Rogue

by Gina Damico

  Lex focused on the office desk instead, the one Ferbus had been sitting at when she met him for the first time. Was that really only nine months ago?

  “So how do we do this?” she asked. “Another fancy grenade, or what?”

  He didn’t say anything, just stared at the vault.

  She raised an eyebrow. “Uncle Mort?” she said, trying to snap him out of it. “What is it? The thing that closes a portal?”

  He hesitated—then spoke calmly, evenly. “A living person.”

  She frowned. “What?”

  “A living person must enter the Void,” he said. “That’s what destroys the portal.”

  Lex didn’t understand. He wasn’t making any sense. “But you handed Skyla something, right before—”

  “Yeah,” he said with a bittersweet smile. “A billiards ball. Inside joke.”

  “You said she was fine.”

  “She is fine,” he said, swallowing. “Or she will be, once the Afterlife is restored.”

  “The After—Skyla’s dead?”

  Lex felt a part of herself shut down. She shook her head, grabbing Uncle Mort’s hoodie as she realized what he was saying. What he was going to do.

  “It’s okay, Lex,” he said with a wince-smirk.

  Her fingernails dug through the fabric to his skin. “No,” she said, her voice breaking. “No. Why you?”

  “Captain goes down with the ship.”

  “But . . . there has to be another way. What about Bang? She misses Pip, she’d be happy to do it! Or hell, we can throw Kilda in there!”

  “Once again, Lex, your utter disregard for human life is staggering.”

  “I mean it!” she shouted, hysterical. “Why does it have to be you?”

  “Because it has to,” he said gently. “Think of all those mayors in there who willingly gave up their own lives, all because I told them to. How can I ask them to do that without doing it myself?”

  “I don’t know! Just don’t go. Please.”

  “It’s not up for discussion, Lex.” He cracked the bones in his neck and rubbed his hands together. He looked nervous.

  Lex stared at the floor, numb. That’s why Broomie had called instead of LeRoy. LeRoy was dead. That’s why Skyla had been so insistent that she be the one to destroy the portal in Necropolis—she wanted to be the one to sacrifice herself. Skyla was dead. All the mayors in the Grimsphere—dead.

  Everyone had had a part to play. Including Lex.

  And Uncle Mort had known it for a long, long time.

  She felt herself getting delirious. “Did you realize from the start that I’d become a Grim?” she asked him, manic. “I mean, you gave me the hoodie way back when I was eight, you had to have . . .” She trailed off. Was there really a point in rehashing all of this? Now, of all times?

  He looked at her. “No. I thought there was a good chance—and even when you were a kid, I saw some signs, the beginnings of aggressive behavior—but no, I never knew for sure. Just like I never knew for sure with Driggs. It’s not an exact science.”

  “I don’t get it,” she said. “I mean, why me and not Cordy?”

  He shrugged. “Luck of the DNA, I suppose.”

  “But you did plan it all out from the beginning. You fixed my mom up with my dad, knew she’d probably have kids and that eventually you’d try to use those kids to fix the Grimsphere.”

  “Christ, Lex, when you put it that way, I really sound like a monster.” He snickered, but his smile faded. “But yes. I did all that. And I did it knowing full well that whoever that kid turned out to be, they’d have to go through hell in order for this plan to succeed. My hope was that in the end, that kid would realize it was all for the greater good. But now . . .”

  He swallowed and looked at his hands.

  “I love you, kiddo,” he said. “Like you’re my own daughter. I never wanted kids, but if I did, I’d want them to turn out exactly like you.”

  Lex wanted to say something, but she didn’t trust her voice not to catch.

  He smiled. “You can be the biggest brat in the world sometimes, but you’re smart and you’re strong, and you’ve made the best choices possible under the conditions I’ve put you through. I wouldn’t change a thing about you. Not one thing.”

