Sweet of her, but she couldn’t have been more wrong. I knew his attitude stemmed from my refusal to leave the fighting to the others.
Cole stomped past our group, viciously shouldering Gavin out of the way, and took his seat. Lucas blew me a kiss before taking his.
Frowning, Gavin sat. Mackenzie plopped into the chair next to his and motioned for me to take the one next to her.
“If there’s any hint of trouble,” Cole said to no one in particular, “I want to know about it immediately.”
“Wow. Micromanage much?” Gavin muttered.
I tuned them out and closed my eyes. I could do this. A deep breath in, hold, hold, then release, and as the air left me, my spirit rose from my body. Chilly air wrapped cruel arms around me, squeezing me.
I turned and looked down. My body still reclined against the cushions, my eyes closed, my features relaxed.
Gavin tapped me on the shoulder.
My gaze lifted to his, and I arched a brow in question.
He motioned to the door with a tilt of his chin. I nodded. Right now, as emotional as I was, I would have to be more careful than usual about what I said.
Cole moved in front of Gavin and whispered a command, his expression fierce. I was able to make out the words
crazy.
Once we entered the forest, my group branched away from Cole’s. Unable to help myself, I looked back. Cole’s gaze was already on me, watching me with confusion...longing...until he snaked the corner and the moment was lost.
I wasn’t sure what the attention meant, or if I’d misread him, or how—
I slammed into a tree, ricocheting backward and landing on my butt.
Mackenzie laughed. “That, when she can see the Blood Lines.”
“That true?” Gavin asked, helping me stand. “You can see the Blood Lines?”
“They glow,” I replied through gritted teeth. I’d deserved to be pimp-slapped by a tree, I really had. No more Cole. Just. No. More.
Intrigued, Gavin said, “So...you, a girl who has never been on patrol before, a girl who has never been shown the proper path to take, could get us out of the forest using our preferred path?”
“Watch me.” I took the lead, getting us out of the wheat fields and into the forest, maneuvering around every tree wiped with a Blood Line and ghosting through those that weren’t. Within half an hour, we cleared the foliage to stand at the edge of a dirt road. I spread my arms in a look-at-me gesture.
“Impressive,” Gavin said.
Even Mackenzie muttered her approval.
“Now what?” I asked. How much ground could we cover on foot like this?
“Now, we hunt.” He took only two steps, but suddenly he was at the end of the road.
I whipped to Mackenzie, questions poised at the edge of my tongue, but she followed Gavin, beside me one second, beside him the next. Shock beat through me. I took a step, then another, and...
I was only two steps away from where I’d started. What the heck?
I took another step, another and another, but I never gained extra ground. Frustration surpassed my shock.
“You will stop messing around,” Gavin called. “Come on.”
It was a command that did not violate my free will—I wanted to stop messing around. I stepped toward him and a second later, my surroundings blurred. A second after that, I was standing beside him.
“How did I do that?” I gasped out.
“Spirits are bound by spiritual laws, not physical,” Mackenzie explained. “Just tell your feet to dash, and hello, they will.”
“We’re hitting neighborhoods tonight,” Gavin said, pointing in the direction he wanted us to go.
He moved forward at that impossible speed, Mackenzie right behind him. I looked down at my booted feet and snapped, “You will move just as quickly!”
They obeyed, shocking me all over again. I quickly caught up with the twosome, and we soared through neighborhood after neighborhood, searching for any sign of zombie activity. I lasted one hour...two...three...before the swiftness of my movements began to take a dangerous toll.
My limbs trembled lightly at first, then more noticeably, then more violently. After a while, I was barely able to remain upright.
“Guys,” I huffed, and stopped.
A mistake.
Suddenly I could feel the heaviness of my feet and could barely maintain my grip on the ax.
I hated to admit it, but Cole and Frosty were right. Stamina was important. I needed to up my training.
Gavin slowed and turned to face me.
“Rest,” I said.
I spun, but no one stood around me.
Gavin ducked, avoiding impact. Straightening, he frowned. “What’s wrong with you?”
“I—I don’t know.”
I inhaled deeply, but I smelled only the pine of the trees. And...Gavin. I smelled Gavin, and it was better than the pine. It was delicious. Mouthwatering.
“You able to fight?” he asked me.
I wasn’t actually sure, wasn’t even sure I cared. I leaned into him and sniffed.
Three other zombies moseyed out behind him, and five more behind them.
He tossed something small and black at the zombies and shouted, “Down!”
He hit the ground. Confused, I remained standing.
Gavin and Mackenzie hopped up and rushed headlong into battle, hacking and slashing at the creatures still standing.
I gritted my teeth and forced myself into motion. “I can do this. I can do this.”
But...as I carved through the spine of a female zombie, she reached for Gavin, ignoring me. As I cut off the arm of another, he bit at Mackenzie, as if I wasn’t even there.
Stop. Please, stop.
Finally Pep Talk Ali, a voice of reason. Barely discernible over the noise. I palmed a dagger with a trembling hand and stood. My legs quaked, and I swayed, but I somehow found the strength to lumber forward.
Splattered in black blood, Mackenzie presented a macabre picture as she spun and sliced the throats of the three zombies attempting to latch onto her arms. Gavin jumped over a pile of headless, writhing zombies, avoiding grasping hands, to press against Mackenzie’s back.
I lifted my blade. I would help them...touch them. They glowed. Soft light pulsed from their pores. Such pretty light. Drawing me.
But she’d warned me. To help me...the way I was supposed to help her.
