The Death Series: A Dark Dystopian Fantasy Box Set: (Books 1-3) by Tamara Rose Blodgett Page A

was waiting for me to take that next step.”
    Jonesy interrupted with a loud thwack of his right fist smacking into the palm of his left hand. “And then I hit him a good one!”
    Mom jumped, letting out a nervous laugh.
    I glanced at Jonesy. “Yeah, thanks for that.”
    He gave the what? expression.
    John shook his head .
    Dad asked, “Do you think after Jonesy hit you that the catalyst was the violence or the blood? Because blood is organic, but so is violence, if one thinks on that.”
    That was interesting. I hadn't thought violence was any part of it. I'd assumed that the blood was somehow an integral part of why the corpse rose to begin with.
    “That would explain the dog,” John said quietly. He shifted his weight, arms still locked over his chest. “I mean, the car hitting the dog was an act of violence, right? If Baldy—” John continued.
    “Smith,” I corrected.
    “Whatever.” He shrugged. “If Smith hit that dog, then he wasn't being careful. Cars give warnings about obstacles. It's standard.” John was kinda stiff, but he was making some good points. “Really, if you think about it, he shouldn't have hit the dog at all.”
    Dad bobbed his head. “John's right , which makes me wonder why that wasn't the first thing Garcia questioned. Do you boys remember that witness, the young woman that Sergeant Garcia said was an aura reader?”
    I shook my head. With all the action happening, the crowd was the last thing I would have noticed.
    Jonesy brightened. “I saw that hot girl from PE in the crowd on the way here.”
    Dad laughed. “That's okay. I think there's more than just professional interest. I'm thankful we didn't blindly tell him the extent of your abilities before I've had a chance to see them. And I want to finalize the use of the cerebral inhibitor.”
    “Kyle, that worries me,” Mom said.
    “This is the lesser of two evils, Ali. If Caleb shows his hand, they may do a Parker on him.”
    “Even now?” Mom asked.
    “Especially now.” Dad looked at me.
    “Your mom and I have been reading up on Parker, how our government responded to him. It looks like Parker took the Aptitude Test and was the first student, nation-wide, to hit that high of a score on AFTD, five-points.” Dad said, holding up all five fingers.
    The fam-pulse chimed, and Mom walked over to the wall pocket and pressed her thumb to the pad.
    Dad asked, “Who is it?”
    Mom held up her index finger then turned to Jonesy. “It's your mom. Apparently, you didn't tell her you'd be over today.”
    Jonesy sighed and went to the Fam-pulse. After reading the screen, he turned back and said, “I gotta go. My mom's on a rage.”
    Mom frowned. “Maybe knowing where you are is sort of important to her, Jonesy.” Mom's doing the, I'm-going-to-stick-up-for-the-other-parent thing.
    “Yeah, Ali, I know.” He brightened. “Thanks for those cookies.”
    Mom was already getting a little ecobag for the road, Jonesy grinned. Delayed gratification.
    He gave me a finger salute. “See you dudes tomorrow. Let me know what's going on, Caleb.”
    John lifted his chin in goodbye, then we heard Jonesy’s pounding footsteps and the front door slamming.
    Dad got back on topic. “Being prepared is the most important defense.”
    “True,” Mom said. “As long as we're on the same page with this cerebral depressant thing.”
    “Inhibitor,” Dad corrected. He turned to me.
    “Caleb, tell me what happened at the accident, especially about this mystery dog.”
    I went through the whole thing. I ended with how I was sure the dog had been alive, at least a little, because I had felt that spark.
    Dad nodded. “Okay, let's go over the cause and effect one more time, Caleb.”
    I groaned.
    “Dad—”
    “No, Caleb. Let's look at this with some applied logic. The dog was hit and flew… you said ten or twelve feet in the air?”
    I nodded.
    “And it lay there for how long?”
    John responded, “We went to the dog right away. I mean, Caleb went