With the noise at its highest, I stood with my tray and emptied it in the nearest trashcan. It was time to get down to business while everyone was occupied. Draken hadn’t left a patroller at the school and Principal Viddie wasn’t camped out watching the students. I pushed through the cafeteria doors, favoring my hurt wrist and nearly collided with Rex pacing in the hall.

  “We need to talk.”

  I hoped I appeared indifferent to his tone. He held my eyes for only a moment before he started pacing again. It gave me a chance to study him. He usually had better control over his intensity, which meant something was really bothering him. Was it Amber or was it me?

  “If you came to apologize for your girlfriend, don’t bother,” I said.

  He stopped pacing. “Amber? No. It’s not about her, but if she’s bothering you, I’ll talk to her.”

  “We haven’t spoken for months, so I can’t imagine what you’d have to say to me.”

  I was proud that I kept the hurt from my tone. When he severed our ties, he didn’t so much as cast a look in my direction. I just stopped existing in his universe. That hurt more than the breakup.

  “What did the patroller want with you?” he asked.

  His mood was strained. When he was in a bad mood, like now, his golden brown eyes were more brown then golden. On his good days, the gold almost appeared amber. I wish this was a good day. His temper flooded me even without lowering my shield.

  “Just asked a few questions about Len,” I said.

  He swooped in, closing the distance between us. His hand circled my waist to keep me from tripping as I tried to step away. All my focus went to that sturdy grip at my painfully bruised back. I was dizzy with the mixed pleasure of his touch and the pain that radiated from it. That wasn’t the only part of me involuntarily reacting. A grunt slipped my lips.

  “Damnit, Belen, this isn’t a joke.”

  I opened my mouth to comment and couldn’t find the words. My head was woozy and all I really wanted to do was lean in and smell him. Curse my swollen nose. I really missed the cedar scent of his skin.

  “Lay off, Rex. I told you what I know. World Congress thought I could answer questions about Len, but I can’t. I have a few classes with her, but I don’t know her.” Lying hardly disturbed me. I’ve been doing it for a long time.

  He let me go, but the heat of his hand still warmed my skin. My breath hitched and when he glanced back at me, I thought he might have heard it. His hearing couldn’t be that good.

  “Brian’s only using you.”

  “You didn’t think I was going to stay your doting fan forever, did you?” Another lie.

  The heat from his glare could have burnt my clothes off. It would be a first being naked in front of him. Rex had a great deal more control over his primal urges than a lot of guys I knew.

  “I need to tell you something important,” he said.

  “Don’t you think it’s a little late to start making confessions?”

  As much as I liked him, I was pissed off and hurt. I wanted him to show he cared if even just a little bit. I wanted to stop being the throwaway child, the throwaway lover, the throwaway friend.

  “Suck it up, Belen and listen. It’s a matter of importance to your wellbeing and you should be aware of this,” Rex said.

  If he saw all the self-inflicted scars on my body, he’d know I didn’t care too much about my wellbeing. Sanity was a fickle thing.

  His attention snapped down the hallway towards the auditorium doors. It was distant, but I heard it too. Someone was coming.

  “We’ll meet tonight.”

  That was definitely not a request.

  I don’t let anyone push me around. “I’m busy.”

  “Not anymore. This is serious. We need to talk,” he said.

  I wanted to be angry with him, but there was something in his tone that worried me.

  “The tool shed is never locked and there are no cameras on that side of the school,” I offered. There were never cameras near the forest limits.

  This time when he frowned, his eyes were golden, full and dark. I always felt like there was something kindred between us. Did it occur to him that we’d be alone in the shed?

  “I just don’t want to see you hang yourself over something you don’t understand. Once you have World Congress’s attention, things get dire,” he said.

  My muscles tightened again, making it difficult to focus on his words. He had no idea what dire meant to me right now. I tried to walk around him, but he caught my arm and raised my injured wrist up between us. The ooze bled through the gauze and the white fabric of my shirt. By the way his nose wrinkled, I knew it smelled.

