Naomi Grim (2 page)

"Where are you going, Grim?"

I turned to see the girl who had talked
to me in the bathroom the other day—the Forager who had threatened me.
"None of your business. What are you still doing here?" Why hadn't
Doyle taken care of them like he'd said he would?

"You know why I'm here. You
wouldn't happen to be going to the office, would you?"

I turned and walked away from her. I had
to get to the 100 wing where Bram was stationed and tell him that Foragers were
still here.

Before I had taken five steps, she grabbed
me by my hair and threw me to the ground. The girl crouched over me, holding a
knife at my throat. "You're trying to stop this. I'm sorry, Grim, but we
need this. I'm not going to let my people die because of you."

She pressed the knife into my throat. I
smirked, ignoring my pain. "Stupid girl, you of all people should know you
can't kill a Grim—not a Grim with 432 years left."

The girl appeared unmoved by that
comment. "Is that what—”

Abruptly, she stopped speaking and turned
her head to the side in a sharp motion. The Forager fell on top of me, letting
the knife clatter onto the tile. I looked up to see Doyle standing over us. He
helped me push the girl off me. "By the way, you only have 417 years left
now."

"Why was she—" I began to ask,
but Doyle cut me off by raising his finger. Don't worry about her. I need you
to focus on your job. It's almost time."

I got to my feet and looked down at the
dead Forager. Doyle lifted my chin and looked at me. "Young Grim, you're
almost done. Make us proud."

Before I could respond, he had vanished
along with the Forager's lifeless body. I touched where the girl had pressed
the knife into my neck. It stung.

I looked at my watch. There were twelve
minutes left until the bell. The girl's words and Doyle's encouragement had
caused me to falter a little, but I continued to the office.

I entered the main hallway through the
metal doors and made myself visible again.  Bram stood at one end with his back
to me. He stared out of the windows on the metal doors at the end of the
hallway, not paying attention like he should have been.

The walk from where I stood to the
office was only a few doors, but it seemed to take forever. With each step, I
thought about my family and what this would cost them. My body seemed to be
working on its own, as if it knew what I should do, although my heart didn't.
My father was in good with Dunningham. Maybe he wouldn't hold my offense
against the whole family. I took a deep breath and opened the door. Ten minutes
remained before the hallway would be full of students again.

The office was quiet. A few women typed
away on computers. Mrs. Clark busily put papers into a file cabinet. The school
nurse got herself a drink from the water cooler. For some reason, my eyes
rested on the white cone-shaped cup in her hand.

  "Can I help you, honey?" Mrs.
Clark asked, bringing me out of my daze.

I opened my mouth to speak, but my
throat felt clogged. I cleared my throat and tried again. "I have to speak
to Principal Sharpe right now. It's an emergency."

Mrs. Clark stared at me for a few seconds.
I think she remembered me wanting to see the principal the day before.

"Well, she's on a conference call—"

I stormed toward the back where I knew
Principal Sharpe's office was. I heard Mrs. Clark's voice behind me, but I
wasn't listening to her words.

I pushed open Principal Sharpe's door.
She listened to a man talk on speaker phone while fiddling with some papers on
her desk.

       I exhaled. This moment would be
life changing for everyone, so I had to make the right decision. I would probably
die for stopping this massacre, but I was only one. The needs of the many
outweighed the needs of the few, right? If I let this happen, there wouldn't be
a moment I didn't think of dead kids—particularly, Hunter and Roxy.

"Hang up," I said firmly.

Principal Sharpe looked up at me.
"Excuse me? What are you—"

Before she could finish her sentence, I
strode over to the wall and yanked the phone's cord out of the outlet.
Principal Sharpe shot up from her seat, her dark curly hair bouncing around her
face. "Young lady!"

I stood face to face with her. She looked
afraid, as if I were going to hit her. "Listen to me," I told her.
"You have to evacuate the school right now! There are bombs everywhere.
Some kids are going to start shooting. A lot of people are going to die if you
don't get them off this campus!"

She looked at Mrs. Clark, who stood in
the doorway, looking shocked and then she narrowed her eyes at me. "How do
you know—"

"I just do! I've heard and seen
things. This is not a joke. Principal Sharpe, please!"

