Dead Is a State of Mind

Dead is A State of Mind

Marlene Perez

G
RAPHIA
HOUGHTON MIFFLIN HARCOURT
Boston New York 2009

OTHER BOOKS BY MARLENE PEREZ

Dead Is the New Black
Love in the Corner Pocket
Unexpected Development

Copyright © 2009 by Marlene Perez

All rights reserved. Published in the United States by Graphia, an imprint
of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company, Boston, Massachusetts.

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Graphia and the Graphia logo are registered trademarks of
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The text of this book is set in Adobe Jenson.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Perez, Marlene.
Dead is a state of mind/Marlene Perez.
p. cm.

Summary: When a gorgeous new student's prediction that a teacher
will be murdered comes true, seventeen-year-old Daisy is determined to solve the crime,
but when all signs point to the killer being a werewolf, she fears she is in over her head.
[1. Supernatural—Fiction. 2. Werewolves—Fiction. 3. Clairvoyance—Fiction.
4. Family life—Fiction. 5. High schools—Fiction. 6. Schools—Fiction.] I. Title.
PZ7.P4258Ddg 2009
[Fic]—dc22 2008000820
ISBN 978-0-15-206210-1

Printed in the United States of America

MP 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

To Michael. And no, I'm not playing
Bejeweled instead of writing. Not at all.

Chapter One

I was running late. So late, in fact, that I didn't watch where I was going and slammed into someone walking out of the school office as I ran by.

"Ooph!" he said as my elbow jabbed into rock-hard abdominal muscles.

"I am so sorry!" I said. I'd almost knocked over a stranger. An extremely handsome stranger who stood there smiling at me, despite the fact that I'd almost flattened him in my hurry to get to chemistry class.

"Do not worry," he said with a heavy accent I couldn't place. "It is a pleasure to run into someone as beautiful as you on my first day."

He was dressed in a deep blue silk shirt, form-fitting black jeans, and boots. His spiky hair was really black, like someone had overturned an inkwell on his head. His long lashes framed incredible blue eyes.

"You're new here?" I said, stating the obvious. I knew practically everybody at Nightshade High—and besides, it wasn't exactly swarming with gorgeous new students.

"I am Dukker Sherrad," he said, "but my friends call me Duke." He took my hand and held it longer than strictly necessary.

"Hi," I said.

He looked at me questioningly. I seemed to have forgotten my name as well as my manners.

"I'm Daisy Giordano," I finally said. I paused for a minute, waiting for recognition to set in, then felt like an idiot when my last name garnered only polite interest instead of the usual curiosity. You see, my mom is a psychic. She solves crimes all over the world using her powers. She wasn't exactly famous yet, but she'd been in the news plenty of times and I was getting used to people recognizing the name.

I blushed, amused at my overinflated sense of self-worth. "Welcome to Nightshade," I said.

Samantha Devereaux walked up as we stood there. She was blond, gorgeous, and the head cheerleader. She was also kind of a friend. Earlier in the school year, Sam had gone through a queen of the damned look, but that, thankfully, was over. She was wearing jeans I was sure would soon become all the rage and what looked like her boyfriend Sean's button-down shirt over a lacy camisole. It was outfits like this that earned her the nickname the Divine Devereaux.

I dropped Duke's hand. Quickly, but not quickly enough.

"Daisy, aren't you forgetting someone?" Samantha said pointedly. Remarks like this were why she was only kind of a friend. I thought
I
could be sarcastic, but I bowed before the master.

"What?" I was still staring into Duke's eyes, almost against my will.

"Ryan Mendez. Your boyfriend. He's waiting for you by your locker," she said.

Ryan. Oh my gosh! "I was supposed to meet him before class!" I said.

"I was hoping you would be available to show me around the school," Duke said.

"I've got to run," I said, "but this is Samantha Devereaux. I'll leave you in her capable hands."

As I left, Samantha said something to Duke I couldn't hear, and he laughed, dimples flashing. I felt a slight pang at leaving such a cutie behind, but another cutie waited for me.

I bolted to my locker, where Ryan was, as Samantha reported, waiting patiently.

"I'm so sorry!" I said. "I'm running late as usual."

Ryan leaned in for a quick kiss. "I don't mind waiting for you."

I smiled up at him. Maybe things between us were finally returning to normal. He'd been broody and distracted lately. He told me that he had been arguing with his dad a lot, which was odd since they had always been so close. I guessed it was because his dad could be strict at times—after all, he was the chief of police in Nightshade.

