The Lost Saint(3)

That he was still alive.

That he was mine.

I’d watched him die once. Held him in my arms and listened to his heartbeat fade away into nothing.

It happened the night my brother Jude lost himself to the werewolf curse—just days before he left a note on the kitchen table, walked out into a snowstorm, and disappeared. The same night Jude infected me with the powers that taunted me now.

The night I almost lost everything.

“There goes another one.” Daniel leaned in and touched a kiss just beside my eye. He trailed his lips across my cheek and down my jaw, sending a tingling sensation through my body with the deliciousness of his touch.

Daniel’s lips came to my mouth. He brushed them softly there at first and then pressed gently. His lips parted, and he mingled them with mine.

My legs ached as I pulled him closer—finally closing the distance between us.

I didn’t care that we were out in the yard behind Maryanne Duke’s old house. I didn’t care that we were supposed to be tracking the meteor shower for class. Nothing existed outside his touch. There was nothing under the falling stars except Daniel and me and the blanket of grass underneath us.

Daniel jerked his head back slightly. “You’re buzzing,” he whispered against my lips.

“Huh?” I asked, and kissed him.

He pulled away. “I think it’s your phone.”


I noticed the buzzing, too. My cell phone in my sweatshirt pocket.

“So what?” I grabbed the front of his shirt playfully and pulled him closer. “They can leave a message.”

“It could be your mom,” Daniel said. “I just got you back. I don’t want to lose you for another two weeks.”

“Damn it.”

Daniel smirked. He always thought it was hilarious when I swore. But he did have a point—about my mom, that is. She had only two modes since Jude left: Zombie Queen and Crazed Mother Bear. It was like her own personal brand of bipolar disorder.

I’d left for the evening before she got back from seeing Aunt Carol off at the train station, so I wasn’t sure what mode she would be in, but if it was of the overbearing sort, I could possibly be grounded again just for the act of not answering her calls on the second ring.

I sat up and dug into the pocket of my hoodie, but I’d already taken too much time, and the call ended before I pulled out my phone.

“Crap.” I couldn’t take another two weeks of not seeing Daniel outside of school. I flipped open my phone to check the missed call info, mentally crossing my fingers that it hadn’t been my mother, but what I saw made me cock my head in confusion. “Where’s your phone?” I asked Daniel.

“I left it inside. On my bed.” Daniel yawned. “Why?”

I stood up, still staring at the display on my phone. A dark feeling crept under my skin. My hair stood up on the back of my neck, and my muscles tensed in that way they did when my body sensed danger. The phone started ringing again in my hand. I almost dropped it.

“Who’s calling you?”

“You are.”

I fumbled with the phone and almost dropped it again. I pushed the Answer button. “Hello?” I asked tentatively as I put it to my ear.

Silence.

I looked at the screen on my phone to make sure I hadn’t missed the call or accidentally hit the Disconnect button. I returned it to my ear. “Um, hello?”

Still nothing.

I looked at Daniel and shrugged. “It must be some weird kind of flyaway.” I was about to hang up when I heard something on the line. It sounded almost like a hand covering the receiver.

“Hello?” My skin tingled. Goose bumps pricked up my arms. “Who’s there?”

“They’re coming for you,” a muffled voice said over the phone. “You’re in danger. You’re all in danger. You can’t stop them.”

“Who is this?” I asked, panic rising with the tension in my muscles. “How did you get Daniel’s phone?”

“Don’t trust him,” the trembling voice said. “He makes you think you can trust him, but you can’t.”

Daniel reached for the phone, but I shook him off.

“What are you talking about?” I asked.

“You can’t trust him.” The voice on the line seemed suddenly clearer—like the hand muffling the receiver had moved out of the way—and the familiarity of it made my heart nearly stop. “Please, Gracie, listen to me this time. You’re all in danger. You have to know that—” The voice cut off with a clatter, like the phone had been dropped, and the line went dead.

“Jude!” I shouted into my phone.





ABOUT TEN SECONDS LATER




“Wait!” Daniel called after me as he tried to push himself up from the ground.

But I’d hit the button to call back Daniel’s cell, and was off the grass and across the back patio before it even started ringing. I could hear his ringtone faintly playing a metal guitar version of “Moonlight Sonata” from his apartment in Maryanne’s basement. I felt a burst of supernatural speed and, in a matter of seconds, flew around the house and down the cement stairs that led to the apartment.

The old yellow door was slightly ajar. My palms suddenly went sweaty. Daniel was normally a bit compulsive about keeping his door locked. The hinges groaned as I pushed the door open a little farther.