Scorch

  Uncle Mort had vanished. Driggs never let go of Lex’s hand as they were escorted back to the cellar; they’d been gone for no more than ten minutes. They were still glued together when they reached his cell. The Seniors tried to separate them, but Lex clutched his hand even tighter, as if it were the last time she’d ever hold it. For all she knew, it was.

  They kissed, even as the Seniors kept pulling them apart—a messy, hurried, violent kiss, their teeth knocking against their lips and causing them to split and bleed. It’s not how Lex would have wanted it to end, but when was the last time anything had worked out the way she had wanted it to?

  With one final tug the Seniors tore them apart, Lex’s fingers still grasping at the empty space where Driggs’s had been. The next thing she saw was her cell and its buzzing fluorescent light, followed by the door slamming shut behind her.

  All at once, the fury came. The heat sparked deep within her chest, then rippled down her arms and into her hands. The only thing in the room was the tray that her breakfast had come on, but it was enough. Letting out an unearthly cry, she slammed her hands down on top of it, setting it on fire.

  And that’s when the light went out.

  ***

  More days passed, this time in total darkness. Even less food came. Lex felt like a tiny, insignificant speck floating through the deepest voids of outer space. A few days after that, she felt like something even smaller—a mere particle, a lonely electron.

  A few days after that, she felt like she no longer existed at all.

  Until the night the door opened.

  Lex squinted into the light from the hallway. “Come on,” a female voice said.

  Lex got to her feet and approached the door. “Heloise?”

  “Not even close.”

  With an angry snarl, Zara yanked her out of the cell.

  24

  “Don’t struggle,” Zara said, pulling Lex down the hallway. She was dressed in dark clothes and carried a bag on her shoulder. “We can’t Damn each other, but don’t try anything else either. Trust me when I say that it would be very bad, and not just for you.”

  Lex’s hands started to shake. For who?

  She glanced at the door to Driggs’s cell; the lights had been turned off in his, too. She thought about shouting, but he’d already suffered enough on her account—starved himself, even. Why freak him out even more?

  Zara dragged Lex over the unconscious guards and outside into a heavy snow. Thick, fluffy flakes fell from the night sky, making it difficult to see through the white haze. When they reached the front of the Bank, Lex stopped and gaped.

  The town was empty. No lights, no people. Only the falling snow.

  “Where is everyone?” she asked.

  “I rented out the town for the evening,” Zara answered, her face looking even paler in the white reflections. “Struck up a nice deal with Norwood and Heloise.”

  For a split second Lex had a terrible thought. “They’ve been working for you this whole time?”

  Zara let out a laugh. “Give me a little more credit than that, Lex. I’d have to lose my mind to ever want to associate with those clowns.” She yanked on Lex’s wrist again. “Come on.”

  “Where are we going?”

  “To the Bank,” Zara said, narrowing her bloodshot eyes. “We’re gonna work a shift, you and I.”

  ***

  The Bank was deserted too, and dark. Lex was stunned. This meant that Croak was completely offline, with no working Etceteras, no one guarding the Afterlife, no one out in the Field. Even Kilda was gone.

  Only one light was on, in the hub, and it belonged to Sofi.

  “Hi, Lex!” she said in a chipper voice. “Checking in?”

  The sudden comprehension stabbed Lex like a rusty needle. Who better to disable the security systems for Zara than her tech-savvy former partner? “You bitch!” Lex yelled. “How could you do this to all of us? You’re a Junior, too!”

  “Puh-leeze, Lex. You guys always hated me, especially you.”

  “We didn’t hate you! We hated that you sided with Norwood!”

  “I never sided with Norwood. I told you, he’s a total jerkface.” Sofi typed something on the keyboard, then flipped over one of her snow globes and watched as the flakes drifted through the water. “I sided with Zara. And why not? She’s the only one who ever cared about me.”

  “She doesn’t care about you! She’s using you! You think you’d be worth anything to her if you couldn’t get her past the security systems?”

  “Quiet,” said Zara, giving Lex a dirty look. She handed Sofi her glass scythe along with Lex’s own obsidian scythe.

  Lex stared. “Where did you get those?”

