Poison Princess

30

Hundreds of Bagmen. All in one place.

“Nom de Dieu,” Jackson murmured, booting the Ducati’s kickstand into place. We’d just driven up on a rise to get the lay of the land around Matthew’s home, an isolated ranch-style house situated in a valley below.

And found a horde of zombies teeming around it.

Selena pulled up behind us. Naturally, she’d been up for the trip. She drew off her electric-blue helmet, shaking her long hair free. “What are you guys staring at?” When she caught a look at the swarm, she whistled low.

The nearly full moon was high in the sky. Almost midnight. It’d taken me forever to home in on Matthew.

Once we neared the space center, I’d listened for his voice, directing Jackson closer. Sometimes we’d make a turn, drive for a mile before I realized Matthew was growing fainter. Then we’d be forced to backtrack. The winds—though still not nearly as bad as usual—hadn’t helped.

Jackson had told Selena that we had to make a stop on our way to North Carolina, and the girl had said nothing about our fitful progress. She seemed to trust Jackson implicitly—while I probably would’ve been mouthing off in the same situation.

“Is this our ‘stop’?” Selena asked with a hint of amusement.

Could she not sense Matthew’s closeness or hear his call? Or was she again fishing for information?

“There’s a boy inside,” Jackson said. “Somebody Evie was supposed to check on.”

Her eyes lit up. “A boy for Evie?”

“It’s not like that,” I hastily said. “I haven’t even met him.”

She adjusted the bow strapped over her shoulder, popping the top on her quiver. “What do you think the Baggers down there want?”

They were mindless with thirst, banging their hands against the door, the boarded-up windows, even the melted vinyl siding.

“There’s got to be water inside,” Jackson said, shooting me a look. “Maybe a flood.”

—Running out of time, Empress.— Matthew’s voice rang clear with our proximity, but I could tell he was weakening. “He’s trapped in there. We’ve got to save him.”

“We’ll wait until dawn, till the Baggers scatter for cover,” Jackson said.

Considering their frenzy, Matthew was going to be done for soon—water or not. “They’ll break in way before then.” Already they were denting the garage door. “We have to go now!”

He gave a harsh laugh. “Not in a million years, Evangeline.”

When Selena hopped off her bike, heading to the very edge of the cliff, he muttered to me, “You didn’t mention anything about Bagmen.”

“I didn’t know about them! But I do know he’ll drown soon.”

Selena called, “I don’t see any lights or movement.” Rejoining us, she asked, “Are you sure somebody’s even home?” But again I got the feeling that she already knew the answer.

Jackson smoothly said, “Right before you drove up behind us, we saw a flashlight signal.” He would lie to her for me? I eased closer to him.

“Then let’s go save him,” Selena said.

We both turned surprised glances to her. She was . . . agreeing with me? Immediately, I tried to work out her angle. She must know that one of the Arcana was inside, must believe Matthew would prove valuable to her in some way.

Selena plucked her bowstring over her shoulder. “You planning on living forever, J.D.?”

“I thought we were of one mind about some things,” he told her. “Like survival being foremost. Us goan down there is the opposite of survival—it’s suicide.”

“If you guys can come up with a plan, I’m in.” At his disbelieving look, she shrugged. “Maybe I can’t stand the thought of some kid, in the dark, thinking he’s counting down the last minutes of his life. He’s got to be pissing himself.”

Jackson turned to me again. “Evie, come on!”

I crossed my arms over my chest. “With or without you, Jackson.”

He ground his teeth, shoving his fingers through his hair. “Jack Deveaux ain’t ever goan to argue with two women. Always come out the loser on that score.” He paced. “If you got any ideas, Evangeline, now’s the time to share them.”

I gazed down at the structure. One-story with vinyl siding. Older-looking. “I have one, but you’ll just ridicule me.”

“Sans doute. But let’s hear it anyway.”

“Stupidest, coo-yôn idea!” Jackson snapped as he sped down the highway in our freshly appropriated van, an older Econoline. “Risking my hide for a stranger!”

He was livid about this, but at least he was cooperating.

We’d found the van in the closest subdivision. As Jackson had swiftly done repairs, he’d said, “If I actually do this before coming to my senses, there’s no reason for you to go with me, Evie. Or you, Selena.”

“You’ll need an extra bow.” Selena had patted hers proudly.

“I’ll need you to stay here and take care of Evie.”

As I rolled my eyes, Selena had defiantly flipped her hair over her shoulder. “Save it, J.D. I’m going. Which means Evie is too.”

When he opened his mouth to protest, I’d said, “Sounds like ole Jack’s about to argue with two women . . . ?”

We’d siphoned some gas from the bikes, hidden them to pick up later, then headed toward Matthew’s again.

Now Jackson yanked the wheel, careening onto the hilly dirt road that led to the house. The sharp ruts bounced the van so hard my teeth clattered.

