Heartless (11 page)

“Exactly,” I said, grateful. “And while we search, I need to lay low. Luce, we’re going to need smell-controllers for our rooms. Candles, sprays, whatever. We need to control the funk. You guys are turning green just sitting here with me, and I don’t want the cops turning up again looking for a dead body. I don’t think I can fool them again.”

Lucy grinned. “I’ll handle Officer Strong if he comes back around.”

“That guy!” Eli groaned. “He was such a dick!”

“Was he?” I said. “Lucy liked him.”

She threw a pillow at me. It hit me in the face, and a cloud of dust flew up around me. “Ew,” she said. “Jo-dust.”

I tried to roll my eyes, but they wouldn’t move that way. So I ignored her, talking instead to Eli. “I’m sure Strong was only doing his job. That said, I don’t think Lucy or I really fooled him. Lucy was doing her giggling thing, and I looked like a circus freak when he showed up. He was definitely onto something.”

“Jesus, it sounds like we’re in a movie,” Lucy said, groaning.
“He’s onto us! Oh no! Somebody get my gun!”

“Luce,” I said. “Stop! This is serious.”

She shot me a crooked grin. “I know, but it’s also kind of absurd. We want to find the house, to find the guy, while avoiding the cops and anyone else who might want to find
you
. Because I bet they’re looking. And we’re doing all this to get you back to normal. Which we don’t even know is possible.”

Eli stood up and looked out his window. “Don’t forget revenge,” he said softly. “Someone did this to you. They’re going to pay.”

His voice was chilling. I wasn’t sure what to say, so I nudged Lucy with my foot. She looked up at me, shrugged, and then said, “Right, okay, well, there’s
that
too. But for now, let’s focus on finding them. Maybe when we find them, we can let Officer Strong handle the revenge part. He’ll get to call it justice, and you won’t go to jail.”

All at once, my head thickened again, like it had earlier in the day. My thoughts slowed down, my arms and legs grew heavy. I looked up at Lucy. “It’s happening again,” I said, only I slurred so much it sounded more like, “Itsh hoppen gen.”

“Oh no,” she said, and she immediately slid an arm under my shoulders and hauled me to my feet.

“What’s happening?” Eli asked, terrified. “Is she dying?”

“No,” said Lucy. “It’s just…her battery’s running low. She needs to recharge.”

“How’s she do that?”

Lucy and I fumbled our way toward the nearest wall socket. She set me down next to it, then said, “Mind if I don’t stick around to watch this time?”

I nodded. “Yeth,” I said. “Takim wif you.”

She turned and pulled on Eli’s arm. “Come on. You don’t want to see this.” She dragged him, protesting loudly, out of the room and closed the door.

As I plugged myself into the wall socket, using a different finger this time, the lights surged in the room. Judging by the shouts and cries I heard from the rest of the apartment, they did so in the whole building. When the warmth stopped flowing and I knew I was charged enough to last for a while, I pulled my hand away from the socket.

It took about eight minutes this time, much more than the two or three minutes it took me to charge the first time.

But this time, most of my left index finger stayed behind.

“Oh,
crap
!” I said.

Lucy burst back into the room, Eli on her heels. “What happened?” he said. “Why’d the lights go crazy? What were you doing in here for so long? Lucy wouldn’t let me in.”

“Ew,” said Lucy, seeing the problem immediately. She wrinkled her nose and covered her mouth with her hand, but she recovered quickly. “Okay, I think it’s time to get you home and patch you up again. Should we…take that with us?”

“Oh, dear God,” said Eli, staring at my finger in the socket. “Is that what I think it is?”

I nodded, and Eli left the room again. The sound of his retching filtered down the hall.

I
n the end, after an endless debate over what to do with my detached finger, Eli drove Lucy and me back to our dorm. With all the windows down, it was a chilly ride for both of them, but I was focused on my broken arm and on my detached finger, which made the trip home jammed into its correct location inside my glove. We stopped at the pharmacy, where Lucy bought bandages, more sewing supplies, and a bunch of air fresheners and candles.

Eli dropped us off, and we agreed to meet later that afternoon. He looked pale and tired, so I told him to go home and rest. As Lucy and I walked into the dorm, I saw Officer Strong milling about outside, wearing a black knee-length parka that made him look like a storm trooper from 1940s Germany.

Lucy smiled and waved when she saw him, as if she didn’t have a care in the world. Still smiling, and through clenched teeth, she whispered, “What’s he still doing here?”

I shook my head and pulled her away. “No idea,” I hissed. “But don’t draw attention to us, okay? I didn’t think we’d get off that easily, and I don’t want him nosing around here until we get this figured out.”

She squeezed my hand. “I know, I know. Let’s get you inside.”

Dear Ms. Hall,

I was sorry to see you miss class Thursday and our lab on Friday. Please be aware that one more unexcused absence from class will result in the lowering of your final grade.

Dr. Stanton

Biology Head

Dear Jo,

I was sorry you missed class Friday. Were you getting a jump on the weekend with some skiing? Class wasn’t the same without you to lead the discussion. Please let me know if you’re sick and are going to miss additional classes so I can have someone take notes from my lecture for you. Otherwise, I’ll see you Monday, prepared to discuss Romeo and Juliet, k?

Sondra Lewis

English Dept.

Dear Dr. Stanton and Prof. Lewis,

Thank you both for your emails to check up on me. I’ve been down for the count with some flu, but am finally on the mend, I think. I hope to see you both in class this week. (Dr. Stanton, I will try to get a doctor’s note so you can see I’m not faking, but I forgot to get one when I went to the school clinic on Friday. Hopefully they’ll write one out for me, though. I’d hate to accidentally lower my final grade.)

