“It's kinda random now anyway, right?” Jonesy asked.
Yeah, now that I thought about it, sometimes the voices were loud, sometimes hardly there. I couldn't figure out why it came and went but it was a recent development.
“Who was it Jade?”
“I don't know who they are but I know what they are.”
“What?” Jonesy asked.
“They're government alright, just not the government that we know about. They're like a subdivision of a subdivision.”
That sounded bad. I thought of my ransacked house, where nothing had been stolen but everything had been looked at, touched, moved.
“Let's split. I don't want to talk about this here,” John said, looking around.
Good idea. We gathered our crap up and started to walk away.
“Wait,” Jade said.
I turned toward her. “You okay?”
She nodded. “Getting there. Let me go find Sophie first.”
Jonesy made a face. Uh-oh. Jade put her hands back on her hips and marched over to Jonesy.
Almost nose to nose but she was still shorter. “You got a problem with Sophie?” she demanded, her face fierce.
“No, no problem,” Jonesy sputtered, caving.
“You looked like you had one.”
“It's just, we used to be an all-guy thing, and now... well, we may be getting too many hens in the chicken coop.”
“Oh... please! You bunch of roosters need all the help you can get. Be grateful!”
And with that parting shot she pivoted on her heel and went off in search of Sophie. Sophie of the Astral-Projection persuasion.
We stood silently looking after Jade.
“You handled that well, Jonester,” John said.
“Yeah,” he said glumly.
“Maybe next time just let the girls come,” I said.
“Yeah,” John said.
“This mundane thing blows goats. And the girls are taking over the world,” Jonesy stated.
“Not yet,” I said, winking.
Jonesy smiled and we walked out the door into the school parking lot where cars swarmed everywhere. We hiked over to a small grassy knoll, waiting for the girls. I threw my backpack behind my head and laid down, my head balancing on a lump of junk. Jonesy and John flanked me.
We waited as the sunlight warmed our bodies. Almost summer, I thought. Not hot and crummy yet, still spring.
“We have to find out what these...”
“Formula-people,” I supplied.
“Yeah them. What they really want from you,” John said.
“They're just rooting around, hoping to come up with something,” I said.
“Good thing you didn't put that pill bottle in your backpack,” Jonesy said.
“Right. Isn't that the truth,” John said.
We thought about who was watching.
We were lying there all languid when two shadows fell over our bodies. All three of us put our hands up to shield our eyes from the sun. It was the girls; Sophie's shadow, completely shading my body, Jade's covering Jonesy up to the neck.
“Let's go,” Sophie said.
“Where?” Jade asked.
“The cemetery,” Jonesy said.
“No,” I said.
“Oh, come on Hart! You can clean house if anyone shows up!”
Jonesy sat up, shaking off the languor and pantomiming punching.
“I don't want to. Every time I go to the cemetery a bunch of crap rains down on our heads! No.”
“What could happen?” Sophie asked.
We looked at her. She laughed. “It's that bad?”
“Yeah,” we said in unison.
“But it is the safest, the most private. They can't hear us.” Jade reasoned.
I thought about it, wavering. There really wasn't a very good alternative.
I made a decision. “Okay, everybody pulse the parental authority, get the go ahead, and let's book to the graveyard.”
“Wait,” everyone's attention turned to John. “Let's have a look-out. We don't want to be followed.”
“Brilliant. I'll do it,” Sophie said.
I nodded and we dug out our pulses, getting the parents handled.
Jade's face fell.
“What?” I asked, my hand landing on her shoulder and giving it a gentle squeeze.
“Aunt Andrea says I need to go home and check in,” Jade made airquotes.
John said, “I don't like it.”
That made two of us.
“Not normal Jade.”
“I know, right?”
“You don't think it's your crazy-ass dad?” Jonesy asked delicately.
I glared at him. Jade saw and said, “It's okay, he's crazier than a shit-house rat.”