“Easy, J.D.,” Selena protested from the back. “No seat belts back here, remember.”

Jackson had been adamant about sticking me in shotgun for this jaunt, had met my eyes as he’d yanked on my seat belt to test it. At once, Selena had started bitching that the only seat belts were in the front.

Now he said, “I want this remembered, peekôn. You holding the hell on?”

I nodded. “Bagmen ahead.” Already we were driving past stragglers, the crowd of them growing thicker and thicker.

He didn’t try to dodge them. The first we struck gave a guttural wail as it ramped up over the hood and into the air. The second one must not have fed recently; its body exploded into dusty chunks, coating the windshield.

When the house was in sight . . . we still didn’t slow. “Kids, doan try this at home,” Jackson muttered, his expression intent. Did he possess no fear? Instead, he looked as if the house had personally insulted him and he was about to make it pay.

I swallowed. As our targeted exterior wall loomed, I suddenly doubted this plan, wanting nothing more than to call it off.

Too late.

Impact. We crashed into that wall. Through it. Siding and boards battered the hood as Jackson slammed on the brakes.

Halfway inside the house, the van jolted to a stop. My body pitched forward, the seat belt wrenching the air out of my lungs.

As I fought for breath, I cracked open my eyes. One headlight remained intact, casting a muted glow over a living room. Drywall plaster clouded the air, but I could still see the outdated carpet and furniture. And cardboard boxes—they were everywhere, piled high against every wall, stacked throughout.

Retro Cracker Barrel meets Hoarders.

“Evie! You all right?”

As my breath returned, I gave him a thumbs-up signal.

“Selena?”

She gave a determined nod as she readied her bow.

Though the back half of the van plugged the hole we’d just made, sealing the Bagmen out, they’d already started banging on the back windows, moaning with thirst.

We wouldn’t have long.

Jackson collected his own bow, shouldering his pack. “Then let’s move.” Leaving the engine running, we filed out into the house. “Where’s this coo-yôn goan to be, Evie?”

“He has to be in the basement.”

“Where’s that?”

With all the boxes, I couldn’t spy out a door. And with all the noise—the moaning Bagmen pummeled the van, the engine still revved in the confines of the room—I could barely hear his voice in my head.

When I bit my lip, struggling to concentrate, Selena shoved me out of the way. “J.D., I’ll go right. You’re left. I’ll find you two directly.” She clicked on the spy flashlight hanging from her belt, then slipped away.

Jackson too raised a flashlight, bow at the ready. “Let’s go, Evie,” he said, adding, “And, peekôn—”

“Like a shadow,” I finished for him.

He led me forward, following a path through masses of boxes. Some of them were stacked so high they looked like they’d topple over on us.

We passed a boy’s room, decorated with a space theme. Jackson’s light shone over wallpaper depicting the galaxy and intricate mobiles of the planets dangling from the ceiling. Space shuttle posters adorned the walls. High-tech-looking computers and video game consoles were neatly organized.

Jackson gave a harsh laugh. “I’ve never been in a nerdery before.”

Matthew’s voice was growing fainter still, filling me with dread.

Selena returned, slipping up beside us. “There’s a dead woman in a car in the garage. Car’s out of gas. Ignition on. She’s only been croaked a day, tops.”

Suicide? What had happened here?

Jackson was unfazed by the suicide, instead wondering, “Who the hell fixed her car?”

Selena shrugged. “I found the way into the basement. There’s water rushing down there.”

Jackson met my gaze. We both knew my vision was coming true. “Selena, show us!”

With a nod, she took off through the obstacle course of boxes.

Jackson and I followed her to a nondescript door at the top of the basement stairwell. Pitch blackness greeted us. Snagging two glow sticks from his bag, he snapped them, tossing them below. They landed in water.

From their eerie green glow, we could see that the stairs led to a short hallway with two doors. Water was cascading from the top gap of one door, spouting from its old-fashioned keyhole as if from a pitcher. . . .

Selena said, “It’s deep in there.”

Jackson turned to me. “Unless that boy has gills, he’s not goan to be alive.”

“Oh, God!” I didn’t hear Matthew in my head at all. Silence. “Please, you have to get him out of there!”

“You lost your mind?”

“Please, Jack!”

“Damn it, girl.” A harsher oath followed as he shoved his bag into my chest, then tossed Selena his bow. “Want this remembered,” he muttered, pushing past us to descend the steps four at a time.

We followed. “Can you break it down?” I cried.

He sloshed through knee-high water to reach the bowing door, sizing it up. Then he brandished the buck knife he always carried.

“It’s solid oak,” Selena said. “No way you can pierce it.”

“Not goan to.” He swiped water from his face. “You both head back up. Now.”

