Before I Wake
Page 32
Sabine scowled, but before she could defend her theory, Nash pushed the pizza box toward the middle of the table and exhaled. Can we please stop referring to Scott as a dead body?
No one bothered to point out that the description was accurate. This was just the latest in a series of losses that had begun shaping Nashs life long before I met him.
Sorry, Em mumbled, and for about a minute, no one spoke.
Then the silence got the better of Sabine and she turned to Tod. Okay, then, was he scheduled to die yesterday? Can you ask your boss?
Dont have to, Tod said as Luca made his way across the quad toward us. Lakeside is in my zone, because its attached to the hospital, and Scott died during my shift. If his death was scheduled, I would have been the one reaping his soul. At the very least, I would have known about it.
Okay, Sophies calmer now, but theyre still sending her home, Luca said, sliding onto the bench next to Sabine. Shes in the office waiting for her dad, because school policy says that if shes not fit for class, shes not fit to drive, and they wont let me take her home because Im not a relative.
Emma blinked at him in surprise, then glanced at the rest of us in turn. Whos this?
I gestured to her with one hand and him with the other. Emma Marshall, Luca Tedesco. Em is my best friend. Luca is a necromancer, and my coreclamationist. Or whatever. Hes also Sophies new boyfriend.
Necro-what? Emma asked.
Sabine reached across the table to claim a half-eaten crust from Emmas napkin. Hes a metal detector for dead stuff.
Em glanced at Luca, her eyes wide in either interest or fear. Like ghosts?
No, like the undead. He gestured at me and Tod. And the recently dead. But once someones been dead for more than a few days or is buried more than a few feet deep, my accuracy suffers.
That is both creepy and fascinating, Sabine said. Then she gestured to him with the half-eaten crust. I like him. Not sure why hes wasting his time with the pole dancer, though.
Tod laughed out loud and I groaned. Sophie takes ballet and jazz. Shes not a pole dancer.
Theres more money in pole dancing, Sabine insisted.
Actually, Sophie takes ballet and lyrical dance. She quit jazz last year, Luca said, and every single one of us glanced at him in surprise. What? He shrugged. She listens to me talk about dead people and soccer.
I shook my head, trying to draw my thoughts back into focus. Okay, what are the possibilities? About Avari and Scott, not Sophie?
Scotts dead, and Avarispossessed his corpse, Nash said, each word short and clipped, as if they actually hurt to pronounce. As far as I could tell, he had yet to actually make eye contact with his brother.
That possibility should be easy enough to verify or eliminate, Sabine said.
How? Em asked.
Go look in the casket. If the bodys there, then Avari obviously doesnt have it, the mara said, and she actually looked sorry when Nash flinched.
I glanced at Tod, and he shrugged. Okay, I said. One of us should be able to handle that. Other possibilities?
Hes not really dead? Em said. He faked his own death, like on a soap opera.
Sabines brows rose. Or hes undead. Something like the two of you. She waved the pizza crust at me and Tod.
I turned to Luca. If you saw him, you could tell us whether or not hes alive, right?
Luca nodded. And if hes close enough, I could sense and track him. But I should probably admit Ive never intentionally faced a walking corpse.
Sabine burst into laughter, drawing stares from the surrounding tables.
Youre sitting next to two of them, Nash said, too low for anyone outside our circle to hear.
Luca glanced at me and Tod, whom hed met while I was with Sophie, then turned back to Nash with a shrug. Yeah, but theyre the good guys, right? Ive never picked a fight with anything out to steal my soul.
Nash looked at Tod then, for the first time since hed sat down, and I knew the fragile peace had met its end, at least for the moment. Good is a relative term, and souls arent the only things worth stealing.
Something cant be stolen if it doesnt truly belong to you in the first place, Tod insisted, but Nash stood and walked away from us all without a word, just as Jayson stepped into the quad.
How come hes always leaving? Jayson asked, sliding onto the bench seat next to Emma. Im starting to take it personally.
Dont, Sabine said. He doesnt like you enough to care whether or not youre here.
* * *
After school, I blinked into my roombeing dead was saving me a fortune in gasand dropped my backpack on my bed. I scruffed Styxs fur and let her pretend to attack my fingersif shed wanted to, she could have bitten them clean offthen headed into the kitchen for a soda.
