Grim Read online

  She hesitates then nods. “I’ve had my suspicions for a while, but watching what you just did to the tire and the way your eyes looked when you did it … now I’m fairly sure I’m right.”

  Well, holy crazy reapers …

  “What do you think I am?”

  “A cursed grim,” she replies, taking a step toward me.

  “What the hell’s a cursed grim?”

  “It’s a person who’s been cursed by the reaper’s kiss of death. Or, well, their soul has. Although, I’m not really sure they’re considered human. Probably not.”

  Well, that’s more than I could ever come up with. I wonder where she learned all this? And how did she suspect I was one?

  I shift my weight, scratching one of the scars on my wrist, feeling a bit exposed at the moment. “How did you learn about this stuff?”

  She gives a half shrug. “My dad was really into it, and he has all these old books about mythology, legends, and creatures. A lot of the stuff in them, you can’t find online.”

  “Okay …” Hesitancy rings through me. When I first did some searches online about what I was, I saw a lot of forums of people talking about finding and trapping mythological creatures. What if her dad’s one of those people? “Why does your dad have these books?”

  She shrugs again, her gaze dropping to the ground. “I’m not sure. I never even knew he did until after he died and my mom made me clean out his office.”

  Again, pity scratches underneath my skin like itchy fiberglass, and I try not to claw my skin off. “I’m sorry … About your dad, I mean.”

  “It’s fine.” She lifts a shoulder again, her gaze elevating to mine. “I barely knew him when he was alive. He basically lived in his office and sometimes wouldn’t come out for days.”

  Interesting. Even more so, though, are these books she has.

  I wonder what could possibly be in them that she was able to tell I was different.

  “How did you know about …?” I waver. I’ve never actually talked about this aloud with anyone, except for Ellis and his friends, but that isn’t the same as this. “How did you know I’m different?”

  She lifts a brow. “Aside from the fact that, just a year ago, you looked and acted like Nina’s doppelganger?”

  “Maybe I’m just going through a phase?” I suggest. “Teenagers do that. In fact, wasn’t there a year when you wore a cloak to school every day? Yet I never thought, hey, I wonder if Revenna is secretly a witch.”

  She smiles at that. “It’d be cool if I was.”

  “Yeah, it would.”

  I’m not sure what to do with her, whether I should erase her mind or ask her more questions about these cursed grims.

  “And it wasn’t just your change of clothes that made me suspect something’s different about you,” she adds. “You’re way less bitchy, you’re as pale as a zombie, your eyes are black, and sometimes, in the right lighting, they do this weird smoky thing.”

  I assess her closely. “You’ve been watching me?”

  “I’ve been observing you,” she corrects, “ever since the day you showed up looking like you were trying to be Thorn’s counterpart.”

  I pull a face. “That’s not what I was trying to do.”

  She wavers. “Maybe not intentionally, but you two would look really good together.”

  I give her a questioning look. “Are you here because you’re curious about what I am or are you trying to play matchmaker for your bestie?”

  She softly chuckles. “Nah, Thorn would kick my ass if he heard what I just said.”

  “Oh, I know he would,” I agree. “He despises me, which is why I love messing with him so much.”

  She gives me a strange look. “He doesn’t despise you, Remi.”

  I snort a laugh. “Oh, he so does. But that’s okay. I like his honesty.”

  She just shakes her head, looking at me like I’m naïve. “He doesn’t—”

  She’s cut off by a horn honking as a clunky, old Chevelle pulls up just behind us.

  The window is rolled down and Thorn sticks his head out.

  “Speaking of your bestie and my despiser.” Grinning cheekily, I give Thorn an exaggerated, cheery wave.

  He stares at me, not necessarily glaring, just assessing me. After a couple of ticks of silence go by, he shifts his gaze to Revenna.

  “We need to go or we’re going to be late,” he tells her.

  “I know.” She turns back to me, chewing on her bottom lip. “I have to go, but if you want to talk about this some more and look at those books, we can meet up later.”

  Meet up later? Like friends do? Can I even be friends with anyone? The idea seems implausible and ludicrous.

  What I should do is blow on her face and make her forget she’s ever spoken to me. But she might be my ticket to discovering what I am, and if I can do that, then maybe I can learn more about my powers. That way, the next time I take on Ellis and his little friends, I can kick their cocky asses.

  “Sure, yeah, okay.”

  I tell myself I’m not erasing her mind for completely selfish reasons, but deep down, in the darkest parts of my withering heart, I know that’s not true, that a tiny sliver of me likes Revenna. And I’m not sure what to do with that, whether to kick my own ass or not.

  A grin breaks out across her face as she visibly relaxes. “Here, give me your number so I can text you later.” She retrieves her phone from her pocket.

  I hesitate then prattle off my digits to my nonwork phone. She types it in then sends me a text so I’ll have hers. Then, with a wave, she hurries to Thorn’s car and hops in.

  Thorn gives me one last intense glance before rolling up his window and driving out of the parking lot.

  As I watch them drive away, I realize I may have made a huge mistake. I mean, is Revenna going to tell Thorn what I am? Do I really want her to know what I am? Sure, it gets lonely sometimes not being able to tell the truth to anyone, but the more people who know about me, the easier it’ll be for my secret identity to get out. And then what happens if everyone finds out? I’ll probably end up in a lab, being poked and prodded. No thanks. I’d rather poke out my own eyes and eat them.

