Mortal Danger

YOUR FRIENDSHIP IS KILLING ME

The glass between us frosted, such a thin barrier of protection, but when I mouthed the word no, she disappeared. Davina stirred on her futon and I ran back to mine, half afraid of what else might creep out of the dark and of the monsters my unconscious mind might create. You need other people to believe for your nightmares to be made real. But that didn’t comfort me much.

I didn’t sleep. Each tick of the clock, I wanted to call Kian. I didn’t. Be brave. Be strong. They need your permission to come in. Right?

If they didn’t, then life would get ugly, fast.

Early the next morning, Jen’s mom fed us a healthy breakfast of egg whites, fruit, and yogurt, and then I got the hell out before they noticed how haggard I looked. Davina’s mom was picking her up later, so I hugged Jen and then Davina, thanked everyone and ran for it. But I stopped on the sidewalk beneath the streetlight, staring at the dark imprint of man-size footprints that seemed to be burned into the cement. Of the two children who accompanied the bag man, there was no sign. But I read dire portents in the shape of his shoes:

This is mine now and I will return.

Nausea born of foreboding rose to the back of my throat, but I choked it down and started walking. Soon I broke into an uncontrollable run, wishing I could scream as well, but people were already staring since I had on jeans, not sweats or spandex, and I was carrying a backpack. All told, I hoped they’d conclude I was late, not crazy, but truthfully, if I had on a hoodie, they’d probably suspect me of antisocial crimes.

My body was covered in cold sweat by the time I got on the T; luckily, there was guy singing to his shoe, so that took precedence in the weirdness hierarchy. I got off at the usual stop and went home. My parents had papers spread all over the table, yellow legal sheets covered in complicated equations, along with rough sketches of how something or other could actually be built.

“Did you get your funding?” I asked.

“Don’t know yet. It’ll be a while,” my dad answered.

“Was it fun at Julie’s?” Mom wanted to know.

“Jen. And it was different. We watched movies, ate healthy food.” And called up something monstrous in the mirror. You know. The usual. Since my mom lacked all appreciation of whimsy, I didn’t joke about it. She’d take me seriously and assume I was experimenting with psychedelics, and then I’d get a lecture about the importance of sticking with natural recreational drugs.

Dad protested, “My food is healthy.”

“But you never make me radish roses.”

“Oh, fancy. I don’t do fancy.” He seemed appeased.

After a little more conversation, I escaped on the homework excuse. Nobody but my parents would believe I planned to study at 10:00 a.m. on a Saturday, which was why it was kind of nice having professors in the house. They saw nothing weird about it.

After retreating to my room, I researched the bag man. In Latin American countries, he was known as “the old man with the sack” and he abducted children. Sometimes he ate them and left only the bones. Other times, he cut off their heads and stuck them in the bag, savoring the brains and making grotesque bowls out of their little skulls.

“Jesus,” I whispered.

And he’s stalking you. What the hell.

To take my mind off it and to make the lie a little bit true, I did my Intro to Japanese worksheet. That turned out to be a gateway assignment, as nerd habits died hard, and I couldn’t stop until I worked my way through the list. Schoolwork might be the only thing keeping me sane at this point since I could block off the threatening terror and confusion and sheer helplessness I felt in regard to the rest of my life. I had just finished up my last project when Vi popped up on Skype.

I answered the video call request with a smile that faded when I saw her expression. She looked like sickness, death, or sorrow, maybe some horrendous combination of the three. “What’s wrong?”

“Edie, is this … you?”

“I don’t—”

“This link, just a sec, I have it on my tablet.” She put it front of her laptop and touched the play icon on the screen.

The moment it loaded and I saw the first few seconds, I knew. The grungy room, normally used to store chairs and things for PTA meetings and parent days, was empty, as everything had been moved to the cafeteria, extra chairs for the winter festival. Each year, there was a theme with booths and decorations, and it was kind of like an open house. This was the first time I’d seen the video, though I knew it had been uploaded.

Title:

Dog girl in training

Description:

This girl is a dog. And she knows it. Watch her act like one. It’s hilarious! Pls like and subscribe, more awesome vids to come.