Sophie barked a very un-girl like shout of laughter.
“Where did you get that one?” she asked.
“Andrea.”
“I guess she's good for something.”
“Sophie, she really tries. They were raised in the same family ya know.”
“I know,” her hand squeezed the opposite shoulder. Now we both had our hands on our girl. Sophie's eyes met mine, Jade was fragile and we loved her. A fierce grip of possession blossomed in me and I felt a new focus for my life.
She gave us that radiant smile reserved for us; me and her best friend, I'd take that.
CHAPTER 21
Any graveyard always affected me the same way. As I got closer the voices grew louder. It was Jade and I in front with Sophie slightly behind, the Js pulling up the rear. Voices of the dead droned; I hadn't missed their absence (internal sigh).
Jade and I, our hands held tightly as we swept under the arch of scrolling metal, looked up at me with questions. Touching me like she was, I was tuned to the frequency of the dead. Brave girl, her hand was still dry.
John trotted up to us and the whispering dimmed. “So, where do you want to go?”
That was easy. “Let's head over to Clyde's grave.”
“Clyde?”
“Yeah, he's by far my favorite corpse.”
Jade laughed. “Ah... okay, whatever you say.”
“I've never seen the fun, so I'll assume being in the cemetery is kinda risky,” Sophie said.
Jonesy caught up with us, hearing the last comment. “Hell yeah! That's the full throttle of hanging out with us! It's the way we roll,” Jonesy said, folding his arms across a muscular chest.
Sophie looked at him.“Well, good for you,” she snarked, turning to Jade, eyebrows shooting up. Gee, how did we ever live without them?
I figured Sophie had about five and a half minutes before she succumbed to Jonesy's charms.
The Js did a high five to cement the moment and I grinned. The friends were it, they just flat were. Sophie gave them a look, knowing her presence was not going to change our supreme maleness.
We made our way to Clyde's grave... ole' twice-raised Clyde. He looked a little “smart” on that last run and I'd felt uneasy. No guts, no glory. Jerking corpses out of the ground more than once, I pondered that. Nope, I really wanted to know.
We plopped down in a semi-circle around his grave. The thrumming of the dead sounded very low in the background. I just couldn't make sense of that. They should be shrieking with me being in the cemetery and all. Jade was on my left, John on my right. Jonesy and Sophie had an unspoken truce, sitting together. Jonesy had his legs splayed out in front of him with his elbows locked behind him and Sophie sat legs crossed, elbows on knees and palms holding her chin.
“Okay we're here, now what?” Sophie asked.
“I want to talk more about the testing,” I said.
Jonesy frowned “What's to talk about? I mean, I'm a mundane, you guys have the juice, end of discussion.”
Maybe he was jealous. He was the only one that hadn't pinged paranormal. Didn't matter to me, Jonesy was always gonna be Jonesy. It just was.
John looked at him. “Remember, you get things done.”
My thoughts exactly,
Jonesy was our main man.
“Yeah, I'm feeling that,” Jonesy said.
“Don't wanna take you guys away from your love fest or anything but I want Jade to let us in on this spy crap.”
Jade laughed. “It's not a 'spy thing,' it's more like a government within our government.”
“Okay, we've got that. What's their objective?”
Silence.
“You know, what's their goal?” John clarified.
John was gonna be my dad when he grew up.
“What I felt was they're trying to identify kids that have rare paranormal abilities and are also powerful.”
“Why were they looking in my locker?”
She looked down at her hands, twisting and untwisting. “They suspect you.”
“Why?”
“The dog. Garcia saw what you did with the dog.”
I looked at Sophie, big-eyed. “You're sworn to secrecy.”
“Ah... okay.”
“But I didn't raise the dog, the dog wasn't dead yet.”
“Come on Caleb, that's what my parents call splitting hairs.” That's like saying you're almost pregnant,” John said.
Sophie and Jade laughed, mutual amusement.
