House of Slide Hybrid (26 page)

When the ground came back under my feet I stumbled but was unable to fall with Lewis’s smooth hand clasping my wrist. I blinked away the darkness and saw the back of my house, the glass door I’d left open, and turning to look at the Shadows that formed the Nether, I pulled him towards the house and Grim with both hands.

“You’re giving me permission to enter your house?”

“You’ve got to be joking,” I muttered, pulling harder, but he didn’t move.

“There are runes,” he said sounding amused, amused when I was trying to save Grim’s life.

“Of course you have permission to enter. Please, please, please…”

“A simple yes would do,” he said quietly as he passed me, brushing the doorway with shadows as he went.

I followed him as he moved. His shadows stretched across the white rug of the living room into the hall beyond before him like an advance guard. He didn’t seem in a hurry, but he was faster than I was, pausing in the hall before he turned towards the kitchen then through the doorway to stand, staring at Grim where he lay wearing only pants. His skin was so pale, translucent, and the arms were more wiry than muscular. The tattoos made his skin even paler except where the tattoos had bled into the skin, leaving a slight gray residue. I tried not to notice the ugly gash across his chest, to smell the sickly scent that was demon taint where it combined with the blood.

“This will cost…much,” Lewis said in the silence, turning towards me with a look I could feel even if I couldn’t see it.

I felt a crawling dread in my chest. The Cool woman who had shown me how to block had said that what he did for the others like Orrin would cost him. How much would this affect him? Which one could I live more easily without? I shook my head.

“You can save him?”

“You can save him, all you have to do is give me…” his voice trailed off becoming soft and even more dangerous than before.

I swallowed, taking a look at Grim where he lay, so still. I closed my eyes and said, “I’ll go with you after you do this. I’ll never cause you any more pain. We’ll leave and you’ll never pay for anyone again. But this once, please. Save him.”

“It will cost you more than it will cost me. From you what shall I take? A hand? Maybe all I need is a finger. Hmm. It’s been so long since I traded in human parts, I doubt I’d know what to charge. Why don’t I take a kiss?”

I scowled at him, well, at the shadows that concealed him. “He’s dying and you want a kiss?”

“Good point. A kiss worth that many shadows should not be rushed.” This time the dark humor was audible even though I couldn’t see his grin. “Let me see if I remember how this works.” He took a deep breath, and then the shadows grew darker, curling and writhing around him like they were waves in a storm, like he was a hurricane of darkness, threatening to tear up my kitchen.

I stepped back, watching as the first tentacle of shadow curled around Grim’s wrist. More shadows crawled over Grim’s pale skin until there was a mass of motion except where the gash was. It was as if an invisible line were drawn two inches around which no shadow could cross. I felt a lurch as I was sure that the shadows could do nothing against the taint, particularly as the shadows grew fainter and fainter until his skin was bare, alone on the slab of granite countertop.

“You said you could help him.” I glared at the Nether, at Lewis who didn’t seem anything like my Intended. His mists were not so thick as before and I thought I could make out the strands of hair against his cheek.

“Yes, I did. I’ll return for the kiss. The next part will not be pleasant,” he said, the shadows of him becoming fainter, until there was nothing, no shadows, no Nether, only me and Grim where he lay on the island looking very dead.

I felt the tears well up, clogging my throat, but I wouldn’t let myself cry yet, not when I was so angry at Lewis for leaving me alone, laughing when my uncle was dead. He’d said that the mists brought out his dark side, made him less pleasant, but how could he mock?

I leaned forward over Grim. It had almost seemed like his fingers had moved. Again, the slightest twitch of his forefinger.

After that he screamed. The sound echoed off the white walls, on and on while he arched his back, thrashing on the counter. I held him there while the demon taint oozed out of the gash. I strained to hold Grim on the counter while my uncle endured torment until my ears rang with his agony and I wished that I had done something merciful like slit his throat instead of dragging him through this so that he wouldn’t be dead. Maybe dead was better than this.

I took his hand, holding it tightly even when he gripped back, a grip that felt like it cracked my bones. At last, he grew still as his breathing became ragged but even and his chest rose and fell. I slid onto the floor, still holding the pale hand, tired, because watching people scream is hard work.