I couldn’t speak to answer her as memories scoured me raw. It took two of them to get the job done. While Brittany distracted me by being nice, friendly even—she apologized for all the harassment before—Cameron had spiked my water, just some roofies, no big deal. I drank it just before last period. When I stumbled out of class, they were all waiting. Sick and dizzy, I knew, I knew I had to get away but I didn’t have the strength or coordination.

So they took me.

To the bare room with the dingy floor and gray cement block walls in the basement. They could’ve done anything to me down there. Cameron put a black spiked dog collar on me and had me crawl around on the floor. He led me by the leash and said, “Bark for me, there’s a good girl. Bark, Eat-it. Bark.”

It was all there, on shaky camera phone. Me, on all fours, me barking, me leashed, collared, and crying, begging for them to let me go. I heard the echoed laughter all over again through my laptop. A hard shudder rocked through me when Cam dropped the dish of dog food in front of me. The fat version of me was weeping, red-faced, snotty tears, as I lowered my chin to the brown goo and lapped it up. The laughter got louder and louder.

Vi stopped the video. “Edie?”

“Yeah,” I said quietly. “That’s me.”

With some logical corner of my mind, I was calculating. It was more than six months from the time this video was posted until the time I met Vi. A hard-core diet could, theoretically, produce results similar to what Kian had with his future-tech shaping gloves. Given how upset I was, it seemed unlikely that Vi would question my makeover.

“Such assholes. And what the hell, why would anyone send me this?”

I sucked in a breath, fighting for composure. Tears stood in my eyes, but I didn’t let them fall. Shame was a hot coal trying to burn its way out of my chest. Every day at school since the last before winter break, I went to class and people followed me, barking. They put dog biscuits on my desk. Someone tied a leash to my locker. Every. Single. Day.

I had told the school counselor how I felt … not that I was suicidal, but that things were just getting to be too much, and she said something like, “Some people just have trouble socially, Edith. Maybe if you…” Then she listed all the ways I could stop being the dog girl: if I worked out or bought makeup or went to a salon. I took her words to mean the problems were my fault, and that was what broke me.

As to why anyone would e-mail that to Vi, I had some ideas. “To remind me who I was. And to let you know, too. It’d be awful if you didn’t realize you were hanging around with the Beantown dog girl.” Somehow I didn’t burst into tears, though the humiliation hadn’t lessened; there was still a raw stripe inside me. From what Kian told me, this was in character for Dwyer & Fell, an underhanded tactic to destroy my current contentment and drive me away from my optimum timeline. I remembered him saying, The opposition interfered, drove her over the edge. Dwyer & Fell might think if they drove a wedge between me and Vi, it would weaken my support network. Kian had also said, If they shift the equilibrium enough, your fate changes and you cease to be a factor in play. So any way they could make my life worse, they were likely to give it a try.

Though I tried to fight the wave of memory, I remembered what Cameron had said, as he dumped me behind the school. I had fallen hard, scraping my palms and knees. He stood over me, looking like this was the most fun he ever had. More tears trickled down my cheeks.

“Come on, Eat-it. It’s just a joke. Not like we raped you.” He’d strolled away as I barfed up a can of dog food.

“Wow,” Vi breathed. “I’m glad I don’t go to private school.”

Surprised, I choked out a shaky laugh. “I’m sorry you—”

“Hey, no. They can eat shit and die.”

I almost agreed with her, but then I remembered Brittany’s face. No matter how I felt about her, I hadn’t wanted her dead. So I smiled at Vi when she changed the subject and told me about something she was working on, a robotics project. I had less interest in that, but she carried the conversation long enough for me to pull myself together.

“Thanks,” I said finally.

“That’s what friends are for. And if you want me to come kick some tail, I will totally put together a posse.”

“What’s your gang called, Vi-Z?”

She snorted. “I thought I’d offer. Anyway, I’m deleting this crap. Let us never speak of this again.” By her tone, I could tell she was quoting something, but I wasn’t sure what.

“Talk to you later, Vi.”

“Don’t let the Neanderthals get you down.”

“They don’t, anymore.” In fact, there was one less in the world.