  He walked over to stand in front of her. “It was awful, what I did. Setting you up, using you like a pawn. Though to be completely honest, I can’t even say that I regret it. It worked, after all. You became the sort of person I’d hoped—and feared—you’d be, the only one in the world with a fighting chance of saving the Afterlife.” He bit his lip. “I don’t regret it. But for what it’s worth, I’m sorry.” He held her gaze, and his voice turned to gravel. “I am sorry, Lex.”

  Lex blinked. What was she supposed to say to that? The man had brought her to Croak to further his own agenda, hoping that she’d be the weapon he needed, and in the process of reaching her full potential as that weapon, she’d be required to do terrible things, become a terrible person. Her sister had even been dragged into it, only to be killed for her troubles. How could Lex forgive him for that?

  But if she hadn’t come to Croak, she never would have found out who she was meant to be. She’d discovered the one thing that she’d been amazingly good at. She’d made friends for the first time in years, fallen in love, and been given a purpose in life—and a noble one at that, one that would save the souls of all those who’d come before her.

  The truth was, she’d forgiven him long ago.

  She wanted to tell him so, but she couldn’t manage to do anything but look up at him with watering eyes and nod.

  He seemed to understand. He swept her up in a hug, put his face on top of her head, and combed his fingers through her hair. They stayed that way for a long time—too long, probably, given the urgency of the situation. But they couldn’t seem to let go.

  “Are you scared?” she finally spoke.

  “Of dying?” He swallowed. “Yes. Of course I am.”

  They were silent again.

  “Please don’t go,” she whispered, squeezing him tight. By this point she wasn’t even bothering to keep the tears from falling. “I need you.”

  “No, you don’t.” He pulled away from the hug to look at her. “You are more than capable of doing the rest of this on your own. Everything we’ve been through in the past few days, the decisions you’ve made—”

  Lex winced, remembering all those disapproving looks he’d given her. “I know, I’m sorry—I’ll do better, I promise!”

  He looked at her in disbelief, then closed his eyes as he spoke. “Lex, I’ve been so goddamned proud of you I couldn’t even speak.”

  Her jaw went slack.

  A large boom erupted somewhere in the Afterlife, followed by a disturbing crackling noise. “I have to go,” he said to Lex, though it also seemed as though he was steeling himself. “I have to go.”

  He put one foot into the Afterlife. “I’m going to rush to the Void as fast as I can, so the Bank will probably blow in less than a minute. Crash out of here so you can get away in time. Then find Grotton. Got it?”

  Lex nodded, barely hearing him.

  He gave her one last hug. “You know, I meant what I said that day, after Cordy died,” he said. “You really are a good kid.”

  With that, he stepped all the way into the Vault. He swallowed once, straightened his hoodie, and began to close the door. There was fear in his eyes, but also strength, plus something that Lex couldn’t identify but sure as hell hoped she had inside of her, too.

  “Bye, kiddo,” he said with a grin. “Be good.”

  She held her hand up to the Vault as it closed, keeping it there long after the floor started to rumble.

  20

  If Lex hadn’t Crashed out to the Ghost Gum tree and seen it with her own eyes, she never would have believed it.

  The Bank—command central of Croak and portal to the Afterlife—blown into a million pieces.

  The debris rained down on the Field like an asteroi
d shower, many pieces still smoking, though oddly not on fire. Screams arose from Dead End, and through the smoke, Lex could see people running, panicking.

  She felt numb, nonexistent. All she wanted to do was sit down on the ground and sob.

  But she couldn’t. There was still so much left to do.

  Like find her parents. Squinting through the haze, she entertained the ridiculous notion that they might just waltz out of a nearby building, safe and sound—

  She turned around, and that’s when she saw them. Not safe and sound, but tied up and bloodied, Norwood dragging them across the Field.

  Lex had heard of tunnel vision before, but she had never experienced it until that moment. Her eyes zoomed in on her parents, everything but their terrified forms being pushed into blurred edges around her vision. “Stop!”

  Norwood looked at her, then at the decimated Bank, his face twisted in a combination of hatred, determination, and abject fury. His hands were so red they were glowing; Lex could see them from where she stood.

