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The frustration in his voice tugged at my heart. He wasn’t really the head of the Tribe, and he knew it. Pierce still called the major shots. Even worse, Marcus had given up law school to be the Tribe figurehead. It was doubly galling that he was more than competent enough to run the Tribe, if Pierce would ever give him the chance.
“What if Pierce doesn’t agree to this?” I asked reluctantly.
Dr. Nikas spoke up. “I will make certain he does.”
A whisper of relief passed over Marcus’s face. “I appreciate the help.”
I cleared my throat. “How early will we be leaving?”
“Sunrise is around seven,” he said. “But it starts getting light before six, and since alligators are nocturnal, I’d like to be on the water and searching well before dawn. With travel and prep time, I’d say plan on a 4:30 departure.”
“Uh huh. Just to be sure we’re on the same page here, you want us to leave at 4:30 in the morning which, by the way, is technically still night?”
“Correct.”
Ugh. It was a thirty-minute drive from my house to the Tribe lab, which meant I’d have to leave home by 4 a.m., which meant I’d have to wake up around 3:30 . . .
“Yeah, I think I’ll just crash here tonight, if that’s okay.” Besides, I already had extra clothes stashed at the lab. I’d learned the hard way to keep a few changes here, including a spare Coroner’s Office uniform, since shit could go sideways at any moment and a change of underwear—or more—might be needed.
Dr. Nikas’s eyes crinkled in a smile. “A wise decision.” He shifted his attention to Marcus. “Shall we go beard the lion in his den?”
Marcus blew out his breath. “Sure. This will be fun.” But he shot a grin my way before the two headed off to double-team Pierce.
Once they were gone, I texted my dad to tell him not to wait up for me. Even though staying the night at the lab made the most sense, I felt bad about being away from home again so soon.
Yet to my relief, he replied that he’d scored another job doing cleanup at one of the local bars and didn’t figure he’d be home ’til darn near fou
r in the morning himself. For once, the universe seemed to be cutting me some slack.
Maybe in return I should be responsible and study biology? After all, I had a test on the digestive system next week. On the other hand, if I went to bed in the next ten minutes, I could score six and a half hours of sleep.
The buzz of a text message saved me from grappling with the decision. I smiled as I saw it was from Justine Chu, who’d starred in High School Zombie Apocalypse!! I’d met her during the Zombie Fest when I rescued her from a fan who was being way too handsy, and we’d quickly struck up a friendship.
I texted then dashed to my room.
Chapter 7
“My room” was the same one I’d occupied for the past two weeks, after coming out of the regrowth tank. Though similar in size and layout to Kang’s, it was far homier, especially since it lacked both steel door and surveillance.
The bed had been made up with fresh sheets since I’d left this morning, and my clothes were still in the dresser. Best of all, the laptop I’d been using for the past few weeks was on the table where I’d left it.
I shucked off my shoes, made myself comfy on the bed with the laptop, and fired up the video chat program. I’d told Justine the same fiction as everyone else who didn’t need to know the truth—that I’d come down with mononucleosis right after Mardi Gras. Since then, we’d texted or video-chatted darn near every day.
After a moment, the video chat icon blinked. Justine’s face popped up on the screen—Asian-American with pretty, delicate features and dark eyes that practically snapped with determination.
“Hey! You survived your first day back at work! Go you!”
“Go me!”
She peered at my face. “You don’t look tired, which is good. You don’t want to overdo it.”
“I promise I’m not.” I made a show of crossing my heart.
She nodded sharply in approval. “Did you get anything good and gruesome today?”
“Kind of. A hunter drowned and got chewed up by alligators.” That much was true. No way could I tell her the rest.
“Ew!”
