Undead Much (15 page)

  An hour later, I stood at the top of a long, rolling hill in a posh Little Rock neighborhood, certain, for the second time that night, that I was going to die.

  “I can’t do this! It’s too dark. What if there are holes in the pavement that I can’t see and my skate gets stuck?” I asked, my palms sweating inside the hand guards Cliff had brought for me to wear-along with knee guards and a pair of Rollerblades in precisely my size.

  He said he was good at guessing things like that, which would make him a great friend to have when it came time for birthdays, but I couldn’t let myself think about him that way. He wouldn’t be around for my birthday next October. He was dead, and he had to go back to his grave and stay there.

  Unfortunately, that was getting harder to imagine the more time I spent with him. Cliff was fun, sweet, and way more perceptive than your average boy. In fact, he would have been well on his way to being my new partner in crime if he weren’t a zombie.

  And if it weren’t for that weird spark that flared between us every once in a while, that dizzy, giddy, almost high feeling-not that I’d ever smoked up, but I could imagine this was how being high felt-that resulted from being in his presence. Ninety percent of the time I felt only chummy vibes coming from Cliff, but the other 10 percent…

  “Megan, you’re going to be fine.” He smiled and squeezed his fingers around mine, sending a little shiver across my skin that I tried to ignore. “You know how to skate and you’re wearing safety equipment. Besides, this hill isn’t nearly as intense as it looks.”

  “I thought you said you’d never skated it before?”

  “I haven’t, but look at it. It’s not that bad.”

  “Cliff, I’ve already got a black eye. I really don’t want-”

  “Yeah,” he said, his expression angry even though his fingers were gentle as he smoothed down the side of my face. “I don’t like seeing you hurt.”

  “It’s my job.” I shrugged, trying to ignore how breathless he was making me feel.

  Now his touch wasn’t safe at all-it was tempting in a way it shouldn’t be to a girl totally in love with someone else. I should have pulled away that very second, but I didn’t. I just stood there and watched Cliff’s mouth get closer to mine while I slowly forgot how to breathe.

  “I don’t care. I’m not going to let you get hurt again. I promise.” His lips brushed softly against my cheekbone, right under where my skin was swollen and bruised.

  My eyes slid closed, the world spun, and for a second the temptation to turn my head and find Cliff’s lips with mine was so strong I wasn’t sure I’d be able to resist. Wearing Ethan’s sweatshirt, loving Ethan like I did, it didn’t matter. I wanted to kiss Cliff, wanted that connection with him so badly something in my chest ached when I forced myself to roll away.

  God, this was crazy! And against Settler rules, and boy/girl rules, and just about all the other rules I could think of. I had to put a stop to this before it was too late.

  When I spoke again, my voice sounded angrier than I intended, but better angry than any of those other feelings. “Cliff, why are we here? You said you had something to show me, something that couldn’t wait.”

  “I do.”

  “Then why are we wasting time Rollerblading?”

  “This isn’t a waste of time,” he said, sounding irritated himself. “Life is short, Megan, shorter than I ever realized. You have to make time to play.”

  “There are zombies
killing
people. A girl is
dead
! I don’t have time to-”

  “Yes, you do. You deserve to have a little fun, even when things are bad. Heck, especially when things are bad.” He rolled closer, pinning me with those soulful eyes that made me certain he knew all of my secrets. “Promise me you’ll make time to enjoy your life, no matter what happens. I don’t want you to wake up in a crypt someday wishing you’d spent less time smoking up and more time living.”

  “But I don’t smoke pot.”

  He grinned. “You know what I mean.”

  “Yeah.” I returned his smile, but it wasn’t my happy grin. I was going to miss Cliff. He was the first new friend I’d made since Jessica tried to kill me. Well, and the Monicster, if you could call her a friend.

  For the first time in my life I actually understood the lure of black magic. I’d never lost anyone I cared about so much before. It didn’t matter that Cliff had already been “lost” before I’d even met him, I still didn’t want him to go. If I’d known a spell to keep him from having to crawl back in that crypt, I would have been sorely tempted to cast it. Even knowing what I did about the consequences to my own soul and that a spell like that might change Cliff in some frightening way. Even knowing that Jess still wasn’t out of the woods for all the dark power she’d channeled last fall, I was still… tempted.

