Early to Death, Early to Rise

Three

“Ace!” I shouted, the hard pavement under my feet sending jolts through me as I ran for his truck. “Wait up!”

Nakita, apparently, saw no reason to run, and she sedately followed somewhere behind me, handbag at her side and matching sandals clicking away. Barnabas was heading off in the opposite direction, probably seeking a quiet place to wait and take wing to follow Shoe. Shoe’s back was hunched as he stomped to a lonely sports car parked by itself in a spot of shade.

Hearing my voice, Ace leaned against his truck and put his thumbs in his pockets. I slowed, not even breathing heavily. Okay, so maybe there were some benefits to this whole being-dead thing. Nakita caught up with me, and I slowed even more. “He’s angry,” she said simply as we matched paces. “Are you sure he’ll tell us anything?”

“Yeah, well, you can be mad at your friends,” I said, remembering how I’d been angry with Wendy, my best friend in Florida, where I’d lived before I moved to Three Rivers. Most of our arguments had stemmed from my trying to get us into the cool crowd, but Wendy was too independent. Even when we fought, though, we remained friends.

“How can you be angry and like someone at the same time?” Nakita asked.

I watched Shoe get in his car and start it up, revving the engine hard. “You just do. You like Barnabas, don’t you? Even when you argue?”

“No,” she said immediately, then hesitated. “He’s smarter than I thought he was. Thinking that he might be right and I might be wrong makes me angry.”

“Same thing here,” I said, indicating Ace, who was now pushing up from the truck and brushing a hand across his wrinkled T-shirt.

She fingered her amulet and asked, “Who’s right?”

I smiled at Ace and said, “It doesn’t matter.”

She sighed. “I don’t understand.”

“It’s a friendship thing.” Shifting my smile brighter, I scuffed to a halt, turning the popular-girl charm on full. It usually got me my way with strangers, so the time I’d spent trying to get in with the cool girls hadn’t been a total loss. I guess.

But my smile faded when Ace almost barked, “What do you want?”

Nakita reached for her amulet, and I “accidentally” came down on her foot. “Uh, nothing,” I said as she shoved me off her, but I was already rocking back. “I wanted to say I’m sorry I got you fired. It was kind of my fault.”

I gave him a sad, big-eyed look, and sure enough, he shifted from P.O.’ed to accommodating. Ah, the power of a pretty face. Too bad he was looking at Nakita’s and not mine. But she was an angel. Why was I even trying to compete?

“It wasn’t your fault,” he said, his voice softening. “Shoe’s an ass.” A flash of anger reddened his face, and he shouted after Shoe’s car, “Dumb ass!”

“Can I scythe him, too? Just for the fun of it?” Nakita asked, and Ace turned, shocked.

“Stop it,” I muttered, but he’d heard.

“What did you say?”

I licked my lips, scrambling for words. “So you like music?” I blurted, and he turned back to me.

As he glanced from me to Nakita, I could almost see his thoughts realign, wondering if he had a chance with her. Sure, that was likely. Not.

“Yep,” he said, still looking at her, and she suddenly smiled back and giggled like Amy, my earthly nemesis at school in designer sandals. Hearing that noise come out of her shocked the b-juice out of me, and I wasn’t surprised when Ace added, “I don’t have anything to do now. You want to hear some?”

“Absolutely!” I said enthusiastically, and he shifted away from the front door, hitting his shoulder on the side mirror and trying not to lose his cool.

“Get in,” he said, opening the door. “I live twenty minutes from here. You can hear the new stuff.”

For a moment, I looked in at the long bench seat, remembering the last time I got into a stranger’s car. I’d ended up at the bottom of a ravine, dead. Well, you can’t kill someone twice, I thought. Besides, Nakita was with me. Stepping carefully to avoid the CDs tossed everywhere, I got in, sliding to the far door. The truck was old, with cracked vinyl seats and a dusty, sun-faded dash. The CD cases made bright flashes when the light caught them, and I snatched one out from under Nakita before she sat right on it. It was clearly home-burned, with an art decal on one side. Josh had an old truck, too, but he at least kept his clean. I had a thought to text him and see how he was doing, but texting a guy in front of Ace probably wasn’t the best way to convince him to show me his illegal downloads.

“Is this your work?” I asked as Ace got in, slamming his door twice to make it latch. Just from looking at their cars, I could tell there was a big discrepancy between Ace and Shoe, and I wondered if that was where some of the anger was coming from. Jealousy, maybe.

“Shoe’s,” he said tersely.

“No, I mean the artwork,” I added, and his tight jaw relaxed as he cranked the key and the engine started. “I like it.”

Music blared, heavy on the percussion, and the singer screaming so you couldn’t understand what he was saying. “Thanks,” he said as he turned the music down so we could hear him. “My mom thinks I could get a scholarship, but what’s the point? It’s not like I can make a living with squiggles.”

