“The other ones,” I repeated, pinning him with my most piercing stare. “There are more? More of these unstoppable freaks?”
“Don’t ask, I can’t remember. I just know there are going to be more zombies, a lot more. And not friendly, fabulous guys like me.”
I sighed. Great news-Cliff was just full of it. “And I guess you don’t know why you happen to be around every time I’m attacked, either.”
“No, that I know.” His gaze grew sort of unfocused. “I… feel them… when they wake up, but I’m always too late. Tonight I ran as fast as I could, but they were already pulling the second girl from the woods by the time I got there.”
Cliff’s voice echoed the failure I felt so completely that I couldn’t bring myself to ask him any more questions. Besides, his visions didn’t seem to be much more useful than a television report detailing a crime that had already happened.
“So, can I come in?” he asked. “Better yet, can you come out? Peeking through this crack in your window is cool and all but-”
“No, I can’t. It’s almost midnight.” A burst of cold air rushed in. I shivered and crossed my arms, glad I was wearing my fleece pajamas. It had gotten colder since we’d left Pizza Pie, and the smoky scent of impending snow hung in the air. It was a sad smell, and it made me realize how very little I wanted to socialize. “Listen, it’s been a long night and-”
“I know, I’m sorry. But I had to see you,” he said, popping the screen out of my window with an expertise that spoke of many nights sneaking out. “I’ve got something to show you and I need some more Settling.”
“Cliff, please, you can’t keep coming here. I’m not supposed to keep Settling the same person over and over. It’s against the rules.”
“Oh God no. We wouldn’t want to break the rules,” he gasped, then grinned his infectious grin. It was a little more strained than usual, but I could tell he was trying to cheer us both up. “Come on, get your coat and shoes. If we hurry, we can catch the last bus into Little Rock.”
“I’m not going to Little Rock. I’ve got a ten o’clock curfew on weeknights,” I said, deciding pleading parental interference was the best way to handle Cliff.
He certainly didn’t seem to care for the “but you’re supposed to stay dead” argument. Couldn’t say I blamed him, but it was complicating my life. With everything going on right now, the last thing I needed was a new zombie BFF.
“Your parents don’t have to know. Come on, don’t tell me you’ve never snuck out before. This window is perfect.”
“Oh, I’ve snuck, but every time I have I’ve almost died. It’s taught me respect for authority.”
“Right.” He laughed like I’d made some great joke.
“I’m not kidding. The first time I snuck out I was ten and ended up with this scar.” I tugged at the neck of my black fleece top, revealing the silvery white zombie bite mark scar on my shoulder blade. “And amnesia and Settler power failure that lasted for years. Then, the second time, I-”
“Fascinating stuff, but let’s talk while we walk.” Cliff reached through the window and grabbed my hand. I didn’t pull away. It was weird, but Cliff’s touch was very comforting. It made me feel… safe. “I didn’t realize how late it was getting. We only have about ten minutes to get to the bus stop.”
“I’m in my pajamas!”
“Your pajamas look like clothes! Come on, let’s hit the Rock.”
“Why do you need to go to Little Rock, anyway?” I’d never had an Unsettled request travel privileges, but then, I’d never had an Unsettled who refused to stay in his grave, either.
“No, the question is, why do we need to go into Little Rock, and I’ll tell you on the way. Just put on some shoes and let’s go. Please, Megan. It’s important, or I swear I would leave you alone.”
I sighed, feeling my resistance begin to fade. “How am I going to get back? If the last bus to Little Rock leaves in ten min-”
“The buses back to Carol run until two. I’m sure we’ll be done by then. I know exactly where we’re going.”
“And where is-”
“I’ll tell you-”
“When we get there, yeah, yeah, yeah.” Geez, I was so going to regret this, I could feel it already. But that didn’t stop me from dropping to my knees and digging under my bed for my Uggs. “Okay, let’s hit it.” I tugged on my shoes and grabbed the Williams sweatshirt I’d stolen from Ethan from the mostly clean pile on the floor. No time to waste sneaking down the hall to grab my coat.
Cliff helped me leap the few feet from the ledge down to the frozen grass below. He dropped my hands to close the window and scoop a large camouflage backpack from the ground, but then threaded his cold fingers through mine before turning to cut through the backyard, avoiding detection by the SA spies still parked in front of my house.
For a second I felt guilty. Here I was, in my boyfriend’s sweatshirt, holding hands with another man-or boy, or zombie, or whatever. But then I decided to ignore the little voice saying I should pull away from Cliff. Holding his hand still made me feel safe and weirdly energized despite that hint of dizziness that always seemed to accompany his touch, and I needed that comfort right now. Somewhere out there in the darkness was a person raising nearly unstoppable killing machines with my name on them.