As Selena and I ascended the steps, he worked the blade into the seam between the doorknob and the frame. His muscles rippled as he wedged it in, until only the hilt was visible.

Then he backed to the wall, bracing himself, and kicked the knife sideways. Once. And again—

The door exploded outward. A flume of water rushed over Jackson; a limp body rode the current, as if the basement had spat it out.

“Jackson!” I screamed.

He broke the surface and seized the pale boy, hauling him back to the steps.

“Is he alive?” I asked, squinting as Matthew’s “tableau” appeared over him—a smiling young man carrying a knapsack and a single white rose. He had his vacant gaze raised to a blinding sun, about to walk off a cliff, a small dog nipping at his heels.

I shook myself and the image faded. I didn’t want to see Matthew’s tableau; I wanted to see him safe!

Jackson felt the boy’s neck, then hovered a hand over his mouth. “Breathing. Just knocked out.”

My legs nearly gave way.

Selena said, “The water’s still rising, J.D.”

Jackson gave a quick nod, heaving the kid over his shoulder in a fireman’s carry. When he bounded up the stairs, I marveled at his strength.

“Come on, you!” he snapped at me. “We ain’t out of this yet.”

By the time we returned to the van, the Bagmen were rocking it so hard you could see its shock absorbers. Getting inside was like boarding a boat in rough seas, but we managed to slide open the side door.

I scrambled across the floor in the back, motioning for Jackson to let the boy down gently—

He dropped him like a dead alligator, attention already on other things as he determined the situation. “They’re too thick behind us, and we’re wedged in,” he said. “Stay here. I’m letting them in.”

“What?” Selena and I cried in unison, but he’d already slammed the side door and loped off, wending around the boxes.

Shortly after, I heard what sounded like him kicking a door down. A sharp whistle followed. Gradually, the van stopped rocking.

Then came Jackson hauling ass around the corner, a line of Bagmen in pursuit. He hurtled some boxes, purposely knocking others over to slow the creatures down.

Selena leaned out to cover him, but the Baggers all stopped at the entrance to the basement, drawn by the undeniable call of that water. . . .

Once Jackson had hopped in the van, he shoved it into reverse and gunned the engine. Tires squealed. The smell of burned rubber filled the air as we inched out.

And then . . . we shot backward in a rush, leveling any Bagmen stragglers.

Part of the house caved in behind us. But there was enough of an opening for newcomers to crawl in.

None chased the van. As I gazed out the back windows, I saw them begin to teem into that hole, like ants in reverse.

Once we were back on the dirt road, heading out, Selena cried, “We did it!”

Jackson’s eyes were dancing with excitement. “Hell, yeah!” He slapped her raised hand.

With disaster averted, I cradled the boy’s head in my lap.

“Let’s pick up the bikes, J.D., then break open that fifth to celebrate!” She turned up her iPod, to some kind of irritating industrial music.

Grinning, Jackson glanced back at me in the rearview mirror.

I mouthed, Thank you so much.

He shrugged, his demeanor brusque, then looked away.

I peered down at Matthew’s face, startled by the overwhelming tenderness I already felt for him—as if I’d found a long-lost brother.

Something drew my attention to his arm. The sleeve of his plaid button-down had rolled up, revealing a silver MedicAlert bracelet circling his wrist. It was stamped with the word AUTISTIC and an emergency contact phone number.

For some reason, I didn’t want Selena or even Jackson to see this, didn’t want them to judge him. I whispered to Matthew, “You won’t need this anymore.”

I reached down to unfasten it; as soon as my skin made contact with his, a vision softly appeared inside my head, fluttering down into my consciousness like a tossed scarf.

The van disappeared. I found myself in the boy’s home watching a scene unfold.

Just before dusk, the house began quaking. Then came a deafening metallic pop, sounding like a manhole cover had exploded. Water rushed downstairs. It wasn’t long before Bagmen streamed into the yard, beating at the house.

The boy stood in that creepy time-warp living room alone. Waiting. Though he was so tall, and at least my age, he looked young and lost among all those hoarded boxes. Hours passed, and still he waited. The yard was now thick with zombies.

When a middle-aged brunette finally emerged from her bedroom, he met her gaze, not bothering to hide his emotions. Vulnerable. Pleading.

“Matthew,” she said in a high voice, adjusting the prim skirt-suit she wore, “why don’t you go check on the pipe? See if you can’t fix the leak? I’ll go secure the garage.”

His soulful eyes misted. “Yes, Mother,” he rasped, dragging his feet down the stairs and into that flooding basement.

Once he’d trudged through foot-deep water to find the burst pipe—a massive one that he could never fix—he heard the woman murmur from the basement hallway, “Mother knows best, son.”

As the water continued to rise, he faced her. His expression was heartbroken.

But not surprised.

Not even when she forced the door closed behind her and locked him inside to drown. . . .