The Death Series: A Dark Dystopian Fantasy Box Set: (Books 1-3) (22 page)

Maybe it did.

CHAPTER 20

The testing wrapped at the end of school. That was a good thing because after lunch, I could feel my brain sharpening. I could only hope that the drug's effect had lasted long enough.

As we filed out of Delta, we were scanned again for dismissal. Our pulse pads were scanned as well. The committee of “they” would know what our collective aptitudes were, paranormal or otherwise and there'd be no mystery about each other's powers. The results would set what school we'd be at for the next four years.

No pressure.

I grabbed my backpack out of my locker, noticing that it was not in the place that I'd left it. I looked around but didn’t see anyone suspicious, like the Formula-people.

They were top on my list of suspects. Lurking around doorways and such, not doing much of anything. Didn't like it.

Jade strolled up, looking dark and mysterious.

Hotness.

“Hi.”

I smiled, smitten as usual. Then I had a thought.

“Before we go, would you.. um… do a
feelie
on my locker?”

“A what?”

“Ya know, touch my locker and see who's been in it.”

Jade put her hands on her hips and got that
look
.

I pointed at the double hook on the left side. “I always hang my backpack here, and I hang my cap on the right.”

“Which you never wear,” she noted.

“True, but my mom makes me take it to school in case I get cold.”

“You never get cold.”

“Right, but
my mom
feels better about it. And when she asks, I can say it's in my locker just in case.”

“Okay?”

“Anyways, when I came back from the AP testing, the backpack was on the right and the cap on the left.”

That cute little frown between her eyes made an appearance. She was thinking it through, no cluttering up the moment with chatter. I loved that. She reached out and touched the hook, wrapping her delicately built fingers around the cool metal.

I had a moment when I didn't think anything would happen, then her body stiffened, and her eyes glazed over
eached outback from the AP Tbetter. mouth, andugh my drug-induced hazeto the kitchen and sat at the table, ready to eat. 111
. Her eyelids fluttered, and she started to sway. I caught her before she fell.

“I think I'm gonna be sick,” she said.

Like...
right here
?

The Js charged up out of nowhere.

“What's wrong with Jade?” John asked.

I shook my head. “I don't know. Jonesy, get my water out of my backpack.”

John grabbed a chair from one of the commons tables and put it next to Jade. I carefully lowered her down on the seat.

“Jade, can you hear me?” John asked.

“Yeah,” she whispered.

“Put your head between your knees.”

Jade did it. Jonesy hopped from one foot to the other, holding the water bottle.

John put his hand on Jade's back.

“What's going on, Caleb?”

“I don't know. I had her do the whammy on my locker because someone's been messin' around in there, and she had like, I don't know, a moment or something and got all dizzy.”

“The whammy?” Jonesy asked.

John answered, “She used her empath powers to find out who infiltrated Caleb's locker.”

Jonesy asked, “Someone rippin' off your crap?”

I shook my head.

“Nothing's missing, but someone was in here.”

“But... it's a pulse lock.”

Jade began to raise her head. Jonesy gave her the water. She took it and raised the bottle to her lips.

“Just sip that, Jade,” John said. He turned to me.

“That means a manual bypass.”

Jonesy smiled. “Bringin' up that civic crap again. That bores me 'til I weep, dude.”

“How do you figure?” I asked.

Jonesy shrugged. “Because who’s gonna be able to bypass a pulse lock unless they're government?”

“Not bad, Jonesy, not bad at all,” John said.

Jade looked scared.

“He's right. They're total posers.”

“Who are posers, Jade?” John asked.

“The Formula People,” she replied.

I sucked in a big breath. That was the name I had given those people in my head.

Jade looked at me. “I know what
you
thought, Caleb. You touched the hook, too.”

“How can you tell it's me and not them thinking?”

Jade did a huge eye roll. She was definitely feeling better.

She lowered her voice and asked, “How do you know one zombie from another?”

Well, that was easy. They just
felt
different. It was like hearing a voice; no two were alike.

Some of what I thought must have shown on my face because she said, “See? It's like that.”

“So it's like a signature?” John asked.

She shrugged. “I guess. It's hard to explain this stuff to someone that doesn't do it.”

I noticed the death volume wasn't loud and mentioned that. The drug was definitely flushed out of my system.

“It's kinda random now anyway, right?” Jonesy asked.

I thought about it. Sometimes the voices were loud, other times hardly there. I couldn't figure out why they came and went.

“Who was it, Jade?” I asked.

“I don't know who they are, but I know
what
they are. They're government all right, just not the government that we know about. They're like a subdivision of a subdivision.”

That sounded bad. I thought of my ransacked house, where nothing had been stolen but everything had been touched or moved.