Broody or not, Ryan Mendez was the cutest boy in school (I pushed the memory of the gorgeous new guy out of my mind), played varsity in every sport the school had to offer, and was generally considered to be a catch by the girls at Nightshade High.

They also considered it a complete mystery that he wanted to be with me. I wasn't part of the popular crowd, although I'd been a cheerleader for about ten seconds back in the fall.

The warning bell rang, and we hurried to our classes. Ryan and I had P.E. together last period, but that was about it.

By fourth period everyone was gossiping about the new guy.

Penny Edwards was going full tilt when I walked into statistics class. Apparently, Duke was a foreign exchange student and was staying with her family, so she thought she was an expert on him. Who needed to call 4-1-1 when there was Penny?

"Duke Sherrad comes from a long line of gypsy fortunetellers," she said importantly.

"Fortune-tellers?" I couldn't keep the incredulity from my voice.

"What's the matter, Daisy? The Giordanos can't handle a little competition?"

Did I mention that I'm psychic, too? But my abilities, wonky at the best of times, don't hold a candle to my older sisters' talents. Rose's was mind reading and Poppy's was telekinesis. I can do both, just not very well.

Fortune-telling could mean that Duke had some sort of precognitive ability, if what Penny was saying was true, which was questionable. Penny talked first, asked questions later.

"Let's just say I'm a little skeptical," I said.

Penny barely disguised a sneer. "I think you're jealous," she said.

I opened my mouth, but the bell rang and Mr. Krayson started talking. 'All right everybody, get out your books." He had an almost maniacal need for quiet in his classroom, and I wasn't going to test him.

A few minutes later, there was a knock at the door and Duke Sherrad came in. He handed a piece of paper to Mr. Krayson.

"I am very sorry to be late," Duke said. "I am not familiar with my classrooms as of yet."

"Please take a seat, Mr. Sherrad," Mr. Krayson said. He sounded positively affable, which was rare for him.

Penny gestured toward an empty seat near her, but Duke sat down next to me instead. Statistics was my least favorite subject and Mr. Krayson was my least favorite teacher, so the time crawled by. I spent the time counting the number of dirty looks Penny gave me. When class finally ended, I bolted out of the room.

"Daisy, please wait!"

I stopped and turned around. It was Duke. He hurried up to me, Penny at his heels.

"I had hoped you would show me to my next class," he said.

"I can show you," Penny said, but Duke sent me a pleading look. I took pity on him. Penny was a little much before lunch.

"What's your next class?" I said.

"Spanish," he said.

"I'm going there anyway," I said, ignoring Penny's fuming look. "I may as well show you."

"I am so grateful to you, Daizee," Duke said. His accent was even more noticeable now. He lifted my hand and pressed it to his lips just as we passed Ryan in the hallway.

I yanked my hand away and waved to Ryan. He waved back and gave me a quizzical look but kept going. He had Mr. Krayson next, so I knew he didn't have time to slow down, not without getting a tardy slip and a ten-minute lecture on punctuality.

In Spanish class, Duke once again managed to find a seat near me. All he had to do was smile charmingly at Alyssa and she gave it up right away. Her seat, I mean, although gauging from the look in her eyes, she may have had a few other things in mind.

I finally shook Duke off after Spanish class. I couldn't put my finger on why, but he was making me uneasy.

I dumped my books in my locker, and as I reached in to grab my lunch money, arms twined around my waist and pulled me against a hard body.

"Ryan, you scared the heck out of me!" I said.

"Who else would be grabbing you?" he said. "Is there something you want to tell me?"

"Of course not," I said. "I just wasn't expecting it."

He drew me closer and gave me a lingering kiss. "So who's your new admirer?" He said it casually, but I could feel his body tense.

"You mean Duke Sherrad?" I laughed like it was no big deal. Gorgeous or not, Duke didn't mean anything to me. Ryan did.

"I saw him kissing your hand in the hallway," Ryan said. His green eyes were intense.

"It was nothing," I said. I didn't mention anything about Duke sitting next to me in every class we shared.

"Good," he said. He leaned against the wall, pulled me close, and kissed me again. Several minutes later, he took a deep breath and said, "Are you hungry?"

"Starving," I admitted. "But by now there's probably nothing left at the cafeteria but cold tater tots."

"I planned ahead," he said, smiling triumphantly. He produced a picnic basket and tablecloth. "I thought we could have a picnic."

