Death, Doom And Detention Part 9

"Has he said anything? Mentioned any names?" Brooke asked. "Talked about the party?"

"No. That's the other strange part. He just said he doesn't really remember the party. And now he won't talk about it at all."

Brooke and I eyed each other.

Syd wrapped her arms around her waist. "That's why we thought you could touch him. You could do your thing."

"Um, I don't really have a thing."

"That's not what that ghost told us," Ashlee said. "Not in words so much, but in images while we slept."

Sydnee nodded. "It showed us things. About you. About Jared. We never dreamed it was possible until we saw the camera footage."

That brought all thoughts to a screeching halt. "Camera footage?" I asked. As realization dawned on what she had to be referring to, my pulse quickened with a mixture of fear and denial.

"Don't worry," Syd said. "We told Dad the recorder malfunctioned."

"But it didn't." A grin slid across Ashlee's pretty face. "We saw everything. We saw what you did."

"It was amazing."

"Thanks." I glanced at Brooke. She was still at the wide-eyed-denial stage. "Why didn't you tell me sooner? That you knew? That was two months ago."

Ash smirked. "We were waiting for the right moment." She got an evil twinkle in her eyes. "Like now."

My jaw fell open before I caught it. "So, this is blackmail."

"Absolutely," Syd said. "Or, well, technically it's extortion. Same difference."

Ash blinked her long lashes and gazed at me from behind a pout. "You did ruin my very favorite piano."

"You just said..." When Ash's face morphed into that same kind of evil, I gave in. "Fine, I'll give it a shot, but my visions aren't really that reliable. I may or may not get something."

"That's okay," Syd said, taking what she could get. "We just want you to try."

I set my jaw. "And I swear, if I come out of this suicidal, I'm coming back to haunt you."

"Deal," Ash said.

THE SOUTHERN BELLE.

Brooke piled her plate high with salad for lunch while I went for a more modest version, and Glitch and Cameron went for pizza. Shocker.

"You suck," Cameron said to Glitch as he swiped at his pants. He sat next to Brooke with a scowl lining his face.

"No more than you," Glitch said.

"What did you do?" Brooke let the suspicion in her expression filter into her voice. We knew Glitch too well.

"He spilled his water on me."

Glitch chuckled. "Think you'll survive?"

Clicking her tongue in disappointment, Brooke looked at me. "Boys are impossible." She looked around. "Oh, the school paper's out. I'm going to get us one."

Everyone around us was reading the school newspaper, or at least looking at the pictures. While Brooke went to get us each a copy, I munched on crunchy green stuff with dressing. It was really the dressing I was after. Bacon ranch. Pretty much anything with bacon in it would earn the Lorelei McAlister seal of approval.

"Thanks," I said when Brooke handed me a paper.

She pa.s.sed one to Glitch, then asked me, "Okay, what do you think?"

"About the newsletter?"

"No. That's just a ploy to make us look normal." She held one up to Cameron, breaking his eye contact with Glitch. Cameron s.n.a.t.c.hed it out of her hands and leaned back to glare at the paper instead of at the crazy boy who thought he could take Cameron on and live to see another day.

"Oh." I nodded. "Good idea."

"The Southerns," she said. "What do you think?"

I picked up my paper as well, going for nonchalance. Like a spy might. "I think we need to check out their story," I said, casting suspicious glances all about me. Like a spy might. "Have you noticed any strange behavior? I mean, stranger than usual?"

Brooke opened her newsletter and spoke from behind it. "Isn't that what we've been talking about?"

"That's true," I said.

"We'll just have to keep a close eye on things. Cameron and Jared said that they'd been sensing something for the last few days. Maybe Isaac saw something at the party."

"Exactly." I spared a glance over the top of my paper. "Something otherworldly. And suddenly that new guy shows up who's really tall."

She looked over hers as well. "Do you think they're connected?"

"I wouldn't be surprised. Tall guys and odd things are often connected here."

Glitch finished up his pizza, then picked up his paper as well. Speaking from behind it, he said, "You guys look ridiculous. I was going to speak up sooner, but then what would I have to tell my grandchildren?"

He was right. We put our papers down, but I kept up the suspicious glances. They were fun. And I was hoping beyond hope that Jared would just happen to walk in.

Cameron was busy watching us from over his paper, his brows knitting like he was worried about us.

"Can you even read?" Glitch asked him.

Glitch had apparently become suicidal a while back, taking up the dangerous habit of taunting Cameron. He had to be suicidal to do such a stupid thing. There had been a tension between the boys ever since that Boy Scouts camping trip they went on together in the second grade. We just hadn't known about the tension between them until a few weeks ago.

When Glitch got back from that trip, he was different. I couldn't imagine what had happened on the camping trip that would cause Glitch to become clinically depressed in the second grade, but that was exactly what happened. I'd tried numerous times to find out, to try to get him to open up, but he refused to talk about it.

I'd only recently found out Cameron had anything to do with it, that he was on the camping trip as well. But Glitch knew how strong Cameron was, how indestructible. I could tell he was afraid of Cameron. Who could blame him? But lately he'd taken up the pastime of goading him, egging him on, practically begging him to start a fight. A fight he would be lucky to survive, though he'd probably be in a vegetative state the rest of his life.

And it was all about a girl.

