I’d finally broken down and showed the journal to Cole, but the pages had been coded to him—all of the pages. That meant I was somehow deciphering the words on my own.
Cole had no idea how I had done it or who the author could be and had asked me to hand the entire thing over to his father for further study, but I’d refused. I couldn’t bring myself to part with it.
Cole had argued with me, but in the end, he’d relented. He’d taken pictures of the pages, yeah, but he’d relented.
There was never a dull moment for me, that was for sure, despite the fact that the zombies had stopped coming out. There hadn’t been a single appearance since the night they’d hunted me, and Cole thought it was because they were finally catching up on their rest. I’d speculated that Team Hazmat could have something to do with it, but he’d said his dad and Mr. Ankh were staking them out and there’d been no movement on their end, either.
Home wise, my grandparents were not happy with me. I constantly fell asleep during class and my grades had dropped significantly. I’d been sent to the principal’s office twice, lectured, grounded, and taken back to the therapist.
The first time I was sent to the principal’s office—and set free by Dr. Wright without any punishment, thank you—Wren and Poppy had dropped me as if I were radioactive waste.
“We can’t afford to be associated with trouble,” Poppy had said. “Not when our every deed could be Tweeted online. No colleges will want us.”
“We warned you this would happen,” Wren had said.
Yeah, and she’d also smiled at me that day in the cafeteria, silently telling me to go for Cole. Which, I now knew, was because she’d wanted Justin Silverstone for herself. I’d seen them in the halls, holding hands. Apparently, they were Asher High’s new “it” couple.
Kat had sided with me, and I loved her so much more for it. I’d never let her go now. Never. I didn’t care what Cole said.
“At our very first meeting I told you that you’d be my number one,” she’d said. “And I never lie or exaggerate.”
“True story,” I’d replied with a laugh.
“Plus, how can I let you go when I’m so close to finalizing the rumor tree?”
Oh, yeah. The rumor tree. I’d stopped caring about it, to be honest. I’d tried to make things up to Mackenzie for wrongly blaming her, but the most she’d given me was a dirty look.
One day, during lunch, I’d had enough. “What’s your problem?” I demanded from across our table. Yep, I now sat with Cole’s group. “I said I was sorry.”
Kat, whom I’d dragged with me, leaned toward Mackenzie and said, “Yeah. What’s your problem?”
Flashing emerald eyes moved from me to Cole, who was at my other side. “Lift the ban, and let me handle this.”
“Nope. The ban stays,” Cole said with a shake of his head.
The not-hurting-Ali ban? “Go ahead,” I retorted, “lift it.”
Mackenzie popped to her feet, leaned over and flattened her hands on the table, rattling the entire thing. “First, I don’t need your backup, cupcake. Second,” she said, glaring at Cole, “you can’t stop this forever.”
“Actually, you do need my backup, Tinker Bell,” I said.
She ignored me. “If you don’t want me yelling at your tasty treat, how about I tell her what you told me?” Finally her attention swung back to me. “Every time I ask him if he’s dating you, he says no. But then he gets around you, and well, you know the way he is with you.”
I did, yes. Friendly. But that was it, nothing more. “Your point?”
“I think he’s using you. Either that or he’s lying to me and himself. I only wonder what he’s saying to you.” She stomped out of the cafeteria, shoving kids out of her way.
Multiple calls of “hey” followed her.
I remained in place, one terrible fact sinking in. Mackenzie and Cole had talked about me, and quite a lot, considering she’d said “every time.”
What else had been said?
Had she asked him to get back together with her? Obviously she still loved him. But how did he feel about her?
Whether they’d done anything together since I’d come into the picture, I didn’t know and shouldn’t have cared, but…yeah, I cared.
“You should join her,” Kat said to Trina, and I knew she’d done it to remove attention from me. Any time I thought I couldn’t love her any more, she surprised me by winning another piece of my heart.
Trina was eating a sandwich and never even glanced over at Kat.
“Do you have to dive into every fight?” Frosty asked Kat. He’d been sitting beside Mackenzie, and now sat beside Trina—and tried to scoot away from her, as if he couldn’t stand the idea of Kat seeing him next to his alleged hook up. “Ali can handle herself.”
“Do you hear that pesky buzzing noise?” she asked me, ignoring him.
He gave a sad shake of his head. “You are such a child, Kitty Kat.”
