The Death Series: A Dark Dystopian Fantasy Box Set: (Books 1-3) (39 page)

Alex looked confused and Jonesy slapped him on the back. “Listen nerd-head,” and he winked at John who had opened his mouth to protest, “we only need contributing members to our little soiree here, so you,” he pointed to him, winking, “have to put out or get out.”

John had his head buried in his hands, so I plowed forward, explaining while Bry tried not to laugh and the girls glared at Jonesy, who blithely didn't notice as usual.

“What Jonesy's saying, dude, is you being smart isn't enough, we have John here.” John threw up his hands, stalking off. Huh, I guess I was making it worse as I saw Alex's narrow shoulders slump. “And you are
unclassified.
.. so, we have to be cautious.”

“Right, my bro Caleb here,” he pointed to me and I did a mock-bow, “is doing the undead program. Soph can spy on the world.” She leveled a dirty look his way. “Jade knows how everyone's feeling, Bry's got the wheels and takes the beatings.” That got Bry grinning. “John keeps the dickheads on a leash like the dogs they are and... Tiff is on the same wavelength as my Zombie-man, Caleb.”

Jonesy finished his speech spreading his arms wide, feeling very full of himself when Jade said, “You're being a jerk, Jonesy.”

“Yeah, that,” Sophie said.

“Yeah, Jones...can you rein in your self-love for like, two seconds and see something from somebody else's perspective?” Tiff asked.

Jonesy looked puzzled for a second then said, “Ah... no. Not really.”

John groaned out loud.

Alex didn't say anything, he just walked over to Bry's car and putting his hand under the car, he grabbed the frame and lifted the car to the height of his head
.

With one hand.

The girls gasped and Bry shouted, “Hey...! What the hell! Can you, ah... put my car down?!”

John and I had our mouths hanging open when Jonesy said, “Sounds like our man Alex has been holding out on us.”

Unclassified my ass.

Alex looked at Bry and like he was putting a teacup on a saucer, he gently put the car down. It gave a little bounce, settling quickly.

Nobody said anything for a minute, but Jonesy's wheels were turning, palming his chin thoughtfully. “I guess you'll do.”

John sighed again.

Bry said, “Ah, this rounds out the group nicely?”

Tiff barked out a laugh.

“No offense, Alex, but you don't look... ah...” Sophie started.

“No, he doesn't, but he is,” Jade said.

We all nodded but it was John that said it best, “Maybe we're some kind of variety-magnet or something.”

Bry nodded. “But, I haven't heard anything about...”

“Super-human strength,” John added.

“Yeah,” he looked down on his fingers, ticking off the different paranormal abilities, “A-P,” he nodded to Sophie, “Empath, Zombie-empathizer...”

“Hey!” Tiff and I said together.

Bry laughed, and kept cataloging, “Null,” he winked at John, “Smart-ass,” he finished, pointing to Jonesy.

Jonesy smiled, “Everyone has their job, Weller.” They had a
moment
while I was thinking of what this would mean.

“Have you told the teacher that you're most definitely,
classified.
”

“No, they're on a need-to-know basis,” Alex said.

Okay. Who was I to bitch about keeping paranormal skills under wraps?

“Well, let's not stand around with our thumbs up our asses, let's get to the hide-a-way and discuss crap,” Bry said.

“I like it,” Jonesy agreed.

We trooped off to the hide-a-way with Alex in tow.

CHAPTER 5

I came home to Onyx meeting me at the door. Swinging my backpack on the chair I hucked my shoes off in the foyer and cruised into the kitchen to check for food.

“Hey, pal,” Mom said.

“Hey,” I said, rooting around in the pantry.

Mom didn't even turn. “Don't get in there and toss anything back. I'll have supper ready at 5:30.”

Damn.

“
You can have a small slice of banana bread to tide you over but no more.”

Thank God because my stomach was a roaring inferno.

I sliced a puny bit off the loaf and plopped down on the chair at the kitchen table. Onyx sidled up to me, wagging his tail, hopeful. I put a crumb aside to save for later.

“How was your first day of high school?”

“Boring,” I said, absently stroking Onyx's black head.

“What about your AFTD teacher?”

“Smith? He's okay.” That reminded me, he'd never told us how many points he was...

The Dog thought the Boy smelled different and wonderful today, he would press his face against the Boy...

Onyx was being annoying with the sniffing. “Knock it off, Onyx.” I said, displacing his nose from my jeans, where it had been glued moments before. He gave me the you're-being-cruel look and wagged his tail. Oh brother, I slipped him the crumb while Mom wasn't looking.

Wag-thunk-wag.