I sighed in wonder. Glitch had feelings for Brooklyn, another fact I'd only recently discovered. I'd had no idea how he felt about her, that he had feelings for her at all other than friends.h.i.+p, until Cameron started paying attention to her. Now, it was all we could do to keep Glitch under control. Cameron could kill him with his pinkie, and he knew that better than anyone.

Brooke kneed me under the table and nodded toward Cameron. He'd stilled. He was looking past me, and when I turned, I realized he was staring at the new guy. He seemed to have made some friends. He was sitting at a table with some of the jocks, but they weren't laughing or joking or even talking. They were just sitting there. All broody like.

Then the new guy's gaze slid over to us and landed right on Cameron. The look on his face was one of glib amus.e.m.e.nt.

"What is going on with him, Cameron?" I asked.

But he didn't answer. He just stared, his gaze calculating.

"He looks like a Neanderthal," Glitch said. Then he turned back to Cameron. "You guys have to be related."

Before anyone realized what he was going to do, Cameron grabbed Glitch by the front of his jacket and pulled him to his feet with one hand. Or, well, about six inches above his feet.

Glitch tried to fight him, but Cameron was nephilim. Which meant really tall. Really strong. And really fast.

"What do you know about it Glitch?" he said, the contempt in his voice evident in every syllable. "Did you learn nothing on that camping trip?"

"Cameron," I said, my voice a harsh whisper, trying not to draw any attention from the teachers on duty. "Put him down this instant."

Brooklyn took a hold of one of Cameron's arms and was trying to pull him off Glitch. She would have had more luck trying to punch a hole in a cinder block wall with her fist.

Unfortunately, the only person in Riley's Switch who stood a chance against Cameron was not there, and Glitch's dark, coppery skin was turning a disturbing shade of red.

"Cameron!" I repeated a little louder.

"Excuse me."

We all turned and saw Ashlee Southern standing there, tray in hand, a shy reverence sparkling in her eyes.

"May I join you?"

Glitch was making these awful choking sounds that didn't so much stop when Cameron dropped him as become more guttural. Cameron didn't give him another thought as he turned to us, his brows raised as though asking us if Ashlee could join us. As though he hadn't been choking one of our best friends nigh to death.

I was the first to gather my wits. "Of course, Ashlee. Sit down."

"I hope I'm not interrupting anything important," she said as she put her tray next to Glitch's.

I couldn't help but notice the sympathetic glances she kept casting his way. Maybe she was worried about him, which was only natural. His wheezing did seem to be growing louder. Brooke placed a hand on his shoulder, but he shoved it away. It was so unlike him.

She gasped, taken aback, but decided to turn her wrath on Cameron. "What the heck was that about?" she asked him.

Cameron continued to direct his scowl at Glitch. "It was about the fact that Blue-Spider doesn't know when to keep his mouth shut."

Cameron remembered Glitch's real name only as a barb.

Glitch scoffed. "Why would anything I have to say bother you?" he asked, his voice hoa.r.s.e. He looked over at the new guy, who was taking a singular interest in what was going on at our table. "Unless there's something about this guy you aren't telling us."

Cameron seemed to calm then. "Just keep him away from Lor."

"Then there is something you're not telling us," Brooke said, her eyes round with apprehension. "What is it?"

He settled back in his chair and clenched his teeth in frustration. "I told you before. He's fuzzy around the edges." Then he glanced at Ashlee, and I could tell he wasn't sure what he could say in front of her.

"It's okay," Brooke said, "she's trying to help us figure out what's going on."

After a moment, he gave in and said, "I've been sensing all kinds of abnormal activity for days. Stuff I couldn't put my finger on. But the minute Neanderthal gets here, it stops. Everything stops and there's just this low hum of energy, like when you hear the ba.s.s of a stereo before you can see the car. Something is coming, and I don't know what."

"So," Brooke said, "he's not a warlock?"

"A what?" When she took another bite of her salad, he asked, "Where did you get that idea?"

"It was just a thought."

Cameron frowned at her. He was worried. He hadn't touched his pizza. Something that never happened.

"Have you sensed Jared yet?" I asked him for the thousandth time.

He pushed his pizza aside and shook his head.

After we sat in silence for a good thirty seconds, Ashlee took an apprehensive bite of her sandwich. "How does it work?" she asked after swallowing. "Your visions. How do you do it?"

Glitch looked at her in surprise. I'd have to fill him in later.

It felt weird talking about it with someone other than my family and friends. I wasn't sure how much to tell her, but she'd kept our secret for weeks. Sure, for nefarious reasons, saving it up for extortion and all, but clearly she could keep a secret.

Once I made sure Glitch was breathing okay, I said, "Sometimes I can touch someone and see something from their past or future, but only if there is something to be seen. It doesn't always work." I stabbed a carrot slice. "And sometimes it works too well."

She frowned. "What do you mean by something to be seen?"

I sat back in my chair. "Well, I don't get a vision every time I touch someone, thank G.o.d. If there is something important that needs to be seen, I can see it, but not always. It either happens or it doesn't. I can't really explain it beyond that."

After regarding us with uncertainty she asked, "What about with Isaac? Will you be able to see what's going on?"

"I won't know until I try. I hope so." I really did. If Isaac saw something or had inside info into what was going on in Riley's Switch-or more important, with Jared-I wanted to know.

"I hope so too," she said.

Brooke leaned into me. "Lor, are you sure? From what you told me, this could be dangerous."

"It's worth the risk to my mental well-being. If he knows anything that could help us-"