My So-Called Death

  "I'm not at liberty to share that information, but suffice it to say that these challenges have kept me from performing my duties as principal with the excellence I would prefer. And for that, I apologize." Samedi looked first at me and then at Gavin, her dark eyes so sad I couldn't help but feel a little sorry for her.

  "Still, the division of my attention couldn't be helped. I've done what I've thought was best for the school in the past week." She rose from her chair and crossed to a cabinet on the other side of the room. "You'll just have to trust that I have been doing all I could to provide for the safety of not only yourselves, but the entire student body. My worst mistake was underestimating the determination and curiosity of my students, but I assure you, that won't happen again."

  She turned back to us, a small black bottle in her hand. "Until the situation that arose this evening is under control, anyone violating school policy will be suspended until further notice."

  "You wouldn't dare." Gavin stood up so quickly his chair fell over with a loud clatter. "That's against the law."

  175

  "Gavin, I don't think it's against the law for Principal Samedi to suspend us," I said, trying to talk some sense into him before he got himself expelled or something worse. "She is the principal and we did break the--"

  "She's not going to suspend us from school, she's going to put us under a suspension spell. Suspended animation." Gavin grabbed my hand and pulled me to my feet beside him before turning back to Samedi. "It's black magic to freeze another person in time against their will, and black magic is against the law. For everyone."

  "Technically, it's gray magic, and in times of crisis we do what we must." Samedi uncorked the bottle in her hand. "I'm truly sorry, but I don't feel you've given me any choice."

  "Run, Karen!" Gavin spun on his heel and bolted for the door, dragging me with him. "But I--" "Run!"

  I turned to race after him, just barely making it through the office door before an explosion of blue light erupted behind me. Yikes! I wasn't sure if that was the suspended animation spell, but it certainly packed a punch. I could feel crackles of electricity sparking along my skin, singeing little blond hairs. And that was just from being close to the thing.

  "Come on, this way," Gavin shouted, hauling serious butt down the hall to the right.

  I pulled up the hem of my robe and pumped my legs

  176

  as hard as I could to keep up, even though I still wasn't sure if this was the right thing to do. Being frozen in time didn't sound like much fun, but what choice did we have? We couldn't run from Principal Samedi forever. Where were we going to go? My earlier plan to run and hide among the human population would only work for so long. Samedi would eventually find us and work her magic or use her claws to rip us open and eat our entrails or whatever else she was in the mood to do at the time. We had to get real help, someone inside the Death Challenged community who would offer us protection. But who could we turn to who would believe Samedi had gone off the deep end?

  "This way!" A low, gravelly voice sounded from our right.

  Gavin and I both yelled as a skeletal hand closed around our arms and yanked us into an abandoned room at the end of the hall. The door slammed seconds later amidst a cloud of pungent cologne. It was Mr. Cork, looking even worse than usual. His skin hung on him like a deflated balloon, and his dark brown eyes glittered unhealthily in his sunken face.

  "Both of you, follow me. We haven't much time." Mr. Cork shuffled to the corner of the room, every movement looking like an exercise in pain. "Samedi won't let you escape. Not after all you've seen."

  "Those weren't baboon brains, were they?" Gavin asked, pulling me across the room as Cork went to work on the wall with a root, summoning a black door much like the one we'd slipped through in the library. Except this one

  177

  didn't have snakes on it, but pudgy, white wormy things. Ick. They were gross looking, but not particularly scary. If we were to encounter a writhing pile of white worms on the other side of that door, I figured we could probably survive the experience.

  "No, they were not. Theresa has crossed the line into black magic and refuses to come back to the light," Mr. Cork said, grunting and wheezing with the effort it took to speak. "I discovered the harvested brains in her laboratory and tried to convince her to abandon her wicked plan, but she will not be swayed. She tried to kill me for what I knew, and she'll do the same to both of you. Clarice and Darby have already disappeared. I doubt their bodies will ever be found."

  Oh... crap. This was exceptionally bad news. For all practical purposes, I knew I should have been having a full-on panic attack as I waited for the frail Mr. Cork to open the door. I could hear Principal Samedi looking for us, her heeled boots clicking on the tile outside as she hurried down the hall. We were probably seconds away from death by arm-hair-singeing blue light. But for some reason ... I wasn't scared. Not of Principal Samedi, at least.

  Something else was bothering me. Something I couldn't quite put my finger on.

  "Heeled boots. She always wears heeled boots," I said, tugging on Gavin's robe. "And she's not heavy enough to make those footsteps we heard at the pool or I heard in the bathroom. It can't be her. At least not only her."

  178

  "She's probably working with one of the people from her coven," Gavin said, just as Mr. Cork pulled the door open.

  It swung into the room with a creaking sound and a puff of stale air. Wherever this door led, it hadn't been opened in a long time. I peeked past Gavin to see a dusty brown corridor decorated with strange markings along both walls that seemed to stretch on into infinity. At first glance, it was much less creepy than the moldy stairs we'd trudged down earlier in the night, but for some reason I really didn't want to go into that hallway.

