Death, Doom And Detention Part 17

"Well, perhaps, but now she can join us. She can be a part of the Order, if she wishes." He cast a hopeful expression on Grandma. "She'll be a great a.s.set."

I hoped they were right. And that Ms. Mullins wouldn't be upset that she'd just lost her job as observer. At least she still had her teaching job. But my question was, to whom did Ms. Mullins report?

Fortunately, our next cla.s.s was PE, where I had a toothbrush waiting for me. I couldn't wait to wash the taste of vomit out of my mouth. And I had a note from the nurse not to suit up for the rest of the week. Sweet. Thanks to Nurse Mackey, fourth went fairly smoothly, as did fifth. But the day was only a bit more than half over.

"Could this day get any weirder?" Brooke asked as we headed to lunch. Glitch ran up behind us, and Cameron met us on the way.

"What? Did something else happen?" Glitch asked after he tossed a quick glower at Cameron. Just in case Cameron didn't know how he felt about him, because clearly the seventeen thousand other glowers he gave him weren't enough to get his point across.

"No," Brooke said, her voice blase, "just the usual unexplained events and near-death experiences that seem to be happening a lot here at Riley High. Speaking of which, we've got to practice your new trick more. I've worked up a schedule."

She handed me a schedule with specific times that we would practice. Or, well, I would practice and she would prod me onward. I felt so abused. She was bound and determined to expand my new skill, since it was safer than the visions themselves. I would've bet Glitch's college fund Nostradamus wasn't prodded.

After gracing her with my best grimace, I asked, "Really? Sunday mornings at seven?"

She grinned. "This will give us an excuse to sleep over all weekend."

Wow, she was good. I looked at Cameron. "So, where is Jared now?"

"Why do you always ask me that?"

"I don't know. You guys are like cosmically connected," I said. "You each seem to know where the other one is at any given moment, except when he's been attacked by unscrupulous descendants and is lying somewhere unconscious."

"And you're stealthy," Brooke added.

I nodded in agreement. "That's true. And strong."

"And really tall."

Cameron didn't seem impressed. "So, I'm supposed to keep tabs on the reaper because we're both tall?"

"Something like that," Brooke said.

"Are you going to tell us why the sudden animosity between you two?" I asked him.

"Nope."

It was worth a shot.

"It's not animosity. Or I don't think it is. I'm not sure what that means."

When we left the main building and rounded the corner that led to the cafeteria, Cameron grabbed our arms and pushed us roughly against brick.

"Hey," Brooke said in complaint, but Cameron pressed his back against us as Jared literally fell from the sky in front of us, landing solidly on his feet, the muscles in his legs powerful enough to keep him upright with just enough bend to regain his balance.

He grinned at Cameron, then inclined his head to look at Brooke and me. "I was just going to scare them."

"Were you on the roof?" Brooke asked, astonished.

He had refocused on Cameron and didn't spare her a glance when he replied with a simple, "Yes."

I sidestepped past my barrier. "And you were on the roof because?"

When Jared stepped closer, Cameron ran interference by blocking me again. "Are you good?" he asked Jared, holding me back with an arm made of steel.

"Cameron, what the heck?"

"Why are you asking?" Jared took the challenge in Cameron's expression with a particular kind of glee.

"You don't seem yourself today," he responded, pushing me farther back.

"And you know me so well."

What the heck? I tried to push past Cameron. I failed.

"I want to talk to Lorelei," Jared said. "Alone."

Cameron angled his head. "I don't think so."

"Cameron." I socked him on the arm. "What are you doing?" They hadn't behaved so aggressively toward each other since Jared first showed up in Riley's Switch. They'd almost killed each other that time. And they tore half the town apart in the process.

"Okay, guys," Brooke said, putting on her supervisor's hat. She held up her palms for a cease-fire. "Clearly everyone's blood sugars have dropped to dangerous levels. Let's just go to lunch." She grabbed Cameron's sleeve. Cameron grabbed mine, and I grabbed Glitch's.

Jared stayed back a solid minute, measuring Cameron like he was sizing him up for a coffin.

"Jared, come on," I called out over my shoulder. I didn't know what to think, what to say. Admittedly, Jared was acting different. His movements. His expressions. Even his countenance was full of something strange, something foreign.

He finally followed us, his steps slow and methodical.

We each got our lunch and sat at our table, but the boys hardly touched theirs. Except for Glitch. He inhaled his burger. It was amazing to watch. I didn't bother asking Jared and Cameron what was up between them again. They clearly weren't going to spill. Instead, I brought up another subject that had continued to elude us. The new kid.

I took a drink of my water. "I can't believe we haven't seen him at all today."

"We need to find out his name," Cameron said, "find out where he lives."

"We could break into Davis's office."

"Can I join you?" We looked up at Ashlee. She was becoming a regular.

"Sure," I said.

I moved over so she could pull up a chair.

"Jared, you remember Ashlee."

He nodded. I was grateful for at least that, considering his mood.

She gave a bashful smile, then said, "So, when?"

"When?" Brooke asked.

"When are we breaking into Davis's office?"

Brooke and I chuckled, then Brooke said, "Probably not for a while. But I like your att.i.tude."

After glancing under her lashes several times toward Glitch, who was too consumed with the amount of ketchup he got on each fry to notice, she said, "I didn't mean to interrupt your conversation. It sounded interesting."

