Darkest Powers Tales by Kelley Armstrong

Author:Kelley Armstrong
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: Subterranean Press
Published: 2015-03-26T07:00:00+00:00

Disenchanted

One

When Tori woke me up, I was deep in a dream about Chloe. We were on the bus from Buffalo to Andrew’s house, and I’d fallen asleep after showing Chloe the picture I’d drawn of her banishing the zombie in the abandoned building. So that’s what I dreamed of. Only it wasn’t Derek who’d come to her rescue this time—it was me.

In my version, I’d woken up first and seen the zombie. Like Derek, I’d tried to wake her up carefully and warn her. Like Derek, I didn’t succeed. Pretty hard to tell someone, “Um, there’s a zombie crawling over you” and not freak her out. Unlike Derek, I hadn’t freaked back by shouting at her to calm down. My brother is a great guy, but subtlety really isn’t his thing. I’d done it right—holding her hand and assuring her she could handle it, and I’d stand watch and make sure the reanimated corpse didn’t hurt her.

Together, we banished the zombie. Afterward, she was shaking, and I held her and told her how brave she’d been, and she apologized for screaming, and I said that was okay, I’d been screaming too—on the inside—and that made her laugh, and she leaned toward me and I leaned toward her and—

“Simon.” Someone was shaking my shoulder. “Simon, wake up.”

I cracked open one eye, praying it was Chloe while knowing it wasn’t. There was no mistaking that screech. When I saw Tori leaning over the seat, I shut my eyes again. Maybe if I pretended to be asleep, she’d go pester Derek instead. I had a dream to finish.

“Simon! Come on. This is our stop.”

I sighed and opened my eyes. My sketchpad was still open to the picture of Chloe. I looked at it and felt a pang of regret that it hadn’t been me who’d come to her rescue the other night. I should have. I would have, too, if I wasn’t such a sound sleeper.

I stretched and glanced at the seat beside mine. It was empty.

“Chloe?” I said.

I peered over the rows of seats. The bus had stopped. It was barely dawn and most of the passengers were sound asleep. When I didn’t see Derek’s familiar dark head at the back, I got to my feet.

“Where are Derek and Chloe?” I asked Tori.

“Gone.”

I looked around. “They got off already?”

“Do you see them?”

“No.”

“So obviously they got off.” Tori bent to squint at her reflection in the window and swiped a hand through her short, dark hair. “God, I look like shit. First stop, a bathroom. I am not going anywhere looking like this.”

Someone tried to push past her and she turned on him. “Excuse me? Wait your turn.”

“If you’re getting off, get off,” the man said. “The bus won’t wait forever, sweetie.”

“I’m not your sweetie.” She fluffed her hair again, then headed down the aisle as she waved me forward. “Come on.”

I grabbed my sketchpad, jacket and backpack. Still half-asleep, I stumbled off the bus. As the doors closed behind me, I peered around the parking lot.

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