  The evil aura that had been lurking around the library seethed out of the brown stones ahead of us, shoving out into the room, clutching at my throat like a big, invisible fist. It got harder and harder to breathe every second I stared through the door, making me dig my heels in and hold my ground when Gavin tried to pull me forward.

  "Wait, I don't think--"

  "Come on, Karen. She's almost here!" The panic in Gavin's eyes made me take a step closer, against my will. He was the experienced magical person--surely he would know if we were headed into a bad-juju zone.

  "Hurry. I won't be able to protect either of you. I'm too weak." Mr. Cork stepped up behind me, his jumbo-soled heels making a thumping sound even on the carpeted floor.

  Oh. Crap. Mr. Cork.

  He wore huge orthopedic shoes that made plenty of noise when he walked. He'd known I was going to be in

  179

  the bathroom the day I was attacked, and I suddenly realized why the weird spicy smell I'd caught a whiff of down in the dark tunnel had seemed so familiar.

  It had been Mr. Cork's cologne. The same cologne that swirled around me now, almost masking the underlying odor of rot.

  The decay funk was so thoroughly clouded by his horrid perfume that you wouldn't realize it was there if you weren't looking for it. But now that I knew to look, it was amazing I hadn't caught it before. Mr. Cork was the source of the stink, not Clarice's horrible breath. Which meant he'd been there that day in the library, and down in the catacombs. I was betting it also meant he was the source of the evil vibe, not the hallway he urged me toward with his disturbingly bony hand.

  "Principal Samedi! We're in here! Help!" I screamed, following my gut.

  If I was wrong and Mr. Cork was telling the truth, I'd probably just doomed Gavin and myself to death or worse, but I couldn't seem to help myself. The feeling that Cork was the real baddie was so strong that the words leapt out of my mouth of their own accord.

  Which turned out to be a good thing, though also pretty pointless. Principal Samedi didn't have time to reach the door before Mr. Cork showed his true colors big time.

  "It's too late for help." He shoved me between the shoulders with surprising strength. It sent me
crashing into Gavin, and the pair of us fell into the dusty brown hallway.

  180

  We landed in a tangle on the dirt floor and just barely had time to look over our shoulders before Cork slammed the door closed. The feral snarl on his face, paired with the satisfied gleam in his evil, sunken eyes, pretty much banished any lingering shred of doubt that he was one we needed to be afraid of.

  Gavin lunged for the handle, but the entire door vanished into thin air. He fell back to the floor, grunting as he bit the dirt.

  "Are you okay?" I reached over to him, but he was already on his feet.

  "He's the one," he said, dusting off his robe with a slightly dazed expression. "How did you know?"

  "His shoes and his smell. You know that rotted smell we noticed in the library?"

  "Yeah."

  "That's what he's hiding with that cologne, but I guess he has to reapply pretty often to keep it covered. Even with him standing so close, I didn't notice it until he opened the door and the draft blew the stench around." I turned to survey the hallway in both directions. The evil vibe wasn't as strong as it had been with Cork standing behind me, but it was still there. Wherever he'd sent us, I knew it wasn't somewhere we wanted to be. "He's definitely the harvester."

  "No doubt. And he definitely isn't going to want us telling anyone about it." Gavin took a long look to our right and left. "We have to find a way out of here."

  "You think he's going to come get us?"

  181

  I shivered, though it actually was pretty warm in the hallway. The flaming torches on the wall heated the air as well as provided light... not that it really mattered. We might as well have been fumbling around in the dark for all the good seeing did us right now. The hall truly seemed to stretch on forever in both directions. It was impossible to know which way to run, or if running would even do us any good.

  Gavin sighed. "Either he's coming back for us to make sure we don't talk, or..." "Or what?"

  "Or he doesn't think we'll ever find our way out of here," Gavin said, the hint of defeat in his eyes.

  "If there's a way in, there has to be a way out, right?" I asked, forcing the old PHS Peachpit spirit into my voice. Geez, I never realized there were so many real-world applications for cheerleading experience. I was beginning to think Spirit Inspiration and Positive Thinking should be a required course for all freshmen. "Besides, we have to be somewhere in the school. How far could this go if--"

  "We might not be. If Mr. Cork is as powerful as I think he is, he could have sent us somewhere else. To a different place, a different time, maybe even a different planet."

  "I think you've been watching too much Sci Fi channel," I said. "No one said anything about time travel or Star Wars stuff during Magical Behaviors"

  Gavin actually grinned a little as he started down the hall to our right. I'd been feeling more of a left vibe, but

  182

  at this point it seemed like a good idea just to get moving. "But wouldn't it be cool if there was life on other planets? Or if magic could help us travel through time?"

  "No. Aliens are scary and time travel is always bad. Haven't you ever watched Saturday morning cartoons or those old movies with the short guy?"

  "The short guy? That's descriptive."

  I sighed. "You know, the short guy, the one who used to be on that TV show in the eighties? He had these hippie parents but was in love with Ronald Reagan?" Gavins blank look told me he didn't spend his spare time watching Nick at Nite reruns. Probably too busy learning magic and swimming and doing his homework and responsible stuff like that. His loss, clearly. "Whatever. Point being, the space-time continuum always gets interrupted and the world gets destroyed or you create an alternate reality or marry your mother and cease to exist or something like that."