  “Why?” he spat, radiating rage. The portals were gone, the Afterlife sealed away forever. He was losing, and badly. The only bargaining chip he had left was the Wrong Book, tucked under his arm.

  Crap, Lex thought. How am I going to get that back from him?

  “I’d hoped to bargain for the portal with your parents’ lives,” he went on, “but it looks like you and your uncle beat me to it. So I’ll just be Damning them. They’re useless to me now. Should have done it when I fried Lazlo in the first place.”

  Lex took a step back toward the tree. As she did, she got the strangest sense of déjà vu—she’d been at the same place only a short time ago, when Zara had released her from her cell and taken her to this very spot. Here they were again, but during the day. A bright, sunny day.

  But this time the fate of the Afterlife was at stake.

  The townspeople were approaching now, and it looked as though they had won, at least for the time being. Norwood’s men were being restrained, and the Juniors were all safe, though bloodied and bruised. Bang jogged up from the direction of Norwood’s house and gave Lex a helpless shrug, while Lex’s parents cried out and struggled against the bonds around their wrists and ankles. Lex fought against every instinct in her body that compelled her to run to them. Instead, she clenched her fists and stayed where she was.

  This had to go perfectly, or it was all for nothing.

  “Go ahead, Damn them,” she said, trying to keep her voice calm. “I’ll just bring them back!”

  Norwood laughed. “Ah, yes. Grotton told me you’d say that. The reset, is it? Sounds wonderful and all, but with what your wisp of a boyfriend plans to do if he becomes human again, I think I’ll pass.”

  “But if we have the power to end Heloise’s suffering, why would you pass that up?” Lex dropped her voice. “I know you can’t stand me, Norwood. I know that what I did to your wife was awful. But I can fix it. Let us do our thing, and I can send her right to the Afterlife, torture-free. Think about it.” She moved in closer. “You know what’s happening to her right now. Eternal torment. Pain. Misery. You really want to leave her to that? When you could have done something to help reverse it?”

  Norwood looked fairly tortured himself, his eyes swimming with confusion and doubt. “What other choice do I have?”

  Lex held his gaze. “Give up.”

  For a moment Norwood looked hopeful. Relieved, almost.

  But his face quickly soured. “You goddamned kids.” He spat at the ground. “You ruined everything. This is all I’ve ever worked for!” he said, yelling now. “The Grimsphere is my life. I gave up everything—any shot at a normal life, money, travel, a fam- ily—” He swallowed. “We wanted kids. But we couldn’t have them here. So we slammed that door and never looked back.” He looked at her. “And for what? For you brats to just waltz in and bulldoze it all as if it were nothing to you?” He shook his head. “No. Not gonna happen.”

  He held up the Wrong Book and brought his reddening hand to its pages. “I think it’s time for Grotton to go see the world, don’t you?”

  They’d run out of time.

  Lex saw the unthinkable unfold across her mind. Grotton would fly away, never to return, and she would never get the chance to Annihilate him. Driggs would be a ghost forever, wandering the earth alone until everyone he ever knew was long gone. The Afterlife would fall into decay and one day disappear completely—

  “No!” She lunged forward with a shout—but someone swooped in front of her, blocking her path.

  “Stop,” Driggs whispered. “Let him do it.”

  “What? Why?” Lex hissed. “Grotton will get away!”

  “No, he won’t. Trust me.” He nodded his head. “Move closer, but slowly.”

  Lex did, carefully edging toward Norwood and the book in his hand. As she did, she spotted Grotton’s face hovering a few feet off the ground, his gradually solidifying form glimmering in the sunlight, his smile of anticipation growing wider and wider.

  That’s when she realized what Driggs was thinking.

  The second Norwood’s fingers touched the Wrong Book, it went up in flames. Grotton burst into wild laughter, so ecstatic that he turned solid.

  Solid enough for Lex to grab his wrist.

  Stunned, he looked down at her hand and tried to twist away, but she wasn’t letting go. As long as she held on to him, he’d stay solid.