“Buzz, buzz.”
“I have no idea what I ever saw in you,” he said.
She gasped and threw an orange at his head. He easily dodged. “You saw all of my wonderful qualities, you butt!”
A booming laugh escaped him. “You sure you’ve got any?”
“I’ve got plenty, and you know it!”
They weren’t officially dating, but anyone who saw them together knew they belonged with each other. She made him laugh, as proved, brought him out of his depression over Brent, and he distracted her from whatever had been bothering her. Too often lately she was pale and quiet, but anytime I asked, she waved me off and changed the subject.
I wasn’t sure what to do about her. Heck, I wasn’t sure what to do about anything.
Later that day I found myself back in the boxing ring with Cole, both of us in our spirit form, our bodies resting peacefully on gurneys, but I was too distracted to learn anything. I was stuck on Kat and kept replaying some of my conversations with her, trying to figure out what could possibly be wrong with her.
Wren and Poppy’s desertion hadn’t fazed her. “Honestly? I expected it,” she’d said. “I’d just hoped they’d learned how horrible their lives are without me the first time around.”
She’d missed several more days of school, but when I asked her why, she’d said, “My mom thought it’d be cool to spend some time together,” and once again waved it off.
“Ali!”
The snap of Cole’s voice jerked me out of my head. Just in time to watch—unable to react—as he kicked out his leg, knocked my feet together, and sent me crashing to the floor.
You need to concentrate, his expression said. We weren’t supposed to talk while we were like this.
My bad, mine replied.
He didn’t help me stand. He never did. I lugged to my feet under my own steam.
Every second I spent in here was designed to make me stronger. And you know what? I liked him so much more for it. I needed to be stronger. The zombies—
“Ali.” Cole’s booted foot kicked out again, and I crashed a second time, ending up flat on my back, the air blasting out of my lungs. He spread his arms, and I knew he was projecting “What did I just tell you?” at me.
Sorry, I mouthed as I stood.
He crooked his finger at me, a silent, You come at me for a change.
I nodded to let him know I understood. Knowing how fast he was, I didn’t give myself a moment to ponder how best to attack him. I simply attacked. Even then, he had the upper hand. I punched, he blocked. I kicked, he sidestepped. The few times he caught my fist, he should have shoved me away, twisted my arm behind my back, something. But he didn’t. He just released me and let me come at him again.
That aggravated me. For the first time since we’d begun training together, he wasn’t doing me any good. He was babying me.
More punching, more blocking. More kicking, more sidestepping.
“Wow. Gently remove your tampon, Holland, and throw her around like a man,” Frosty called.
I cringed at his volume, but only a little. I was adjusting to the magnification of my senses, even the intensity of the smells.
Lucas and Collins—who left their bodies at home, rendering the arrest anklets they wore ineffective in spirit form, as suspected—flanked his sides and snickered.
Cole glared over at Frosty.
He should have known better. I had already drawn back my elbow, couldn’t stop and didn’t think to angle. So, I finally landed a punch. In the ring, his spirit stumbled.
Over on the gurney, where his body rested, his head wrenched to the side, and blood spurted from his nose.
Okay, I couldn’t help myself. I burst out laughing. I laughed so hard I nearly peed myself, bending over, holding my stomach. And it felt good. So wonderfully good. I don’t think I’d ever laughed like this.
Cole sailed across the room and slipped into his body. He sat up on the bed, blood still gushing from his nose, and grumbled, “It wasn’t that funny,” but I could hear the amusement in his tone.
I followed the same path, and at the first touch of my spirit to my body, I was one being, the air warm, the sounds and smells back to normal. “It was,” I said. “It so was.” My giggles erupted all over again. When I at last calmed down, I asked, “Is your nose broken?”
“Nope. It’d take a sledgehammer to do much damage to me, and I’m sorry, cupcake, but you aren’t a sledgehammer.” He shook the cartilage back and forth, then wiped away the blood with the back of his wrist.
“I’d love another chance to change your mind,” I said sweetly.
“Please. I’m not stupid. Enough hand-to-hand. My face might not survive. It’s time for swords. Let’s see if you’ve gotten any better.”
I went to the Wall of Weapons at the far end of the barn while Cole moved a dummy to the center of the ring. And no, I wasn’t talking about him or one of his friends (har har) but a life-size combat doll.
