“I’ll help get her head on,” Skyla offers and I get out of theway.
Gage comes over with those tired bloodshot eyes. “Thanks, man. I couldn’t have done it withoutyou.”
“Same.” I give him a quick fist to the shoulder. I glance over to find that Skyla has Kate’s head in the right spot and that scarf of hers tight as a noose. She’s scouring the glove compartment for what I’m assuming is a pen, and she holds one up to the light victoriously before handing it toKate.
Gage leans in. “What do you think Kate has to say about my mom?” He folds his arms over his chest and offers a disappointed look in the direction of the family home as if he senses the news isn’tfavorable.
“I don’t know. Did she even know your mom? Maybe she went to the preschool? Emma runs the largest preschool on the island. I think at some point everyone under twenty-five passed through those doors. I bet that’s what it is. She probably has some long suppressed memory of how wonderful she is and she wants to thank her. Don’t underestimate your mother.” I hate that I’m essentially echoing Dudley’s words. “She leaves a damn good impression.” I offer a mock sock to hisshoulder.
“That’s probably it.” He offers a quick pat to my back. “I’ll catch you later.” We head over to Skyla, and she quickly crumbles the note in her hand and buries it in her pocket. Her face looks unreasonably pale, despite the fact she’s dusted with fresh Paragon soil like the rest of us. Whatever Kate jotted down, Skyla isn’t up for show andtell.
“Go ahead and get the boys, get a shower, and some sleep.” I offer her a quick embrace. “I’ll make sure Kate is comfortable.” As comfortable as you can be without your head formally attached. “I’ll have Ezrina look at her comemorning.”
She gives a frantic nod. “That’s great.” She looks to Gage. “Why don’t you call your mom and ask her to get the boys ready? I’ll meet you in the truck. I just want to say good night toKate.”
Gage gives a quick wave and heads to histruck.
“What did the note say, Skyla?” I glance to Kate who looks morbidly exhausted and, in truth, I’m paranoid she might keel over again on the ride back to thehouse.
“It said”—the words pull from Skyla’s lips in slow motion as she looks to our old undead friend—“Emma istrouble.”
“Trouble? How?” I glance to Kate. Her eyes are glazed over, fatigued beyond reason. That just goes to show, some dirt naps are never longenough.
Skyla shakes her head just barely. “She wouldn’t say. She clammed up and just kept mumbling Emma’s name over and over again as if it were some chant.” Skyla gently combs Kate’s hair to the side of her face. “Good night. Sleep tight,” she whispers before taking a step back, and I shut the door for her. “Logan.” Skyla closes her eyes a moment too long as if her body were begging for respite any way it can get it. “What could she have meant? Is there something about Emma that you’re keeping from me?” Her voice is soft, but that accusatory look in her eyes is sharp as a lion’s claw. Skyla is lacerating me with a simpleglance.
“No. I swearit.”
Gage revs up the engine before pulling alongside of us. He teleported back to Whitehorse before Ethan and Drake came over and retrieved it but refused to teleport the masses—not with the feds lying in wait for some paranormal phenomenon, and it would have been justthat.
“There’s my ride.” Skyla’s brows pitch as if offering me one last chance to pony up the confession, but there isn’t one. A deafening silence fills the voidinstead.
I watch as they take off. Skyla and Gage, together again if only for a moment.That’s the way it should be, I try to tell myself, but that knot in the pit of my stomach rejects it every singletime.
I hop in and drive Kate home in silence. Lexy is there when we arrive to gift her the enthusiastic greeting she deserves. It sounds like a party in the house, and that’s just Lex bubbling with excitement. But I’m quick to ditch the reunion and get tobed.
I dream of Skyla all night long, of the two of us swimming through corpses, blood rising over us in waves, washing us red as a reminder of the new catastrophe I’m afraid we’ve pulled ourselvesinto.
Oh, Skyla. What have wedone?
How do we always manage to slip in the shit of our ownmaking?
* * *
The next fewdays are spent cataloging the formerly dead, manically emptying all the thrift stores on the island of their casual ware and shoes, and turning the bowling alley kitchen into a bona fide pizza delivery service. It turns out newly reanimated bodies like to eat. Scratch that—they are ravenous to put things other than earthworms into their pie holes. In light of the fact, I’ve been syphoning food from the bowling alley and sending a steady stream of pizza delivery to Skyla’s home behind the gates—the old Walsh residence where we stand now with the dilapidated kitchen serving as crisiscentral.
Dudley steps up beside me as we watch Skyla and Ellis try to work out a plan of attack on paper as far as how to best utilize our newfound army ofvolunteers.
“Nothing like the stench of death in the afternoon to enliven the senses.” His crimson eyes glance my way before nodding to the disheveledmasses.
“That, my friend, is the scent of pepperoni and sausage. It turns out that death can really enliven your carnivore tendencies.” I glance to Skyla hard at work trying to figure out where the undead puzzle pieces fit best. “What do you think we shoulddo?”
Dudley leans in and redirects my line of vision back to his ugly mug. “As your supervising spirit, I’d suggest you back away slowly from the puddle of blood seeping your way, but it’s too late for that. You’re covered in it, sealed with its iniquity—its stench branded upon your very soul.” The look of discontent crosses his face. It’s an expression I’ve grown familiar with coming from him. Unfortunately, Dudley is right more than he is ever wrong, and once again, unfortunately, he is never, everwrong.
“So, you’re staying out of it.” I figured as much. Dudley has made it clear that the graveyard grovel was something he’d rather keep his sooted wings far awayfrom.
He frowns over at me—a look I’ve grown accustomed to. “Have you ever heard the sayingmeasure twice cutonce?”
“Yes.” My insides tense because I can feel the barb before he ever lets it fly from hismouth.
