Touch of Death (2 page)

“All right,” Mom said, as we got into her car and headed to school. “But if you start feeling bad in any way, you call me, and I’ll come get you. Sometimes injuries don’t surface right away after an accident.”

“Really, I’m fine.” She gave me a stern look. “I promise I’ll call if I don’t feel well.”

We pulled up to the front of the building, and I mumbled a quick thank you and goodbye before jumping out and heading straight to the office for a late pass. Mrs. Thompson peered at me over her glasses. “Reason?” I swore they purposely hired people with no personal skills to work as receptionists.

“I hit a deer. My car had to be towed.”

She raised her glasses and looked me over. “You need to see the school nurse before going to class. She needs to clear you.”

“Clear me for what?”

“The school can’t be held responsible for you passing out in class or suffering from a concussion.” She spoke with no sensitivity whatsoever. “See Ms. Steingall, and then come back for your late pass.”

I sighed and headed for the nurse’s office. Giving a quick knock on the door, I stepped inside. Jimmy Benton was lying across a padded bench, faking a stomachache. He did it every time he had a test.

Ms. Steingall shooed him with her hand. “Mr. Benton, I’ve told you twice. You don’t have a fever. Go to class.”

Jimmy punched the bench and mumbled a few curses before leaving.

“What can I do for you, Miss…?”

“Marshall. Jodi Marshall.”

She wrinkled her brow like she was trying to place my name. “Are you new? I’ve never seen you before.”

“I started in September. I used to be homeschooled.”

“Oh, well it’s nice to meet you.” She sat down at her desk and pointed to a chair. “What can I do for you this morning?”

“Mrs. Thompson said I had to come see you. I got into an accident on the way to school. Hit a deer. Nothing major.” I decided to leave out the part about the mangled deer getting up and running off.

Ms. Steingall stood up again. “I see. Well, let’s take a look at you.” She flashed a light in my eyes, making them fill with tears. I apologized when a few ran down my left cheek and onto her hand. She shrugged it off and asked me a few questions. That was about the extent of checking me out. “You look fine to me, but if you should start to feel strange in any way, I want you to come see me, okay?”

“Sure.” I gave a quick wave and headed back to the office.

Mrs. Thompson raised an eyebrow at me. “Everything in order?”

I couldn’t help thinking that the system was a little screwy. I mean, I could’ve pretended I went to the nurse and got checked out. She was just taking my word for it. “All good,” I said. She handed me a late slip, and I headed to English lit class. Mr. Quimby was in the middle of a lecture. He held his hand out for my pass and put it on his desk without looking at it. He didn’t stop his lecture. Just kept droning on and on about Zeus. Why was mythology always about Zeus? Weren’t there other gods? Maybe some that were a little more interesting than a guy with a giant lightning bolt?

I took my seat next to Melodie, who frantically whipped out her phone and started texting me. Mr. Quimby didn’t tolerate talking in class, but he was oblivious to texting under our desks.

My phone vibrated. “What happened?”

“Hit a deer,” I texted back.

“Miss Marshall,” Mr. Quimby said, making me drop my phone in my lap. He paused to make sure he had my attention.

“Yes?” I fumbled under my desk and slipped my phone into my purse.

“Since you were late, I think you should pay extra attention to the next part of the lesson. There will be a test at the end of next week, and it will count for thirty percent of your semester grade.”

I nodded.

“Good. Well, moving on from Zeus, we’ll be talking about something a few of you may find more interesting.” Mr. Quimby’s eyes met mine. “If I consulted my class roster correctly, someone in this class has a birthday that falls between November 29 and December 17. Is that correct, Miss Marshall?”

I sat up straight. “Um, yeah. December eighth, actually.”

Mr. Quimby smiled. “Very good. Now, how many of you have heard about the thirteenth sign of the zodiac?”

A few people raised their hands.

“Those individuals born between November 29 and December 17 are actually born under the sign of Ophiuchus, not Sagittarius.”

“Ophi
yuckis
?” Kyle Erickson asked. He eyed me up and down. “Sounds appropriate.”