Cliff might be stalking me, but at least he was a friend, and that was all the persuasion I needed to keep my hand right where it was.
An hour later, I stood at the top of a long, rolling hill in a posh Little Rock neighborhood, certain, for the second time that night, that I was going to die.
“I can’t do this! It’s too dark. What if there are holes in the pavement that I can’t see and my skate gets stuck?” I asked, my palms sweating inside the hand guards Cliff had brought for me to wear-along with knee guards and a pair of Rollerblades in precisely my size.
He said he was good at guessing things like that, which would make him a great friend to have when it came time for birthdays, but I couldn’t let myself think about him that way. He wouldn’t be around for my birthday next October. He was dead, and he had to go back to his grave and stay there.
Unfortunately, that was getting harder to imagine the more time I spent with him. Cliff was fun, sweet, and way more perceptive than your average boy. In fact, he would have been well on his way to being my new partner in crime if he weren’t a zombie.
And if it weren’t for that weird spark that flared between us every once in a while, that dizzy, giddy, almost high feeling-not that I’d ever smoked up, but I could imagine this was how being high felt-that resulted from being in his presence. Ninety percent of the time I felt only chummy vibes coming from Cliff, but the other 10 percent…
“Megan, you’re going to be fine.” He smiled and squeezed his fingers around mine, sending a little shiver across my skin that I tried to ignore. “You know how to skate and you’re wearing safety equipment. Besides, this hill isn’t nearly
as intense as it looks.”
“I thought you said you’d never skated it before?”
“I haven’t, but look at it. It’s not that bad.”
“Cliff, I’ve already got a black eye. I really don’t want-”
“Yeah,” he said, his expression angry even though his fingers were gentle as he smoothed down the side of my face. “I don’t like seeing you hurt.”
“It’s my job.” I shrugged, trying to ignore how breathless he was making me feel.
Now his touch wasn’t safe at all-it was tempting in a way it shouldn’t be to a girl totally in love with someone else. I should have pulled away that very second, but I didn’t. I just stood there and watched Cliff’s mouth get closer to mine while I slowly forgot how to breathe.
“I don’t care. I’m not going to let you get hurt again. I promise.” His lips brushed softly against my cheekbone, right under where my skin was swollen and bruised.
My eyes slid closed, the world spun, and for a second the temptation to turn my head and find Cliff’s lips with mine was so strong I wasn’t sure I’d be able to resist. Wearing Ethan’s sweatshirt, loving Ethan like I did, it didn’t matter. I wanted to kiss Cliff, wanted that connection with him so badly something in my chest ached when I forced myself to roll away.
God, this was crazy! And against Settler rules, and boy/girl rules, and just about all the other rules I could think of. I had to put a stop to this before it was too late.
When I spoke again, my voice sounded angrier than I intended, but better angry than any of those other feelings. “Cliff, why are we here? You said you had something to show me, something that couldn’t wait.”
“I do.”
“Then why are we wasting time Rollerblading?”
“This isn’t a waste of time,” he said, sounding irritated himself. “Life is short, Megan, shorter than I ever realized. You have to make time to play.”
“There are zombies killing people. A girl is dead! I don’t have time to-”
“Yes, you do. You deserve to have a little fun, even when things are bad. Heck, especially when things are bad.” He rolled closer, pinning me with those soulful eyes that made me certain he knew all of my secrets. “Promise me you’ll make time to enjoy your life, no matter what happens. I don’t want you to wake up in a crypt someday wishing you’d spent less time smoking up and more time living.”
“But I don’t smoke pot.”
He grinned. “You know what I mean.”
“Yeah.” I returned his smile, but it wasn’t my happy grin. I was going to miss Cliff. He was the first new friend I’d made since Jessica tried to kill me. Well, and the Monicster, if you could call her a friend.
For the first time in my life I actually understood the lure of black magic. I’d never lost anyone I cared about so much before. It didn’t matter that Cliff had already been “lost” before I’d even met him, I still didn’t want him to go. If I’d known a spell to keep him from having to crawl back in that crypt, I would have been sorely tempted to cast it. Even knowing what I did about the consequences to my own soul and that a spell like that might change Cliff in some frightening way. Even knowing that Jess still wasn’t out of the woods for all the dark power she’d channeled last fall, I was still… tempted.
I shivered at the darkly seductive warmth curling through my veins.
I was a good person, I’d been raised to fear black magic, and I personally knew a girl who was having seizures and heart attacks as a direct result of summoning the wrong kind of mojo, but still, it called to me. I guessed maybe that was why Kitty and Elder Thomas needed proof I was innocent. No one was immune.