“Let's split. I don't want to talk about this here,” John said, looking around.

Good idea. We gathered our crap up and started to walk away.

“Wait,” Jade said.

I turned toward her. “You okay?”

She nodded. “Getting there. Let me go find Sophie first.”

Jonesy made a face. Uh-oh. Jade put her hands back on her hips and marched over to Jonesy.

“You got a problem with Sophie?” she demanded, her expression fierce.

“No, no problem,” Jonesy sputtered, caving.

“You looked like you had one.”

“It's just… we used to be an all-guy thing, and now... well, we may be getting too many hens in the chicken coop.”

“Oh, please! You bunch of roosters need all the help you can get. Be grateful!”

She pivoted on her heel and went off in search of Sophie.

“We’ll meet you outside,” I called after her.

We watched her stalk off.

“You handled that well, Jonester,” John said.

“Yeah,” he said glumly.

“Maybe next time just let the girls come,” I said.

Jonesy scowled.

“This mundane thing blows goats. And the girls are taking over the world.”

“Not
yet,
” I said, winking.

We walked out to the school parking lot, where cars swarmed everywhere. We hiked over to a small grassy knoll. I threw my backpack behind my head and laid down. Jonesy and John flanked me.

John said, “We have to find out what these...”

“Formula People,” I supplied.

“Yeah, them. What they really want from you,” John said.

“They're just rooting around, hoping to come up with something,” I said.

“Good thing you didn't put that pill bottle in your backpack,” Jonesy said.

Two shadows fell over us. I shielded my eyes with my palm and sat up on my elbows.

“Let's go,” Sophie said.

“I’m not going to the cemetery,” I said.

“Oh, come on, Hart! You can clean house if anyone shows up!” Jonesy sat up and pantomimed punching.

“I don't want to. Every time I go to the cemetery, a bunch of crap rains down on our heads.
No!
”

“What could happen?” Sophie asked.

We stared at her.  She laughed. “It's that bad?”

“Yeah,” we said in unison.

“But it is the safest place, the most private,” Jade reasoned.

I thought about it, wavering. There really wasn't a very good alternative. “Okay, everybody pulse the parental authority, get the go ahead, and let's book to the graveyard.”

“Wait,” John said. “Let's have a look-out. We don't want to be followed.”

“Brilliant. I'll do it,” Sophie said.

I nodded and we dug out our pulses, getting the parents handled.

I put my hand on Jade's shoulder. “What’s wrong?”

“Aunt Andrea says I need to go home and check in.”

John said, “I don't like it.”

That made two of us.

“Not normal, Jade.”

“I know, right?”

“You don't think it's your crazy-ass dad, do ya?” Jonesy asked delicately.

I glared at him.

Jade saw and said, “It's okay. My dad is crazier than a shit-house rat.”

Sophie barked a very un-girl-like laugh.

“Where did you get that one?”

“Andrea.”

“I guess she's good for something.”

“Sophie, she really tries. They were raised in the same family, ya know.”

“I know.” Sophie put her hand on Jade’s other shoulder.

So we both had our hands on our girl. Sophie's eyes met mine. Jade was fragile, and we loved her. A fierce grip of possession blossomed in me, and I felt a new focus for my life.

Jade gave us that radiant smile reserved for me and her best friend. I'd take that.

CHAPTER 21

As I got closer to the graveyard, the voices grew louder. Jade and I led the way with Sophie slightly behind us and the Js pulling up the rear.

Holding hands, Jade and I swept under the arch of scrolling metal. With her touching me, I was tuned to the frequency of the dead.

John trotted up to us, and the whispering dimmed. “So where do you want to go?”

I tilted my head to the right. “Let's head over to Clyde's grave.”

“Clyde?” Jade asked.

“Yeah, he's by far my favorite corpse.”

Jade laughed. “Ah... okay, whatever you say.”

“I've never seen the fun, so I'll assume being in the cemetery is kinda risky,” Sophie said.

Jonesy caught up with us. “Hell yeah! That's the full throttle of hanging out with us! It's the way we roll,” Jonesy said, folding his arms across a muscular chest.

Sophie looked at him.“Well, good for you,” she snarked, turning to Jade, eyebrows shooting up.
Gee, how did we ever live without them?

I figured Sophie had about five and a half minutes before she succumbed to Jonesy's charms.

The Js did a high five to cement the moment and I grinned. The friends were
it
, they just flat were. Sophie gave them a look, knowing her presence was not going to change our supreme maleness.

We made our way to ol' twice-raised Clyde’s grave.

We plopped down in a semi-circle around it. The thrumming of the dead sounded very low in the background. I couldn't make sense of that. They should have been shrieking with me being in the cemetery. Jade was on my left, John on my right. Jonesy and Sophie had an unspoken truce,  and sat together. Jonesy had his legs splayed out in front of him with his elbows locked behind him and Sophie sat legs crossed, elbows on knees and palms holding her chin.

