Invincible (21 page)

“Why?”

He had no choice but to be at least a little honest with her. “Because if you don’t, I’ll be in a
lot
of trouble.”

And dead by morning. He shuddered at the mere thought.

She glared up at him as if debating whether or not to believe him. “Something tells me you’re already in a lot of trouble. The coach has you stealing for him, too, doesn’t he?”

Nick’s jaw went slack at the last words he’d expected to come out of her mouth. “What?”

She gave him a cocky toss of her head. “I’m not as stupid as people think, you know? But when everyone thinks you are, you’d be amazed at what they’ll talk about around you.”

“Such as who’s stealing for him?”

She nodded. “I overheard them talking about it a few days ago.”

His heart sped up at the thought of having someone who could corroborate his story with the principal. If he could get a couple of the school pets to back him, he stood a chance of bringing the coach to justice. “Who?”

“Dave and Barry.”

His stomach sank. Not good. Not good at all. “Barry Thornton?”

She nodded.

Both dead. Oh yeah, all of this was making sense now. The coach used who he could, then killed them off to keep them from telling on him. No wonder Ash had said the attack on Barry hadn’t seemed right.

It wasn’t.

Nothing more than human cruelty by a coward who was trying to cover his tracks. What a dog …

“You know anyone else?” he asked, hoping to salvage a little of his plan.

“No, just them.” Dang her for dashing his hopes again.

Suddenly, her eyes widened. “You don’t think he had any part in their deaths, do you?”

Absolutely, but he wasn’t about to start slandering a school official when he had nothing to prove his suspicions. “Why do you say that?”

“Well, they stole for him and now they’re both dead. What other conclusion can I draw?”

That Nick was screwed and probably soon to follow them to the grave himself.

He wanted to whimper as he realized just how inevitable that was. He
was
going to die a poor, pedestrian virgin.…

Why, Lord? Why?

She pulled him into the room, farther away from the student crowd that was quickly growing as people came in the back door of the school. “Okay, listen. I have a thought. How about I help you?”

His brain automatically snapped to his previous thought.
Nah, I ain’t that lucky.
She had no idea why he feared dying so young. He must be misconstruing her intentions. “Help me do what?”

“Take what you need.”

Oh, yeah right … “Are you out of your mind?” he snapped at her. “You can’t do that, Casey.”

“Of course I can. I don’t want to see you killed. It’s not right.”

He couldn’t agree more. However, he didn’t want her to die for doing a good deed either. No need in both of them haunting the gym. “Maybe we can go to the principal. I know he won’t believe me, but with you there, he—”

“I have no proof. Why would he listen to me?”

Nick shrugged. “You come from a good family. Why would
you
lie?”

“I don’t know. The coach could tell him we’re sleeping together or some other lie. You know how adults are. They never believe kids our age, and they’re always expecting us to be on drugs or in trouble. Anytime something happens, they immediately blame it on the video games we play, cartoons we watch, music we listen to, or some occult thing that’s as ludicrous as blaming D&D and RPG.”

She was right. Most adults did do that, but he knew Kyrian and Ash would believe him.

And his mom might.…

Bubba and Mark would definitely, but since they also believed in Bigfoot, little green men, and the tooth fairy, no one would ever believe them. In fact, having them on board could be a liability.

Still, there was nothing any of them could do without proof. It all came back to that one word. The only way to bring the coach down would be to catch him in the act and to show the principal and everyone else just what a demented nut job he was.

“We’ve got to find other students he’s blackmailed.”

Casey scowled. “How?”

“I have no idea. But you know everyone at this school. Can’t you find out something? How did you find out about Barry and Dave?”

“Same way I did you. On accident. They were talking, and I was walking by.”

That wasn’t helpful. They didn’t have time for her to “accidentally” discover all the students Devus was harassing. She’d have to walk the hallway like a brainless automaton, which they’d then write up and put in detention.

The clock was ticking like the tell-tale heart, and he had to steal items and get them to the coach before school let out, or literally his head would be on the chopping block. He could already feel the guillotine falling.

In the end, as much as he hated it, he had to agree with Casey’s stupid idea. He couldn’t do this alone and survive it.

I’m going to burn for this.
…

“All right, Casey. We’re not stealing anything, okay? We’re borrowing it, and I will make sure to give it all back once we’re done. You got it?”

“If you say so.” She glanced over the list and selected her items. “I can grab Shannon’s hairbrush and Stone’s ring without a problem.”

Not that he doubted her, but … “Really?”

She nodded. “Me and Stone are supposed to be dating. I smile at the oaf, and he’ll let me have it back. For all the money his parents paid, he couldn’t care less. To him it’s only something that sits in a box or marks me as his property. I hate that whole territorial thing he does. I’m lucky he’s not marking me in a more personal way.”

Ew. There was a thought he didn’t even want to contemplate.
Where is the mental eye bleach when you need it?

Not close enough. Obviously. “What else?”

“I can borrow Shannon’s brush without a problem, too.”

Good. That just left Nick to pick up his side of the partnership. “I can ask Mason if he’ll loan me his notes from history.” His handwriting was one of the things the coach needed for some reason. Made no sense to Nick, but far be it from him to try to educate a man with a college degree.

“What else?” she asked.

Nick glanced back and saw another easy target to procure. “Michael’s always leaving one of his scarves in the cafeteria. I’m betting I can nab one of his out of lost and found.”