  I shivered at the darkly seductive warmth curling through my veins.

  I was a good person, I’d been raised to fear black magic, and I personally knew a girl who was having seizures and heart attacks as a direct result of summoning the wrong kind of mojo, but still, it called to me. I guessed maybe that was why Kitty and Elder Thomas needed proof I was innocent. No one was immune.

  “Okay, enough heavy stuff,” Cliff said. “Let’s take this hill.”

  “Agreed, but then we have to get down to business. I’m not trying to be a fun-killer, but we’ve only got forty-five minutes to get back to the bus stop before the last bus leaves.”

  “We’ll be there in plenty of time.”

  “I’m serious, Cliff, I can’t miss that bus or-”

  “Megs, have a little faith.” He shook his head in mock disappointment. “I didn’t choose this spot simply for its beauty or astoundingly long, rolling slope alone.”

  “You didn’t?”

  “Our true destination also happens to a mere half-mile away, right at the bottom of this hill, and a block from a bus stop.”

  I raised my eyebrows. “Wow, I’m impressed.”

  “Good planning for a zombie, eh?”

  “Good planning for a boy.” Even Ethan, the smartest guy I knew, seemed to have trouble doing more than one thing at a time.

  “I’ve always been a good planner.”

  “Maybe you’re just in touch with your girly side.”

  “Or maybe you’ve just been hanging out with the wrong guys.” He was halfway down the hill before I could think of how to respond, which was probably just as well. Flirtation must be avoided at all costs. Still, Cliff was right-a little fun would probably be okay.

  The thought made me smile as I pushed off, my pulse racing as I picked up speed and the cold air whipped through my hair. By the time I’d gone fifty feet, my nose was frozen and my teeth chattering, but I didn’t regret being here for a moment. There was just something magical about zooming down a deserted street in the dark, feeling the night come to life around you, knowing that-at least for a few minutes-all you had to think about was wind and speed and letting gravity take charge.

  I wasn’t usually the sort to enjoy giving up control, but for the moment it was perfect. So perfect, I was sad to see the hill come to an end so fast.

CHAPTER 12

  “You want us to break into my doctor’s office? Are you crazy?” I asked, looking nervously around as we walked. The parking lot was deserted, but just thinking about breaking and entering was enough to give me hives. I might push the limits when it came to Settler law, but when it came to the human variety I was a model citizen.

  “We’re not going to steal anything.” Cliff paused near a darkened window and pressed his face to the glass. “Well, not anything that doesn’t belong to you anyway. I say your parents’ medical records
are
your business. After all,
they
have access to
your
records.”

  “They’re my parents!”

  Cliff turned to me, blinking in confusion. “So?” He pushed at the bottom of the pane, nearly giving me a heart attack. It was all I could do to not whip my cell out and call the police myself.

  Monica was right-I was a hopeless goody two-shoes.

  “Don’t touch that! There might be an alarm.” I grabbed the sleeve of Cliff’s sweatshirt and tugged him back into the shadows.

  “If there’s an alarm, you can run and I’ll go in and get the records.”

  “But what if there’s a security camera? The police could see. You could be-”

  “I’m dead. What are the police going to do?” he asked. “Megan, this is no big deal. This building is old, and I doubt the practice is making enough money to go super high-tech with the security.”

  “I don’t care.” I crossed my arms and glared. “I don’t break or enter, especially not to steal my parents’ medical records. It’s illegal and pointless. My parents are both perfectly healthy.”

  Cliff cocked his head. “I never said your parents were sick.”

  “Then why are we-”

  “Listen, Megs, you love your mom and dad and they love you, but that doesn’t mean you can trust them. Parents lie too.”

  My lips parted in silent shock. I wasn’t sure whether to be angry or hurt by what he was implying. I mean, my mom had been acting strange lately, and I suspected she wasn’t telling me something. But that was
withholding
, not lying. There was a big difference. “My parents wouldn’t lie to me. We’re like… friends. They don’t treat me like a kid.”

  His eyebrows lifted. “And the ten o’clock curfew is because… ”

  “That’s different. Sure I have a curfew and stuff like that. But in other ways they treat me like an adult, like I’m smart enough to understand things and be part of the decisions that are made for our family.”