"Oh, no big," Glitch said. "Do you know who that new kid is? We need a name and address if possible."

"His name is Vincent," she said with a soft laugh. "But I don't know his address. I can try to get it, though. I'm an office aide last hour."

"Awesome," Brooke said. "That would be great. And it would save us from getting arrested for breaking and entering."

I agreed and took a bite of my turkey sandwich just as the creature whose name shall not be spoken aloud appeared. Out of nowhere. She was just there. And my mouth was full and unattractive.

Shockingly, her eyes alighted on Jared. They always alighted on Jared. Like he was the last source of water in a scorched desert and she was parched. "Hi, Jared."

He watched me chew a few seconds, then smiled up at her. The fact that it was more congenial than genuine wouldn't matter to Tabitha. Either way, a smile would only encourage her. "Have you thought about my proposal?"

Proposal? I swallowed hard and took a drink to wash it down. Holy cow, she irked.

"What proposal is that?" I asked him.

He smiled at me, the same congenial smile he'd just offered Tabitha. I gasped softly, then caught myself. Surely we were beyond congenial, but showing any emotion in front of Tab was dangerous.

"Tabitha asked if I could pose for her drawing cla.s.s," he said.

Oh, for Pete's sake. "You're taking drawing?" I asked her, trying to unglue my teeth.

"Yes, at the community college. And we need models." Her eyes glittered with the prospect. "I knew Jared could probably use the money, living on his own as he does, so I offered to get him an application."

Despite the fact that Jared had been in pretty much every thought I'd had for the last few weeks, I hadn't taken into account that he might actually need spending money. Everything he needed was supplied to him by the Order. Mostly through our store, of course, and the members of the Order. Honestly, those women baked more than Sara Lee.

But he was a guy. Surely he needed guy things. Like, I didn't know, shoe polish or something. I had never even thought about offering to help him find a job or have him do things around the store to earn some extra cash. He was always busy watching and lurking, his habits frighteningly similar to Cameron's. They took their jobs very seriously.

"Actually, I'm still considering it. Can I get back to you?"

She brightened. "Absolutely." She handed him a card. "Call me when you decide."

She had a card?

Offering the rest of us a smile at last, she said, "Hey, Lor. Hope you're feeling better."

"Thank you. I am."

"See you at practice, Ash."

"Not if I see you first."

Brooke snorted out a laugh, but I was a little too shocked. Ash was now officially my hero.

Tabitha laughed too, then wriggled her fingers at us. "Tootles."

In all the years I'd been on planet Earth, I never actually heard anyone use the word "tootles." The cultural diversity in New Mexico was amazing. We had everything from Hagoonee', which was "good-bye" in Navajo, to tootles.

I looked at Jared from underneath my lashes. He hadn't turned her down. That knowledge stabbed me somewhere deep inside. Probably my pancreas. But who was I kidding? Jared was a supermodel who deserved to be with others of his kind.

The creature whose name shall not be spoken aloud may have won this round, but I would be avenged. Or at least, thought of nicely when I died. How would people think of her? Not nicely, I was positive.

"It's interesting to find you here, Casey." I was so deep in thought, I literally jumped when Mr. Davis walked up.

Glitch wiped his mouth, then gave the princ.i.p.al his full attention. "Why is that, sir?"

He folded his arms over his broad chest. "Because you've been marked absent all day."

"What?" He scoffed. It was a little too fake. Brooke gaped at him, clearly disappointed in his attendance record. "There must be something wrong. A glitch in the system." He chuckled at his own joke.

No one else did. Jared was eyeing him suspiciously while Cameron was gazing up at the princ.i.p.al with the same faux innocence.

"I guess I could just talk to your teachers. Get this straightened out."

"Sh-sure," he said, his confidence stumbling.

Mr. Davis nodded. "I'll get back to you." But before he left, his gaze flitted to Jared's arms, lingered there a second, then moved on to me. "Glad you're feeling better," he said. He turned to leave before I could thank him.

Though Jared was wearing the bomber jacket, Mr. Davis knew about the bands of symbols around his arms. He'd seen them when Jared and Cameron got in a fight in the parking lot a few weeks back. And he remembered them even though he'd only been around ten when he saw Jared with his older brother, Elliot, seconds before Elliot dropped dead. Then Jared had disappeared before his eyes.

I wondered what seeing that did to him. How growing up with that unsolved mystery affected him. His brother had died of natural causes. Jared didn't actually kill him; he just tweaked the timing in answer to someone's prayers. Kind of like he was supposed to do with me until he went all rogue and saved me instead of taking me. A fact for which I was grateful.

"All right," Brooke said to Glitch when Mr. Davis left. "Fess up."

"What? It's a mistake. I can't help it if the teachers can't see me. I'm dark. I blend with the wood."

"You're skipping again, aren't you?" she asked.

"Why would I skip? Why would I want to miss all this?" He spread his hands, indicating our surroundings.

While Glitch proceeded to lecture us on the perils of skipping, I couldn't help but notice the lowering of Jared's lashes as he watched him. The sharp slant of his brows when he looked at Cameron. Cameron looked right back in challenge.

I would never figure those two out.

ISAAC'S ARTWORK