He texted back and said, Okay. See you tomorrow.
That’s it.
“Well,” Riley’s mom says, “you know you’re welcome here anytime.”
“Thanks, Mrs. Perkins.”
“I mean it. Now, you boys don’t stay up too late. You’ve got school tomorrow.”
“Okay,” Zach says, “now you get to move your werewolf three spaces and take”—he pauses to glance at the game manual—“two elf coins and one… dollop of slime?” He makes a face, then roots around in the box. “That must be these.”
I take the two cardboard coins from him and the plastic chunk that’s apparently supposed to be slime. It looks kind of like a chocolate chip, only green and translucent.
All three of us are sitting on the floor of Zach’s room, with the board spread out between us. The game’s called Fantastic—the Fantasy Epic You Can Play at Home, and Zach got it used a few weeks ago. He said it’s only supposed to take an hour or two to play, but I swear it took him almost that long just to set it up.
Riley yawns. “That’s the end of your turn. And I don’t need a code name.”
I was telling him what Sarah said earlier, about trying to come up with a name for him. “Yes, you do, Perkins. You can’t not have a name.” I hand him the dice so he can take his turn.
“Wait,” Zach says, frowning at the rule book. “If you have any slime dollops at the end of your turn, then you have to roll a die, and if it’s higher than three, then you have to give the person to your right the chance to buy it from you, for ten elf coins.”
“What? Why would anyone want to buy my slime?”
“It’s right here, see?” He tries to hand me the rule book, but I don’t take it. Mostly because I don’t care what the reason is, but also because the book is, like, eighty pages long with really tiny print, and I don’t want to bother.
“Perkins, do you even have ten elf coins?”
Riley squints at his tiny pile of them. “I have four. And I don’t want to buy your slime either way, so I’ll just roll. Okay, Zach? And,” he adds as he shakes the dice in his hand before tossing them on the board, “I didn’t mean I’m not going to use a code name. I meant I already have one.”
“You rolled two fives,” Zach says, consulting the rule book again. “That means you get to take one free weapon card from the pile, but you can’t play it until the end of your turn.”
Riley picks up a card that has a picture of a sword on it, along with some numbers and symbols in the corner.
“You don’t have a code name,” I tell him.
“I haven’t told Sarah yet, so I don’t know if she’ll approve it. I mean, it’s just an idea I had. I was still thinking it over, so—”
“Just get on with it.”
“Secant.”
“What?”
Riley clears his throat. “Secant. You know, like, see can’t? Because I can turn invisible?”
I blink at him. “I hate you.”
He grins. “You think Sarah will like it?”
“I think Sarah’s going to kill you for thinking of it first. But yeah, she’ll like it.”
“It’s still your turn,” Zach tells him. “You rolled a ten, but you didn’t move your goblin yet. You should be over here”—he moves Riley’s character for him—“and then you get a blue card, which says you eat a bad gingerbread house, so you have to roll to see how much damage you take. Oh, wait, unless you have a star talisman card, to ward against witches, or six slimes you can trade in to counteract the food poisoning. That must be what the slimes are for. But you don’t have any of that stuff, so… Roll one of the dice.”
It’s been less than ten minutes of actual playing, but I already hate this game. I share a look with Riley, who I’m pretty sure feels the same way. I’m also pretty sure that neither of us has the heart to tell Zach yet.
“I got a three,” Riley says.
“Then you get these.” Zach hands him what looks like three red plastic pebbles. “Damage tokens. And now you decide if you want to attack anybody else, since you have that sword card.”
“Pass. Your turn, Zach.”
Zach rolls the dice.
“So,” Riley says to me, “did Sarah mention when she thought the three of us might start going on missions?”
“Saturday.”
“Saturday…?”
“As in, this Saturday.”
Riley’s eyes go wide. “But I only just got the okay to stop wearing my cast. That’s not much time. Did you tell her we have our superpower tests on Friday?”
“No, because that’s going to take, like, five seconds. All you have to do is turn invisible, and I just have to use my lightning. We do that all the time.”
Zach sighs. “You guys are so lucky.”
I raise my eyebrows at him. “Why? Because we have to take a test?”
“No. Because you get to do fieldwork.”
“Not at school we don’t. Not anymore.” Not until next year, anyway.
“You still got to, and now you’re doing stuff outside of school.” He moves his character a few spaces across the board and takes a green card from the pile. “It just seems so cool.”
Me and Riley exchange another look.
Zach seems to catch that he’s said something wrong. He looks back and forth between us. “I mean, not cool. But exciting? I know you got hurt, but you’re better now, and because of you guys, nobody died at the gala. It was heroic, and all I did was warn some people about it. Amelia did most of the talking, and she ended up helping you guys.” His shoulders deflate. “I just want to be doing something. Something that matters.”
“Warning people did matter,” Riley tells him.
“And,” I add, “I’m the reason people almost died there. So, cleaning up my own mess—no, having to get my friends help me clean up my own mess and putting them in danger—doesn’t count as doing something.” And it certainly wasn’t heroic.