We went outside to find a shady spot on the lawn. A gaggle of girls had gathered around Duke Sherrad. Penny elbowed Alyssa when she tried to sit next to him.

Even Samantha was in his group. "Daisy, why don't you and Ryan come over here? Duke is telling our fortunes."

"Ryan packed a picnic," I said. "Thanks anyway."

"How about that spot over there?" I said. I pointed to a spot as far away from Duke as possible without actually leaving the school grounds.

While Ryan unpacked the food, I stared at Duke. A fortune-teller, huh?

"You okay?" Ryan asked. He handed me a huge deli sandwich from Slim's Diner. My favorite restaurant.

"Fine," I said. I took a bite of my sandwich. "This was so sweet of you."

"I wanted to do something to make up for the way I've been acting lately," he said. "I know I haven't been the easiest guy to be around."

I took his hand. "It's okay."

"It isn't, but thanks for bearing with me," he said.

"Ryan, about prom—"

A piercing scream interrupted my words. Ryan and I leaped to our feet and ran toward the sound. Just another typical day at Nightshade High.

Chapter Two

"What's wrong?" I asked, panting from the dash across the lawn.

Penny looked at me scornfully. "Nothing is wrong," she said.

"Just the best news ever!" Alyssa screeched. "Duke predicted that I would meet someone tall, dark, and handsome in the near future!"

"Did he tell you that you were taking a long journey, too?" I muttered. Both "predictions" might as well be in the phony fortune-tellers' handbook. Not exactly confidence inspiring.

Penny looked sour at the mention of someone else getting a tall, dark, and handsome stranger but then brightened. "He told me that I'd have a mysterious encounter. And it's already come true. Last night, I was walking by the mortuary when I saw a light."

"Did you move toward it?"

"What?" she said. She didn't get it.

I changed the subject. "What's so mysterious about a light at the mortuary? It was probably just Mr. Bone or Nicholas working late." I assumed that it was actually a meeting of the Nightshade City Council, a secret group made up of members of the thirteen founding families of Nightshade, but that was something I wasn't going to share with Penny.

"I looked in a window. The light was just hovering there in midair. And then the wailing and banging began."

Penny was prone to exaggeration, but I still decided I'd ask Rose about it after school. Rose was my oldest sister and was dating Nicholas Bone, whose family owned Mort's Mortuary.

"Daizee," Duke said. "I looked for you after Spanish class."

"I had lunch plans," I said. "Ryan, this is Duke Sherrad. Duke, this is Ryan Mendez."

"Her boyfriend," Ryan added, smiling pleasantly, if you call baring your teeth smiling. He took my hand and pulled me to his side, but Duke ignored Ryan's show of possessiveness.

"I would be happy to give you a private reading," he said.

Ryan glared but didn't say anything.

"Uh, maybe some other time," I said.

The testosterone was thick in the air. Just as I was beginning to fear a fight, Mr. Davis, the journalism teacher, approached the group.

"Samantha," he said, "I hope you'll be trying out for the play next week."

She beamed at him. "Yes, Mr. Davis. I will."

"Me, too!" Alyssa piped in, batting her eyelashes. Girls were always flirting with Mr. Davis. He was one of the youngest teachers at school, and he helped with the play every year.

"Have you met Duke yet?" Penny asked. "He'd be a perfect leading man."

Mr. Davis's smile faded and his jaw dropped when he saw the new student. I wondered why. Was he scared of a little competition for the girls' attention?

"I am afraid I'm not much of an actor," Duke said. "How do you say it? My accent is too thick for your American audiences to understand."

I had had enough of the Duke Sherrad Fan Club meeting, so Ryan and I went back to our picnic.

"So, Duke is in some of your classes?" Ryan asked casually, a few minutes later.

"Two so far," I admitted. "Why?"

"Just curious," he said.

I changed the subject. I didn't want to talk about Duke. Something about him made me uncomfortable. I wasn't used to all that attention from someone I didn't know.

"Hey, Side Effects May Vary is playing at the Black Opal in a couple of weeks," I said. "Do you want to get tickets? Nicholas and Rose are going."

"Sounds great," Ryan said. "How is Rose doing, by the way? I haven't seen her in a while."

My sister Rose was in college at UC Nightshade, but she still lived at home. Lately, all the time she wasn't studying she was spending with Nicholas. Things were getting pretty hot and heavy with those two.

"She's fine, but I don't know how she does it," I admitted.

"What do you mean?"

I looked over at him, startled by a strange note in his voice. "I'm just not sure I could be so, so ... cool with the whole werewolf thing."

