Death Whispers (Death Series, Book 1) (27 page)

Ah-huh.

“I didn't hear a thing,” Mom said.

“I was awake when they came around midnight,”
Dad said.

“Oh. I didn't hear that time, just the four a.m.
run when Garcia and McGraw came.”

“That makes me all warm and fuzzy,” Mom said.

Yeah.

Dad had chipmunk cheeks, but after a few chews he
stated, “I flat-out don't like Garcia and McGraw showing up.”

I nodded. Mom was quiet, a rare thing.

“They looked like they were arguing out there.”

“Who?” Dad asked.

“Ward and Gale were there too.”

“What? That's bizarre. They don't need that much
show of force to deter a criminal revisit,” he said.

“I guess it's too much to ask what they were
arguing over,” Mom said.

“Yeah, but the girl...”

“Officer Gale?” Mom asked.

“Yeah, she looked pretty pissed.” Mom made a
face. “She was using a lot of hand gestures, right up in Garcia's
face.”

“Based on how they looked, what do you speculate
they were talking about?” Dad asked.

Judging on how different Garcia had been at the
cemetery I had a feeling that I had his full attention, and not the
good kind. Gale knew I was AFTD like her. She suspected I was
something unique, but wasn't ready to out me to anyone. I got a sense
of protectiveness from her that I wasn't getting from Garcia. I told
the parents that, I also told them I thought she had argued about why
they felt they needed to show up. As far as we knew, Garcia and
McGraw weren't on this case.

After a moment, Dad said, “I think that Garcia
has our house, you...all of us,” his finger having encompassed us,
flagged in some way. If anything happens here of any importance, he's
alerted.”

“I don't like it,” Mom said.

Dad
shrugged. “I am concerned about Garcia's watchfulness. It's not a
matter of
if
,
but when he finds out Caleb is a C-M.”

They were solemn. I kept wolfing down my pancakes.
Talk of my discovery as a corpse-raiser does not interfere with The
Appetite. The parents would allow possible government exploit,
espionage, capture and imprisonment to effect theirs. Huh.

“What can we do legally, Kyle, to stop this
interference? He's just a kid, a minor for goodness sake.” As she
lowered her chin, her hair fell forward.

Dad tucked a strand behind her ear, where it
curled around the lobe.“I've been looking into that. We'll go to
the press if it comes to that. If he gets noticed, and they try to
pull a 'Parker', we'll see how uncomfortable we can make them. They
managed to stuff a lot of the press about the Parker boy, but there
is heightened awareness now. Awareness of Paranormals and awareness
of the AFTDs.”

I
didn't like the sound of that. I'd be famous, like Dad, but not
because I was a brainiac. Because I was a freak. Nobody wants to be
famous for weirdness. Infamous.

“Why does everyone think AFTDs are weirdos?”

Mom
said, “You're not a weirdo Caleb.” Her gaze steady on my face.

“
I
know that I'm not. But the kids at school think other paranormal
abilities are cool. Everyone is grossed out about AFTD and they don't
even know. Well, not all of them.” I thought of Bry and Tiff
Weller,
Mia
and the A-hole pair. Some kids knew. The Js and Jade didn't count.

“
I
know you're not keen on people on a larger scale, knowing of your
unique ability. But the alternative is not acceptable. Do you think
anyone thought that this would be the outcome? That mapping the
genome and its subsequent use to unveil these abilities in the human
race
was going to be without uncertainty, challenges, danger?” Dad
asked.

He was right. The other scientists, who took up
where he and his team left off, didn't consider the consequence of
their actions. Now we had people my age through mid-twenties that
could do some pretty extraordinary things. And there wasn't always a
counter to that, except for psychic Nulls and those weren't common.
Some paranormals were committing crimes, and our police were chasing
their asses trying to keep up with that.

He shrugged. “Hearing the officers concede that
they were switching to paired mundanes/paranormals was a good thing.
They need it.”

“Why do they break the law?” I asked.

Mom muttered, “Because they can.”

Dad looked at her. “There will always be people
making the wrong choice, it's human nature.”

“The world spins,” Mom said.

I
admired her sense of justice but I just couldn't, as she would say,
embrace it.

I glanced at the clock, straight up one o'clock.
“The Js are coming over with Jade at three.”

“You know, Jade is a 'J' too,” Mom said.

“Yeah, I guess, but she's not. Ya know, she's
her own thing.”

“Autonomous,” Dad said. “Independent from
the Js.”

“
Oh!
Well that's true.” I blushed, Jade was so
not
like the Js.

My parents pretended not to notice how awkward the
whole Jade conversation was.

“So, what's the plan at three?” Mom asked,
neatly changing the subject. My parents were mainly cool.

“We're gonna go hang out.”

“Where?” Dad asked, trying to find butter on
his plate with the last bite of pancake.

“We're just gonna walk around.” The parents
would have cattle if they knew I was gonna go to Scenic Hill
Cemetery. It occurred to me that I might have wanted to get Tiff up
there for back up. Huh. Kinda late for that.

“Okay,” Dad said, giving me some space.

I gave a mental sigh of relief, they'd bought it.

I needed to get the twins off my back and the
J-Man had the plan... I hoped.

CHAPTER 18

Everyone
showed up on time; for Jonesy that was nothing short of a miracle,
time management was not a priority. Scheming was (we all had our
talents). As in now
,
scheming five seconds out the door.

Jade walked beside me on my left, absolutely
mouth-watering in a pink hoodie, faded jeans with strategic holes,
and pink high top All Star basketball shoes. Did she play, I had
asked her at one point? No, she just thought they looked tight. And
they did... on her. Her hair, which usually flowed around her face
like dark water was pulled up in a ponytail, the end making a black
sweep in the valley of her shoulders.

