“Girls are hitting on him all the time, and he’s looking back,” he grumbled. I had a hard time wrapping my head around that.
“Well, why don’t you bring him down to the farmer’s market on Saturday? I can see what you’re talking about and yell at him,” I suggested.
“Lexie, you brilliant vixen!” he gushed. “You’re on!”
I smiled. Jake could always distract me. “So, tell me, what else is going on?”
Jake started talking about the gossip floating around his school in Dulcet; who was dating whom, who was hooking up, and who had been nailed for cheating. His school was smaller, but it seemed to have more drama than ours. It was like my own soap opera, and Jake knew everyone’s secrets. After an hour of making me laugh, he had to go so he could call Derrick for their nightly goodnight talk. I hung up with a small smile.
As I lay in the dark, waiting to go to sleep, everything came back. I didn’t want to deal with it yet. I tried to push it back again and again. It was too quiet, I needed sound. Sitting on the side of my bed, I opened the middle drawer of my desk and pulled out the sound machine Zeke had bought me months ago. I plugged it in and turned on the heartbeat setting. I lay back down; the sound filled my ears. I had to deal with it, I had to think about it. I knew that. But… tomorrow. I’d deal with it tomorrow. I fell asleep, curled up with Hades, to the sound of a heartbeat filling my room.
Chapter 2
Thursday
I woke up late, but since it was the last day of school it didn’t really matter. Not caring about the time, I stopped at the cemetery on my way to school anyway.
I parked my ’89 Blazer near the Veteran’s section and climbed out. Sweat immediately began running down my face. A large group of souls waited for me. I stopped once my barriers shook.
“Alright. We did thirty yesterday, let’s do thirty today,” I announced.
“Why only thirty?” someone called.
“Because I almost passed out yesterday. Let’s keep the brain damage to a minimum,” I countered. Then I stilled. I had been joking about that for months. Now it wasn’t so funny anymore. As a group, the souls moved forward and made a line. I went to the front.
An elderly woman who had to be in her nineties smiled at me. “Hello, dear. I’m Rosa.” Her eyes ran over me. “You need to eat something, honey. Oh, I wish I could make you some of my spaghetti bolognese. It’d put meat on your bones.”
I smiled at her. She was a sweet old woman. “I’m Lexie, it’s nice to meet you. I had some pizza last night so I need to work that off today.”
She chuckled and shook her head. “You kids these days.” Her need to move on slipped through my barriers. I needed to get started.
“Everyone hold hands,” I announced. “If you let go, the person next to you won’t make it.” I still didn’t know if that was true, but I wasn’t going to take chances. I focused on Rosa’s need to move on. That gold ribbon of will moved out from me and wrapped around her wrist before it serpentined through the line. It grabbed each soul before moving on to the next. Once everyone was attached, I dropped.
I landed in the Veil in a crouch. As I got to my feet I counted the souls. Thirty. Good. As golden doorways formed, I walked through the small, growing woods. The grass was now a rich green. Wildflowers grew everywhere. The old, burnt stumps were gone now, and there were several small saplings around waist high in their place. And of course, Sophie’s apple tree had grown even larger. I placed my hand on the slightly rough bark and smiled. Whenever I saw this tree I missed Sophie. Yeah, she wasn’t my sister, but she had become a friend. For some reason, touching the tree made me feel better.
I patted the trunk and turned back in time to watch Rosa waddle over to her door, where a young man in trousers, suspenders and a white shirt waited with open arms. The closer Rosa walked to the man the younger she grew, her silver hair turning black and her wrinkles fading. I smiled, watching as Rosa jumped into the man’s arms and he spun her around, before the door closed. Who was going to come for me when it was my turn? I shoved the thought away. I was okay. I wasn’t having that many issues. The lesion was only the size of a small gumball. Rory had once told me that Claire, at the end, had a black spot the size of a golf ball, so I really shouldn’t be too worried. I knelt in the grass and smelled the flowers. I had to get to class. I closed my eyes and pulled myself out.
When I opened my eyes I immediately regretted it; knives of pain were being driven through my head. I dropped to my butt in the grass and pulled out my tissues, holding them to my nose as I tried to get my breath back. Okay, I had to admit it; the trips to the Veil were getting worse. The more people I took, the longer it took to recover. Hot liquid ran down my neck on both sides. I used my tissues to wipe away the blood trailing from my ears to my neck. Just that action took all the energy I had. I lay down in the grass, my arms and legs limp. I closed my eyes again and waited. The fact I was this tired just from crossing souls over… it was taking everything I had at times. Now I knew why. I was doing more damage. Fuck. I needed to pull back somehow, but... could I? There were so many souls left to cross.
I couldn’t hide this from the guys forever. They were going to figure out something was up eventually. I watched the sunlight shine through the leaves. I just… I needed some time before I told them.
Feeling stronger, I sat up and rested my arms on my knees. I was tired, worn out. I checked my tissues. They were soaked. I pulled out some more and cleaned up. I needed to get the Veil open, soon. But first, I needed lots of iced coffee.
Chapter 3
It was the end of the day when I started pulling my old books from my locker. Normally I wouldn’t have any books left, but these were the books Serena had sold me, along with a few of my own. Ever since Tara had found out about my ability to see the dead she’d been snooping around. I had even caught her in my bedroom a couple of times.
I wiped the sweat off my face before tucking another book away. The heat had my denim Bermuda shorts and gray V-neck shirt sticking to me. I couldn’t wait to get home and throw on a tank top and shorter shorts.
I reached in and grabbed another book.
“Hey, Red, what’s taking so long?” Isaac called in his rich, honey-like voice. The twins came around the corner and I had to take a breath. There was no getting around it - my friends were hot. As in sexy as hell and not just sweating.
“I’m getting my books,” I reminded him.
“Is Tara still snooping around your room?” Asher asked as he leaned against the locker next to mine. He was trying to beat the heat in cargo shorts, a white tank top and an open, button-down, blue and white plaid shirt. It did good things for his arms.
“Yep, and now she’s graduated to rifling through my drawers,” I grumbled.
“Can you put a lock on your door?” Miles asked as he joined us. Miles was sweating it out wearing blue jeans with his white Star Wars T-shirt.
“I have one, but she keeps getting in,” I answered.
“Then we need to get you a better one,” Ethan suggested.
I stuffed another book into my bag. “I was thinking about it, but I need to ask Rory.”
“Ask him, and I’ll bring one over,” Zeke said in his deep, gravelly voice as he joined the group.
“Okay, I’ll ask tonight,” I muttered as I put another book in my bag.
“What is taking so long?” Zeke demanded before he stepped behind me to look over my head and into my locker. He’d been doing that a lot since January. After my abduction and assault, we learned that Zeke was more likely to trigger a flashback than the others. Since then it’s become his habit to let me know he was behind me. I don’t think he even realized he did it anymore.