I woke up to my mother pulling my hand out of his grasp. She smoothed my hair off my face and carried me without protest out the room, down the hall and up the stairs. People came in while she carried me away, but I didn’t want to know who had lived or died, not when I couldn’t do anything about it, not when a slight reprise from reality waited in the form of my bed.

It was crazy to be at school after a night full of hearing screams that came from the Nether and Grim. I’d almost forgotten all about my blue hair until Osmond and Smoke greeted me with their unnatural hair, not to mention the entire football team dyed one shade or another. It shocked me to see all those bright colors in the ordinarily somber halls of my school. My hair wasn’t that noticeable to me, only a bit of blue in the periphery or a shock when I looked in the mirror, but seeing it on other people was noticeable. One cheerleader had gone all rainbow. Snowy didn’t say anything, but I thought her eyeballs might fall out of her head when she saw Smoke and his flaming do.

I was still reeling from my awesome weekend, from Grim’s near death, from the Intending ceremony and the shocking idea that my hometown Sandersa had been attacked by demons. During my rushed breakfast, my mother had told me that it wasn’t a very large group, just enough to take out Grim when he’d gone to do his check on the rune wards.

At least Smoke and Osmond were safe. I hadn’t sent them to their deaths before I ran out and found the Nether, Lewis. He’d left me so abruptly, like he hadn’t wanted to listen to Grim scream. He’d left me alone when I wasn’t sure whether Grim would live or die.

I sat on the bench in the cafeteria nibbling on a carrot stick while I tried not to remember Grim’s screams and the smell of the mists and death as it curled around me, beckoning me into the depths, an infinite escape that would be so easy. I bit hard on the end of the carrot, willing the bland flavor to bring me back to the cafeteria, to the realness of arguing guys with bright hair, a laughing girl, and the cold that came through the large stained glass window behind me.

“Hello,” Osmond said, putting his tray next to me, utterly awesome in his teal tipped hair. My stomach clenched and I fought down the guilt as I remembered the kiss that hadn’t ever happened.

“So, is Grim okay?” Smoke asked, putting his tray down on the other side of me.

I nodded, glad that I could look at Smoke instead of Osmond.

“What happened? Did anyone get hurt?”

Smoke rolled his eyes. “Well, it was pretty close for a second there, but then your boyfriend rolled in and after that we didn’t have very much to do.”

“I didn’t know he was your Intended,” Osmond said with a slight frown. It reminded me of all those times he tried to keep Lewis from getting too close to me. He was probably still in big brother mode however impressively muscled I found him, however I blushed when I remembered the kissing, which made me think of the Nether, which made me sigh and slump over on the table.

“Can I sit down, or is this reserved for punks and goths?” Snowy asked, not hesitating as she slid her tray across from me, flipping her hair before she glared with her eyes and smiled with her mouth. It was kind of amazing that she could smile and glare at the same time. “Does anyone know why Sanders had fireworks yesterday just over the river? Does anyone realize that no one called me?”

“Chill, Snowy,” Osmond said, sounding calm and in control. “We were at Dari’s or we wouldn’t have known about it.”

“Both of you?” she asked, giving Smoke a wide-eyed hurt look.

He rolled his eyes. “It is physically possible for people to have unplanned events without you, in fact, it’s probably impossible to have unplanned events with you. Osmond and I were telling Dari that she shouldn’t bow to the man, you know, dye her hair, and then Grim crashed through the garage. Never saw your mom’s house look so trashed,” he said to me sounding impressed while he gave me a grin. “The only thing you missed was watching Lewis shoot flames from his hands and annihilate…” Snowy elbowed him in the ribs, and he choked off the rest of his words.

“So Lewis is into dungeons and dragons,” she said clearly enough that the whole cafeteria could hear if they were listening. “And he seemed so mature.”

That made me almost laugh because dragons didn’t seem impossible to me, Lewis hadn’t just abandoned me, he’d left to fight demons and protect Sanders, and also, Osmond was really close to me and had put his elbows on the table and was flexing his bicep absently while he fingered his celery stick. I didn’t need to feel guilty for noticing that he had nice muscles.