"Maybe she loves him." His voice sounded grim. "If you love someone, it shouldn't matter."

"Of course Rose loves him," I said, "but that doesn't make it any easier. She's not a shifter."

What I really worried about was my sister getting her heart broken again. Nicholas had already dumped her once, when he first found out he was a werewolf.

The bell rang, and Ryan walked me to class.

"I'll see you later in P.E., okay?" he said. He squeezed my hand and then jogged off toward his next class.

While I sat in American government, I tried to pay attention, but my mind kept drifting back to my conversation with Ryan. He had been distant lately and had seemed almost angry when we talked about Rose and Nicholas. Ryan and I had been friends forever, but our relationship, at least our romantic one, was so new. Was the romance already dead?

A voice interrupted my thoughts. "The prom committee is looking for more volunteers," Mrs. Lambert said.

Samantha nudged me with her foot, but I ignored her.

She nudged me again. Samantha was one of the bossiest people I knew, but she meant well. A little participation wouldn't kill me.

I sighed and raised my hand.

"Daisy," Mrs. Lambert said. "Excellent."

When dismissal bell rang, I hurried to my locker. On the way I spotted Duke deep in conversation with Mr. Davis. I wondered what he could have to say to the journalism teacher. Duke didn't seem like the school newspaper type, unless he was offering to write horoscopes.

"Daisy! Wait up," a voice called out. Samantha jogged up to me.

"What's up?"

"Do you want to help us make prom posters after school?" she asked.

"Sure," I said. After all, I had volunteered. Lots of my old cheerleader pals were on the prom committee, so it would be nice to catch up with them. I didn't see them as often now that I'd quit cheerleading.

Samantha led the way to the gym, where the prom committee members sat at long tables, armed with sparkly paint and poster board.

Rachel rushed up to me. "Hi, Daisy! It's great that you're helping us." She gave me a hug. "Anytime you want back in the squad, you just holler."

I smiled and nodded but avoided telling her that I'd rather walk over broken glass than get back into a skimpy cheerleading uniform. Last time it had only been because the cheerleaders seemed to be in danger and I thought I could help.

Samantha and I sat down and got to work.

"Don't forget to include the location, the time, and the cost of tickets," Samantha said, handing me a blank poster and some glue.

"Oh, yeah," I said. "Where is prom going to be this year, anyway?"

Penny rolled her eyes. "The Wilder mansion, duh! We only chose the place about a year ago."

"Well, that was before Daisy joined the committee," Sam said judiciously. "The good places go fast," she told me.

The Wilder mansion was the oldest building in town, and nobody had lived there for many years. When I was small, it had been a crumbling old building full of dust and bats. But Mrs. Wilder had spent the last two years restoring it to its former glory.

"How does it look in there?" I asked Sam. "It was in rough shape for a long time."

"Oh, it's amazing," she gushed. "The place is practically dripping with gold. That family is loaded. There's a wing with their private residence, and another wing where there's a ballroom and a little restaurant where they serve afternoon tea."

"Sounds fabulous," I said.

Samantha sprinkled some glitter on her poster. "Maybe we can double," she said.

"Double where?" I asked. Samantha dated Sean Walsh, who was the quarterback of the football team, star catcher on the baseball team, and all-round big man on campus. He also lived next door to me.

"A double date for the prom," she said.

Our last double date hadn't gone so well. I'd found an unconscious girl in the bathroom of the Black Opal, an all-ages club.

"Ryan hasn't asked me yet." I glanced at Penny, who was listening in with her mouth open.

"Well, he'd better not wait too long," Samantha said. "I hear there's another interested party."

"Who?" I asked, loudly. Penny's ears perked up again. "Who?" I repeated, this time in a lower voice.

Samantha glanced at Penny and then leaned in so we wouldn't be overheard. "I hear Duke Sherrad is smitten with you."

"I was over guys like Duke Sherrad when I was twelve," I said.

Samantha looked at me shrewdly. I don't know why I mentioned that age. The age I was when my dad left us. "Well, all I'm saying is that Ryan had better hurry. You can't wait forever."

"We don't even have the prom posters up yet," I pointed out. "He probably hasn't even thought about it. When did Sean ask you?"

"Last month," she said.

Sean
was
whipped, but I was starting to worry that Ryan wasn't planning on asking me.

"Does everyone else on the squad have dates?" I gestured toward Penny and Rachel, who were sitting at a table near us.