Zach still seems unconvinced. “I can’t wait to start at Heroesworth. That’s all. And maybe, after I have some experience, maybe…” He stares down at the board, not looking at either of us. “Maybe I can join your group?”
“Zach,” Riley says, half scolding him for even asking.
Zach glances up at me real quick, then away again.
I open my mouth to say something, but nothing comes out. It’s not that I don’t want him to join our group. I’m just not sure I actually want there to be a group, what with the idea of going out on missions again sounding like the worst idea in the world right now. Plus, if Zach joins, then Amelia’s going to want to join, and that is not happening.
“Okay,” Zach says after a while, sounding totally defeated. “I get it.”
“It’s a long way in the future,” I tell him. “And it’s complicated.”
“I know you already have someone who can turn invisible, but I could still be useful.” He clenches his fists.
“Zach,” Riley says, “this isn’t a job interview. And like Damien said, it’s a long way off. Who knows what’s going to happen?”
“I do,” Zach mutters. “I’m not going to get to join, because you guys just see me as your stupid little brother.”
Riley scowls at him. “Finish your turn. It’s getting late.”
Zach looks hurt by that, and like he has something to say to it, but whatever it is, he swallows it down. “The card I got says I run into a band of elves in the woods.” He rolls one of the dice. “I take six damage.” He reaches into the box, but only comes back with three damage tokens. “Man, the rest of these are missing.”
“You have more,” Riley says.
Zach glares at him. “I know that. I have extras,” he tells me, “in case of emergencies like this one. They’re on my dresser. You’re closest,” he adds, when I don’t get up right away.
“What? Perkins can’t get them?” I look over at Riley. “Is your leg broken or something?”
Riley rolls his eyes at me. “I am not going to miss that.”
<
br /> I get up to get the extra damage tokens, but only because I feel bad about not telling Zach he could join our group. He’s not just Riley’s little brother—he’s my friend—but telling him that would sound stupid. And kind of patronizing. Even if it’s the truth.
And maybe I really don’t want him to join. It’s bad enough that Riley and Sarah are going to be in danger—I don’t need to add Zach to that list.
The top of his dresser’s covered in junk. There are a couple of board games stacked on one side—that are shoved so far over they look like they’re about to fall off—and there are a bunch of mini-figurines tangled up in a pile of string, some loose change, a battered fantasy novel with three bookmarks sticking out of it, a couple markers, his ticket stub from Heroes on Ice, and a pink sweet-sixteen bracelet that was a party favor at Amelia’s birthday.
“I don’t see any damage tokens.”
“Oh, right. Top drawer. They kept falling off and spilling all over, so I put them there for safekeeping.”
I expect his top drawer to be socks—and hopefully not underwear—but it’s actually just more junk. Better organized junk, but still. There’s more gaming supplies, including a baggie full of damage tokens. Right next to—
“Actually, wait,” Zach says, suddenly jumping up and sounding super nervous, “maybe I should—”
Right next to a box of condoms.
Zach must notice the way my shoulders go stiff, because he doesn’t finish that sentence.
My blood runs cold, and I feel really sick. “What the hell, Zach?!”
Riley wrinkles his eyebrows. “What’s going on?”
My hand shakes as I hold up the box to show him. I glare at Zach. “You and my sister?!”
“Whoa,” Riley says.
Zach swallows. “We haven’t done anything!” He glances at Riley, then at me. “I mean, not yet.”
“Not yet? Not yet?!”
“Hey,” Riley warns, scowling at me. “You want to keep it down? We don’t need Mom coming in here and seeing those.”
I shove the box back in the drawer and slam it closed, despite what Riley just said about staying quiet.
“Amelia doesn’t even know I got them,” Zach whispers. “They’re for just in case.”
“Just in case you want to have sex with my sister?!” I run a hand through my hair. “I can’t believe this.”
Riley gets up from the floor and sits down on the bed. “Come on, X. It’s not that bad.”
“Yeah,” Zach says. “You have sex with Kat. And Riley has sex with Sarah.”
“Zach.” Riley’s face turns red.
“Well, you do. And Amelia’s my girlfriend. I really like her, and we’ve been going out for over six months.”
“Great. You should get a certificate of achievement.” I say that through clenched teeth. Little sparks of lightning run up my spine. It’s making the hair on the back of my neck stand on end. “But you and Amelia? Doing that?” I shudder, pushing the image out of my head. “Not happening.”
“But… But… You don’t get to decide that.” Zach looks to his brother for help. “Tell him he doesn’t get to decide that.”
Riley sighs. “He doesn’t, but… I don’t know, Zach. You’re kind of young.”
Zach screws up his eyebrows. “I’ll be sixteen in two weeks! You guys were both sixteen.”
True, but it wasn’t, like, the day I turned sixteen. “It’s not about how old you are,” I tell him. “You’re not sleeping with her.”
He sucks in a deep breath. “Why?”
Um, for all the obvious reasons? Like that I don’t want him to? “You’re not ready. Amelia’s not ready.”
“You don’t know that. And you don’t get to say what we’re—”
“She’s my little sister!”