Thanks again,

Jo Hall

Jo1995: One thing I’ve never been is a good liar. Hear that friends? You will always know if I am lying to you.

EliPete21: @Jo1995 I have to say I admire your honesty. But I’m with @LucyGoosie. You smell.

LucyGoosie: @EliPete21 @Jo1995 Hey, be nice to Jo! She’s had a rough weekend.

Jo1995: @EliPete21 @LucyGoosie That’s putting it a little lightly.

Hey Mom,

I just wanted to let you know—the next few days are going to be a little busy for me, but I did find my cell phone. Sadly, it was beat up by the snow so it’s completely busted. Still, I may not have a chance to get a new one, what with midterms coming up, so if you don’t hear from me for a couple days, don’t worry. I love you and Dad and I’m just a bit tied up at the moment.

Love,

Jo

L
ucy napped most of the afternoon, claiming exhaustion from the unexpected amount of drama in the morning. In reality, I think she needed a break from my stench, which was starting to peel paint around the borders of my room.

I spent the time by myself, responding to more emails, researching real estate, and occasionally zoning out with a game of Solitaire.

All I could think about, though, was that time was slipping away while I continued to deteriorate. I knew Lucy needed sleep, and Eli needed to figure out what the hell was going on, but I was getting scared. No matter how many times I turned the facts around in my head, I couldn’t come up with a resolution in which I’d come away from this experience alive, at least not without finding the people who did this to me and somehow convincing them to undo what was already done. But that felt so unlikely. When I mentioned it to Lucy she threw a pillow at me, told me to get out, and buried her face in her comforter, groaning. “You’re going to be fine,” she said. “Unless you don’t let me get some
sleep
!”

I wasn’t so sure.
What if they won’t fix me? What if they can’t fix me?
Those questions plagued me as I switched from staring at my computer screen to staring at my hands, never without a manicure in my normal life, but now without half my fingers or fingernails. I couldn’t bear to look at my face anymore, and covered my makeup mirror with a scarf.

Nor could I look at the pictures on my tackboard from earlier in the year. Lucy and me, smiling and hugging. Eli and me, arms around each other. Blissfully happy. Blissfully beautiful. Blissfully ignorant of any trouble greater than a C on a calculus test.

That was the old me.

Finally, I hung a scarf over the tackboard, too, so the old me would stop tormenting the new one.

At seven that evening, Lucy wandered back in and lay across my bed, her nose twitching as she readjusted to my scent. “More rotten,” she said, sniffing the air like it was a fine wine. “Less chemical.” I sat at my desk, running searches on local real estate listings. The knock on the door made us both jump. I almost fell from my chair, but caught myself at the last minute. The banging of my wrist against the desk corner sent a few chunks of skin sloughing to the floor.

“Ew,” said Lucy, looking slightly gray. “Be careful!”

The knock sounded again, and Lucy cocked her head like a puppy. “Shave and a haircut?” She hopped to her feet. “Are you expecting someone?”

“Don’t know. I guess it could be Eli. Look through the peephole!”

She crept to the door. “Yep, it’s Eli.” Lucy pulled the door open and I grinned when I saw him. Eli stood with his arms out, holding a pizza box in one hand and flowers in the other.

“Sustenance for Lucy and me,” he said, sheepish. “And prettiness for you. Because don’t guys bring flowers when they’re sorry?” He slid his backpack from his shoulders to the ground, and held out his offerings.

“Didn’t we go over this already?” I said. “What’s done is done, no need to be sorry. You’re here and you’re helping, that’s what matters.” I stood up slowly from my seat at the desk. My whole body was stiff; it was getting harder to move. I ignored Eli and Lucy when they both cringed at the popping and rattling sounds from my joints, and walked toward Eli, arms outstretched to thank him with a hug.

He ducked away, looking sorry as he did it.

I dropped my arms and walked to the window. “Well, thanks anyway.” Though no tears came to my eyes, I stared out the window, regretting their absence.

Lucy went into damage-control mode. “They’re pretty, Eli! What can I put them in? Oooh, I know, I think there’s a vase in my room. And thanks for the pizza, I’m
starving.
” She smiled at each of us in turn, and then bounced over to her room in search of the vase. I was relieved she was being nice to Eli again. That would help, whatever our near future held.

Eli set the pizza and flowers on my desk. “It smells pretty good in here,” he said, surprised.

“I had the windows open all afternoon, and clearly Lysol does wonders. I’ve even Lysoled myself a few times.” I didn’t point out the candles that burned in every corner and on each raised surface, lending the room an eerie, coven-like feel, and covering up the stench I emitted. I knew he saw them. I tried another thin smile. “So, I smell okay now. But how do I look?”

“Jo…”

“I know. It’s okay.”

My skin was gray by then, without any lingering hint of healthy flesh color. The hair from my eyebrows and eyelashes fell out in frequent, delicate clumps. A splint held my arm in place, but it was crude at best, my forearm still bending in a suspicious way. I was quite literally falling apart before my own eyes, and his. It was hard enough for me to handle; I couldn’t imagine being a third-party observer.

Eli appeared beside me and patted me awkwardly on the shoulder. Like a scratch on an old, decrepit dog’s chin, though, the contact was over far too soon as Eli let his hand drop. He shrugged. “How are you feeling?”