I thought of my own dream of making a living with my photography, and a sigh of understanding slipped from me. “Maybe,” I said hesitantly. “But it’s easier to find a way to make money at something you love than to learn to love a job that you can make money at.”

He didn’t say anything, and feeling Nakita’s eyes on me, I rolled the window down. Jeez, it was a crank, and it was stiff, like it hadn’t been down in a year. Slowly the still air was replaced by new as we headed for the exit, pulling out to go the same way Shoe had. There had been a small town east of here when we’d flown in, right in the middle of cornfields.

Ace bobbed his head in time with the music, glancing at Nakita to see how she liked it.

My attention dropped to the CD I was holding, and I put it on the dash, fingering another one decorated with similar artwork. It was all swirls and stark, bright colors, making me think of Celtic knot work.

“This is good,” I said as I looked at the handful of discs within my easy reach. “The artwork, I mean. You should talk to your art teacher. I bet she knows of a scholarship.”

“People like them don’t help people like me,” Ace said, his mood tarnishing. “Besides, college…that’s not for me.”

My eyebrows rose. People like him?

“That’s mine, too,” he said, and I followed his pointing finger to the overpass we were going under. It was covered in graffiti with the same swirls and angles. Archetype symbols were worked into it everywhere, making it look like sort of a mix between a tattoo and a stained-glass window.

“Wow,” I said, turning in the seat to find that the other side of the overpass was decorated as well. “That’s beautiful.”

Ace smiled a bad-boy smile and tapped his fingers in time with the drums. “Almost got caught the last night I worked on it. They were waiting for me. Look at the water tower.”

Nakita made a strangled sound, and I followed her gaze to the bulbous thing rising high over the cornfields. My mouth dropped open, and I stared.

“You like it?” Ace asked, and I nodded, too shocked to do more.

“It looks like a black wing!” Nakita whispered, and I nodded again. Wrapped around the water tower was a black-and-white crow, looking as if it were melting into a dripping puddle of goo. It looked exactly like a black wing might look to the living, sort of a mix of sophisticated graffiti and Native American petroglyphs. Black wings were unintelligent scavengers of the soul world, showing up at a reaping in hopes of snitching a bit of unattended soul. I hated them, and they gave me the creeps. Both light and dark reapers used them to help zero in on a target, even as loathsome as they were.

“I’ve made that my trademark,” Ace was saying, and I dragged my attention back to him.

“The crows?” I said, stifling a shiver. “Where did you get the idea to make them melt like that?”

His jaw clenched. “Shoe.”

Back to Shoe. It looked like Barnabas was right: Shoe was our target, not Ace.

Ace took one hand off the wheel and looked at Nakita. “You don’t talk much.”

“I don’t see the point when actions are more convincing,” she said stiffly, behaving completely at odds to that giggle earlier.

Nodding his head like she’d said something wise, Ace said, “Me too.”

I had to get back to Shoe. Barnabas had been right. “Hey, I’m sorry about your friend,” I said hesitantly, trying to turn the conversation to him.

Ace made a huff of sound. “He’s an ass. I’ve known him since third grade, and he’s always been an ass. Nothing here is ever good enough for him. He’s always after the big city and a ‘better life.’ What’s wrong with just staying here and being normal?”

“He’s the hacker?” I asked. “You do the artwork, and he gets the stuff?”

Ace stared straight ahead, his speed never changing. “Yup,” he said sarcastically. “I’m just the guy who makes it look cool. He’s going off to college at the end of this year. Between filling out applications and prepping for the skills test, I only see him at work.”

Ohhh, he’s jealous. Feeling ditched. It might be the wrong time, but we were going to run out of cornfields eventually. I didn’t want to spend the day with Ace when it was Shoe who was in danger. “Uh, do you think you could take us to Shoe’s house?” I asked, and Ace leaned forward past Nakita to see me.

“You’ve got to be kidding,” Ace said in disgust. “This is to get to him, isn’t it? You girls are all the same. You see a fancy car and you think I’m dirt.”

“No!” I exclaimed, my pulse jumping into play. Sensing it, Nakita looked at me. “Ace, Shoe is in danger,” I said, and seeing his anger, I blurted, “I know all about the virus he wants to upload to the school. It’s going to kill people.”

The truck swerved and Ace looked at me, shocked.

“Watch the road!” I shouted as I remembered going into the ravine. My hand slammed against the dash. But he wasn’t listening to me.

“Computer viruses don’t kill people,” he said, angry. “How did you find out about it? Did he tell you? Did Shoe tell you, and then get mad at me for telling you about some stupid music we lifted?”

His voice hurt my ears, and I glanced from him to the road, glad no one was coming. “He didn’t tell me,” I said. “It’s my job to know stuff.”