  “What happened last night? What did you get caught up in?”

  The footsteps were getting closer.

  “I’ll tell you tonight in the shed.”

  He let my arm go and walked into the cafeteria. A burst of rowdy noise filled the hall before the door once again muffled it. I kept my arm close to my body and hurried down the hallway towards the stairs.

  “Principal Viddie,” a woman called. The man stopped walking.

  I was out of breath when I made it to the staircase. If Principal Viddie caught me outside the cafeteria, I’d be questioned for the entire break. That was time ill spent. I hurried on up the stairs determined to find Memphis before the bell.

  Memphis was predictable. I’d find him on the third floor in the advance science labs. He was a junior like me, but too clever for his own good. People gave him space.

  I heard tongs tap against glass and followed that sound down the hall. All the lockers were down stairs, which left plenty of room for posters and diagrams on billboards behind glass. I hesitated in front of the lab door wishing there was a window I could peep in. The last thing I needed was to barge in on a teacher and student. I took a deep breath and entered.

  His back was turned to me, but I’d recognize Memphis in his lab coat anywhere. In the mornings, his hair started out combed, but by lunch time, it was a mess.

  “Memphis, I need you to look at something for me,” I said.

  He faced me with protective goggles that magnified his eyes. “What do you need looked at?”

  Ever practical, Memphis pulled off his gloves and washed his hands while I unwound the gauze on my wrist. My veins were black under the surface of my left arm, but it stopped at my elbow. It could be a reason why the rest of me hurt so badly. I should have brought more gauze. Memphis started back over with fresh gloves and a mask over his face, which didn’t give me confidence that things were going to be okay.

  The skin had sunken in and blackened around the edges. The muscle was a dark red that went into a pus yellow towards the center and I’m still sure that’s bone I saw glinting white. I felt cold, but Memphis’s hands on my arm gave me comfort.

  “It’s a deep cut. The coloration of your skin suggests dead flesh, but the muscle is still pink under the pus. It looks like your body is counteracting the toxins.”

  “You think there are toxins in there? What’s wrong with me? Is it fatal?” That’s what I cared about most though losing my arm came in at a close second.

  Memphis reached for a magnifying glass. “I’ve seen an injury like this before. May I?”

  He held up a cotton swab and I nodded.

  “What cut you?” he asked.

  I braced for pain, but he only swabbed along the side. It didn’t look like blood that he smeared onto the slide. It was brackish like swamp water. My stomach turned and I had to fight to keep my food down. After today, who knew when my next meal would come.

  “You can tell me what you want, but the truth can help me determine the cure,” Memphis said.

  He didn’t glance at me as he stuck the sample under the microscope. I bit my bottom lip. In the end, I trusted him more than a doctor.

  “It happened last night on Xyla. I was scratched by something that looked dead,” I said. He stopped what he was doing to look at me. I had to tell him what I already knew. “It looked like Starr, but it wasn’t. It was her doppelganger.”

  “Don’t say anything else,” Memphis said.

  He picked up the swab and held it over a lit burner. The fire rushed down the stick destroying all evidence. He tossed the stub away and grabbed the slide, dumping it into the sink and pouring chemicals over it. I was overwhelmed by his desire to hide my injury.

  “I’ve seen case studies like this before, but these studies have a way of quickly disappearing.” His voice lowered further. “Don’t tell anyone where you got these cuts.”

  “Will they heal on their own or do I need to see a doctor?” I asked. The very thought made even the scratches on my chest and thighs ache. Luckily they didn’t look nearly as bad as the cut on my wrist.

  “You got this cut last night and you’re still alive. I wouldn’t go to a regulated physician with this,” he said. At my blank stare, he continued. “Belen, you’re not human.”

  Laughter burst from my throat. “What?”