  Cliff’s face was a study in pity as he brushed a strand of hair away from my face. “Megan, those zombies you’ve been fighting lately aren’t the only things that are different. You’re different.”

  “I
know
that.”

  “Well, haven’t you ever wondered why?”

  I stepped away, hating the way my skin lit up when his fingers lingered just behind my ear. What was wrong with me? Why did Cliff make me feel this way? I had a perfectly wonderful boyfriend, one who was
alive
and didn’t accuse my parents of being liars. I should turn around, march across the parking lot to the bus stop, and never look back.

  But I didn’t.

  Hadn’t a part of me been suspicious of Mom and Dad for days now? It wasn’t just Ethan’s announcement that the Enforcers had been looking into Mom’s file. Mom and Dad just hadn’t been acting like Mom and Dad. There was a good chance that only stress was to blame, but what if it wasn’t? What if Cliff was right and they weren’t just keeping private grown-up stuff private? What if they’d been lying to me?

  “It’s just the way I am,” I said, but my weakening resolve was clear in my voice. I huddled deeper into Ethan’s sweatshirt, suddenly feeling the cold.

  “Are you sure?” Cliff asked. “Are you sure there’s not an explanation, one your parents have kept from you? Maybe because they thought it would be best for you?”

  Well… when he put it that way… no, I wasn’t sure. But neither was I sure I trusted Cliff, at least not more than my own mom and dad. “If you know something, why don’t you just tell me? Why drag me down here to steal things?”

  “You won’t believe me without proof,” he said. “Besides, I’m not exactly sure what we’re going to find. I just know we need to get our hands on those records. Specifically your dad’s… I think.”

  “You
think
?”

  Cliff sighed and leaned against the side of the building. “I told you, my visions don’t work as well as they used to. Even when I was alive, they didn’t tell me everything. They just sent me in the right direction. Now, it’s even more vague, like a dream I can’t quite remember.”

  “A dream you can’t quite remember.” The eye-roll I sent his way was well deserved. “Then why should I-”

  “We’re running out of time.” He cast a frustrated glance at his watch and then turned pleading eyes back to mine. “Please, Megan, let’s just get the records. If there’s nothing there, then I’ll admit I was wrong. I’m fine with being wrong. I just… I don’t want…”

  “You don’t want what?”

  “I don’t want you to die.” The desperation in his tone told me Cliff hadn’t been totally straight with me. Not about why he kept seeking me out, and not about his visions.

  “You’ve seen it, haven’t you? You’ve seen me die.” My voice wasn’t much more than a whisper, like I could keep the words from being true if I didn’t say them too loudly. “Those weird RCs kill me, don’t they?”

  “No, I didn’t see that,” he hurried to assure me. “But I’ve seen things that make me worry. A lot. There’s a fire, girls screaming. I see you running and then… and then there are these hands… on your throat…” He didn’t finish his sentence. He didn’t need to. “It makes me worry constantly. About you and about the people who will get hurt if you’re not around anymore.”

  Our eyes held as we came to a silent understanding. We both knew I couldn’t afford to ignore his warning.

  “So how do we do this?” I crossed my arms again, making it clear I still wasn’t thrilled with this plan. “I’m assuming you have experience with breaking and entering?”

  Cliff smiled. “Come on, I think I saw something on the other side of the building.” He grabbed my hand and pulled me around to the front, pausing under a row of narrow windows about six feet off the ground. “I’m betting those are in a bathroom. What do you think?”

  “No…” I closed my eyes, struggling to remember the layout of the Pleasant Mountain Family Clinic. “There aren’t any windows in the bathrooms. It’s been a while since I’ve been here, but I think these are in one of the doctors’ private offices.”

  “Even better. They might have the files in there. Here, let me lift you up.”

  “Wait a second, I-”

  “Just push on the bottom of the window and see if it opens. Those look really old, and I’m betting they don’t lock from the inside.”

  I sighed, but didn’t bother putting up a fight. I’d already agreed to do this-might as well get it over with. I stepped into the basket Cliff made with his hands, and for the second time that night let someone else boost me up into the air. The bottom of the window budged almost immediately.