Hemlock (22 page)

I closed my eyes, not wanting them to reflect how badly her words hurt me.

Amy cursed and my eyes snapped open. She shook her head.

“Sorry. It gets al jumbled up in here.”

“Here?”

“In your head. It’s hard to separate my thoughts from yours. It’s

“In your head. It’s hard to separate my thoughts from yours. It’s like knights and bishops moving around a chessboard, and sometimes I’m not sure which one of us has control of the pieces.”

She sat up and hugged her knees. “You have some
serious
self-esteem issues.”

I saw something move out of the corner of my eye, a dark shape that I couldn’t quite make out. As soon as I looked directly at it, it disappeared and al I could see was rusting metal and overgrown grass.

“It’s okay,” said Amy. “It won’t hurt you. It’s looking for Kyle.”

My heart leaped into my throat and every muscle in my body tensed. I spun, trying to pin down the shadow, eyes desperately sweeping the junkyard. “How is that okay?”

Amy shrugged and slid off the car. She was moving oddly—like her bones and muscles didn’t quite want to work. “I’m lonely,” she said. As I watched, her skin puled back until it was waxy and taut.

Her hair became thin and straggly. Her brown eyes misted over, covered by white spiderwebs. She became a dead thing.

I stumbled back and tripped on something in the dark. I fel to the ground.

She stared down at me with sightless eyes. “It’s cold and lonely here, Mac. I need Kyle more than you do. Besides, you took Jason.”

Tess puled up to the school. “Are you okay? You’ve barely said two words since you got out of bed.”

I nodded and jumped a little as a rol of thunder peeled. It hadn’t started raining, but the weather forecast was caling for hadn’t started raining, but the weather forecast was caling for severe thunderstorms and they’d looked imminent enough when I’d gotten up that I had accepted Tess’s offer of a ride to school.

She sighed. “I wish you’d just tel me whatever’s going on with you.” She looked tired. She’d only gotten home from work around six, and instead of crashing, she had stayed up so she could have breakfast with me and give me a drive. She rubbed her eyes.

“You’re not in some kind of trouble, are you? Like maybe the kind that takes nine months?”

I burst out laughing. “Tess, I think I’m a pretty unlikely candidate for Immaculate Conception.”

She didn’t so much as smile. “What about the kind of trouble your dad used to get into?”

I tried to squash the rising sense of guilt. If Tess was thinking about the sort of stuff Hank used to pul, then she was beyond worried. I hated keeping things from her—especialy things that were so epicaly big—but her knowing about Kyle or Derby was dangerous. I couldn’t tel her.

Underneath the guilt, though, was a smal spark of anger. Did she realy think I’d risk turning out like my father? Just because he had tried to teach me how to hot-wire a car when I was eleven didn’t mean I was going to go out and steal one.

“I swear: nothing’s going on.” I unbuckled my seat belt. “Thanks for driving me.”

Tess scanned my face, but whatever she saw didn’t seem to reassure her. “Ben’s not working tonight. If you need a ride later, just give him a cal.”

“Okay,” I said, climbing out of the car and shutting the door

“Okay,” I said, climbing out of the car and shutting the door behind me.

Fat raindrops began hitting the ground and a flash of lightning split the sky as Tess drove away. I counted the seconds before the thunder rumbled.

Just as I reached the school door, I heard the low rol, stil far off. I blinked and headed inside, turning right instead of left at the main corridor.

The not unpleasant scent of gas and motor oil wafted through the hal as I passed the shop classes. I remembered Serena saying something, just after school started, about Trey having his locker down here.

I figured Serena had told him that I’d been asking about the phone cals. He’d probably lie about them, but at least he’d have to look me in the eye while doing so.

As far as plans went, it was pretty abysmal; I just didn’t have any better ideas.

I waited long after the first and second bels had rung and the halway had emptied. Trey never showed.

Eventualy, I gave up and headed to chem.

No Serena.

I sat at our usual lab table and stared at her empty seat.

Serena maintained a practicaly 4.0 GPA. She didn’t skip class and she almost never took sick days.

Trey had a solid alibi that was backed up by store surveilance footage—but he was hiding something and Serena was covering for him. I was sure of it. I just didn’t understand why. He couldn’t have kiled Amy, so what was Serena trying to protect him from?

have kiled Amy, so what was Serena trying to protect him from?

