The Reckoning

A date, with Simon. I’d agreed quickly enough, but after we went inside for lunch, I realized what I’d done.

It felt like standing at those cemetery gates again: my gut was telling me this was a really, really bad idea. Dating while on the run for our lives? Dating one of the guys I was on the run with? What if it went badly? How would we-?

But it wouldn’t go badly. It was Simon and everything would be okay.

I just had to relax. Unfortunately, lunch didn’t help with that.

Margaret was gone, but she must have told Russell what happened, and he’d swooped in like a vulture, hoping to catch us in some terrible display of uncontrollable power.

Andrew should have shown him the door. He didn’t, probably thinking it was better to let him see that we were just normal kids. But it made all of us miserable, me most of all, feeling Russell’s gaze on me as I struggled to eat, that faint look of distaste on his face. The kid who can raise the dead. The necromancer freak.

After lunch, I fled to my room. Simon tried to lure me out, but I said I was tired and joked that I didn’t want to fall asleep on our date. Around three, Derek rapped on the door, calling a gruff “You should come out. Simon’s worried.” When I said I was napping, he went silent and I thought I heard him sigh and scuff his feet, like he wanted to say something else, so I got up and went to the door, pla

I’d hoped he did have something to say. Not an apology for chewing me out-that would be expecting too much-but an excuse to talk to him about what had happened at the cemetery, consider our options if things got worse…

Mostly I just wanted him to stop being mad at me and go back to being the other Derek, the guy I could talk to, could confide in. But when I opened the door, the hall was empty. I went back to bed.

Fifteen

TORI CAME IN AT four and seemed surprised to find me still in bed.

“You’ve been in here all afternoon?” she said. “I thought you were outside with the guys.”

“What’d I miss?”

“Me mopping floors.”

That made me smile.

“You think I’m kidding?” she said.

“No, I guess we’ll have to pull our weight around here. We can’t expect Andrew to clean up after us.”

She rolled her eyes. “Can you really see Andrew assigning us chores? The guy apologized for the place not already being cleaned and ready for guests. I offered to clean for him, just to be nice.”

When I didn’t say anything, she shook her head. “That last part was a joke, Chloe. Andrew’s paying me the same amount he would for the housekeeper, though it’ll probably take me twice as long. Not like we’re overscheduled, I figured, and I could use the money. So now I’m the official housekeeper, and if I find wet towels on the floor, I’ll hide them between your sheets.”

Two weeks ago, if someone had told me Tori would willingly clean a house-even for money-I’d never have believed it. I couldn’t imagine her wielding a mop. But I’d also seen how hard it had been for her when we’d been on the run, not having any cash of her own. While I was sure this wasn’t her ideal way to earn it, apparently she’d rather scrub toilets than ask for handouts.

That made me realize something. What would happen to Tori when this was over? Did she have relatives she could live with? Was she thinking the same thing? Frantically making money just in case?

“Gwen’s back,” she said. “She’s talking to Andrew first. Gotta admit, though, I was looking forward to this lesson a whole lot more before you got yours.”

“You’ll be fine. Just don’t get mad at her.”

She smiled, and I could see nervousness there, but excitement, too. She wanted to learn how to use her powers properly. We knew we were a danger and we didn’t want to be. Why didn’t anyone else see that? Why did they keep treating us like thoughtless, careless kids?

“You okay?” she asked.

“Sure.”

She reached into her back pocket and pulled out folded sheets of paper.

“This might make you feel better.”

I opened it. Blank paper, left over from the cemetery, after I’d taken down the ghost’s message.

“I’m sure there’s a pencil around someplace,” she said.

“A pencil?”

“Uh, yeah, movie buff. What do they do in films when someone writes a note on a pad of paper and takes the top sheet?”

I smiled. “Use a pencil to bring up the impression of what was written.”

“I doubt they’ll be taking us to a post office anytime soon, but you can send a letter when we get a chance.”

“Thanks.”

She left. When I heard footsteps in the hall a little later, I thought it was Derek coming back, but Tori pushed open the door, walked to her bed, and thudded onto it.

“No lessons for me,” she said.

“What happened?”

“Andrew’s version? The group has decided to postpone training until they better understand our abilities. In other words, we’ve totally freaked them all out.” She shook her head. “Andrew’s a nice guy, but…too nice, you know?”

“Like me?”

“You’re a different kind of nice. I know Andrew’s trying to help, but I really wish he had more…” She struggled for a word.

“Backbone?” I blurted, then felt my cheeks heat. “I-I don’t mean-”

“See, there’s your version of ‘too nice.’ You don’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings, even behind his back. Backbone is exactly right.” She reclined on her bed. “Anyway, enough of that. Simon’s looking for you, as usual. Go play, Chloe. I’ll keep your brooding spot warm.”

Sure enough, Simon was looking for me. Apparently, the guys had been unable to try getting into the basement that morning-Andrew had insisted on hanging out with them, kicking a ball around outside.

Now Andrew was locked up with his laptop in the study, so Derek had slipped into the basement. Simon was keeping watch, which was easier to do unobtrusively if he had someone to hang out with. We were in one of the unused rooms, checking out a wall of photos, when Andrew passed by. He saw us looking at the pictures.

“They’re from the previous owner,” he said, coming in. “None of us, as you see.”

“Gotta fly under the radar,” Simon said.

Andrew nodded. “Supernaturals always need to be thinking of that, Chloe-all the ways we can accidentally expose ourselves or call attention to ourselves. Even publicly associating with other supernaturals can be a danger. That’s not to say you won’t have supernaturals as friends. You will, and that helps. But we’re always careful.”

I said I understood.

“Now these are family photos of the man who owned the house. Todd Banks. The founder of the Genesis project. Dr. Lyle had the original idea, but he died before genetic modification was a possibility. It was Todd-Dr. Banks-who took his ideas and began the experiment. He was also the first to sound the alarm about the potential pitfalls. He warned the Edison Group, but they were too enamored with the possibilities to admit they’d made mistakes. Dr. Banks left and founded our group of concerned ex-employees. He bequeathed the house to us on his death a few years ago.”

As Andrew talked, I noticed a photo of Dr. Banks…with a dark-haired boy off to the side. He looked about thirteen in the shot, but I still recognized his face. It was the Volo half-demon ghost.

“Is that Dr. Banks’s son?” I asked as casually as I could.

“His nephew. That would be…” Andrew’s brow wrinkled. “I can’t remember his name. I never met him. I know he lived here for a while, with his cousin and his uncle. That’s the older boy, which I only know because the younger one was blond.”

I remembered the body in the bed. The horribly beaten body…of a light-haired boy a few years younger than the half-demon I’d met.

“You said Dr. Banks left this house to your group. What happened to the kids?”