  “I raided Norwood’s treasure-trove of confiscated items. Got all your buddies’ scythes too.” She patted the bag—Uncle Mort’s bag, Lex now realized. “Check us in, Sofi.”

  Sofi dutifully inserted the scythes into the Smack and began tapping at the keyboard. Lex gave her a pleading look. “Don’t do this, Sofi. Help me, not her.”

  “Why should I?” Sofi inspected her cotton candy–colored nails. “You’re just going to go running back to your dreamy little boo anyway.”

  “Jesus, Sofi, is this about Driggs? You’ve got to be kidding me!”

  “You knew I liked him.”

  “Oh my Lord—”

  “But no, it’s not just about Driggs. It’s about survival. I help Zara, I stay safe.”

  “You seriously believe that? Sofi, Zara is a liar. She made the same promises to the mayor of DeMyse, and he and everyone in his city are probably Damned by now!”

  “Because he broke her rules. I won’t do that.”

  Zara removed the scythes from the Smack and pulled on Lex’s arm. “Let’s go.”

  Lex took one last look at Sofi, who gave her another little wave. “Traitor,” Lex muttered.

  Zara steered her into the Field, boldly plunging through the whiteness as if she owned the place. Which, technically, she did.

  Yet as they reached the Ghost Gum, two blurry figures jumped out from behind the tree, scythes drawn. “Whatever you’re planning to do, stop!”

  Lex’s jaw dropped. Norwood and Heloise were trying to save her?

  Zara looked at them irritably. “I thought I already dealt with you two.”

  “Give Lex back,” Heloise said to Zara, keeping her distance but clearly willing to throw her scythe if Zara tried anything. She was bundled up in a fur coat, the snow quivering on her hat. Lex felt a surge of gratitude, one that faded as soon as Heloise added, “She’s ours. We’ll lose our sway with the people if we let her slip through our fingers now. We’ll look like fools!”

  “You are fools,” said Zara.

  “Please, she’s the only one we have left—”

  “Sorry,” Zara said. “We made a deal. You gave me the town, I gave you the evidence against her. I never said you could have her back.”

  “Evidence?” Lex asked, a funny feeling in her stomach.

  “Oh, come on, Lex,” Zara said with a wry smile. “It was masterfully done, might as well own up to it. Even if you did steal some of my thunder. I mean, your work with that teacher who blew her students’ brains out—just beautiful.”

  Lex’s gaze darted from Zara to Norwood, then Heloise, then back to Norwood, who let out a short, biting laugh and removed something from his coat.

  Lex nearly passed out.

  He had her Lifeglass. Her memories.

  He held it up, images of charred bodies swirling to its surface. The schoolteacher’s determined face as she was arrested, followed by her Damned corpse on the floor of her prison cell. “You’ve been doing it for months, haven’t you?” he said to Lex with a triumphant grin. “Damning those criminals all over the country, hiding behind Zara’s shadow so no one would suspect you?”

  Lex swallowed. “That’s not—”

  “I suspected it all along,” he continued, relishing every moment. He tapped the glass again and two new figures floated
by, along with a dog cage and a small boy. “I’m not stupid, Lex. Two kidnappers Damned in Chicago the same week Mort’s got you picking up those rookie brats? In Chicago?” He rolled his eyes. “Doesn’t take a genius.”

  Lex couldn’t reply. She’d been so careful, too—going off on her own, quickly Crashing to criminals and Damning them, then Crashing back and setting some object on fire with her plastic lighter as false evidence before anyone could tell what she was doing.

  “Why didn’t you rat me out?” she finally managed in a hollow voice.

  “Couldn’t prove anything.” He tapped the Lifeglass. “Until now.”

  She looked at Zara. “And you?”

  Zara shrugged. “You couldn’t very well get me what I needed if you were in the Hole.”

  “The Hole,” Norwood butted in, “is more than either of you deserves. I swear, when the president hears about this—”

  “Shut up,” Zara snapped at him, her eyes flashing. “Don’t you dare get all high and mighty, Norwood. You of all people know what it takes to advance in the world, to seize power. To give your people the illusion of safety and gain their trust, all while turning them into frightened sheep who’ll do whatever you tell them to.” A smile crept onto her lips. “I have to give you bonus points for that little feat, at least. Though I’m somewhat insulted that everyone so readily believed that I would resort to something as crude and mundane as pyrotechnics.”