I casually held her hand, not fingers entwined but
cupped around it fully. I loved feeling its smallness. One of the
many things I liked about Jade, other than her utter coolness as a
person, was how physically small she was. It didn't diminish her. She
didn't have some complex about it. She knew who she was and that was
very cool.

Jonesy had been talking the whole time since we
left and I started tuning in, even with the distraction of Jade.

The bag full of gear rattled as he walked
animatedly beside John, who was between us.

“Anyway, like I was saying, I snagged the can of
Aqua Net a couple of weeks ago out of my mom's separator and the
lighter...”

“How'd you manage the lighter?” John asked.

“My dad registered it for BBQ-ing,” Jonesy
said automatically.

Lighters
were like guns now. With the explosion of paranormals, there was also
that small group within the paranormals, the fire-starters. Not a
fully PC term, it was sorta like corpse-raiser. Any accelerant:
lighters, matches, fuel, had to be registered like guns. Now that we
had the Pyrokenetics, they could use anything like that as a deadly
weapon. Some really talented ones didn't need anything. They were the
weapon. And I thought being an AFTD was something. Starting fires
would be the coolest! I told the Js that.

“No way,” John said automatically. “Think
about the control and all the adults up your ass all the time. Ah...
no, that would suck dude, big time.”

“I like it. I could think of about a million
things to torch! Starting with the school!” Jonesy fist-pumped.

He had us grinning like fools.

Jonesy was busy outlining the plan but stopped
midway with, “You're not gonna like, make something pop out of the
ground, Caleb?”

I laughed. I got a picture of a Jack-in-the-Box,
or, as it were, Jack-in-the-Coffin, a grin spreading across my face
with the visual. “Nah, that's totally not the plan.” Jade
squeezed my hand and I squeezed back.

John, all seriousness said, “But you just had
that deal with your grandma at the cemetery.”

“Great-grandma.”

John
shrugged,
whoever
.

“You didn't need blood? To like, put her back?”
Jonesy asked before I could answer John.

“No. I've been thinking about that. Maybe it was
coincidence the blood happened to be part of it last time. Gran rose
without any of that.”

But a knot of unease had begun to build in my
chest. What if... what if there was something special I needed to do
to get a corpse back to rest? I mean, Tiff had been there and saved
my ass yesterday, but what if she hadn't?

“Okay, so we don't have to worry about an
accident?” John asked, placing stress on that last word.

Like
potty-training, nice.

Jonesy
hooted, “Accidental
corpse-raising!”

“No, I don't having any corpse-raising plans
today.”

Jade spoke up for the first time, “Why are we
meeting them at the cemetery then? Why here?” Her opposite hand
swept in the general direction of the cemetery that wasn't quite in
view yet.

Jonesy rolled his eyes and I gave him the look.

“
That's
our
turf. Caleb pulled the creep-out card there and they'll feel all,
off-base. Plus,” he pointed to the side of his head and tapped his
temple, “The Master,” clearly indicating himself, “needs a
proper environment.”

John's eyebrows shot up. Usually, John was the
brains of the operation. Jonesy was in his element, scheming.

It
must have showed on our faces because Jonesy said, “Hey, I know
that I'm not brilliant but I've got rockin' good ideas, and I'm
rollin' with that program.” We laughed, there was no denying he had
a program.

We
crested the hill, the gates of the cemetery loomed, framing the
cemetery beyond. I gave a little shudder, the sensory memory playing
through my body like a discordant instrument. Jade looked a question
at me and I shook my head. Hard thing to explain. Had to be there or
in her case,
not
.

The weather hadn't improved, in fact, it looked
like it was working up a head of steam, a late spring storm. The
clouds boiled above our heads like giant pewter boulders.

John saw where I was looking and said, “Might
rain.”

Jonesy shrugged. “We'll get Carson and Brett all
lit up before the sky opens.”

I looked at my beat up watch, it was riding at
four o'clock. Getting late but probably wouldn't be dark until almost
nine.

“What time is it?” John asked.

“Time for the ass-clowns to show,” Jonesy
muttered.

Jade covered her mouth, hiding a smile but Jonesy
caught it, joining in.

And
just like that, the duo in question rounded the hill behind us as if
conjured. Their blond heads glowed in the dim light of an overcast
sky. The two of them climbed the hill with determination, dual
expressions of purpose...
a
bad one.

****

Carson and Brett stopped just in front of our
group, Brett making a point of staring down Jade. I wondered if he
had told Carson about the other night with his dad's meltdown and the
gopher attack.

Ah-
no
.

The breeze had come up and it was windy. The great
trees inside the cemetery stood sentinel, their sweeping branches
moved by invisible puppet strings.

Jonesy came forward with his bag of goodies
swinging into his legs as he did. Carson met him.

They
stared at each other. “I've got this experiment all planned out for
ya. Me and the guys tried it last year and it turned out
cool
.”

Even to me it sounded suspicious, but Carson
looked interested. The only reason he'd be motivated to try something
that was connected with the three of us (four, I guess, since Jade
was starting to be part of the group), was a way to prove how much of
a mondo-stud he was.

Typical.

Carson
leaned forward, trying to scope what was in the bag. Jonesy pulled
the bag back using a back and forth motion with his finger,
no-oh....
not yet.

“
Come
on Carson, this is some kinda game, let's get outta here,” Brett
said.

Jade
and I were silent. We knew what had gone down and now I was feeling
unsure about making Brett pay, but Carson...that was okay. The Js and
I had decided that if Carson was taught a lesson, Brett would lay off
too, following his lead. I liked it better because Carson just acted
like an anus cause he could. He didn't have worries, the ass-hat.