So many times I’d wanted to help the people I loved, and I’d failed. My dad, my mom, my sister, my grandfather. I couldn’t fail again. I blinked, my wits returning. Realization—and horror—slammed into me. I’d come close to harming my friend.
I bit my tongue until I tasted blood, dropped the blade and backed away from her. How could I have entertained such dark thoughts?
“Ali, light up!” Cole called.
He was here. I turned, our gazes meeting. He was sprinting toward me, moving as quickly as I had done. And yet I easily tracked his movements. Could even see the concern on his face.
What if I decided to hurt him? What if I attacked him?
As much as I currently disliked him, I couldn’t take the chance.
Panicked, I ran in the opposite direction, away from Cole, from the fight, from everyone and everything. I ran and never looked back.
Drink Me
Gasping, I jolted upright. Panic cloaked me as I scanned surroundings I didn’t remember stumbling upon. I was...
On the cold, hard ground in front of my old house. The house I’d lived in most of my life. The house my father had built. The house I hadn’t visited since the death of my family.
Tremors rocked me. How had I gotten here? I’d run from Cole, from the zombies and the voices, yes, yes, that was right, and then I’d...blacked out, maybe. I remembered nothing else.
Now the sun was in the process of rising, though it was hidden behind a thick wall of clouds—one of which was shaped like a rabbit. I gulped. Looked away. The tree swing my dad had built for Emma had been removed. The rose garden my mom had poured her blood, sweat and tears into maintaining was now a pile of rocks.
Corrosive acid filled my veins, threatening to spill over. Change, change, all around, here and there and everywhere, reminders that nothing and no one was safe from its clutches.
Familiar sensations pricked at me. The speeding up of my heartbeat—both of them—the beading of sweat on my brow, the constricting of my lungs. Knowing I was losing control of my body and my reactions only made everything worse.
I wasn’t this girl, wasn’t some scared little mouse. I was stronger than this, forged from fire and sharpened by steel.
My gaze traveled up a pair of ballet slippers, stockings, a fluffy tutu and a glittery pink leotard. The remaining panic went head-to-head with a sudden burst of happiness, and, miracle of miracles, the happiness won.
“Emma.” I leaped to my feet and gathered my baby sister in my arms. Wait. Something wasn’t right. “I can touch you,” I said. “I can actually touch you.” Shock sent me careening backward. “How can I touch you? Am I dead?”
Golden eyes twinkled merrily, and perfect heart-shaped lips edged into a smile. “You’re in spirit form, silly.” She flicked the end of her pigtails over her shoulders, a familiar gesture. “Your body is waiting at Cole’s barn, and your friends are, like, superworried.”
Her smile slowly fell. “I don’t think we would.” Looking down at her ballet slippers, she said, “Once we promised never to lie to each other, and right now I’m going to keep that promise.” A pause. A sigh. “You’re in trouble, Alice, and it’s getting worse every day.”
“No.” I shook my head. “I’m handling things.”
Her gaze met mine. “I can see the smudges.”
I gulped. “What are they?”
Expression filled with tenderness, she reached up and brushed one side of my face. “I told you I would talk to people, and I did. But, Alice...I don’t think you’re going to like what I learned.”
“Tell me anyway.” I had to know.
“Very well. Have you ever heard the story of the two hungry wolves living inside every man? One is good, one is evil and both are fighting for control. In the end, the one that’s fed will end up the winner.”
I shook my head.
“Well, that is what’s happening. That night inside Anima Industries, when you were stabbed, you had so much zombie toxin inside you the antidote couldn’t eradicate all of it. Your spirit was strong enough to fight it, though, keeping that part of you safe, but not your already weakened body. And the toxin, well, it was a mutated version and created something new, something born of you. Another spirit. That means there are now two spirits battling to the death for rights to live inside you. Yours, the human Alice. And the other...zombie Alice.”
Pausing, she waited for those words to sink in.
I wrapped my arms around myself, as if I could protect myself from such a terrible invasion. Zombie Alice. Fighting for control. My smudged reflection... The desperate whispering voices... The sickening urges... I nearly dropped to my knees.
“You’re saying I’ve become a host to a...to a...zombie. But that can’t be. I’ve had long moments without the darker urges. Like now. I don’t want to bite you.”
“That’s true, but you have to think of this as a disease. Your human spirit is fighting the zombie spirit, even though you may not be aware of it, and the human one is mostly winning right now. But because your human spirit, and therefore your body, produces a poison for the zombies, and you now have a zombie inside you, you are basically poisoning yourself. You’re allergic to yourself and weakening because of it.”
“No,” I said, shaking my head.
“You know I’m right,” she said, and I could tell she was battling tears. “The darker side of you is sometimes strong enough to manifest
“What is?” I croaked.
“I...don’t actually know. When Justin bit you, he woke this new side of you. Breathed life into it.”
Finally I did fall to my knees. I couldn’t deny her words anymore, could I? Seconds after Justin had bitten me, the new heart had started beating.
The new heart.
For the new me.
“What happens if she wins?” I asked.
“You know the answer to that.”
I did. I just hadn’t wanted to admit it.
I would become what I hated most.
“How long do I have?” I asked, trying not to sob.
“Longer than most. Do you remember when Mom put her hand on your leg after the crash?”
My eyes widened. I couldn’t form words, could only nod. The dreams hadn’t been dreams, then, but memories. Having it confirmed ripped me apart. She’d suffered. My mother had suffered.
“She didn’t realize she was doing it, but she passed on her zombie-slaying abilities. Her...power, I guess is as good a word as any.”