Ace laughed, but I breathed easier when he looked back at the road. Nakita sat still between us, fingering her amulet and staying out of it, but her frown told me she thought I was making a mistake.

“It’s your job, huh? And who are you, silent girl? Her muscle?”

Nakita dropped her hand to steady her little purse on her knees. “Yes.”

He laughed bitterly again, shaking his head as he muttered, “I’m a crazy-chick magnet. Crazy-freaking-chick magnet.”

A flush of anger lit through me. “I don’t care if you believe me or not,” I said sharply, “but that virus is going to escape the school and get into the hospital. People are going to die.” I shifted my tone, pleading. “You’ve got to help me convince Shoe not to do it. He won’t listen to me, but you’re his friend.”

Ace looked at me, his eyes holding a heady anger. “Screw you,” he said suddenly. “And screw Shoe. Why should I give a crap about him?”

Frustrated, I let go of the dash. Shoe was going to college, and Ace wasn’t. He was afraid he wasn’t good enough to keep up, and it was easier to hate Shoe than try and maybe fail.

“We’re not going to Shoe’s?” Nakita asked.

“I’d sooner go to hell,” Ace said, and Nakita moved.

“Hey!” Ace shouted as Nakita suddenly turned in her seat and grabbed his shirt.

“You are not going to hell. You are going to take us to Shoe’s house,” she demanded, and the truck swerved.

“Nakita! Let go!” I shouted as we crossed the yellow line, then swerved back, our tires going right off the road.

“Let go of me, you crazy chick!” Ace shouted, one wheel still off the road as we continued at a fast sixty miles an hour. Slowly he brought us back on the pavement, and only after all four wheels were on the road did he use his brakes and we lurched to a stop.

“Get out!” Ace was shouting. “Get out of my truck, you freaks!”

I was more than ready to, and I shoved the door open and slid onto the hot pavement. I was shaking, sick almost, at the reminder of the car accident that had killed me.

“I told you to take us to Shoe,” Nakita said from inside the truck.

“And I told you to get out!” Her purse sailed into the air, landing by my feet. “I’ve never hit a girl, but you’re pushing it, babe. Why is it that the sexy ones are all nuts?”

Babe? Had he really called her babe?

Nakita was ready to lose it, and I reached in to pull on her arm. “Come on, let’s go.”

I yanked her out right as Ace hit the gas, accelerating with his tires hiccuping on the pavement. The door wasn’t even shut.

“Crazy chicks!” he shouted, leaving a pall of oil smoke and the fading sound of his engine.

Nakita stood beside me, shaking in anger. “I am not crazy,” she said as she scooped up her empty little red purse, and I silently agreed with her. The sound of Ace’s truck quickly faded, and I looked up and down the deserted road, wondering where Barnabas was.

“That didn’t work out the way I wanted,” I said, starting to walk in the direction Ace had gone. The town couldn’t be too far ahead.

Nakita fixed her sandal, then started to follow, click, click, click on the hot pavement. “You told him too much. Marks never believe. That’s why we scythe them.”

There was a silent accusation in her tone that I was being stupid even to try to change several thousand years of tradition. Pensive, I watched the straight rows of tall corn slowly shift as we walked. At least Barnabas was watching the right person.

“Shouldn’t we find Barnabas?” Nakita asked, looking unsure at my continued silence. “I tried calling him when I was in Ace’s truck and couldn’t reach him. He’s not dark enough yet. You might be able to get a hold of him, though.”

“Me?” I squawked, embarrassed even though she already knew about the weeks of failure when Barnabas and I had sat on my roof and tried. “My amulet is too far from his, too. Light reaper, dark timekeeper…You know,” I said, glad I had my phone. If worse came to worst, I’d call my dad and tell him I was doing something with Josh. He’d cover for me. I shouldn’t have told Ace all that. No wonder he thinks we’re nuts. I’d think we were nuts.

Nakita’s steps became silent as she walked straight down the middle of the road, following the broken yellow line. “Barnabas’s amulet resonance was the red of a light reaper the last time you tried,” she said, and I glanced over at her, thinking we looked quite the pair. “It’s shifted to a grim reaper’s neutral green since then. I can’t reach him, but your timekeeper amulet is more fluid than mine, and he’s the one you’ve been practicing with. I can hear his amulet resonating in the ether, so he hasn’t shielded himself yet. I can carry you, but it would be easier to find Barnabas if we knew exactly where he was.”

I sighed, my hand going up to touch my amulet. Every time I tried to use it, either nothing happened or I made a mistake.

“What will you lose by trying?” Nakita coaxed. “Barnabas should know what happened. For all his insufferable know-it-all attitude, he’s part of our…team.”