“That reminds me, do you have paperwork for me to pulse?” she turned, giving me her full attention.

“Yeah, it's in the backpack.”

“Okay, don't forget because they'll penalize us.”

I think I had that down now.

I walked over to the backpack on the chair and hung it up on the hook before Mom could rant and got the pulse-pad out and handed it to her.

She immediately opened it, depressing her thumb on the pad.

The luminescent green letters sprang to life:
Authorized, legal guardian of Caleb Hart, Alicia, mother.

I walked away, she had it.

“Hey,” she called out and I looked back, “was it okay without Jonesy?”

I thought about it, deciding it blew. “Not really. Kinda boring without the Jonester.”

She nodded. “He'll have another Aptitude Test at Kent Lake, right?”

“Yeah, but none of us think he's gonna pop anything.”

“Going,” she corrected automatically.

I shrugged, thinking back to the hide-a-way conversations earlier.

*

“Come on, it's not that bad, Jonesy,” Bry said.

“Speak for yourself, Weller. No strangeness, no freak-club.” Jonesy indicated all of us sitting around. “No crappy jerks to try and entice into traps...”

Speaking of which. “Saw Carson today, definitely not
on
with the truce.”

“Yeah, what happened Caleb?” Jade asked.

“Just vague threats but he back-talked Griswold and got a  trip to the office.”

“Nice! Right out-of-the-box? Not bad for the first day of school...” Jonesy said, not without admiration.

John made a noise in the back of his throat, it sounded suspiciously like a swear word. “What Caleb is saying,” he said with a tone of voice that clearly said,
sharpen up, doofus,
“he is on our radar as possible trouble.”

“He was never off mine,” Bry said with gravity.

“Who's Carson?” Alex asked.

We all turned to him.

“What?” he shrugged. “I just moved here last year.”

“A total issue,” John expounded.

“Clearly... but?” he threw a questioning look at me.

“He's a fire-starter that hates me and keeps sucking up other losers to stand up and take notice of our group.”

“Why? I mean, of all the kids to worry about, you're just...”

“Normal,” Sophie stated.

Jade nodded, agreeing.

That was about the highest compliment I'd had in a long time.

“Except for the...” and John put his thumb and index finger really close together, “the little zombie-contingent.”

There was that.

Alex nodded. “Okay, does it have anything to do with your dad?”

Tiff looked at him. “Pretty insightful.”

“I have my moments,” he squeaked out.

“Yes, Carson just
has
to be the most popular, rich, perfect guy,” I clarified.

“I think he's a dick,” Tiff said.

I smiled, she did have a way with tellin' it.

Jonesy nodded and John had agreed as explanations went that was spot-on.

“I don't know, it's been like fifteen years since my dad did the mapping of the genome, who cares anymore, really?”

They all looked at me.

“I'm just gonna say it. We're all paranormals because of what your dad started,” Jade said the obvious.

“It just keeps coming back to that. If he hadn't discovered the markers...” she held her arms out, like,
we'd all be mundane.

Jonesy, who had zero desire for introspection said, “Anyway, back to my important first day of school...”

Tiff rolled her eyes and Sophie looked on with interest.

“Everything sucks donkey dicks except for Math, and Science is okay too. The rest... hell... I feel like one of Caleb's zombies in there.”

I frowned, was there something bad about being one of my zombies?

He saw my face, waving away my displeased expression. “But, here's the thing, they've moved up the,” he did airquotes, “ 'you-may-have-a-righteous-paranormal-ability test' to this Friday.”

Really?

“I guess we can hope,” Sophie said quietly.

Jonesy gave his full-toothed grin to her, a sparkle in his eyes and she grinned back.

Bry interrupted our conjecture, “What about the cop-angle, Hart?”

I looked at Tiff, who shrugged.

“I thought you were gonna call?” I said to her.

“Nah, let's do it together. Besides, you're the shit and all.”

Huh. I didn't know about that but I wanted to help out.

“Okay, when I get home, I'll let The Parents in on the plan.”

“Your mom's going to have a bunny.”

“Why do you guys always say your parents are going to have some random animal?” Alex asked.

Jonesy looked at him. “Gotta keep up with the verbiage, pal. Gotta be a thinker,” he said, tapping his nappy head with a finger.

John had to turn and look somewhere else to keep from busting out laughing.

Tiff saved it. “You're such an intellectual
force,
Jonesy.”

He glared at her, “I
can
be... ya know, you Weller's...”

I lifted up a palm. “They're mouthy but they put out, Jonesy.”

“True,” John said.

“I guess,” Jonesy said grudgingly.