  Memphis wasn’t laughing. In fact, he looked sympathetic. I stopped laughing. I believed that something roamed alongside the human population, but I didn’t believe I was one of them. The encyclopedia said that certain creatures could change a human into them. I swayed back against the counter.

  “Something that looked dead attacked me. Does that mean I’m a zombie?”

  Memphis snorted. “No, of course not. Do you even know what zombies are?” He didn’t wait for an answer that. “No, you’re not a zombie. I don’t know what you are, but you aren’t human and you aren’t a zombie. If you were human, this infection would have killed you last night.”

  Did I believe him? Maybe the liquid was just now making its way to my heart. I was sweating around the aches. This was how I pictured a snake bite killing an animal.

  “How can I suddenly not be human?” I swayed into the free seat and watched Memphis walk across the room, grab his backpack and return.

  “You were never human,” Memphis said.

  He was so matter of fact that I wanted to shake him. How could he say these things to me and without feeling? The air suddenly felt hot and it was making me sweat profusely.

  Memphis moved slowly, pulling a plastic bag from his backpack and placing all the tiny objects within it on the counter. When I saw the needle and string, I knew his plans. I pressed my feet into the ground, trying to stabilize myself. It didn’t look like there was enough flesh for the stitches to work.

  The gel stung as he rubbed it along the outer part of my wound. A few seconds later, the skin around it went numb. It was the first relief I had all day.

  “Do you have something in that bag that could numb the rest of my body?”

  Memphis didn’t answer as he strung the needle and I looked away. I’m not a coward with needles; I just don’t like watching myself get sewn up. It was another scar on the uneven canvas of my skin. I winced at every tug of the string.

  A quick glance was all I needed to know I still didn’t want to watch the process, so I looked up at him. Just behind his ear was a pentagram. It was small, about the size of my thumb, but I knew what it meant from reading the Daily Dark. My attention fell to his backpack where it laid partially open, exposing white fabric. My heart leaped. The paper knew very little about Diablo. He worked for himself.

  “Memphis—” I stopped when his blue eyes locked with mine. I lowered my shields enough to feel his anxiety. He wasn’t dangerous, but I obviously made him uncomfortable.

  He licked his lips. “I’m done.”

  I nodded, casting another glance at his bag. The slightest movement and I could accidently kick it over. It would give me a chance to see what he carried inside, but was that fair? He sewed me up.

  That might be Memphis we saw scaling the tower.

  “Just be careful who you trust,” Memphis said.

  Was that a warning? All this was jumbling in my sleep deprived head. Before I could say I needed aspirin, Memphis pressed pills into my palm. I stared at them for a moment, unsure if I should take them.

  “It’s a mild pain reliever,” he said.

  There were a lot of reasons to trust Memphis, so I popped them in my mouth and swallowed them dry. My throat muscles hurt, but what didn’t at the moment.

  “I heard Diablo released prisoners last night,” I said.

  His nimble fingers stalled over the bandage he placed on my wrist. Within a second, he was back in action, wrapping it with gauze.

  “Don’t you think it’s strange? Diablo is a loner, yet he rescued Berserkers from the asylum. Why would he help them?” My pulse said this was a dangerous game I was playing.

  Memphis remained silent until the gauze was in place, then he turned to look at me.

  “Eventually we all need to choose a side and he’s never been alone,” he said.

  Did that mean Diablo was male, or was Memphis projecting his gender on the white demon that showed up a great deal more around these parts?

  What if I was a demon? Being nonhuman could cover a broad aspect of creatures.

  My direct question was on the verge of my lips, but when he pulled off his gloves and ran a hand through his hair, I saw a great deal of tiredness. If he was Diablo, he had his own reasons. If not, then he was just a follower.

  The bell rang, saving us from further awkwardness. I lowered my sleeve while he pushed everything back into his baggie and shoved it into his backpack.

  I caught myself in the doorway and leaned back in. “Thanks, Memphis.”

  If he heard me, he didn’t acknowledge it.