She stared at me some more. I wanted to
shake her. We didn't have time for her to decide whether or not she believed
me. One hundred and forty-eight people didn't have time.

Finally, she began to move toward her
desk. "Okay, but if this is a joke, I hope you know that would be a
federal offense."

"Get them out!" I screamed.

She nodded and pressed a button on her
desk. "Students and staff. Please stop what you're doing. This is a code
black evacuation. That means you are to leave all your belongings and evacuate
the building immediately. Find your nearest exit. Please do not panic. No
pushing or running. Just file out in an orderly fashion." A bell sounded,
and I could hear the noise of commotion, even from where I stood deep in the
office.

"Come on," Principal Sharpe
said, pushing me toward the door.

The other people in the office were
already heading out. I followed them and pressed myself against the large glass
pane in front of the office.

The hallways were jam-packed with
students. Some wore nervous expressions, but most talked and laughed with their
friends as if their lives weren't in danger.

"Relax, people. It’s just a
drill," said a tall girl as she walked past me. No, it wasn't just a
drill.

I had to give the students credit. The
evacuation was pretty orderly considering the amount of kids who were trying to
get out of the building all at once. The vision of Bram pushing his way toward
me through the human traffic going in the opposite direction brought me back to
real life—my real life. I had just broken the biggest rule of being a Grim. My
instincts told me to run, but I wouldn't get anywhere in this crowd.

When Bram reached me, he grabbed me by
the shoulders and shook me. "What did you do? What did you do?" I
leaned back as his saliva wet my face. I'd never seen my brother so frantic. He
squeezed my shoulders so hard they hurt. He'd been angry plenty of times
before, but never this angry at me.

I only shook my head. Nothing I said
would make this okay.

"Get to the vehicle!"

I tried to keep up with Bram as we made
our way through the lessening crowd of students. Bram pushed people out of his
way left and right. Some kids cursed and shot him dirty looks. He shouldn't be
taking out his anger on them.

Keira, Dorian, and Josh were already in
the car. Keira was in the driver's seat. I climbed in the back with the boys
and Bram got in the front. He turned, staring at me accusingly.
"Well?"

I looked around us. A flood of students
headed down the block, away from the school. Small groups of students and
teachers still trickled from the building. Everyone would be safe now.
"Bram, I'm sorry. I couldn't let it happen."

"You couldn't let it happen? Who do
you think you are? It's not your choice to decide whether or not it should
happen. Just collect the lives!" The others said nothing. "Let's just
get to the chamber," Bram said more calmly. The chamber was in the forest
clearing and would transport us back to Nowhere. I didn't want to think about
what was going to happen to me when we got back.

Keira pulled out of the parking lot, and
we headed for the clearing. We needed to get to the tree that had brought us there.
Everything we passed on the way was a giant blur to me.

"Bram I—"

"Don't, Naomi, just don't."

"It's just money, Bram!"

"It's not just money. Nay, don't
you understand what they're going to do to you, to our family? And for what,
those stupid humans? So they can live for what? To smoke pot? Fornicate? Listen
to garbage music?"

"They're people, Bram," I said
softly.

"Yeah, well I hope those
people
were worth dying for."

We rode the rest of the way in silence.
From time to time Keira would shake her head, but thankfully she said nothing.
I couldn't even turn to face Dorian and Josh. They were silent, but I knew they
had to be disappointed.

"All this time for nothing,"
Bram muttered.

I felt good about saving all those
lives, but I had screwed the other Grims over in the process. Who knew what
Dunningham was going to do to me?

Keira parked the vehicle in the
clearing. The others climbed out before me. Slowly, I opened my door, slid out
and made my way to the tree. I took as long as I possibly could and then Bram
shouted at me. Why would I want to move any faster? I was a dead Grim walking.

The door of the chamber closed, sealing
us inside like a tomb. I took a deep breath and released it slowly. Bram leaned
against the wall, scowling. The others stared at the ground. My heart sank as I
imagined the look on Father's face.

The chamber door opened up to our
pantry. The others stepped out first. I followed behind reluctantly. Keira and Josh
left out the back door without a word. I wondered if my best friend would ever
speak to me again.