“The opposition was intense before he came,” Osmond said, looking thoughtfully at Snowy. “From what I overheard, they don’t usually work together, so whatever brought them had to be a really strong motivator.” He looked at me, kind of apologetically before he shrugged. “They want something very badly.”

“Lewis said you were getting tattoos today,” Smoke put in, ignoring Snowy’s dark look. “Had everything lined up for it. He’s kind of organized for an artist.”

Snowy frowned at me. “I hate that you’re going to be kicked off the dance team because of the stupid tattoo thing.”

I opened my mouth to ask what they were talking about. Tattoos were in my future, maybe, but I needed a break from all that stuff. Ever since I’d dyed my hair it had been one thing after another.

“Miss Sanders,” a familiar voice broke through our conversation as Miss Clutch’s voice cut off my worry about Lewis, the Nether and tattoos. “Please come to the office.” The please sounded less like persuasion and more like a direct command.

I stumbled to my feet, ready to get this over with. Osmond gave me a smile as he stood beside me, nodding his head in the general direction of the cafeteria which made silence fall over the room. It seemed like half the students stood up with their violent hair color and looked ready to fight, prepared for whatever war would wage. I felt dizzy when I realized that it wasn’t my bad influence, but Osmond’s lead that had made the greater part of the popular high school citizens into protestors. He’d organized, in fact, he was probably the one who’d told Smoke about it, not Snowy.

I took another step towards Ms. Clutch who tried to ignore the risen student body, but as they crowded around, apparently feeling the call to the office along with me, she looked panicked. I could feel her fluttering lack of control. I should have dyed my hair normal and called it good. I was surprised when Snowy elbowed her way in beside me, her white hair tipped in what looked like pink marker.

With Osmond and Snowy beside me, however lame Snowy thought this was, I felt invincible and sorry for Mrs. Hunt who was really quite nice when she looked up from her desk and saw us and the rest of the rabble cramming the outer office and spilling out into the hall.

“In my day we protested more important issues than hair liberty,” she said with a slight smile. I felt better as she looked us over, and out at the others, more amused than anything. “So, Dariana, what are your terms?”

“Terms?”

“You are holding our school hair hostage, I wondered what it would take for you to loosen your grip.”

I stared at her, wondering if I was actually supposed to know. Snowy elbowed me and breathed in my ear, “Change the student handbook.”

Oh, right. “I propose that the student handbook be altered to allow freedom of creative expression in the students of Sanders High in regards to hair color.”

“Is that all?” Mrs. Hunt asked with one raised eyebrow.

I nodded.

She looked at me evenly, her glance calculating before she nodded briskly. “I think it’s time the student handbook was updated to reflect current standards. Snowy, you’ll arrange meetings for the student body to adapt the handbook. Now it’s time for you all,” she said rising to her feet in a way that was both dismissive and intimidating. “To get to class.”

I nodded and left while I thanked her, but no doubt she couldn’t hear me because everyone cheered and laughed as we spilled out of the office.

“Good job, Dari,” Osmond said, giving my back a pat before turning to join the football throng.

“Good job, Dari,” Snowy said, but she sounded a little more mocking, and her look was seriously amused. “The world saved, one bad dye job at a time.”

“I thought she did great,” Smoke said, looking at Snowy with his typical grin.

“Yeah, she corrupted you, like you need encouragement. What is this supposed to be?” she asked lifting up a strand of black tipped red hair.

“I thought it would be good for Valentine’s. There’s a dance, you know. I thought maybe you could go with me, as a date or something.”

Snowy opened her mouth with something scathing, changed her mind and smiled instead. “It is pretty Valentine’s appropriate,” she admitted giving the strand a slight tug before she smoothed it behind his ears. “I’ll go with you.”

“That’s all? No clothing requirements?”

“You have to wear clothes,” she said, still smiling then tugged on his hand, all girly and cute. “I trust you’ll look fantastic, whatever you wear.”

Smoke looked flustered, Snowy looked almost genuine, and I felt lika a definite third wheel. I didn’t think they’d noticed when I edged away from them, but then Smoke said, “Dari can take Ash.”