I closed my laptop and took a shower, but I couldn’t lose the uneasy feeling that something could be lurking outside the curtain, staring at me from the other side of the mirror. So no more long, luxuriant scrubs—this time, it was fast and unsatisfying, much as my dad had described virginal sex during his super awkward talk the other night.

Afterward, I got ready for my date, which involved a clean pair of jeans and a shirt Kian had never seen. I didn’t have a ton of clothes, and shopping wasn’t high on my to-do list, considering the stuff going on. Not sure what it said about me that I wasn’t rocking and weeping. But before I left, my computer beeped again with another call from Vi.

That’s weird.

But I answered, figuring she forgot to tell me something important. “Long time, no talk.”

“I just want you to know, I’m not crazy. Whatever they say later.” That was such a weird greeting that I put down my hairbrush.

“What the hell. Vi?”

“I told you about those dreams, right? Well, it’s happening when I’m awake now, too. I see everything encased in ice. Just now, I went to ask my mom something and she was all blue, enveloped in ice, and I couldn’t wake her up. And then, like, she wasn’t, it was all in my head or something, but—”

Wedderburn. That word blazed in my brain, more dreadful than any curse.

“It’s fine, you’re just stressed. Calm down, okay?”

“I can’t! I’m losing my shit and I’m only seventeen. Instead of college, I have a bright future ahead of me coloring with crayons and writing things on the wall of my cell. The weird thing is, I never even liked snow that much, but now I see it everywhere I turn. The other night, my dad was sprinkling salt and I kind of fell into watching it, so it was like I was lost in a blizzard and I didn’t answer my brother for, like, five minutes. My parents blame Seth.”

I have to fix this.

Aloud, I said, “Drink less caffeine. Have an herbal tea at night before bed and meditate or something.”

“I don’t think waking dreams are normal.” She sounded so sad and scared, and considering how amazing she had been a few hours before about the damned dog video, I wanted so bad to help her.

This can’t turn out like Brittany. I felt like a plague carrier, spreading darkness and death in all directions. Whether that was true, I didn’t know, but a scream prickled in my throat. I swallowed it like a cactus and imagined I tasted blood.

“Psht. Who wants to be normal?”

That made her smile. “Fine. I’ll try your new age-y crap before I dump this on my mom. God knows she has enough to worry about with Kenny starting junior high.” She went on to tell me about her brother’s host of mental problems, most of which required medication.

“Better?” I asked.

“Yeah. Thanks.

“That’s what friends are for.” I repeated her words from earlier, trying to sound calm and reassuring.

She paused for a few seconds, and I wished I could reach through my laptop to hug her. “My friends here aren’t the same. You know?”

“Sure.” Because I knew it would make her laugh, I said, “You’re my sister from another mister.”

“Totally. I’ll keep you posted on whether the tea and serenity stuff makes a dent in my crazy.”

“Later.”

This time, when I closed my computer, I tapped out a text to Kian. Come early, it’s urgent. Favor related.

Five minutes after I sent that, he ported into my room. “Edie, don’t rush this. You can have five years, free and clear. Take them.”

“I can’t. Wedderburn is terrorizing Vi. Isn’t that … cheating or something?”

“Not by their standards.”

“You didn’t tell me they could do this when I first signed up for the deal.”

He lowered his eyes, cheeks washed with red. “You didn’t ask.” Then his voice went low. “I’m sorry. I wanted to warn you. I did. That’s the second thing I feel guilty about in relation to you.”

I almost asked what the first one was, and then I remembered that he felt horrible about not dying for me. Crazy, beautiful boy. Though I’d tried to absolve him, clearly Kian agreed with Voltaire: “Every man is guilty of all the good he did not do.” Even if it meant paying the ultimate price.

He went on, “But I … also wanted to save your life.”

“It doesn’t matter. At this point, I’m ready to use my second favor.”

“Edie—”

“Will you grant it or do I need to go over your head?” I was dead serious.

“I’m listening,” he said, resigned.

“First I need to ask a clarifying question.”

“Go for it.”

“Can I include multiple people in a request? Like, if I want to protect all of my loved ones from the game?”