“Okay, enough heavy stuff,” Cliff said. “Let’s take this hill.”
“Agreed, but then we have to get down to business. I’m not trying to be a fun-killer, but we’ve only got forty-five minutes to get back to the bus stop before the last bus leaves.”
“We’ll be there in plenty of time.”
“I’m serious, Cliff, I can’t miss that bus or-”
“Megs, have a little faith.” He shook his head in mock disappointment. “I didn’t choose this spot simply for its beauty or astoundingly long, rolling slope alone.”
“You didn’t?”
“Our true destination also happens to a mere half-mile away, right at the bottom of this hill, and a block from a bus stop.”
I raised my eyebrows. “Wow, I’m impressed.”
“Good planning for a zombie, eh?”
“Good planning for a boy.” Even Ethan, the smartest guy I knew, seemed to have trouble doing more than one thing at a time.
“I’ve always been a good planner.”
“Maybe you’re just in touch with your girly side.”
“Or maybe you’ve just been hanging out with the wrong guys.” He was halfway down the hill before I could think of how to respond, which was probably just as well. Flirtation must be avoided at all costs. Still, Cliff was right-a little fun would probably be okay.
The thought made me smile as I pushed off, my pulse racing as I picked up speed and the cold air whipped through my hair. By the time I’d gone fifty feet, my nose was frozen and my teeth chattering, but I didn’t regret being here for a moment. There was just something magical about zooming down a deserted street in the dark, feeling the night come to life around you, knowing that-at least for a few minutes-all you had to think about was wind and speed and letting gravity take charge.
I wasn’t usually the sort to enjoy giving up control, but for the moment it was perfect. So perfect, I was sad to see the hill come to an end so fast.
CHAPTER 12
“You want us to break into my doctor’s office? Are you crazy?” I asked, looking nervously around as we walked. The parking lot was deserted, but just thinking about breaking and entering was enough to give me hives. I might push the limits when it came to Settler law, but when it came to the human variety I was a model citizen.
“We’re not going to steal anything.” Cliff paused near a darkened window and pressed his face to the glass. “Well, not anything that doesn’t belong to you anyway. I say your parents’ medical records are your business. After all, they have access to your records.”
“They’re my parents!”
Cliff turned to me, blinking in confusion. “So?” He pushed at the bottom of the pane, nearly giving me a heart attack. It was all I could do to not whip my cell out and call the police myself.
Monica was right-I was a hopeless goody two-shoes.
“Don’t touch that! There might be an alarm.” I grabbed the sleeve of Cliff’s sweatshirt and tugged him back into the shadows.
“If there’s an alarm, you can run and I’ll go in and get the records.”
“But what if there’s a security camera? The police could see. You could be-”
“I’m dead. What are the police going to do?” he asked. “Megan, this is no big deal. This building is old, and I doubt the practice is making enough money to go super h
igh-tech with the security.”
“I don’t care.” I crossed my arms and glared. “I don’t break or enter, especially not to steal my parents’ medical records. It’s illegal and pointless. My parents are both perfectly healthy.”
Cliff cocked his head. “I never said your parents were sick.”
“Then why are we-”
“Listen, Megs, you love your mom and dad and they love you, but that doesn’t mean you can trust them. Parents lie too.”
My lips parted in silent shock. I wasn’t sure whether to be angry or hurt by what he was implying. I mean, my mom had been acting strange lately, and I suspected she wasn’t telling me something. But that was withholding, not lying. There was a big difference. “My parents wouldn’t lie to me. We’re like… friends. They don’t treat me like a kid.”
His eyebrows lifted. “And the ten o’clock curfew is because… ”
“That’s different. Sure I have a curfew and stuff like that. But in other ways they treat me like an adult, like I’m smart enough to understand things and be part of the decisions that are made for our family.”
Cliff’s face was a study in pity as he brushed a strand of hair away from my face. “Megan, those zombies you’ve been fighting lately aren’t the only things that are different. You’re different.”
“I know that.”
“Well, haven’t you ever wondered why?”
I stepped away, hating the way my skin lit up when his fingers lingered just behind my ear. What was wrong with me? Why did Cliff make me feel this way? I had a perfectly wonderful boyfriend, one who was alive and didn’t accuse my parents of being liars. I should turn around, march across the parking lot to the bus stop, and never look back.
But I didn’t.
Hadn’t a part of me been suspicious of Mom and Dad for days now? It wasn’t just Ethan’s announcement that the Enforcers had been looking into Mom’s file. Mom and Dad just hadn’t been acting like Mom and Dad. There was a good chance that only stress was to blame, but what if it wasn’t? What if Cliff was right and they weren’t just keeping private grown-up stuff private? What if they’d been lying to me?