I wasnt thirsty. But if I hadnt been dead, I would have finished at least one can of Coke before I even considered starting my homework, and lately it felt like observing the old routines was the only way to stay sane.
No one bothered to point out that the description was accurate. This was just the latest in a series of losses that had begun shaping Nashs life long before I met him.
Sorry, Em mumbled, and for about a minute, no one spoke.
Then the silence got the better of Sabine and she turned to Tod. Okay, then, was he scheduled to die yesterday? Can you ask your boss?
Dont have to, Tod said as Luca made his way across the quad toward us. Lakeside is in my zone, because its attached to the hospital, and Scott died during my shift. If his death was scheduled, I would have been the one reaping his soul. At the very least, I would have known about it.
Okay, Sophies calmer now, but theyre still sending her home, Luca said, sliding onto the bench next to Sabine. Shes in the office waiting for her dad, because school policy says that if shes not fit for class, shes not fit to drive, and they wont let me take her home because Im not a relative.
Emma blinked at him in surprise, then glanced at the rest of us in turn. Whos this?
I gestured to her with one hand and him with the other. Emma Marshall, Luca Tedesco. Em is my best friend. Luca is a necromancer, and my coreclamationist. Or whatever. Hes also Sophies new boyfriend.
Necro-what? Emma asked.
Sabine reached across the table to claim a half-eaten crust from Emmas napkin. Hes a metal detector for dead stuff.
Em glanced at Luca, her eyes wide in either interest or fear. Like ghosts?
No, like the undead. He gestured at me and Tod. And the recently dead. But once someones been dead for more than a few days or is buried more than a few feet deep, my accuracy suffers.
That is both creepy and fascinating, Sabine said. Then she gestured to him with the half-eaten crust. I like him. Not sure why hes wasting his time with the pole dancer, though.
Tod laughed out loud and I groaned. Sophie takes ballet and jazz. Shes not a pole dancer.
Theres more money in pole dancing, Sabine insisted.
Actually, Sophie takes ballet and lyrical dance. She quit jazz last year, Luca said, and every single one of us glanced at him in surprise. What? He shrugged. She listens to me talk about dead people and soccer.
I shook my head, trying to draw my thoughts back into focus. Okay, what are the possibilities? About Avari and Scott, not Sophie?
Scotts dead, and Avarispossessed his corpse, Nash said, each word short and clipped, as if they actually hurt to pronounce. As far as I could tell, he had yet to actually make eye contact with his brother.
That possibility should be easy enough to verify or eliminate, Sabine said.
How? Em asked.
Go look in the casket. If the bodys there, then Avari obviously doesnt have it, the mara said, and she actually looked sorry when Nash flinched.
I glanced at Tod, and he shrugged. Okay, I said. One of us should be able to handle that. Other possibilities?
Hes not really dead? Em said. He faked his own death, like on a soap opera.
Sabines brows rose. Or hes undead. Something like the two of you. She waved the pizza crust at me and Tod.
I turned to Luca. If you saw him, you could tell us whether or not hes alive, right?
Luca nodded. And if hes close enough, I could sense and track him. But I should probably admit Ive never intentionally faced a walking corpse.
Sabine burst into laughter, drawing stares from the surrounding tables.
Youre sitting next to two of them, Nash said, too low for anyone outside our circle to hear.
Luca glanced at me and Tod, whom hed met while I was with Sophie, then turned back to Nash with a shrug. Yeah, but theyre the good guys, right? Ive never picked a fight with anything out to steal my soul.
Nash looked at Tod then, for the first time since hed sat down, and I knew the fragile peace had met its end, at least for the moment. Good is a relative term, and souls arent the only things worth stealing.
Something cant be stolen if it doesnt truly belong to you in the first place, Tod insisted, but Nash stood and walked away from us all without a word, just as Jayson stepped into the quad.
How come hes always leaving? Jayson asked, sliding onto the bench seat next to Emma. Im starting to take it personally.
Dont, Sabine said. He doesnt like you enough to care whether or not youre here.
* * *
After school, I blinked into my roombeing dead was saving me a fortune in gasand dropped my backpack on my bed. I scruffed Styxs fur and let her pretend to attack my fingersif shed wanted to, she could have bitten them clean offthen headed into the kitchen for a soda.
I wasnt thirsty. But if I hadnt been dead, I would have finished at least one can of Coke before I even considered starting my homework, and lately it felt like observing the old routines was the only way to stay sane.