Why a scarf? No clue. Maybe it was the big hulking man’s security blanket, and he needed it for game days.

For that matter, maybe the coach was just strange.

Casey pointed down the list to another item. “I can get Kody’s necklace.”

Nick drew back at her offer. That was the one thing he had no intention of taking. “Absolutely not.”

“No?”

“No,” he repeated sternly.

She actually stomped her foot like a kid. “Why? You want to steal it?”

No, but he didn’t want her to become a criminal either. How awkward would it be to take a date to the prom with a police escort? There were some things a guy didn’t want to experience, and that was near the top of his list.

“We’re not stealing, Casey. We’re borrowing.”

“Fine. I’ll ‘borrow’”—she made mocking air quotes around the word with her fingers—“her necklace.”

And before Nick could protest that declaration, she was gone.

Come back, you little
 …

But there was nothing he could do. She’d left him in the dust.

Disgusted, he wished he could call her back without starting a scene. Unfortunately, there were too many students in the building now for him to use his powers.

And more were filing in through the doors.

Fine. He’d deal with Casey later. Right now, he had a scarf to find and some handwriting to borrow.

*   *   *

Ms. Grider kept her beady little eyes on him as he dug through the large box of unclaimed items the school kept in the checkout office. “Are you sure that’s your scarf? I don’t recall you ever having one before. Seems to me you don’t have any coats either. All I remember you in are ragged jeans, hideous tourist shirts they sell cheap at the Goodwill, and worn-out shoes.”

Nick cringed at the L&F Nazi’s unrivaled memory. At 904 years old, her memory should be going by now, or so one would think. But apparently the only things she’d lost were her personality and human decency. “Well, Ms. Grider, if you remembered everything that belonged to everyone in the school, it seems we wouldn’t really need a lost and found, would we?”

She glared at him. “That better be yours. I’m making a note of what it looks like and who’s taking it.”

Of course you are.

“If someone comes looking for it, I’m going to tell them exactly who took it.”

With a fake smile, Nick shoved the scarf into his backpack and headed out the door.
The things I do for you, Mom.
If it were up to him, he’d drop out of this school and go to one where he wasn’t a pariah. One where he was normal and these people were the freaks. But his mom wanted him to have the best education possible.

So here he was.

In hell for three and a half more years.

Again,
thanks Mom.

As he headed toward his locker to switch out books, something moved fast to his right. Always on the lookout for Stone or his buds to ambush him, Nick jumped left and …

Nothing.

Frowning in confusion, he scanned the wall and saw no trace of whatever he’d glimpsed. Weird. A slow circle turn in the middle of the hall didn’t uncover anything either as the sea of students moved around him.

But as he looked, everything slowed down like some replay footage. The pendulum in his pocket heated up at the same time he felt Mark’s necklace vibrate.

His ears buzzed, and some noxious smell filled his head.

“That better not be you again, Mark.” He was in no mood for it.

No sooner had those words left his lips than the lights in the school went out. The screams of his classmates were deafening and thick … slowed down to match their current snail speed.

Out of nowhere, a bolt of lightning shot through his chest, picking him up from his feet and throwing him down the hallway.

CHAPTER 14

Nick couldn’t breathe. It felt like his lungs had collapsed. He hit the wall above their lockers so hard, he wasn’t sure how he didn’t break through the concrete and crush every bone in his body. With nothing to catch him, he fell from the top of the wall, straight to the floor.

Dazed and tasting blood, he lay in a heap until something seized him by the shirt and shoved him against the wall. It pinned him there in an invisible fist that left him dangling.

“Are you the one?” The thick, monster voice wasn’t speaking English, and yet he understood it somehow. “Are you?”

The one for what?

To bleed on his shoes? Check.

To dent the wall? Check.

To kick his demon butt …

Highly unlikely.

Nick clapped his hands over the creature’s claw, trying to pry it away from his body. It was useless and rated right up there with stepping on Clark Kent’s glasses. “Let me go!”

It pulled him closer to its nasty-smelling, bulbous body so that it could examine him. Then it slid him against something wet and slimy. What was that?

A nose?

Oh yeah, the thing was definitely sniffing him.

“Uh, gah! Get off me! What are you?”

“It’s something ugly. Nick, get down.”

He barely had time to duck in the thing’s grasp before Caleb in full demon gear attacked it. The moment he did, the creature lost all interest in Nick as it turned to face Caleb.

Nick shot across the floor, to an area of relative safety so that he could figure out what was going on.

Walking backwards like a total badass, Caleb circled it, making it turn around to keep him in his line of sight. Dressed in gold battle armor that covered all but his glowing, evil snake eyes, Caleb made quite an impressive sight. Especially with the wingspan he had on his back. Two sheathed swords were crossed over his shoulders, but by his movements, Nick could tell Caleb could have those drawn and in the beast faster than anyone could say Liu Kang. Yeah, okay, so he looked more like Kano. But …

Liu Kang sounded cooler.

“Malphas…” The creature slurred his name into an insult. “I heard the Malachai had a lapdog. Who would have ever dreamed it was
you
?”

Caleb flinched. “Now, that just hurts me in my tender place, Bricis. Really? Was it necessary to add that insult?”

Ignoring him, Bricis jerked his chin toward Nick. “Is he the one?”

Caleb hit his breastplate twice to draw the creature’s attention back to him. “Right now, I’m the only one you need to concern yourself with.”