Kian shook his head. “By immortal standards, that would require a favor for each of them. You could pick two people, at most, and that would burn your last two.”

“Dammit.” But Wedderburn had given no sign that Ryu or my parents had registered with him, so maybe I shouldn’t borrow trouble. “Fine. Then this is what I want: He needs to keep Vi out of this. She gets to have her happy life without being bothered. I don’t want the fact that we’re friends to screw her up. Can you do it?”

“This is exactly what he wants,” Kian warned.

“I still have one favor. He hasn’t railroaded me all the way yet, so that gives me a little leverage.”

“Your mind’s made up then.” He looked as if I’d confessed to having brain cancer when he tapped his watch, one of the myriad buttons whose function I didn’t know, and Wedderburn’s face appeared above it in 3-D holo.

“Yes?”

Kian repeated my request, though more elegantly. For the first time, I could imagine him on the path to law school and eventually the Supreme Court. It was sort of odd, since he wasn’t actually that person, but there were echoes. People were mirrors turned inward to infinity, where all choices and roads not taken led to an endless shifting of self.

When Wedderburn smiled, I wished I could reach through the ether and throttle him. “This is easily done. A commendable gesture on your part, Miss Kramer. Your friend’s future is safe, assured by your altruism, and you are one step hearer to your destiny.”

“Bullshit,” I said.

I hissed as my wrist burned. Another line, this one crossed the infinity symbol in the middle, where the two halves met. Two out of three favors burned. Fear bubbled inside me at shifting that much closer to Wedderburn’s clutches, but I didn’t regret protecting Vi. It chafed that I’d played into the icy devil’s hands, but what else could I have done?

“Think what you like.” Wedderburn’s tone radiated pure satisfaction. “It has been a pleasure, as always.”

When the holo vanished, Kian’s shoulders slumped. “I wish you hadn’t done that.”

“He was making Vi crazy. How long before he got bored with the cat-and-mouse thing and did something worse to her?” No way to prove it, but I suspected Wedderburn didn’t listen when I told him not to intervene with the Teflon crew. If so, Brittany’s death was on me. But it could also be D&F, trying to drive me nuts with guilt. My head throbbed.

“I don’t know,” he said quietly. “Their sense of time doesn’t align with ours, usually. They’re capricious, but…”

“What?”

“They have long attention spans. I’ve known creatures to stalk one person for years, just appearing and watching, appearing and watching, feasting on their fear.”

“Until that person winds up eating pudding from a cup for every meal and living in a room with upholstered walls? Because nobody will believe them.”

Kian stepped closer, and I went into his arms.

“It makes me want to interview a bunch of people in mental hospitals and find out what they know.”

He grinned. “I guarantee that’s not the future Wedderburn’s pushing you toward.”

“That’s hardly a deterrent. He says I’m on track, but who the hell knows? According to you, I won’t find out until I graduate.”

“Worst matriculation present ever.”

“It’s hot when you use ten-dollar words.” I smiled up at him, ready for a kiss, until I heard one of my parents coming down the hall.

“Edie? Who are you talking to?” my dad asked.

“I’m on Skype,” I called, while motioning for Kian to disappear.

“Ah. Say hi to Vi for me.”

With a regretful look, Kian ported, leaving me to wait for him to pick me up the old-fashioned way. When he arrived via the front door, he was a little late. Both my parents inspected him for the second time, and my mom grilled him about his science background. I suspected she might show him the door if he showed too many liberal arts tendencies. Most likely, his poetry journal would get him evicted.

“Ready?” Kian asked, after fifteen minutes of convo with my parents, which was like eight dog years.

“Yeah, I’ll see you guys later.” With a wave, I followed him out and down the stairs, where we found Mr. Lewis staring at a giant nail protruding over the front door.

“Something wrong?” I asked.

“Yeah. Some no-good bastard stole my horseshoe.”

At first, I had no idea what he was talking about and then I realized he’d mentioned hanging one up for protection. “That’s a problem.”

The old man leveled a grim look on me. “More for you than me, girlie.”

“Why’s that?” I asked, while Kian glanced between us in dawning startlement.

“Because now they can come in.”