I guess he had a point, dammit.
“Okay, so I did some AFTD crap, he saw it and... what?”
“I felt, that they have fingers of their group within the police department,” Jade finished.
“Haven't we figured out that Garcia is dirty?” Jonesy asked.
I wasn't absolutely sure but it was circling the drain of possibility.
“What was that cop that showed up when you raised granny?” John asked.
I thought about that... McCain? McRaw...
“McGraw!” I remembered.
“Yeah, him. You said he pulled some scary shit.”
“He did; gave us a little elemental show,” I said.
“Didn't he cause, what, a mini-tornado?” Jonesy asked.
“Not really, it was more like we were all in the eye of the storm.”
“Was it righteous?” Jonesy asked, eyes alive.
“No, it was an intimidation thing. And he's Garcia's partner. Two plus two equals four, pal.”
Sophie shook her head, ringlets bouncing. “Whatever. We have dirty cops and adults that are lurking around looking for ways to force us to do their dirty work. All good news! What's the plan?”
John was the thinker, Jonesy the schemer and I was becoming the leader. Not a role I thought I'd be in.
“One thing is obvious: they all know what we are. In Caleb's case, they don't know how much he is, but that's a matter of time. Too many people know that he can corpse-raise. Jade's dad knows!” John said.
That was true, but...
“He won't say anything,” I said with conviction.
“Why not?” John asked.
“Because, A) he'd look bad, B) he would have to explain why he was there and what happened.”
“Caleb's right, he doesn't like to look bad. He wants to be right all the time,” Jade said.
I hugged her to me, stuffing her face in my neck, silently thanking God that I had worn cologne, “It's okay, he's not gonna hurt you, ever.”
She pulled away, her tears shimmering like diamonds on her lower lashes.
The Js looked away, feeling uncomfortable.
Sophie saved it. “We still haven't figured out a plan.”
“I've been thinking,” Jonesy started, we all groaned, a typical Jonesy Plan included us all getting our asses in a sling.
He held up a hand. “Hear me out,” he looked at us all. “I think we need a hideout.”
Cool! That's just what we needed.
“A safe house,” John said.
Jonesy looked at John. “That's what I said.”
Sophie said, “I think we need a labor force.”
“What do you mean exactly?” Jade asked.
“Caleb, you can raise the dead, right?”
I think we determined that. I nodded.
“Slaves,” John breathed.
“Slaves,” Jonesy repeated.
Sophie nodded.
“Isn't this one of those moral things adults are always blabbing about?” Jade asked.
Yeah it was.
“To recap then, you want me to raise zombies, to what? Work on a hideout?”
“Safe house,” John corrected.
“Whatever!” I yelled.
This was wrong on about a hundred different levels. Yet, it did have a practical feel to it.
Sophie said, “Do you not see the logic, Caleb?”
I did.
“But, I haven't really tried to raise anyone (except Gran... oops), this would be really, really...”
“Premeditated,” John said.
Jonesy looked at him.
“CSI,” John expounded.
“The crime show, what, in their twentieth season?”
“Yeah, they use walkers now!” Jade said.
“Okay,” Sophie made the cut-the-neck gesture with her finger, “focus, guys.” They looked at her, shrugging.
She directed her attention back to me. “I'm just saying, if you could, like, raise two or three zombies. Then make them construct a lair...”
“Lair?” Jade repeated.
“A secret place,” Jonesy said, then added, “maybe underground?” He pulled his shoulders up close to his ears in an exaggerated shrug.
This was actually sounding pretty cool, in theory anyway.
“I don't know,” Jade hesitated, “is it wrong to make them work for us, like slaves.”
Those words hung in the air, sitting there.
John finally broke the silence, “I don't think so. I mean, we need a place to go. We don't know if Caleb is going to have to go into hiding.” I looked at him with skepticism. He saw me and continued, “You never know, Caleb. Also, there are the dumb-asses at school, this government agency,” he looked at Jade, who nodded, “and the random parent who shows up and freaks. No offense Jade.”
