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.But unlike an after image, a wraith usually appears right before someone dies &to the person who s marked for death. Now that wasn t something Nick wanted to hear. You just made my flesh crawl. Mine, too. Caleb hesitated before he spoke again. I ve been around a lot of wraiths, and hedoesn t feel like that either, though.It s a strange sensation.Like human wrapped in evil. Oh, great.Our coach is a pig-in-the-blanket for Satan. Caleb let out a sound of frustration. You know there s no dealing with you when you re in thismood.Let me do some digging and get back to you. I ll be here & unless the coach kills me. Caleb appeared less than amused by his attempt at humor. Don t let him in the door, and if heshows up, call me. As long as the fingers work. With one eye fluttering with his annoyance, Caleb vanished in a cloud of red smoke.Alone and worried, Nick considered everything going on.None of it boded well for him.In fact, hefelt the flames licking his hindquarters.He had to get the coach off his back.That was the first order.Wanting more answers, he thought about consulting his book again, but the last thing he needed wasanother migraine.No, this was something he could figure out on his own.He was sure of it.Sitting down on the palletthat made up his bed, he pulled out the coach s theft list and looked over the items again.Underneath Kody s necklace was Stone s class ring.Yeah & like that would work.He could just see it now in his mind.Him walking up to Stone and smiling.Hi, Stone.Would you mind handing meover your ring that s made out of 24 karat real gold? One that had a real diamond in it? Justpretend I m your girl and give it to me.The werewolf would disembowel him.But because that was on the list, he knew Stone wasn t one of the coach s chosen group. Thequestion was, who else had been recruited, and why had they been chosen.Did Devus know about hiscriminal past? Nick hated that part of himself.Desperation had motivated him to do some things hewasn t proud of, such as watch out for cops while his friends had shoplifted.At the time, it hadseemed harmless a victimless crime and he made a lot of money that had helped his mom withbills.He d convinced himself that it wasn t hurting a real person, just some innocuous mondocorporation that didn t care about people like him.He d told himself the mondo corps preyed onpeople like him and laughed while they did it.That had been his justification.On his last visit to see his dad in Angola, his mind had been changed while listening to some of theother inmates trying to excuse their crimes.Last thing he wanted was to be one of them, sitting in jail,blaming the world for his wrong decisions.Nothing was worth his freedom and self-respect,especially not money, and certainly not hurting someone else.If he could give back some of whatAlan had stolen, he would.Unfortunately, he d used the money to buy food.But one day &He would pay back everyone they d ever taken a nickel from.There s no way the coach knows about that.Because the guilt was so harsh over it, Nick rarelythought about it, and he d never once, ever told a single soul outside of Tyree and Alan, who d beenthere for it.Since they didn t go to school, the coach couldn t have talked to them.He doesn t know.Yet somehow, he d singled Nick out of the herd for this awful plan of his.Looking back at the list,he cringed.The coach wanted something from almost everyone in his first two periods.What an odd assortment, though.Watches, rings, necklaces, and two hairbrushes.Why hairbrushes?How could the coach get any money from that?His phone rang, startling him.Trying to calm himself, he answered it.It was Caleb. Where s Menyara? Next door with my mom, why? Do me a favor and go stay with them. Any particular reason? Yeah.I just crossed paths with a Fringe Guard. Nick frowned at a term he didn t understand. A what? Fringe Guard, Caleb repeated. They re bounty hunters who go after other preternatural beings.In this case, he s seeking a demon who s hiding in the body of a kid. What s that got to do with me? I have a demon hanging near me Caleb but not one in me. Aggravation was thick in his tone. He was searching for a fourteen-year-old boy, Nick.I think wenow know who killed those other teenagers that you and Ash saw. A tremor of fear went down his spine.Had the demon been in them, or had he merely tried to getinside them? But I m not possessed. Caleb cursed. Would you stop arguing with me, Nick, and just do it? These aren t the kind ofcreatures you want to meet on your own, and where there s one, there s usually more, and they re notknown for their mercy or humanity.So do what I said and don t be alone.The last thing I want is foryou to be interrogated by one. Why? Nick, I swear & stop acting like a three-year-old at bedtime and haul ass next door or I m comingover there and dragging you myself, and you won t enjoy the experience. All right.Calm down.Put your horns in.I m headed over. He hung up the phone.Unlike Caleb,he wasn t sure Mennie was strong enough to fight something like that.While she was a voodoopriestess with some rather impressive skills, he didn t want to put her in harm s way.However, shedid have a lot of protection symbols in her home.Least he could do was make use of them.Tucking his arm back into the sling, he got up and went for the door.He walked outside, then shut and locked the door.Wrinkling his nose, he curled his lip.Ew! Whatwas that godawful smell? It was rotten eggs mixed with fertilizer and a dash of vomit.Gah, it smelledlike Stone had another accident in Chem class.He pressed his hand to his nose and started forMennie s.But the moment he did, a shadow fell over him and he was grabbed from behind. CHAPTER 12Cursing, Nick spun around, ready to brawl.Then he froze in place and blinked twice just to make surehe wasn t hallucinating.He wasn t.Tall, shaggy haired, and swathed in flannel and jeans, Mark, who was again drenched in the smellof duck urine, stood on the stoop like a hyena with a broken laugh track. Boy, you should have seenthe look on your face.I ain t seen you that floppy rabbit scared since you were trying to get into thestore before the zombies ate your brains.Oh my God.If I d had a camera on you, I d have made afortune. Incensed over the needless scare the idiot had given him, Nick glared at him. You dickhead!You re not funny. You re right about that.Funny is you, boy. He continued laughing until Nick was ready to kickhim where it would leave a lasting impression.It was a good thing he owed Mark, or he woulddefinitely give into that urge.Nick growled low in his throat. What are you doing here anyway, besides stinking up my porchand skinning a decade off my life? Mark wiped at his eyes. Lo siento about the u-rine, mi amigo, but better safe than sorry when inthe swamp.That s my motto. He finally stopped grinning and got down to business. I saw that you dcalled, and I was trying to call you back, but my battery went dead.So I went to car charge it
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