Zach stares at me, hurt flashing across his face. “And I’m just Riley’s little brother, right?”
“I didn’t mean it like that.”
“Yes, you did. That’s how you guys think of me. You never trust me with anything important, you don’t want me to join your group, and… and it’s obvious that you guys didn’t want to play this game with me. But you did it anyway, to humor me, like I’m some baby or something.”
“Come on, Zach,” Riley says. “Don’t be like that.”
“Like what? Like someone who tells the truth? If you guys had said you didn’t like the game, we could have played something else, or just hung out. I wouldn’t have cared. But instead, you treat me like a little kid. But I’m only a year younger than you guys. I’m starting at Heroesworth next year. I almost have my driver’s license, I already have my superpower, and in two weeks, I’ll have an H on my thumb.”
“None of that makes me okay with you sleeping with her.”
“We haven’t done anything! I don’t know if we even are going to do anything. But… I thought I was your friend.”
“You are.” At least, as long as he keeps his hands off of Amelia.
“Then why am I not good enough?”
“I didn’t… It’s not about that.”
He folds his arms, hunching his shoulders. “I don’t need your permission. I didn’t ask for it. I didn’t even ask for your opinion!”
“Yeah, and I didn’t ask to find a box of condoms that you plan to use with my sister. You can’t expect me to be okay with that.”
“This is my room. It’s getting late, and I think you should go.”
“You what?”
“Zach, wait,” Riley says. “Don’t you think you’re—”
“That means both of you.” Zach holds open his door. He looks pissed, but also like he might be about to cry. “I thought you guys liked hanging out with me. I thought we were friends. But you don’t see me as anything more than a little kid, and if that’s how it is, then I guess I was wrong about us being friends. So just go already.”
Chapter 3
“SO,” KAT SAYS ON the phone Wednesday night, “Prom’s only a couple weeks away.” She means the one at Heroesworth, since the one at Vilmore is only for seniors. “What are we wearing?” I can hear the smile in her voice.
“Um.” I’m in my room, lying on my bed. I sit up. “It’s Prom, so I’ll be in a tux, and I assume you’ll be in a dress.”
“Come on, you know what I mean. We wore our bathing suits to Homecoming.”
“Right.” And look how that turned out. “I thought we’d keep it low key.”
There’s a pause. “You’re serious?”
“Kat, I blew up the roof at Homecoming. I got expelled. Do you really want a repeat performance?”
“That didn’t have anything to do with what we were wearing. Sarah was crazy—she’s the one who freaked out and tried to kill us. So. There’s nothing to worry about this time.”
Except that I don’t want everyone staring at me. It was fun at Homecoming. It doesn’t feel fun now. “Riley and Sarah will be dressed normal. Maybe I just want to blend in.”
“You? You just want to blend in? If I’m talking to a pod person, I want you to know that you’re not doing a very good job of impersonating Damien.”
“Ha ha. I’m not a pod person.”
“That’s just what a pod person would say. The theme is A Night to Remember. That’s practically screaming for us to do something memorable.”
“How do you know what the theme is?” I didn’t even know that.
“Sarah told me.” She says that grudgingly, like she doesn’t want to admit she was talking to Sarah. They’re not exactly friends, though at least Kat doesn’t completely hate her now. “She mentioned doing a group dinner before the dance.”
“Like, a double date?”
“More like a triple date. Amelia and Zach will be there, too.”
Great. “You know, Kat, maybe we should just skip dinner.”
“What? Why?”
“Because…”
“I know I’ve had my differences with Sarah, and she’s not exactly my favorite person, but I think I can get through din
ner.”
“It’s not that. But me and Zach, we sort of—”
A knock on my door interrupts me.
“Hold on,” I tell Kat.
The floorboards creak beneath me as I make my way over to the door. I’ve lived in the attic for eight months now, and I still feel like the floor’s going to fall out from under me every time I take a step. It doesn’t feel as bad as when I first moved to the attic, but living up here and having to face the rickety stairs every day isn’t exactly doing anything to help my fear of heights, like Gordon seemed to think it would.
I open the door to find Amelia.
She wrinkles her nose at me. “What did you say to Zach?”
“Nothing. Why? What did he say?”
“He was supposed to come over tomorrow afternoon, but then he asked if you were going to be home. I said probably, and he said then he wasn’t coming over. So, what did you say to him?” She folds her arms. “And don’t say nothing, because I know you did.”
“We had a disagreement.”
“About what?”
“It doesn’t matter.”
“Yes, it does. My boyfriend won’t come over to my house now, because of you. It’s like you’re trying to ruin my life.”
“Well, you know, Amelia, they say to play to your strengths, and ruining your life is the one thing I’m really good at.”
She glares at me. “First Mom’s statue, and then you tell my boyfriend he can’t come over anymore?”
“I never said that.”
“I thought you guys were friends, and now—” Her phone rings. She checks the screen, sighs, and says, “I have to take this,” before wandering off to her room.
I shut my door.
The Phobia of Renegade X Page 2