tire. "You all done with our friend?"
"What are youâ"
"Mr. Knacke," he murmured. "Our mutual friend." He set the mop down. A shiny slick covered a swath of the floor, like he was mopping with black coffee.
"Look, I just need to get home, OK? I'm all turned around. Which way is the main entrance?"
"What's your rush?" he said, straightening up as best he could. As he moved, light from behind shone on the dark wet floor. And I saw myself there, reflected, but all
bent and smeary. "What do you got waiting for you at home, Zee?"
Hearing him say my name was way too freaky. I panicked, I guess. I had to get out of there and away from him. And so I ran. Fast.
Maybe I needed that jolt of cold fear. Because after seeing the guy with the mop, my mind was all clear and I went straight for the right doorway. It wasn't till I'd gotten off the school grounds, panting and trying to get my heart to slow down, that I realized where I'd heard that voice before. The guy with the mop was the disgusting guy on the phone the other night. He knew my name, he knew my number, and he knew where I lived.
Eleven
"OK, NOW YOU'RE GOING to tell me everything," I said. "What is going on, Relly? You've got to tell me."
We were walking along a gravel path in Mount Hope Cemetery. My first real date. Other girls get a movie and dinner. I got The Beautiful City of the Dead, as Relly called it. Other girls got small talk about school or TV or bands coming to town. Not me.
"We're gods," he said.
"Right. We're gods."
"I'm not kidding."
"I know you're not kidding," I said. "That's what scares me."
"It's true, Zee. You saw me. You saw the fire come, right? That was no lie."
"And I'm going to burst into flames, too? That's what you're going to tell me next, right?"
"No. Not flame. Not you."
"Then what are you talking about? Gods? I'm about as
godlike as a ... as a ... You're talking like a looney! You know that?"
"Just because you're looney doesn't mean you don't tell the truth."
We walked along, silent, for a while.
The cemetery really is a beautiful place, with winding paths and little ponds, hills overgrown with tall grass, endless ranks of gravestones. I didn't put up any fuss when he said he wanted for us to go there. I knew we could be alone there, just the two of us and a quarter million dead people. I like the quiet. I like the weeping maidens, angels, draped urns, crosses, and obelisks. I guess it was kind of romantic, even. Just the two of us, walking on a cold afternoon.
I'd brought along my notebook and copied down some of the gravestone poetry.
Weep not for me, my friends so dear.
I am not dead, just sleeping here.
My grassy bed, my grave you see.
Prepare in life to follow me.
"We're gods. Both of us," Relly said again after a while.
"You mean, like, I'm Venus and you're Jupiter?"
"Not planets, gods. The real thing. Gods that once were and will be again." I hated it when he talked this
way. And I loved it too. Until that minute, scuffing through the dead leaves in Mount Hope, I would have just said I couldn't stand it when Relly talked like he was insane. But something had changed. In me maybe, in him, or in the whole world. I don't know. Whatever it was, it gave me a feeling like I'd never had before.
Right, me, the bass player hidden back behind Relly and Jerod. Right, the girl who never talked. I was a god. Me, Zee, lousy at school, sniffling with colds half my life, the one nobody noticed. I was a god now. Or maybe I always had been.
I wanted to laugh. And I guess if I'm being honest, I wanted to cry too. "It's all a lie," I whispered. "But go on, keep talking."
"It's not a lie. We've got the power, Zee. Real power like hardly anyone in the whole world. Gods don't die. Think about it, Zee. You'll never have to die."
We stopped, looking down on a pond in a little steep-sided valley. The water was utterly still and inky black. It was strange, what I felt. Peaceful and terrified at the same time. The quiet of the
"What are youâ"
"Mr. Knacke," he murmured. "Our mutual friend." He set the mop down. A shiny slick covered a swath of the floor, like he was mopping with black coffee.
"Look, I just need to get home, OK? I'm all turned around. Which way is the main entrance?"
"What's your rush?" he said, straightening up as best he could. As he moved, light from behind shone on the dark wet floor. And I saw myself there, reflected, but all
bent and smeary. "What do you got waiting for you at home, Zee?"
Hearing him say my name was way too freaky. I panicked, I guess. I had to get out of there and away from him. And so I ran. Fast.
Maybe I needed that jolt of cold fear. Because after seeing the guy with the mop, my mind was all clear and I went straight for the right doorway. It wasn't till I'd gotten off the school grounds, panting and trying to get my heart to slow down, that I realized where I'd heard that voice before. The guy with the mop was the disgusting guy on the phone the other night. He knew my name, he knew my number, and he knew where I lived.
Eleven
"OK, NOW YOU'RE GOING to tell me everything," I said. "What is going on, Relly? You've got to tell me."
We were walking along a gravel path in Mount Hope Cemetery. My first real date. Other girls get a movie and dinner. I got The Beautiful City of the Dead, as Relly called it. Other girls got small talk about school or TV or bands coming to town. Not me.
"We're gods," he said.
"Right. We're gods."
"I'm not kidding."
"I know you're not kidding," I said. "That's what scares me."
"It's true, Zee. You saw me. You saw the fire come, right? That was no lie."
"And I'm going to burst into flames, too? That's what you're going to tell me next, right?"
"No. Not flame. Not you."
"Then what are you talking about? Gods? I'm about as
godlike as a ... as a ... You're talking like a looney! You know that?"
"Just because you're looney doesn't mean you don't tell the truth."
We walked along, silent, for a while.
The cemetery really is a beautiful place, with winding paths and little ponds, hills overgrown with tall grass, endless ranks of gravestones. I didn't put up any fuss when he said he wanted for us to go there. I knew we could be alone there, just the two of us and a quarter million dead people. I like the quiet. I like the weeping maidens, angels, draped urns, crosses, and obelisks. I guess it was kind of romantic, even. Just the two of us, walking on a cold afternoon.
I'd brought along my notebook and copied down some of the gravestone poetry.
Weep not for me, my friends so dear.
I am not dead, just sleeping here.
My grassy bed, my grave you see.
Prepare in life to follow me.
"We're gods. Both of us," Relly said again after a while.
"You mean, like, I'm Venus and you're Jupiter?"
"Not planets, gods. The real thing. Gods that once were and will be again." I hated it when he talked this
way. And I loved it too. Until that minute, scuffing through the dead leaves in Mount Hope, I would have just said I couldn't stand it when Relly talked like he was insane. But something had changed. In me maybe, in him, or in the whole world. I don't know. Whatever it was, it gave me a feeling like I'd never had before.
Right, me, the bass player hidden back behind Relly and Jerod. Right, the girl who never talked. I was a god. Me, Zee, lousy at school, sniffling with colds half my life, the one nobody noticed. I was a god now. Or maybe I always had been.
I wanted to laugh. And I guess if I'm being honest, I wanted to cry too. "It's all a lie," I whispered. "But go on, keep talking."
"It's not a lie. We've got the power, Zee. Real power like hardly anyone in the whole world. Gods don't die. Think about it, Zee. You'll never have to die."
We stopped, looking down on a pond in a little steep-sided valley. The water was utterly still and inky black. It was strange, what I felt. Peaceful and terrified at the same time. The quiet of the
Similar Books