I heard Mother's voice upstairs. Part of
me was excited that she was home, but then part of me remembered I had just
disgraced my family. Bram and Dorian took seats at the kitchen table as I heard
feet coming down the stairs.

Mother entered the kitchen. "You're
back." I ran to her. I couldn't help it. She was my mother. Maybe she
could make this all better.

Father appeared behind her. The broad
smile he wore dropped when he saw my brothers. Dorian had laid his head down on
the table, covering his face with his hood, and Bram stared intently at a wall,
his brow furrowed. Father's smiled faded. "What's wrong?"

"Ask your precious daughter,"
Bram said bitterly.

Mom touched the left side of my face.
Her touch was cold and familiar. I had missed it. "Naomi, what
happened?"

"I made a mistake."

 Father breathed heavily. "What did
you do, Naomi?" I think he already knew.

"I warned them," I whispered.
I don't know why. Maybe I was afraid Dunningham would hear me, although he was probably
aware of what I'd done by then. I imagined him sitting in a chair with his dogs
Black and Blue on either side of him as he mentally planned my execution.

Father ran his hand over his face, and
Mother left me to lean over the sink. She looked as if she might vomit.

"So it didn't happen?" Father
asked.

"No, it didn't," Bram
answered. "She ruined everything. She's put us all in danger."

Mother looked at Father and he nodded.
Then she disappeared upstairs. I didn't want her to leave me.

Father lifted my chin, forcing me to
look him in the face, which I hadn't wanted to do. "Naomi, how could you
do such a thing?" I appreciated his gentleness. He hadn't screamed at me
from the top of his lungs like Bram had.

Bram stood and came between me and
Father. "Oh, it wasn't just that. She made friends with them. She fell in
love with some stupid human. She brought him to the residence after Doyle had
told her not to—"

"Yes, yes," Father
interjected. "He told me about that, but I would have never imagined—"

"I would have," Bram said,
glaring at me. "I keep saying it. She's never had the heart of a
Grim." He'd said that many times, but that final time cut me deep. He
meant it with his whole being, and he was probably right. Something was wrong
with me. I wasn't like everyone else.

"What's going to happen to
us?" Dorian asked, finally lifting his head from the table. "What's
Dunningham going to do? Is he going to subtract our years and then execute
us?"

Mother reappeared with a large black
duffle bag. "What's that for?" I asked as she threw it over my
shoulder. The weight of it caused me to lean on one side.

Mother looked at Father. He swallowed
hard. "Naomi, you've put not only yourself, but this entire family at
risk. That was very selfish of you. Dunningham will be here any minute. You
have to go."

I looked at Mother. She was crying.
Bram, who had sat back down, looked like there might be just an ounce of
sympathy in him. Dorian had buried his face in his hands.

"What do you mean, I have to
go?"

Father put his hands on my shoulders and
led me gently to the door. "You can't stay here. They'll kill you. Maybe
if you're not here, the rest of us will stand a chance. I have to do everything
I can to try to get some mercy from Dunningham." Father opened the back
door. It was already dark in Nowhere.

I looked back at Mother, who stood with
her arms folded across her chest, looking at anything but me. "Mother,
please. Please don’t let him do this!" But she wouldn't help me.

Father pushed me out of the door and I
stood on the top step of the porch, leaning against him with all my weight.
"Naomi, please. Please, don't make this harder than it has to be." I
could tell by how he spoke that he was crying.

"Father, what am I supposed to do?
Where am I supposed to go?"

"Just run. Run as fast and as far as
you can. Past Farrington, past Litropolis, don't stop until you're in the
Outskirts."

The Outskirts were where the Foragers
lived. I was being banished by my own family to go dwell among beings they
considered to be rodents. "Mother!" I screamed out of desperation.
Maybe something in her—her maternal instinct—
would
make Father stop this.

Father stopped pushing for a second,
then he whispered something over the top of my head. "You haven't left us
a choice. I'm sorry, Darkness. I'm so sorry."

Then my Father shoved me. I landed on my
hands and knees, the duffle bag between my legs. The door slammed behind me.
The tears that had already streamed down my face became rivers now. I was on my
own.