I summarized, “We need to meet back here and find out what's happening with Jonesy. And I will have answers about what Tiff and I are gonna do about the child-killing-creeper and how to stop him. And, John...?”

He turned to me, the ghost of a smile still hovering on his lips.

“Fill Alex in on everything, he needs to be brought up-to-speed. With the way things work around us, anything could happen and I don't want him to be a mushroom.”

Alex raised an eyebrow.

“Kept in the dark and fed shit,” Jonesy said without preamble.

Nice.

Bry laughed. “You guys...”

“They have their charms,” Tiff elaborated.

“Okay, Friday then?”

It was settled, we'd have answers and direction for the year, and it didn't include schoolwork.

*

“Caleb!” Mom snapped her fingers in front of me.

Huh? I whipped my head in her direction and I was standing where I'd been but lost in my thoughts of scheming.

“There you are, thought I'd lost you! What were you so deep in thought about?” she asked.

“Ah, I was thinking about what my friends and I were talking about.”

She looked a question at me.

“We are waiting on Jonesy's Aptitude Testing for this Friday and I need to get a hold of Garcia and Gale and figure out the creeper who's doin' all the killing and...”

“Officers Gale and Garcia.”

“Right.” Whatever, I thought.

“Actually, they're going to be dropping by after supper tonight.”

Mom wasn't too sloppy of a schemer herself.

“Okay...?”

“They have to talk about everything with a parent present.”

“Not for long,” I said.

“You're not grown-up quite yet, Caleb.”

“Fifteen in October.”

“Yes, but not legally independent until sixteen.”

Dad breezed in, tossing his pulse-top on the couch along with his briefcase thing full of papers, really?
Papers?
He even used a pen sometimes to write. Retarded. 

“Who is not independent?” he said, messing up his hair with his fingers.

Mom sighed, noticing. “Our son, honey. He is in an all-fired hurry to grow up.”

Mom was heating up to a rant.

“Is this about Officers Gale and Garcia's visit tonight.”

“Listen... guys...”

They turned to me mid-sentence. “I need to pulse Tiff and get her and her parents here too. She wants to help.”

“That's fine. She and her folks are welcome here.”

I was surprised. “I thought you didn't really dig her that much, Mom.”

“She has sort of grown on me,” she said in a droll way.

Dad nodded. “Smacks one a little of...”

“Jonesy,” Mom finished.

“That's it!” Dad said, snapping his fingers.

He came up behind Mom and wrapped his arms around her waist.

My total cue to leave.

“When's supper?” Dad asked. “Do I have time to clean up?”

“Sure, want company?” she asked in that super-awkward sweet voice.

I looked at them, getting out of there in a hurry. Geez, parents. “I'm gonna go pulse Tiff now...”

“Okay,” Mom said, kinda dreamy, eyes only for Dad.

Eesh.

I bounded up to my room, Onyx on my heels. I whipped out my pulse and thumbed it, scrolling through the contact list until I got to Tiff:

Initializing.

Glowing letters filled the screen.

Hey Hart, how's it hanging?
TW

I had to remind myself on a weekly basis that Tiff was a girl... like now.

Ah... good. Did my mom get a hold of your mom? -
CH

Yeah, they're gonna be over at your place at 6:30.
-TW

Are ya nervous about the whole deal?
CH

Nah... I wanna kick that guy's ass...killin' all those kids, I've never been able to scrub it outta my mind, have you?
-TW

No
.-CH

K... see ya @ 6:30
.-TW

Cya
.-CH

I depressed my thumb and thought:
Hibernate.

The screen went dark and I sat there on my bed thinking about a murder investigation and how the pressure fell on two kids in high school to find a guy that had, so far, killed ten kids. The remains had been found in the old cemetery where the ghosts had been last year.
Kids our age
. A disquieting thought.

****

Tiff came skulking through the door in her trademark hoodie, black jeans and matching All-Star tennis shoes. (But, unlike Jade...she probably shoots hoops, she had that look) accompanied by her parents on her heels. It was weird to see her subdued. In fact, I didn't think it was possible.

Her mom gave her a glance and said, “Tiffany, hood.”

“Mom...” she started in.

“Do it,” her dad said, looking alarmingly like an older Bry.

She flipped the hood back, her face revealed.

“Hey,” I said.

“Hi.”

“Where's Bry?”

She rolled her eyes and Mom's eyebrows shot up.

“He's out with this girl...”

“Already? Geez, that was fast.”

“Nah... he's been eye-ballin' her all summer.”

“Tiffany...” her mom gave her a warning tone.

She turned to her mom. “It's okay mom, it's just Caleb.”

I ranked.
Nice.