I fidgeted through class and tried not to listen to the jocks behind me as they speculated on who else at school might be infected.

“She was dating Kyle Harper. Do you think he could be a furbal?”

I clutched my pen so hard that the plastic cracked and blue ink smudged the side of my hand.

“Nah,” said one of the others. “Harper’s friends with Sheffield and I heard Jason was the one who ID’d the Yoshida chick. He’d know if Kyle was infected.”

“I’ve been thinking about that reward money the Trackers are offering,” said a third. “Could make for a decent party fund. Al we’d have to do is find a couple of fleabags.”

“Right,” snorted the guy who had spoken first. “Like finding fleabags is that easy.”

I was on my feet a half second before the bel rang and I had to force myself to walk to Kyle’s class and not run.

I got there just as the teacher opened the door and students started streaming out. Kyle wasn’t one of them.

I checked his locker.

Nothing.

Panic closed around me like a vise as students pushed past me.

The jocks in chem had dismissed the thought that Kyle might be infected, but would everyone else?

I headed toward the main doors at a normal pace, not running, not giving anyone a reason to notice me. With everyone talking not giving anyone a reason to notice me. With everyone talking about werewolves, today was not the day to stand out. I puled my cel from my pocket and dialed Kyle as I walked. No answer.

If he was screening his cals, I was going to kil him.

I stepped outside and stood in the sheltered alcove of the doors as I scanned the parking lot. The rain was coming down hard, but I didn’t have any trouble spotting Kyle’s car or seeing that it was empty.

He hadn’t been in class, but his car was in the lot; he was here, somewhere.

I spun on my heel and headed back inside. I spotted Ethan Cole coming out of the administration office. He had practicaly the same class schedule as Kyle.

“Ethan!” I jogged to catch up to him.

He smiled. “Hey, Mac.” He ran a hand over his spiky, blue hair as a faint blush tinged his cheeks. “I’ve been meaning to talk to you

—I tried, the other day, but you were in a hurry.”

“Huh?” I shook my head as a dim memory of giving Ethan the brush-off floated back to me. “Oh, right. Wednesday. Sorry.”

“It’s okay.” He looked desperately uncomfortable. “I just wanted to thank you—you know, for what you did at Bonnie and Clyde.”

“Oh.” I felt my own cheeks grow warm. “That’s okay. I mean, I’m sure you’d have done the same for me.”

Ethan nodded but he stil looked uncomfortable. His gaze darted to my forehead, to the stitches that were just barely visible underneath my bangs. He fidgeted with his lip ring. I didn’t know if he had heard the faling story that I’d given everyone who asked.

he had heard the faling story that I’d given everyone who asked.

“Listen, I was just wondering if you’ve seen Kyle around. His car’s in the lot, but I can’t find him anywhere.”

“I saw him on the third floor,” said Ethan, looking relieved at the change of topic. “I think he was headed for the drama room. It can’t be easy—you know, having everyone talk about your ex like she’s a bloodthirsty monster instead of a person with a disease.”

Normaly, I’d agree—if it weren’t for the fact that the ex in question had tried to rip my throat out.

The bel rang and Ethan automaticaly glanced at the big clock on the other side of the lobby. “I’ve got to get to class.”

I nodded. “Yeah. Me too.”

He seemed on the verge of thanking me again, but then he just gave me a smal smile and headed down the hal. I was glad I had helped Ethan at the club, but I was realy hoping things wouldn’t be awkward every time I saw him. Otherwise, I’d be paying for my good deed until graduation.

I headed up the stairs and turned left at the third-floor landing.

Glancing around to make sure the coast was clear, I slipped down the smal halway that led to the drama room. The school had canceled the theater classes last year—not enough students ever signed up—but they hadn’t repurposed the space.

Some enterprising then-senior had broken the lock so he and his friends could sneak up here with girls. Somehow, Amy had found out about it.

I pushed open the door and wrinkled my nose at the stale, slightly musty smel in the room. The overhead lights were off, but gray morning light filtered through a row of windows that hadn’t gray morning light filtered through a row of windows that hadn’t been cleaned in ages. Rain pelted the glass, the rat-tat-tap oddly soothing.