No one laughed but Kyle. He wasn’t exactly well liked, and right now I was thankful for that. After the morning I’d had, I couldn’t deal with being the butt of any jokes.

Mr. Quimby gave him a stare that I wouldn’t want to find myself on the end of. “As I was saying, Ophiuchus has a place in mythology. He was the son of Apollo and Coronis. His mother was killed because she was unfaithful to Apollo, but her unborn child was rescued from the womb.”

An echo of “Oh, gross!” rang through the room, but Mr. Quimby kept right on going. “After Apollo cut the baby from Coronis’ womb, he brought the boy to the centaur Chiron, who raised him and taught him the art of medicine.”

“So, the people born under this Ophi guy’s sign grow up to be doctors or something?” Melodie asked.

“Not exactly. You see the goddess Athena gave Ophiuchus a gift. Two vials of blood.”

More sounds of gagging.

“The blood was from the Gorgon Medusa; Medusa, you might recall, was killed by Perseus, thanks to Athena’s aid.” Again Mr. Quimby’s eyes bored into me, and I felt like slinking under my desk. “The blood from the right side of Medusa’s body was said to have the power to restore life, while the blood from the left side of her body was poisonous. Now, some people say that Ophiuchus got his power to restore life from a serpent, which is why his constellation in the sky is sometimes referred to as the Serpent Bearer or Serpentarius. In my opinion, the blood was a much more likely source for his power.” He spun on his heels and began pacing the front of the room. “But moving on. Ophiuchus mastered the act of restoring life so completely that Hades, the god of the underworld, became angry. He didn’t like his dead being raised by Ophiuchus, so he complained to Zeus.”

I rolled my eyes. It always came back to Zeus.

“Zeus decided he had to do something to appease his brother, Hades, but at the same time he didn’t want to offend Apollo by killing Ophiuchus. So, Zeus struck Ophiuchus down with a thunderbolt and placed him in the sky as a constellation where he could be honored.” Mr. Quimby stopped pacing and turned back to me. “Does anyone need clarification on the details?”

Kyle raised his hand. “So, this Ophi guy had the power to raise the dead?”

“That’s correct,” Mr. Quimby answered.

Kyle raised his hand again. “But he could’ve used the Gorgon blood from Medusa to kill people if he wanted, right?”

Mr. Quimby nodded. “That is also correct.”

The P.A. system crackled. “All teachers, please keep your students in class until you are instructed otherwise. If any students are in the hallways, please report to the nearest classroom immediately.”

“What’s that about?” I asked Melodie.

She shrugged. “It’s probably a lockdown drill. They do them every once in a while. It’s no big deal. We just sit here while the administrators walk through the building and make sure it’s safe.”

Even after five months, I still wasn’t used to being in a regular high school. The only lockdown drills I’d had while I was homeschooled were if I was grounded or when Grandma would give me time-outs at the kitchen table on days when Mom couldn’t work from home.

The classroom door opened, and a girl walked in. “Mr. Quimby, the announcement said to go to the nearest classroom.”

“Take a seat,” he said.

She walked over to the empty seat behind me and sat down. I’d never met her before, but that didn’t stop her from leaning forward and whispering, “This isn’t a drill. I was in the hall, and I saw the school nurse being carried out on a stretcher. She collapsed in her office. Jimmy Benton told me he found her lying on the floor.”

I couldn’t believe it. I had been there only twenty minutes ago. Ms. Steingall had looked fine. “Do you know what happened to her? Why she collapsed?”

She shook her head. “Not really, but it must have been a heart attack or stroke or something.”

“Why do you think that?”

“Because she’s dead.”

Chapter 2

“Dead? She can’t be dead.” My head was spinning.

The girl nodded. “Believe me, she’s dead. I saw her myself. They had a sheet over her face, and her arm was hanging off the stretcher.”

“That’s awful,” Melodie said.