“It’s a Valentine’s dance, I mean, I like Ash, but don’t you think he’ll get the wrong idea if I ask him to the Valentine’s dance?” Smoke looked at me like I was missing something huge then I remembered that he was Cool and would know exactly what my motives were. “I haven’t seen him around for awhile, but I guess it would be fun to go to a dance with him. Does he dance?” I hadn’t ever seen him dance.

Smoke frowned and shook his head. “He’s been skipping a lot of school lately. He needs to get out, socialize, stop staring at trees and drooling on his guitar.”

I nodded but felt my stomach tighten as I remembered Orrin, the soul sickness he’d had.

“Osmond’s going with a volleyball player,” Snowy volunteered, smiling brightly at me when she said it.

I opened my mouth to say something, mumbled about how great it would be to go with Ash and took off for my class. It was rational for Osmond to date a volleyball player who may have a mean spike and would probably not blow up a movie theater. I hated the way it made me feel though, like Osmond should have told me himself or something however much I knew that he owed me nothing. It would have been nice not to find out in the hall after I’d felt kind of united with the student body. Maybe that was how he felt, finding out that I was Intended. Why did I think he was cute when I had a Lewis Axel Nialls as my Intended anyway? I never should have looked into Devlin’s future. I didn’t think Osmond was cute, not that he wasn’t perfectly good looking, but I didn’t really like him. That was all just my mind being messed up by the image I could still recall of him kissing me like I had no business remembering. Stupid rock.

After that were my classes, all upstairs in the arty area, Sewing, the class I actually loved, Drawing (where I was still an embarrassment to the family name) and Painting. School ended, and my thoughts spun as I cleaned brushes and wondered what tattoos would be like. I didn’t want to think about it. Lewis had freaked out the first time I’d seen him in his garage when I’d said I was getting tattoos. Why was he taking me to get them?

I walked through halls, waving at the people who waved at me, smiling at the colored hair crowd who apparently thought I’d done something liberating instead of idiotic. Outside I stopped on the top step letting the icy wind slice through the layers of my clothing while I stared at the car pulled up at the curb. Car wasn’t the right word. Grim’s hearse stood like a harbinger of doom while Grim waited patiently, leaning against his door.

I hurried down the steps and across the lawn. He looked worried but really good, in fact, he looked better than I’d ever seen him. His skin had a luster to it while there were no dark circles beneath eyes that shone. His cheeks and lips had a rosy color I’d never seen on them.

“Grim, you look great,” I said as I threw my arms around him, hugging the tall slender man who while not nearly as bulky as Satan, didn’t seem as gangly as he’d been before.

“I should be after that,” Grim’s voice trailed off as he quickly hugged me back then opened the passenger door for me. “I’m taking you to the city today. Everyone has agreed that the time for tattoos is now.”

I climbed in, dropping my bag on my feet. “I’m glad to see you. I was worried you would die.” I couldn’t help the lump in my throat as I said it. Grim sighed then shut my door, apparently not all fun and games even if he did look practically normal.

He settled into the driver’s side and took his time buckling his seatbelt. “I don’t think you should have done it,” he said quietly, driving in a steady way that betrayed nothing of how he felt.

I remembered the screaming and didn’t have anything to say. Maybe I shouldn’t have, not if his life wasn’t worth the pain of coming back. We drove in silence as we crossed the stone bridge over the icy river and out of Sanders. I wanted to apologize, but I felt too miserable to say anything. Satan had told me what to do and no one had mentioned how Grim would feel about it. Lewis had said that it would be very hard, but I hadn’t really understood.

Grim drove for fifteen minutes down the highway before he pulled over on the shoulder where I saw a dark purple car parked, waiting for me.

“Lewis is taking me to the city?” I asked, feeling a rush of emotion. Tattoos were enough, but to see Lewis again? I felt slightly nauseous, but maybe I should get used to seeing Lewis any time I did anything Wild.

“Apparently,” Grim said dryly. “He’s as talented at arranging things to suit his purposes as your father is. No wonder Slide has made them honorary members of the House.”