  It hit Lex all at once. The dreams, the lack of a security breach alarm that night, Uncle Mort’s cryptic comment at the trial . . .

  “You did it,” Lex said, gaping at Norwood and Heloise. “You set off the bomb and made everyone think Uncle Mort’s security had failed. You killed your own citizens just to incite a mutiny!”

  Norwood narrowed his eyes. “We sure did,” he whispered, his lip curling. “And it worked like a goddamn charm.”

  Lex’s hands surged with heat. “You’re murderers, too,” she said. “You’re no better than Zara!”

  “And no worse than you,” Norwood countered. “I should probably be thanking you, Lex. That trial was pure theater, a rousing success.” He smiled. “Those people hate you. Imagine what they’ll think once they see this!” He held up the Lifeglass.

  Lex was breathless. “At least I go after the sort of people who deserve to be Damned! Zara killed children! And you slaughtered your own citizens in cold blood!”

  “We did what had to be done!” Heloise burst in. “That buffoon uncle of yours was running this town into the ground. Thinking he could bring an abomination like you here—I mean, really! The man was a danger to our society, and those people just needed a good solid push in the right direction. We merely gave it to them.”

  “At the expense of innocent people’s lives!”

  “Collateral damage,” Heloise said with a distasteful sniff. “We regret the loss.”

  Lex could barely see straight. “I’ll expose you,” she said. “I’ll tell the town what you did, and you’ll rot away in the Hole for the rest of your lives too!”

  Norwood snickered. “Good luck with that. You don’t have a shred of proof.”

  Lex opened her mouth to protest, but no words came. He was right.

  “Besides, you should count yourself lucky,” he went on. “If we’d stuck to my original plan and just thrown the damn bomb into the Crypt, this Junior problem would have been over and done with long ago.” He sighed. “Still, progress was made. That’s all that matters.”

  “Progress?” Lex yelled. “You killed Roze, and Kloo, and practically Ayjay—”

  “Exactly.” Heloise brushed her hands together and gave her husband a nasty smile. “Rebels, every one of them, gone and out of the way.”

  Norwood grinned right back at her. “Good riddance, right?”

  Lex couldn’t take it anymore. Her hands were on fire.

  That little voice whispered in her head: Do it.

  And this time she listened.

  She sprang at the couple with outstretched, scalding hands. Her left smacked Heloise across the face while her right landed in Norwood’s palm, both making contact—and Damning—at the same time.

  Shadows from the resulting fire shot up the Ghost Gum’s branches, blooming like a mushroom cloud. Norwood dropped the Lifeglass, staggered a few feet back, and fell deep into the snow, no longer visible in the blinding blizzard. Heloise, on the other hand, dropped right where she stood, her body erupting in flames, her tortured cries rising into an inhuman wail.

  Lex didn’t watch. Instead, she looked up. The heat was melting the snow on the branches; drops of cold water fell on her face, pinpricks stinging her skin like embers. She’d felt good after Damnings before, but they were nothing compared with this.

  Zara spoke up once the wails had died out. “Well done,” she said simply, as if complimenting Lex on a hard-won chess match. “Come on, we have a shift to do.” She held out Lex’s scythe.

  Lex didn’t take it. “I’m not going anywhere.”

  Zara snickered. “Classic Lex, always in need of a little persuasion.” She took the bag from her shoulder and opened it. “Your friends’ scythes weren’t the only things I found.”

  Lex’s mouth went totally dry as she looked inside, every emotion disappearing from her brain but fear.

  Seven Sparks.

  Six flickering.

  One blazing white.

  Zara held out Lex’s scythe. “Just one target. Let’s go. Or I’ll make them all shine, every last one of them.”

  Lex numbly took her scythe from Zara’s skeletal hand. “Who?” she demanded, the bottom dropping out of her stomach. “Who?”