“Okay, we're here. Now what?” Sophie asked.

“I want to talk more about the testing,” I said.

Jonesy frowned. “What's to talk about? I mean, I'm a mundane, you guys have the juice, end of discussion.”

I wondered if he was jealous. That he wasn’t paranormal didn't matter to me. Jonesy was always gonna be Jonesy. It just was.

John looked at him. “Remember, you get things done.”

“Yeah, I'm feeling that,” Jonesy said.

I chuckled. “I don't wanna take you guys away from your love fest or anything, but I want Jade to let us in on this spy crap.”

Jade laughed. “It's more like a government within our government.”

I nodded. “Okay, we've got that. What's their objective?”

Silence.

“You know, what's their goal?” John clarified.

John is gonna be my dad when he grew up.

“What I felt was they're trying to identify kids who have rare paranormal abilities and are also powerful.”

“Why were they looking in my
locker?” I asked.

She looked down at her hands. “They suspect you.”

“Why?”

“The dog. Garcia saw what you did with the dog.”

I pointed at Sophie. “You're sworn to secrecy.”

She shrugged. “Ah... okay.”

“But I didn't raise the dog,” I said. “The dog wasn't dead yet.”

“Come on, Caleb,” John said. “That's what my parents call splitting hairs. That's like a girl saying she’s
almost
pregnant.”

Sophie and Jade laughed.

I conceded that point.

“Okay, so I did some AFTD crap, and he saw it.”

Jade added, “I felt that they have fingers of their group within the police department.”

“Haven't we figured out that Garcia is dirty?” Jonesy asked.

I wasn't absolutely sure, but the idea was circling the drain of possibility.

“Who was that cop that showed up when you raised Granny?” John asked.

“His name was McGraw.”

“Yeah, him. You said he pulled some scary shit.”

I nodded. “He gave us a little elemental show.”

“Didn't he cause, what, a mini-tornado?” Jonesy asked.

“Not really. It was more like we were all in the eye of a storm. It was an intimidation thing. And he's Garcia's partner. Two plus two equals four, I guess, pal.”

Sophie shook her head, ringlets bouncing. “Whatever. We have bad cops and adults lurking around and looking for ways to force us to do their dirty work. All good news! What's the plan?”

“One thing is obvious,” John said. “They all know what we are. In Caleb's case, they don't know
how much
he is, but that's a matter of time. Too many people know that he can corpse raise. Even Jade's dad knows!

“He won't say anything,” I said with conviction. First, he'd look bad, and second, he would have to explain why he was there and what happened.”

Jade nodded. “Caleb's right. My dad doesn't like to look bad. He wants to be right all the time.”

I hugged her, stuffing her face in my neck and thanking God I'd worn cologne. “It's okay. He's not gonna hurt you, ever.”

She pulled away, tears shimmering like diamonds on her lower lashes.

The Js turned their heads, obviously uncomfortable.

Sophie sighed then said, “We still haven't figured out a plan.”

“I've been thinking,” Jonesy said.

We all groaned. A typical Jonesy plan included us all getting our asses in a sling.

He held up a hand. “Hear me out. I think we need a hideout.”

Cool! That's
just
what we needed.

“A safe house,” John said.

Jonesy looked at John. “That's what I said.”

Sophie added, “I think we need a labor force.”

“What do you mean?” Jade asked.

“Caleb, you can raise the dead, right?”

“Yeah. So?”

“Slaves,” John breathed.

Sophie grinned. “Yep.”

“Isn't this one of those moral things adults are always blabbing about?” Jade asked.

I stared at Sophie.

“You want me to raise zombies to… what? Work on a hideout?”

“Safe house,” John corrected.

“Whatever!” I yelled.

The whole idea was wrong on about a hundred different levels. Yet, it did have a practical feel to it.

Sophie asked, “Do you not see the logic, Caleb?”

I did.

“But I haven't really tried to raise anyone. This would be really, really...” She didn’t need to know about Gran.

“Premeditated,” John said.

“CSI,” John expounded.

“The crime show, what, in their twentieth season?”

“Yeah, they use walkers now!” Jade said.

“Okay,” Sophie made the cut-the-neck gesture with her finger, “focus, guys.”

They looked at her, shrugging.

She directed her attention back to me. “I'm just saying, if you could, like, raise two or three zombies. Then make them construct a…”

“A secret place,” Jonesy said. “Maybe underground?”

That actually sounded pretty cool, in theory anyway.

“I don't know,” Jade said. “Is it wrong to make them work for us, like slaves?”