She had said that last word like it tasted bad, and a slight smile brightened my mood. She was trying. “Okay,” I said agreeably, “but if I can’t reach him, we’ll find him by air.”

She nodded, and I felt a quiver of anticipation. It would be great if I could do this. My amulet was the same deep, glittery black that it had been since I claimed it, but Barnabas’s had shifted down the spectrum. Nakita was right: It just might be possible.

Excited, I turned to the tall cornfields, then the empty road—listening to the sound of the wind. Either nothing would happen, or I’d make it work. It wasn’t as if I didn’t know the theory inside and out after countless nights on my roof trying. Stopping, I sat right down on the edge of the road, shifting until the pebbles didn’t grind into my ankles.

Nakita understandably stared at me.

“I’m not good at it,” I explained, embarrassed. “I need to sit down.” Closing my eyes, I took three slow breaths—my way of inducing a feeling of calm. My shoulders eased, and I exhaled.

In my mind’s eye, I tried to imagine my aura. It wasn’t really my aura, since I was dead, but the amulet’s resonance acted the same way. Because I had the dark timekeeper amulet, my aura or resonance was a violet so dark as to be off the visible spectrum and basically black. Eyes shut, I reached up to hold the glittery black stone cradled in a silver wire and looped around my neck with a simple cord. As long as I had it within twenty feet of me, I had the illusion of a body. If I got too far from it, black wings would sense me and swarm to eat my soul—twenty measly feet between me and utter death. It looked a lot like a reaper amulet, but it was more powerful and yet—as Nakita had said—more flexible. Claiming it from my predecessor hadn’t blown my soul to dust like my trying to claim a reaper’s amulet would have. Most people didn’t even see it unless I pointed it out. I could take it off, but I was reluctant to do so.

The silver wires cradling the stone were warm, but the stone was warmer, as if holding the heat of the sun. All I had to do, in theory, was imagine my thoughts taking on the same color or wavelength as my aura so it could slip free of me. Then I had to hold my thoughts as I shifted the color to match Barnabas’s aura so my thoughts could slip through his aura and he could hear it. His resonance was green now. It shouldn’t be as hard as trying to shift all the way up the spectrum. Maybe I could do it. Maybe.

I brought Barnabas to mind, his smile, his dark humor, his odd way of looking at the world, the age behind his brown eyes, and how they flashed silver when he touched the divine. Barnabas, I thought, shifting my thoughts as “violet” as I could to get them past my aura. Nakita and I are kind of stuck here on the road.

A thrill lit through me as I felt my thoughts wing out from me to bounce against the inside of the sphere of air that surrounded the earth. But then, my entire thought seemed to explode in a bright light. Shocked, I opened my eyes and blinked.

“I felt them leave you,” Nakita said, smiling. “But they scattered when they diffracted against the sun. You need to modify your thoughts to his aura before they bounce off the atmosphere, not after.”

She felt it, I thought, stifling a quiver of anticipation. Barnabas had never said that when we practiced. I shifted awkwardly on the pavement to disguise my shiver, thinking this would look stupid to anyone driving by. Not that we’d seen anyone on the road yet. This was the closest I’d ever gotten to making this work. Nakita had been able to teach me how to bend light around my amulet to hide it, too. Maybe Nakita, for all her awkward inabilities among people, was the better teacher. And wouldn’t Barnabas be happy about that?

“Let me try again,” I whispered, closing my eyes and calming my thoughts to get them past my aura resonance, and then thinking with a precise narrowness, Barnabas, we’re stuck on the road. Can you find us?

“Now!” Nakita exclaimed, and I twisted my thought, making the wave wider, more green, perhaps. It hit the curve of the atmosphere and bounced back, being drawn into something as if it belonged. Barnabas, maybe?

Stiffening, I gasped when I got a flash of feeling, like a memory belonging to someone else. It was as if I were seeing from Barnabas’s eyes as he sat in some bushes across the street from a nice house, and he jumped as my thought popped into his mind. Then he was gone, and I was surrounded by sand and squinting from the sun. I was wearing a white shirt billowing in the oppressively dry wind. A young man with black eyes sat across from me working on a laptop, his clothes as white and billowy as mine. Someone swore as my thought echoed in his, and I opened my eyes, finding myself back on the road in the middle of the cornfields.

Ohhhh, this can’t be good.

Nakita was crouched before me, a hand on my shoulder, concern in her eyes, and her black hair falling about her face. “Madison? Are you all right?”

Squinting, I held out my hand and she took it, backing up to help me stand. I looked down at my sneakers and brushed off my tights. A bad feeling was growing in me, and when she saw my expression, I sensed Nakita’s worry shift to alarm.

“How fast can you fly?” I asked, and she stared at me as if I were nuts.

“Why?” she asked, and I looked at the sky, wincing.

“Because I think I just told Ron we’re up to something.”