Kyle was sitting on the edge of the smal stage that ran along the right side of the room, his sneakers dangling a half foot off the floor. He didn’t look up when I walked in.

“What do you want, Mac?”

I swalowed. “How did you know it was me?”

He glanced up. His hair fel over his face and he brushed it away. His eyes were cold and empty. “Werewolf, remember?

Heightened sense of smel.”

I walked forward until I was standing just a few feet from him.

“Are you saying I stink?” I joked, trying to break the ice.

Kyle didn’t smile. “What do you want?”

“You weren’t in class.” I crossed my arms. It felt like the chil in the room was seeping through my skin. “I was worried.”

“Everyone was talking about Heather and shooting me looks like they wondered if I knew. Like they were wondering if I was infected.”

I wanted to reach out and touch his arm or hug him or do something, but instead, I said, “I heard some of the jocks talking.

Most people don’t know how much you and Jason fought this summer. They think your best friend is a Tracker and they’l assume that means you’re not infected.”

Kyle grunted. “My best friend
is
a Tracker. At least until he figures things out. Then he’l probably watch while they throw me in a cage and drag me off. Hel, he’l probably help.”

in a cage and drag me off. Hel, he’l probably help.”

“Maybe you should have a little more faith in him,” I said softly.

Kyle’s eyes locked on mine and I was the first to look away. I ended up staring at a faded poster that someone had taped next to the door.

“Maybe you need to grow up and stop thinking you can save everyone.”

The words on the poster blurred together. It was for last year’s Harvest Dance. It had been right before Kyle started dating Heather, and the four of us—Kyle, Jason, Amy, and I—had gone together. Amy had drunk too much before the guys picked us up.

Once in Jason’s car, she had thrown up on his shirt and told him that she loved him more than anything—even more than her designer sunglasses or the vampires in the romance novels she kept under her bed. Jason had patted her head and told her that he loved her, too, and asked her to please stop trying to kiss him—at least until we could stop somewhere and buy her a toothbrush.

Kyle had captured the whole thing on his phone.

“I don’t think I can save everyone,” I said, forcing myself to look at him. “But I have to believe Jason can walk away from them.”

Kyle rubbed a hand over his face. “The tattoo—”

“He hasn’t gotten the whole thing, only the dagger.” Even to my own ears, it sounded like the world’s flimsiest hope. “I’m sorry I caled him instead of you. I’m not even sure I knew who I was dialing until he picked up.”

“I know why you did it,” said Kyle. He stood and then, gracefuly, stepped off the stage and landed lightly on the bals of gracefuly, stepped off the stage and landed lightly on the bals of his feet. “I know why you caled him instead of me.”

A moment ago, the room had felt like it was filed with frost.

Now, suddenly, the air felt too hot, like it was supercharged.

Kyle’s brown eyes were ful of shadows and fire. He cleared his throat. “Jason’s human.”

UNCORRECTED E-PROOF—NOT FOR SALE

HarperCollins Publishers

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I SHOOK MY HEAD. “KYLE, THAT DIDN’T HAVE ANYTHING to do with it.”

Kyle wiped his palms on his jeans, like there was dirt on his hands he was trying to brush off. “I saw the way you looked at me afterwards, Mac. Like I was dangerous and you finaly got it. Like Heather made you finaly understand what I am.” He glanced away. “I wanted you to understand—I was worried you were in some kind of denial about the whole thing—I just didn’t expect it would hurt so much when you did finaly get it.”

would hurt so much when you did finaly get it.”

My throat went dry and my pulse pounded too loudly and too fast. It was true. I had looked at Kyle and seen, for an instant, Heather—Heather as she crouched and prepared to rip my throat out—but Kyle was nothing like her and I knew that. I’d just been shaken and frightened and not thinking straight.

I opened my mouth to explain, but he cut me off. “Anything you say right now is going to be a lie.”

He closed his eyes for a handful of heartbeats. When he opened them, it was like someone had kicked dirt over the fire that had been raging. “Things have to go back to the way they were between us. I’m going to stay just long enough for us to resolve things with Amy—either until we find something or give up—but after that, I’m gone. Until then, things have to stay platonic. It’s better for both of us.”