gym, and rotations are about to be decided for the week.”
Crap. My day with Nana would have to wait. “Slight problem,” I said. “I don’t have a license or a car.”
He released another sigh. “Be ready in five. My driver will be waiting out front.”
“Thanks, Mr. Ankh.” I stood and walked to the door.
“By the way, I wasn’t teasing about the cleaning and the food.”
“I didn’t think you were.” And he would learn I hadn’t been teasing, either. I paused and glanced back at him. “I admire the way you’re protecting Reeve, I do, but all our secrets are hurting her. She’s already suspicious, and those suspicions are making her unhappy. There’s got to be another way.”
“Miss Bell,” he said, slamming his pen on the desk.
I knew a very stern lecture was coming, so I hurried into the hall.
In my room, I changed into battle-ready clothing and gathered everything I’d need. More daggers, a syringe filled with the antidote, a pocketful of throwing stars and my phone.
I tucked the business card the man had given me in the bottom drawer of my desk and saw there was a note resting next to my computer.
I was going through the things that survived the fire, and I found my great-grandfather’s journal. I had given it to your mother years ago. A few of the pages are now singed, but that’s the only damage. I know it’s weird, but I thought you might like to have a family heirloom.
Love, Nana
The journal!
I’d thought it had come from my dad, that he’d given it to my mom. How had my great-great-great-grandfather known to write it? I mean, the ability to see the zombies was passed through genes just as easily as blue eyes, but my mother had never seen them. Neither had Nana.
What could this mean?
No time for puzzles. Right.
But this had to be the surprise Nana had mentioned. And what an amazing surprise it was.
I owed that woman a million hugs.
I didn’t mean to, but I glanced at the vanity mirror as I opened the door. A habit I’d developed after first meeting Cole. I’d always wanted to look my best for him. This time, my reflection caught me completely off guard.
Tick. The girl in the mirror—me!—had her hand lifted and pressed against the glass, as if reaching for me.
Tock. How could... How was... Impossible.
Tick. In a daze, I walked toward her—toward me.
Tock. She never moved. I mean, my reflection never moved.
Tick. I pressed a trembling hand against the coolness of the glass.
Tock. Her hand fell away.
A thousand different thoughts raced through my head.
I’d decided she was real rather than a figment. So...what was she? A part of me?Another me?
The smudges under her eyes curved and seemed to drip onto her cheeks. A dying me?
Trembling, I swiped a tube of red lipstick from the bathroom and wrote over the glass. Who Are You?
I slammed the lipstick on the vanity surface and marched to the door. As I stepped into the hall, I glanced back. Breath caught in my throat. I read Your Doom.
Running back inside and smearing the words gave me no satisfaction, only increased my shock. Whatever she was, she didn’t like me.
Can’t worry about this right now.
I raced from the room, and this time, I didn’t look back. I wouldn’t think about anything I’d seen, about the change...the change... No! I wouldn’t allow another panic attack to swoop in and carry me away. Mr. Ankh would find out, and I would be banned from the meeting at Cole’s.
I checked the halls. Empty. Good. Reeve must be in her room, and I wasn’t sure where Nana had gone. Even the housekeeper was nowhere to be seen. As promised, the driver was waiting for me at the front door. I sailed past him without a word and buckled into the backseat of the dark sedan. I held my breath as he slid into the driver’s seat. He started the engine. Eased forward.
I exhaled.
Along the way, I checked the sky. The rabbit cloud was still there.
My phone rang, startling me. I recognized the number and experienced a conflicting tide of emotions, from uncertainty to gratitude. “Justin,” I said. “I should have called you. Thank you for helping with the fight and taking what was meant for me.”
“Hey, I owed you.” Then, “How are you, Ali?” His voice was low, as if he wasn’t sure of his welcome and was determined not to spook me.
“I’ve been better.”
He groaned. “Yeah, I’m sorry about that. I’m sorry I bit you. I don’t know what came over me. You were there, and you smelled so good, so clean and pure, and my mouth was watering, and the urge hit me, and it was so strong, so intense, I couldn’t fight it.” The words spilled from him with barely a breath. “I didn’t want to fight it.”
Some of what he’d said really jelled with me. A clean, pure scent. An unwillingness to fight. An unquenchable hunger. “Has anything else happened to you since that night?”
A crackling pause that set my nerves on edge. “Like what?”
Yeah, like I was really going to confide in him. “You tell me,” I said, using a tactic Cole had once used on me.
Cole. I ran my tongue over my teeth.
I had to stop thinking about him.
“To be honest, I’ve been normal,” Justin said. “Nothing’s happened. To me, at least,” he added. “I’m guessing something’s happening with you, though.”
The brakes on the car squeaked, and I peeked out the window to see we’d reached our destination. So soon?
“I have to go,” I said.
“Don’t want to talk about it?”
“I’m kind of busy.” And yes.
Another pause. “We’ll talk again, though?” he asked, hesitant.
“Yeah. I think so.”
I hung up and stepped into the cold of the evening. The sun would soon disappear, and the moon would take its place, full and golden in the sky. Even though darkness had yet to fall, the path to the barn was lit by small halogens meant to discourage any zombies from drawing near.
I used the code on the ID pad to open the door. Before our breakup, when I’d come here and he hadn’t, Cole had finally broken down and given me the “key.” I pushed my way inside, only to discover the meeting was already in full swing. A chair had been carried to the center of the boxing ring, where Cole was perched.
Veronica sat in his lap.
His arm was wrapped around her waist.
The girl was relaxed against him, completely at ease, as if she had no doubts about her reception.
Cole was disheveled, but also perfectly at ease. As if they’d messed around before settling down, and he’d never been happier.
The details hit me like bullets, one at a time, fast and sure. He’d always liked touching me. Sifting the ends of my hair through his fingers. Ghosting his knuckles across my jaw. Pulling me into the hard line of his body for a kiss. Seeing him act that way with someone else...
Pain? Yes, I felt pain. Betrayal? Jealousy? Yes, I felt those, too. Felt them so deeply I wasn’t sure how I remained on my feet—or out of that ring. I think a part of me had hoped he would eventually come crawling back to me, no matter what I’d told him. No matter what I’d told my friends. But he wasn’t going to, was he? We were done, just as he’d said. Just as I’d agreed. Only he’d already moved on.
Breathe. Just breathe.
I wouldn’t freak out over this.
I’d come here to do a job. So I would do it.
I switched my focus. The rest of the crew leaned against the ropes. Frosty, Bronx, Mackenzie, Derek, Trina, Lucas, Collins, Cruz and Gavin, each hard bodied and dressed in black, ready for action. No one seemed to care that Cole—a guy who had only split from me a short while ago—had already forgotten about me.
Okay, so I hadn’t exactly switched my focus.
Threads of fury joined an already toxic mix of emotions, whooshing through me. This wasn’t right. This wasn’t fair. How could he do this to me? Was he trying to punish me for the vision I’d had? A vision I couldn’t control? A vision I wouldn’t allow to come true?