Deadly Kisses - By Kerri Cuevas Page 0,33

table, looking her over. She held herself steady, pulling down the leather skirt. I was glad she wore black tights.

“I’m still breathing, Jaleb, but you look like a logging truck ran you down.” Bee saw Reina, hiding in a dark corner. She stiffened.

Jaleb snorted up a wad, spit it on his wrist, and rubbed at it with the bottom of his t-shirt.

“What’s that?” she cried, her voice rising. “Tell me! Was it the Ancients? Did they mark him? Ad?”

I turned away, not wanting to see her disappointment that I had failed to protect them. She could meddle, blab, and say what she wanted, but I knew the truth. Bee had already accepted it was her time to die. I couldn’t tell her that her brother was now going to be reaped too— and worse, by the Ancients.

The ashy X mark on the inside of Jaleb’s wrist was blazing red from his fierce rubbing.

“Tell me or I’ll find out myself,” she demanded.

“Reina summoned Abe, and he came and enforced the rules. They tried to take you away from me. Abe stopped them, but I couldn’t protect Jaleb. The Ancient marked him. I’m sorry. I thought choosing to be a Reaper would be easy. I had no idea all the politics involved. It’s seriously worse than being in school and running for class president.”

“What are you saying?” Bee’s bottom lip quivered.

Reina came next to me and spoke. I was almost relieved. “Abe stepped in, reminding Ivar of the oath he had taken. But the Ancients went around the oath and code, marking your brother. They are going to reap him on Halloween.”

“We’re both going to die?”

I looked down and nodded.

“And they’re going to feed off his aura?”

I nodded again.

Jaleb started to shake. “Tell me you’re not serious? Am I going to die? What about the twins?”

“Get them out of here, Ad,” Reina said.

“What do we do? I can’t die and neither can you.” Jaleb’s eyes were wide with pure fear.

Bee pointed to his wrist. “You’re marked. I’m sorry, Jaleb, I didn’t mean for this to happen. It was supposed to be me, not you. It’s my fault I bribed you to take me here. I just wanted to have fun, see Mad Dogs, and feel close to Sabrina again.”

“Let’s get out of here,” Jaleb said.

I walked behind Bee and Jaleb as they made their way out of the building into the parking lot of Dirty Phil’s. The Ancients were gone.

“I’m not feeling so good. You can drive.” Jaleb clutched his stomach, and Bee fished the keys out of his jacket pocket to unlock the door. She helped him into the backseat. He lay cramped up, and paler than usual.

“I’m not sitting on top of death boy in the backseat. I already feel like I’m going to keel over at any moment. Since you like him so much, let him sit next to you.” He pointed to where he thought I was. “No funny stuff. The day is not over yet.”

“No funny stuff,” I said.

“Is it safe to put the garden tool in the back of the pickup again?” Bee asked.

“It’s too big to fit in the truck with us.” I placed it into the back of the rusted truck bed next to several cement blocks.

I opened the truck door for Bee, helping her climb in.

She asked, “You know this isn’t your fault, right?”

It wasn’t true. Everything I’d done since the morning of my death was my fault. I closed her door and walked around the truck to the passenger seat. She started the truck, the engine puttering to life. Jaleb shook from the death fever that had set in.

The highway was deserted. Jaleb whimpered and Bee drove fast. I took out my phone to read the Manual of Death on the book reader app. Bee swerved.

My body jerked and my face hit the window. I moved toward Bee before settling back to my original position. Jaleb moaned.

“Is he okay?” she cried. “There was a crazy Grim Reaper who almost hit us.”

Lights disappeared over a hill.

“Just keep driving. They always go around you. Don’t forget, they’re invisible to everyone but you.” The words on my phone blurred together the more I read.

“I know. They just scared me, sorry. Why do you travel the river instead of driving? I mean, you used to have a car and now you resort to a boat.”

“It’s a gondola, not a boat.” How could she not realize my car killed her cousin? I would never drive a car