  Students poured into the halls, some heading to second period lunch, while others came up the staircase for their noon classes. I fought against the crowd and was pushed against the rail. Time literally stopped with Rex’s hand on my hip. Paper was pushed into the rim of my skirt, then he was gone.

  Heat blazed my cheeks as I put my hand over the spot with the piece of paper so it wouldn’t slip out. Rex disappeared up the stairs and I followed the aggressive rush of students heading downstairs. The lunch crowd was lingering, making it difficult to reach the bathroom.

  “What’s going on Raggedy?” Amber cut me off in the hallway.

  Feeling smug, I tried to pass her as she grabbed my bad arm, yanking me back. The pain wasn’t as sharp with the numbing gel, but it was uncomfortable.

  “I’m talking to you,” she said.

  I shoved her back with my good arm.

  “Back off,” I hissed. After the orange soda, I really wasn’t in the mood and Starr wasn’t present to talk me down.

  She caught my shoulders and swung me hard against the lockers. The metal vibrated my bones, jarring my spine and making my head ache. My vision swam, but I kept Amber in focus. She wasn’t going to make a fool of me twice in one day.

  “Stay away from Rex.”

  “Trust me, the asshole’s all yours.”

  It took a lot more to intimidate me. The warning bell rang, but the students weren’t about to miss this fight.

  “If I catch you flirting with him, I’ll make a coat out of your skin,” she threatened.

  “I’m not the one flirting,” I said.

  Anger twisted her face. She pulled me forward and slammed me back against the locker with more force. The pain doubled. Heat flared over my skin. I was stuck between vomiting or fainting.

  “Break it up. Detention to everyone who isn’t in class after the last bell,” Viddie’s voice roared over the quiet crowd.

  Amber released me. “Watch your back, slut.”

  Without the strength of her holding me upright, I swayed back into the locker. The students broke up quickly, allowing the principal to approach.

  “I’m willing to let this pass today, now go to your class Miss McKnight,” Viddie said.

  “Going,” I said over my shoulder.

  The first step I took, I knew the note was no longer on me. My pulse raced into my throat. I glanced around the floor, but there was no slip of paper lying on the tile.

  “Class, Miss McKnight,” he said again.

  “I’m going,” I repeated.

  EIGHT

  The end of the day couldn’t come soon enough. All I wanted to do was sleep.

  I opened my locker and noticed the folded sheet of paper on top of my books. The printed letter said: this one is for you.

  The steady buzz of voices and clatter of lockers was interrupted by a scream. Students jostled about searching for the source, which ended with all eyes on Amber. She stood in from of her locker looking like a drowned rat. I should have known better than to stare and I really shouldn’t have laughed.

  Amber’s eyes locked on me. I shoved the letter back in my locker. I’d be guilty by association anyway.

  “Fight! Fight!” The crowd began chanting.

  A few well-placed strides put Amber in my face ready to throw punches. I squared my shoulders and braced my feet, ready to defend myself. She was fast. I pivoted and backed out of her reach. Her fist slammed into the locker just over my head, denting the metal inward like something heavier than a cheerleader’s hand had crushed it.

  I blocked the punch, catching her extended arm and shoving it outward. The vibration of that hit rattled my bones. It felt like I was fighting under water. My movements were stunted and slow. I couldn’t keep this up for long.

  The crowd closed in giving me very little room to maneuver. I dodged another hit, which put my back against the locker. She caught the collar of my shirt and I dug my nails into her wrist. I braced for a blow that never came. A much larger hand caught her fist and pulled her back.

  The chanting gave way to moans of disappointment. It took a moment for the both of us to realize someone else got involved. She tried to jerk free from Rex’s hold, but he wouldn’t let her go.

  “This is between us,” Amber said.

  Rex held her close enough that the whisper should have been private, but I heard it anyway. “Don’t draw attention to us.”

  “We both want the same thing, so don’t think I’m about to bow down to you.” Her voice was equally low.

  Teachers were pushing through the crowd and students started drifting away.

 

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