“It's okay.”
“John and Sophie are right, Caleb. We need a place they'd never think to look,” Jonesy implored.
“I don't like it, but there's degrees of morality and we are just going to have to be more moral than the guys that are plotting on using us,” Jade said, adding, “what about the city dump?”
We all looked at her. The dump?
“Yeah, it's where I went when my dad got...” she looked at Sophie, “bad.”
Her eyes sought mine like a compass. I held her a little tighter. I was starting to hate her dad. Someday, he and I would come to an understanding and that day was coming.
“I like it,” Jonesy said.
“How far is it from here?” Sophie asked.
I remembered that Sophie didn't know Kent like the back of her hand. She hadn't always lived here like the rest of us.
“It's walkable,” John said.
Jonesy hopped up, brushing the grass off his butt. “Let's do it!”
The rest of us stood. I noticed again the voices were hardly more than a murmur. Weird. I told the others.
“Shouldn't they be almost screaming? Right in the damn middle of corpse-ville?” Jonesy asked, twirling around.
“Yes, they definitely should,” John said slowly, considering.
John snapped his head and looked at me, I stared back.
The girls said, “What?” at the same time.
Everything suddenly fell into place. I knew what John was.
Psychic Null.
Every ability was negated when he was around. That's why I couldn't hear the voices!
John grinned so hugely I thought he'd push the freckles right off his face.
“What gives?” Jonesy asked.
“I cancel everyone's powers,” John said, pride creeping into his voice.
“You're a Null?” Sophie asked, incredulous.
“What!” Jonesy shrieked. “How does that help us?”
“In a word... Carson,
” Jade replied.
“And everyone else,” I said, stating the obvious.
Jonesy's face took on a life of its own. “Fantastic! That blows their juice all to hell!” he clapped his hands together for emphasis.
“Try to raise a corpse, Caleb!” Jonesy cried.
“Right now? That wasn't really the plan.”
“We've gotta see!” Jonesy shouted.
“Shh!” Sophie said.
“Right, sorry,” he said, chastised for three seconds.
Jonesy said in a normal voice (translation: still loud), “Try it.”
John said, “I don't know, whenever you say: I wanna see, I wanna do it... something bad happens.”
John was right on that, maybe we should find out if our speculation was on. Could John zero-out my abilities? Could he, if things flat-lined, protect us from one of these freaks that were working for that government agency? Good questions. I wanted answers, knowledge is power, Gramps always said.
“Jonesy is a little enthusiastic with experimentation. But, it'd be good to know,” I said.
“Remember the last time he wanted to 'see'?” John asked.
Yeah, that hadn't worked out real great. The whole Carson-pulling-a-can-of-fire-whoop-ass on all of us. Geez. Internal cringe.
“Let's try it,” Jade said.
How could I say no when my girlfriend was willing to be brave.
Ah, hell. Okay.
“Alright,” I said out loud.
We looked around us, our pulses read almost five o'clock. We had to get hot because parents were expecting us to come home and eat soon. Crap.
John stood closer, looking down at me, his bony elbows standing at attention. “I'm ready.”
“How does this work? I mean, do you know?”
John shook his head. “Not really, I mean, we just put it together that I may be a Null. We still don't know for sure. But, it would explain some stuff.”
Like all the times the voices had been bearable in the five classes we had together. Not for Biology though.
John read my mind. “I don't think I've had it long.”
That would mean that it fully came on line just recently. Would have been sweet to miss the whole frog dissection catastrophe.
“Okay, you two just stand where you are. Caleb, you let your,” Sophie moved her hand back and forth, “stuff go and we'll see if something happens. And! If it doesn't, we'll know,” she finished.
“Wait a sec. Shouldn't we see how far away John has to be before Caleb can use his powers again?” Jade asked.
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