  ***

  They scythed simultaneously and landed at Greycliff, the big boulder overlooking Croak. Frozen in time, the suspended snow hung around them like icy, twinkling stars. The silence of the world was absolute.

  Zara promptly grabbed Lex’s scythe out of her hand and put it in her own pocket. “Not going to make that little mistake again.”

  Lex barely noticed. She’d scythed into the ether without thinking. Her entire being was in a state of full-blown panic, her mind swimming with the possibilities of who the target could be—

  Then she spotted the body.

  It was covered by a few inches of snow. He must have been out there for hours, shivering in the cold, curling himself up into a ball for warmth. Hands and feet bound, hood pulled over his head, Chuck Taylors dirty and soaked through. Face white. Lips blue.

  No breath.

  No pulse.

  No life.

  ***

  “That empty, snowy road with the bunny—that was yours, wasn’t it?” Lex had asked Driggs as they nestled in the hollow tree stump the day they’d scythed across the country and back to Croak. “Why did you pick that place?”

  “I didn’t. Not really.” He rubbed her fingers, both of their hands stuffed into his pocket. “I just pictured a place that was calm and quiet. Where nothing could hurt us. Just like the woods I used to run away to when I was little, when my dad got mad. Far away from danger, from Zara, from adults who should be mature and reasonable but instead want to kill us, from all of”—he kicked at his scythe—“this.”

  Lex smiled and looked up at him. “It was beautiful.”

  He smiled back and kissed the top of her head. “It was for you.”

  ***

  Lex stopped. That was the only word for it. Her whole body, every thought running through her head, everything that made up the quivering mess of a human that was Lexington Bartleby—all of it came to a screeching halt. Likewise, the stalled snow hung in the air, watching her, the world fixed in a reverent silence.

  Somehow her body lurched forward, but Zara stopped her. “Don’t move,” Zara said, positioning her fingers above Driggs’s head.

  Lex didn’t move.

  “He’s dead,” said Zara. “But he hasn’t been Killed yet. His soul is still in there. Which means—”

  “He can still be Damned,” Lex finished.

/>   “Bingo.” Zara’s hand still hovered steadily above his body. “This can go one of two ways, Lex. You answer my questions honestly, do what I say, and I’ll let you Kill him. I’ll Cull him, he’ll go to the Afterlife, and you can see each other again. Refuse, and I Damn him. Sound fair?”

  Fair had been left in the dust long ago. But Lex gave a shaky nod.

  “Do you have the key?” Zara asked. “The real key?”

  “Yes.”

  “Give it to me. No—” she said when Lex took a step forward. “Toss it.”

  Lex did. Zara caught the shard of bone with one hand and shoved it into her pocket.

  “What does it open?” she asked next.

  “A cabin. In the woods, past the Sticks River.”

  Zara nodded. She knew that part was true. “How do you get past the shield?”

  “There’s a plant—you eat it, you can walk right through. It’s on the second floor of the Bank.”

  Zara let out a small puff of a laugh, as if she thought this was clever.

  “Is the Wrong Book in that cabin?”

  “Yes.”

  “Have you been in there? You’ve seen it?”

  “Yes.”

  “Did you take the book?”

  “No.”

  Zara narrowed her eyes and brought her hand closer to Driggs. “I said be honest, Lex.”

  Lex hesitated. A drop of cold sweat ran down her back.

  “One more chance. Do you have the Wrong Book?”

  “Yes,” Lex lied.

  “Give it to me.”

  “I don’t have it. Not on me.”

  Zara inched her hand closer to Driggs.

  “I’ll get it for you!” Lex shouted, desperate.

  Zara stopped.

  Lex took a deep breath and tried to speak evenly. “It’s hidden in the woods. Let me Kill him, and I’ll take you to it.”

  Zara considered this for a moment, then slowly stood up and kicked at Driggs’s body as if it were roadkill. “Do it. And then straight to the Book, or I’ll Damn them all.”

  Lex dropped to her knees and pushed Driggs’s hood back. His hair was half wet, half frozen. His face was so, so pale, like a marble statue. His eyelids were closed, snowflakes accumulating in the lashes, cloaking the one brown eye and one blue eye that had made him her own special, amazing weirdo.