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“So if you did raise her, and we left her body there to be found, that wouldn’t be such a bad thing, would it?”
“Maybe…if I knew I could safely raise her and release her quickly. But what if I…What if she didn’t dig her way out and I never realized I’d raised her and…”
I turned to look into the forest again.
“I’ll get you a chair, too,” he said.
I protested that I wasn’t staying, but he just kept going. When he returned, he came around the other way.
“I circled the house,” he said. “If there was a body on the property, I would have smelled it. The wind’s good tonight. You’re safe. ”
“It’s not…it’s not just people I’m worried about. ”
I finally told him about raising the bats in the warehouse.
“I didn’t summon them,” I said. “I didn’t even know I could do that with animals, that they had a soul, ghost, spirit, whatever. If I go to sleep and dream of any kind of summoning, there’s got to be a dead animal somewhere nearby. I could raise it and never know. I’d just walk away and leave it trapped in its corpse for—” I took a deep breath. “Okay, I’m freaking out, I know. ”
“You’ve got a reason to. ”
“It’s not like I’d do it intentionally, and maybe that should make a difference but…”
“It’s still not something you want to do. ”
I nodded.
He took a gulp of the Coke, then capped it, stuck it into his pocket, and stood. “Let’s go. ”
“Where?”
“I’ll hear anyone who comes near the property. So there’s no need to sit here doing nothing. We might as well hunt up some dead animals for you. ”
I scowled. “That’s not funny. ”
“I’m not being funny, Chloe. You’re worried because you don’t understand why it’s happening and how it works and how to stop it. We can experiment and get some answers. It’s not like either of us has anything better to do for the next couple of hours. ”
Thirty-nine
DEREK CROUCHED BESIDE A flat, matted creature that had once scampered through the forest and now looked like it had been run over with a steamroller.
I tapped it with my toe. “I was thinking of something with more…”
“Remaining body parts?” he said.
“With more recognizable features, so I’ll know what I’m summoning. But, yes, more remaining body parts would help, too. ”
“That was a mole. I think there’s a rabbit over there somewhere. ”
“You can smell everything, can’t you? That’s cool. ”
He looked at me, brows lifted. “Being able to find decomposing animals is cool?”
“Well, it’s a…unique talent. ”
“One that will get me far in life. ”
“Hey, someone has to find and clear away the road kill. I bet it pays well. ”
“Not well enough. ”
He stood and inhaled, then walked a few more feet, stooped, and prodded a chunk of rabbit fur.
“I’m definitely thinking something with more body parts,” I said. “Like a head. ”
He gave a snort of a laugh. “It’s probably around here somewhere, but I suppose you want the parts attached, too. ” He paused. “I wonder what would happen if—”
“Keep wondering, because that’s one experiment I’m not conducting. ”
“We’ll find something. ”
He walked a few more feet, then stopped again, shoulders going rigid as he surveyed the forest.
I moved closer and whispered, “Derek?”
Another slow scan of the woods, then he shook his head and resumed walking.
“What was it?” I asked.
“Voices, but they’re far off. Probably whoever had that campfire. ”
Despite the dismissal, he slowed every few steps to listen.
“Are you sure it’s okay?” I asked.
“Yeah. ”
“Should I be quiet?”
“We’re fine. ”
After another few strides, I cleared my throat. “About the other night. When I said I didn’t know that having a dead body around was a problem. Well, obviously, it happened after the bat thing so…”
I waited for him to fill in the blank, but he kept walking.
“I knew it was a problem,” I went on. “I knew I should say so. I just didn’t want to…overreact, I guess. When I raised that man, I wanted to admit it, about the bats, but…”
“You didn’t need me telling you you’d done something stupid when you already knew it. ” He pulled back a low branch for us. “Yeah, you need to be more careful. We all do. But you don’t need me making it worse by getting on your case. I know that. ”
He looked at me for a moment, then his nostrils flared and his face lifted to catch the breeze. He waved for us to turn left. “And about me not figuring out I was ready to start Changing? I lied. With the itching and the fever and the muscle spasms, I knew that’s what it had to mean. I just…Same as you, I didn’t want to overreact and freak out Simon. I figured I could handle it. ”
“We all need to be careful. Especially now, knowing what they did, the…”
I trailed off, feeling the now familiar bubble of rising panic, that part of me that couldn’t stop reading those words. Genetic modification. Uncontrollable powers. How bad it would get, how far it would go, how—?
“Chloe?”
I bumped into his arm and saw that he’d stopped, and was looking down at me.
“We’ll figure it out,” he said, his voice soft. “We’ll handle it. ”
I glanced away. I was shaking so hard my teeth chattered. Derek put his fingers on my chin and turned me to face him again.
“It’s okay,” he said.
He looked down at me, fingers still on my chin, face over mine. Then he let his hand fall and turned away with a gruff, “There’s something over here. ”
It took me a moment to follow. When I did, I found him crouched beside a dead bird.
“Is this better?” he asked.