Those words hung in the air, sitting there.

John said, “I don't think so. I mean, we need a place to go. We don't know if Caleb is going to
have
to go into hiding.” He looked at me. “You never know, Caleb. Also, there are the dumb-asses at school, this government agency, and the random parent who shows up and freaks. No offense, Jade.”

Her shoulders lifted. “It's okay.”

“John and Sophie are right, Caleb,” Jonesy said. “We need a place they'd
never
think to look.”

Jade said, “Hey, what about the city dump? That’s where I went when my dad got... bad.”

I held her a little tighter. I was starting to hate her dad.

“I like it,” Jonesy said.

“How far is it from here?” Sophie asked.

I remembered that Sophie didn't know Kent very well. She hadn't always lived here like the rest of us. We knew the town like the backs of our hands.

“It's walkable,” John said.

Jonesy hopped up, brushing the grass off his butt. “Let's do this!”

The rest of us stood. I noticed again the voices were hardly more than a murmur.
Weird
. I told the others.

“Shouldn't they be almost screaming?” Jonesy asked, twirling around. “Right in the damn middle of corpseville?”

“Yes, they definitely should be.” John stared at me; I stared back.

The girls said, “What?” at the same time.

Everything suddenly fell into place.
I knew what John was.

Psychic null
.

All abilities were negated when he was around. That was why I couldn't hear the voices!

John grinned so hugely I thought he'd push the freckles right off his face.

“What gives?” Jonesy asked.

“I cancel everyone's powers,” John said, pride creeping into his voice.

“You're a null?” Sophie asked.

“What?” Jonesy shrieked. “How does that help us?”

“In a word... Carson,” Jade replied.

“And everyone else,” I added.

Jonesy's face took on a life of its own. “Fantastic! That blows their juice all to hell!” He clapped his hands.

“Try to raise a corpse, Caleb!”

“Right now? That wasn't really the plan.”

“We've gotta see!” Jonesy shouted.

“Sh!” Sophie said.

“Right, sorry,” he said, chastised for three seconds.

Jonesy said in a normal voice (translation: still loud), “Try it.”

John said, “I don't know. Whenever you say, ‘I wanna see,’ or ‘I wanna do it,’ something bad happens.”

John was right, but I wanted answers. “Knowledge is power,” Gramps always said.

“Jonesy is a little enthusiastic with experimentation. But it would be good to know for sure.”

“Remember the last time he wanted to see something?” John asked.

Yeah, that hadn't worked out so great. The whole Carson-pulling-a-can-of-fire-whoop-ass thing had backfired on all of us.

“Caleb’s right, though,” Jade said. “We need to know for sure. Let's try it.”

How could I say no when my girlfriend was willing to be brave.

Ah, hell.
Okay
. “Alright,” I said out loud.

John came over and stood beside me. “Okay. I'm ready.”

“How does this work?” I asked. “I mean, do you know?”

John shook his head. “Not really. We just put it together that I may be a null. We still don't know for sure. But it would explain some stuff.”

Once I thought about it, all the times the voices had been bearable were during the five classes we had together.

John shook his head. “I don't think I've had it long.”

Would've been sweet to miss the whole frog dissection catastrophe.

“Okay,” Sophie said, pointing, “you two just stand where you are. Caleb, you let your stuff go, and we'll see if something happens. And if it doesn't, we'll know.”

“Wait a sec,” Jade said. “Shouldn't we see how far away John has to be before Caleb can use his powers again?” Good point.

I faced Clyde's grave. John stood beside me, and his nervousness floated around me, settling uncomfortably on my shoulders. I sighed, breathing out deeply, trying to relax.

The fist that was my power loosened inside my body. The fingers lengthened until they became tendrils, a ghostly octopus reaching out to the ground, stroking the grave.

Then, without warning, they choked up like vomit up a throat. It was as if a steel wall, high and impenetrable was erected. The fingers swirled, looking for a small hole, any opening, a way to invade. There was nothing.

I looked up at my best friend, who was grinning as if he’d won the lottery.

Putz.

Jonesy rubbed his hands together. “Now
that's
what we're talkin' about!”

“Move a couple of feet away,” Sophie told John.

He did as she asked. I took a step away from him and realized I was standing on top of Clyde's grave.

“That's not right,” Jade said, looking ill.

“Quiet,” Jonesy said. “Please,” he added at my glare.

When John and I were ten feet from each other, I tried again. Nothing. John looked at me and grinned. It was kind of frustrating but, I had to admit, useful.

John said, “Okay, we've got that I can cancel out Caleb.” He turned to Jade. “What about you?”

Jade scowled. She wasn't really into her power. That was the main reason people had the wrong impression of her. She stayed away because she
didn't
want contact.