"Not Penny, but Rachel is going with Z," she said. Z was short for Adam Zeigler. My sister Poppy had dated him briefly, but they hadn't been seeing each other lately. Poppy had been having a date drought during her senior year.

I didn't want to be in any category with Penny, but dateless for prom was definitely the category to avoid.

"What about everyone else?" I nodded toward the row of cheerleaders.

She shrugged. "The popular girls get asked early."

I raised an eyebrow and looked at her solemnly.

"I mean—everyone knows Ryan will—oh, you know what I mean," she said as I slowly cracked a grin.

I had to admit that I had fun with Samantha. We'd been best friends until middle school, then enemies, and now we were working our way back toward friends again. We hadn't made it all the way back to trusting each other yet. Sam had her secrets, and I had mine.

And speaking of secrets...

"How are your parents?" I asked. The last time I'd been at the Devereaux house I'd found a secret stack of overdue bills, which was odd, since the Devereauxs were one of the wealthiest families in town. Or at least they had been.

"They're traveling again. Mom's in San Francisco, and Daddy's on tour."

Before my father disappeared, he and Samantha's father had been colleagues at the local college, UC Nightshade. Her father made a bundle off a book he wrote using much of the research he had done with my father. Of course, Rafe Giordano wasn't around to complain about the unfairness of it all.

An hour later, we were finished with the glitter, glue, and smelly markers.

"Do you want a ride home?" Samantha asked. "I'm heading that way anyway. I'm going to hang out at Sean's house and wait for him to get out of baseball."

"Sure, thanks." We headed for her car, a newer-model BMW convertible.

I was curious why Samantha would want to hang out at Sean's house, with all his little brothers and sisters running around, when she could be relaxing in her giant Jacuzzi in the privacy of her own home. Was Samantha lonely all by herself in that big house?

"Do you want to help hang the posters Thursday after school?" she asked.

"Sure." The sooner the posters were up, then maybe the sooner Ryan would take the hint.

"Hey, do you want to hang out at my house until the guys are through with baseball practice?" I asked as we pulled onto my street.

"Maybe another time," she said. "I promised Katie that I'd help her make cookies." Katie was one of Sean's little sisters.

"See you later." Samantha parked the car, and I headed to my house. She headed next door.

I threw my backpack down on the hallway table and went to the kitchen to make a snack. Rose sat at the counter, her nose in a book. She tended to zone everyone out when she was studying. I had to say hello twice before she looked up.

"Oh, hey, Daisy," she said. "I'm glad you're home. What are you making tonight? I invited Nicholas over for dinner."

Since Mom always worked late, I did almost all the cooking in our house. What did werewolves eat? Could I use garlic? If not, that left out half of Grandma Giordano's recipes. Oh, wait. Vampires were repelled by garlic. It took silver bullets for werewolves.

After a moment of consideration, I said, "I'll make fettuccini Bolognese. Werewolves like meat, right?"

"Nicholas,"
she said firmly, "likes everything. Whatever you make is fine. We haven't had fettuccini in ages. But do you have time?"

"If you run to the grocery store," I said. "I'll make some minestrone to start, too. Mom loves that. I have everything I need for the soup."

As I handed Rose the grocery list, Poppy appeared in the doorway.

"Need any help with dinner?" she asked. "I'm starving!"

"Can you chop the vegetables?"

Poppy didn't answer, but the fridge door opened and a parade of veggies floated onto the cutting board. She winked at me. "You should practice your powers more often. You'd be the fastest chef ever."

She had a point. The minestrone was simmering on the stove just minutes after Rose left. By the time she got back with the ground pork and ground veal, I had the sauce made and everything under control.

"When's Nicholas getting here?" I asked.

Rose looked worried. "He should be here by now," she said. "He had some kind of business meeting with his dad. Maybe it ran late."

" The kind of business meeting where they get wild and vampy?" I asked, although those particular meetings usually happened after dark.

"I don't think so," Rose said.

Not only was Nicholas a werewolf, he was a member of the Nightshade City Council. In fact, there was something
different
about all the council members—the town's founding families comprised paranormals of all sorts, including werewolves, banshees, and vampires. They held their meetings at Mort's Mortuary, the funeral home Nicholas's family owned. Technically, as nonmembers, we weren't even supposed to know about the council and their doings, but Ryan and I had spied on a meeting once.

I heard the door open and Mom's keys jangle.

"We're in here," I called out.

"What's cooking? It smells delicious," Mom said.

"It's almost ready," I said. "Rose, do you think we should wait for Nicholas?"