  As she gazed into his eyes, she felt it again, just as she had that night in Grave—a cool, searing rage that plunged through every inch of her body. The power to Annihilate.

  A shadow began to form around her scythe, enveloping her hand. She raised it—

  Then stopped.

  Grotton had caved in on himself. He shrank and shuddered, his eyes drowning in fear. “Please, love,” he whimpered. “Don’t.”

  Lex’s scythe almost slipped from her hand. She hadn’t been expecting this. Grotton was unimaginably evil—this had to be an act, right?

  But his dread seemed genuine. She could feel the sweat from his arm mingling with hers. The man was truly terrified.

  Just as Zara had been when Lex wrapped her hands around her throat.

  Lex gripped her scythe tightly. The shadow was still there. She felt the smooth black obsidian sliding beneath her skin—hard, cold, dependable. It had stayed true to her to the very end, just as Uncle Mort had promised.

  Uncle Mort.

  Be good, he’d said. Those were his last words.

  Was sentencing a man to eternal darkness good? Even if that man deserved it?

  But she didn’t know that he deserved it. She thought he did, but it didn’t matter what she thought. As Driggs said, she couldn’t be judge, jury, and executioner. It wasn’t her call.

  The reset had to be triggered, though, in order for Driggs to get his body back and dismantle the Grimsphere. Someone had to be Annihilated. Someone had to be sent to the Dark.

  But it doesn’t have to be Grotton.

  ***

  There were no tunnels of light, no choirs of angels. Lex’s life did not flash before her eyes; it thundered and convulsed, like a city under siege.

  Images of her and Cordy, their dad taking them outside at night and tossing them into the air, telling them to grab the moon, then catching them in a tangle of hugs.

  ***

  She let go of Grotton.

  ***

  Mrs. Bartleby had a propensity for losing rings. Not only did a stuffed Thanksgiving turkey once claim her engagement ring, but when the girls were five, the kitchen sink swallowed up her favorite—a gold band set with her daughters’ birthstone. She’d plunged her hand into the drain, groping blindly until she finally gave up and sank to the floor, crying and shaking, calling her husband to come home and take the plumbing apart.

  Lex, meanwhile, had snuck up to her room and taken out a pair of scissors, a piece of paper, some crayons, and a piece of tape.

  “Here, Mom,” she said, handing her a paper replica of the ring. “Plea
se don’t cry.”

  And Lex could never figure out, as her mom swept her daughter into her arms, why that made her cry even harder.

  ***

  She took two steps back.

  Lex and Cordy on their first day of middle school—Cordy with glasses and Lex with braces.

  “They’re going to call us the Doubleugly Twins,” Cordy moaned.

  “If they even thpeak to uth at all,” Lex replied, still not used to all that dental hardware.

  Cordy scowled. “As long as we stick together, we should be okay. Right?”

  Lex didn’t think so. But she squeezed her sister’s hand and nodded.

  “Yeth.”

  ***

  Lex looked at Elysia, who had run up to the Ghost Gum tree along with Ferbus and Bang. She was confused, wondering why Lex was just standing there looking at her. Then, with a dawning horror, her eyes widened.

  ***

  The girls on the soccer team, looking through the classroom windows at Lex stuck inside, serving yet another detention. How they laughed and cupped their hands around their mouths, whispering mean things about her. The way it made Lex feel as though parts inside of her were dying, wilting like dead flowers.

  Then, the polar opposite—the first time Elysia had hugged her, that radiating warmth that only a friend can provide. The way it made Lex feel as if those wilted parts were coming back to life, blooming brighter than ever.

  ***

  Driggs understood next. The shock was so great that he turned solid and started to run toward her, to stop her.

  ***

  The bus station, when they’d sent her off to Croak. The wetness around the rim of her mother’s eyes, the way her dad couldn’t quite look at her, the way both of their voices got stilted and heavy when they said goodbye.

  ***

  Lex looked at her parents. Though they were totally unaware of what was happening, they knew their daughter was in danger. They were panicking, screaming around the gags in their mouths.