  "That's gross."

  "Totally. This is why we should stay in our own time and space and--"

  "Wait a second." Gavin grabbed my arm. I froze beside him. "Do you hear that? What is that?"

  I definitely heard something, but couldn't have begun to guess what was making the noise. It was like a giant broom swishing through a puddle of partially solidified Jell-O. Kind of a swish, splash, gurgle sound with a little jiggle at the end. "I don't know, but...it sounds like it's getting closer."

  183

  "Which I'm guessing isn't good." Gavin turned in a slow circle while I squinted my eyes, glaring into the space ahead of us, then spinning around to check behind. But nothing had changed. The hall was deserted, and the air as still and stale as it had been when we first fell inside.

  I was getting ready to suggest we keep moving and hope for the best when something instinctual urged me to look up. After all, hadn't I just learned a lesson from Principal Samedi, the bat woman, about neglecting to check the vulnerable overhead area? And how many horror movies had Piper forced me to watch where something fell on the stupid half-dressed heroine and ate her alive because she was too busy freaking out and clutching her skimpy nightie to make sure the ceiling was free of gravity-defying vampires or psycho killers hiding in the attic or...

  Giant, slime-covered maggot creatures. So that's what the white squirmy things on the door had been.

  I didn't even waste time screaming before grabbing Gavin's arm and taking off at a sprint. Thankfully, he didn't waste time asking questions either. He just kicked it into high gear and raced down the hall beside me. You gotta love a guy who can lead, but who also isn't afraid to follow.

  Good for him he was so liberated. Otherwise, the mondo maggot would totally have had him for a late-night snack.

  184

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  In the event of a maggot infestation, douse the affected area with alcohol and seek immediate medical attention. Though maggots have been used in the treatment of human wounds for centuries, they can severely damage or destroy the Undead.

  --First Aid for the Undead

  Maggots seething, here they come

  From the fly, we're all undone

  It is the way of the maggot, the way of the maggot

  The way of the maaaaaaggooooooot.

  --"The Way of the Maggot, "Fleshrot, Alternative Zombie Volume 6, Hits of the 1990s

  "What the hell is that? A giant worm?" Gavin asked as the thing landed on the hall floor with a thunderous squish that made the ground shake.

  "I'm thinking maggot," I panted, running even faster. From the slushy Jell-O sounds behind us, the maggot-worm was wasting no time starting its pursuit. "They eat dead things, right?"

  "Do you really think of yourself as a dead thing?"

  "Well, no," I said, struggling to talk and run at the same time. "But I probably would if I were a giant, hungry

  185

  maggot. Besides, Principal Samedi warned me about maggots. They're our only--"

  "Natural predator. Yeah, I know. But I read somewhere that doctors are using them to treat infected wounds in humans."

  "Really?"

  "Yeah, because they'll only eat dead flesh and leave the healthy stuff alone," Gavin gasped, risking a quick look over his shoulder before pushing himself into a full-out sprint. "It's because overuse of antibiotics has made people resistant... to... normal treatments... or something. But since our flesh is all dead and not... vulnerable to infection, I--"

  "Are you seriously talking about this while we're running for our lives?" I was breathing so hard from trying to keep up with Gavin and his much longer legs that I wasn't sure he would understand me. But he did--and then he started laughing.

  The boy was clearly insane, which made me like him even more. What that said about my own twisted psyche, I didn't want to know.

  "I guess." He laughed again. "I've never really run for my life before. It's nothing like in the movies."

  I could only grunt my agreement because, at that point, I was beyond banter. My lungs burned, and a weird metallic taste crept up the back of my throat, making it harder and harder to swallow. I can safely say I've never run so hard or so
fast. I would have been hopeful that Gavin and

  186

  I could eventually outdistance the thing behind us if only there had been anywhere to run to.

  But the hallway just stretched on and on, with no end in sight. There were no turns, no doorways, no nothing. The only point of entry or exit appeared to be the tunnels that popped up every so often overhead, like the one our maggot friend had oozed out of, and those weren't going to do us any good. We couldn't defy gravity and, even if we could, the chance we might run into one of white-and-gooey's friends while crawling around in said tunnels would have kept me right where I was.

  Still, "where I was" wasn't much better, and it was getting worse with every second.

  "We have to do something. There has to be a way out." I forced the words out despite the ache deep in my lungs.

  "How? I don't see any doors, do you?"

  "What about magic?" I asked. "What about your root?"

  "Samedi took it when she brought us into her office," he said. "I could try to open a door without it, but--"

  "Try! God, try!" I screamed, wondering why the heck he hadn't tried before. This was not the time for a crisis of faith in his abilities!

  "I can't! I need time to chant one of the longer spells." Gavin sucked in a deep breath, but I could tell it wasn't as easy as it had been a few seconds ago. We were both running out of steam. "That thing would be all over us before I was halfway through."

  Argh! No way. This couldn't be hopeless. I refused to

  187

  be ingested by a giant maggot. It was just too gross for words. What would they write for the obituary? Perky ex-cheerleader with fabulous natural blond hair consumed by giant worm?