I felt sick. First the deer, and now Ms. Steingall. My stomach couldn’t take it. The faint sound of sirens made me turn toward the window. Did they use sirens when the person was dead? I got the eerie feeling that someone was staring at me. One row over and three seats back sat a guy I hadn’t seen before. He had dirty blonde hair and piercing green eyes that were locked on me. I wanted to turn away, but I couldn’t. He was studying me so closely. Did he know I had been with the nurse before I got there? Did he think I had something to do with her death?

“Jodi.” Melodie tugged on my sleeve.

“Huh?” I turned back toward her.

“What’s up with you? You spaced out or something.”

“I guess I’m in shock. I mean, Ms. Steingall is—was too young to have a heart attack, wasn’t she?”

Melodie shook her head. “I don’t know. Maybe she had a weak heart.”

“Maybe.” I glanced back over my shoulder. Green Eyes was still staring at me. “It’s just creepy is all.”

Someone knocked on the door, and Mr. Quimby got up from his desk. He’d been working at his computer, occasionally flipping through his grade book. It sort of looked like he was entering grades or attendance, but I had this feeling that he was emailing or something else totally not school-related. The teachers tended to go off-duty any chance they got. Plus, he looked annoyed at having to get up to answer the door.

Mrs. Thompson stepped into the room and looked around. Her gaze stopped on me. “Miss Marshall, would you come with me, please?”

“What’s this about, Mrs. Thompson?” Mr. Quimby asked.

“Miss Marshall is needed in the office.”

Mr. Quimby gave me a small smile. “If there’s a problem, I can vouch for Jodi’s presence in my class. She even contributed to part of the lecture.”

Confirming my birthday wasn’t exactly contributing to the lecture, but I was grateful for his concern. No one wants to be called down to the office, especially during a situation like a lockdown. Even more so when someone had died.

“I can assure you that Jodi is not in any trouble.” Mrs. Thompson’s tone implied a “yet” attached to the sentence.

Mr. Quimby nodded at me, and I stood up. “Should I bring my books?”

“That would probably be best,” Mrs. Thompson said.

Melodie gave me an encouraging smile that also said, “Fill me in later.” I nodded and followed Mrs. Thompson out of the room. We walked in silence. I couldn’t help glancing into the nurse’s office as we passed. The door was open, and a chair was overturned. Had Ms. Steingall fallen out of the chair or knocked it over when she collapsed?

“Miss Marshall?” Mrs. Thompson gave me a stern look, motioning for me to hurry up.

“Sorry.” I stopped short when we reached the office. A uniformed police officer stood with his hands on his hips. The gun on his belt seemed to stare right at me.

“Are you Jodi Marshall?” the officer asked.

“Um, yes. Am I in trouble?” Nothing says guilty like asking if you’re in trouble. The only thing that would’ve been worse was if I’d said, “I didn’t do it.”

“I need to ask you a few questions. Why don’t we step into the principal’s office?” He motioned for me to lead the way.

I hugged my books to my chest as I stepped into the corner office. I’d only ever been in here once, when I’d first started here. I sat down in the leather chair and placed my books on my lap. The officer sat down in Principal McMichael’s chair.

“I’m Officer Adams. I was told you were one of the last people to see Ms. Steingall alive.”

“I guess. I mean, I was sent to her office when I got to school. I had an accident. A deer ran out in front of my car. Mrs. Thompson, the receptionist,” I added, figuring he probably didn’t have clue who Mrs. Thompson is, “said I had to get cleared by the nurse before I could go to class.”

Officer Adams scribbled in a notepad as I talked. I waited for him to finish. “I’m going to need you to tell me everything you remember from your visit to her office.”

There wasn’t much to remember, yet somehow my brain had trouble focusing. “Um, she asked me some questions about the accident. Whether I hit my head, if I was wearing a seatbelt, questions like that. Then, she used that little flashlight thingy to look in my eyes. She said that, other than being a little bloodshot from crying, everything looked fine. Then, she sent me to class.”

“Was anyone else in the office?” Officer Adams furiously wrote every word I said.

“No, just me. Well, after Jimmy Benton left. I guess he thought he might have a fever, but Ms. Steingall said he didn’t, and she sent him to class.”