  “Maybe I should track her down and erase her mind,” I contemplate as I stand in the parking lot.

  But, as I think about Ellis and his friends and how they basically just took my food source away until I can figure out a way to fight them, I decide to turn around and head into the school. Later, when I get home, I’ll text Revenna and meet up with her. And hopefully, she’ll be able to help me figure out more about my powers. Then I’ll track down Ellis and his friends and make them pay for hurting and threatening me.

  Yep, that’s my plan for now.

  Well, that and finding another way to feed …

  A New Meal Possibility

  After Revenna drives off with Thorn, I decide I’m too damn exhausted to go back to school. Or, well, I use my exhaustion as an excuse. The truth is I just don’t want to go back because it’s pep rally time. And since I’m already going to get in trouble with my mom for missing fifth period, I decide to just go all-in and skip out.

  God, I’m turning into such a slacker when it comes to school. Maybe it’s because cursed grims aren’t meant to go to school? Not that I’ll drop out. No, my mom would have a shit-fit. I just need to graduate, then I can go live my life. Although, I’m not sure how I’m going to do that since I have a feeling cursed grims probably aren’t that great with holding down jobs.

  Then again, I don’t know if I’m even a cursed grim or if they actually exist. It’s definitely something I need to look into.

  After I get home, I lock myself in my bedroom and decide to do some research on the internet, figuring now that I have a name to go by, maybe I can find out more. Much to my surprise, though, I end up more confused than when I started. I mean, there’re some articles and forums about cursed grims, but I’m not sure the information is accurate. If it is, then …

  Well, let’s just
say that my kind aren’t the nicest creatures. Walking death, evil soul sucking monsters, soul eating zombies, the devils unwanted offspring—these are a few of the little nicknames people have given cursed grims. Other than that, I can’t find much about them, like what they can do, how long they live, their weakness—things like that.

  By the time I shut my laptop down, it’s late in the afternoon and I’m feeling pretty frustrated.

  As I lay in my bed, waiting for the sun to go down, I debate what I’m going to do about Ellis’s threat. My next few feeding sessions relied solely on the people running those warehouses. Not to mention I was just starting to get somewhere with finding out who the head honcho is.

  Axel M. It’s a fairly common name, but it’s also a starting point. And I really do believe that, if I keep going with this mission, if I keep going to these warehouses, eventually I’ll get a last name. In fact, I have no doubt I will. And the idea of just stopping, of ending this mission, makes my stomach churn and my skin itch. The people running these warehouses are bad and need to be taken down. It’s not just that, though. There’s a part of me, a part I don’t fully understand, that needs to bring these guys down, almost as much as I need to feed.

  “I’m not going to stop my mission,” I mutter as I thrum my fingers against my knees. “I just need to tap into all that power Ellis was rambling about. And I think I need to find out more about these guys and what they are. Maybe Revenna can help me with that.”

  But, do I really want to rely on someone?

  Not really.

  Sighing, I sit up, lower my feet to the floor, and stand up to get my laptop off my desk, determined to find out more about cursed grims on my own. But as I pass by the window, something I see out of the corner of my eye makes me pause.

  So, you remember that creeper of a neighbor I was talking about earlier? The one that I’m pretty sure is stalking my other neighbor? Well, I have a decent view of his bedroom from my window, and right now, he’s currently sitting on a chair with binoculars, staring out the window at something. Considering the angle, I’m betting it’s our next-door neighbor who he constantly watches and sometimes follows. I’ve never actually seen him do it with binoculars, though.

  “What a little perv,” I mutter, crossing my arms and chewing on my bottom lip. “What to do? What to do?”

  The idea of just jumping on over there right now and sucking his soul dry sounds like an awesome idea. I have my rule and everything, but since my food source just got jacked from me, I may have to be a little more lenient on that rule.

  I wet my lips with my tongue as hunger burns in my stomach. But I’m not going to eat his soul yet. No, I need to wait a bit longer in case it takes me a while to find another place to feed.

  “I’ll be watching you, creeper,” I warn as I reach to scoop up my laptop.

  I turn toward my bed when my phone dings.

  I pause, confused. “What the hell? Since when does anyone text me?”

  When I scoop up my phone, I’m not sure whether to frown or be intrigued.

  Revenna. Although, I saved her in my contacts as The Crazy Girl. It’s not an insult or anything—I’m straight-up crazy myself. But so is Revenna. I mean, if she really does know what I am, she should’ve known to be more cautious when approaching me today.

  The Crazy Girl: Hey! Just wanted to see if you still wanted to come over today and talk!

  Dude, the exclamation point is a bit much. Still, I remind myself that she’s nice enough and may know what I am.

  Me: Sure. What’s the address?

  The Crazy Girl: Awesome!

  Attached to the messages is a ping of her location.

  Me: All right, I’m heading over now. Is that cool?

  The Crazy Girl: Yep! Can’t wait!

  Well, isn’t she a chipper one. I wonder how that’s going to make today go?

  Guess I’m about to find out.

  Stuffing my phone into my back pocket, I draw the hood of my hoodie over my head and turn to leave. But something stops me undead in my tracks.

  I curse under my breath as my gaze locks on the neighbor’s house.

  He’s no longer sitting in the chair and being a peeping tom through his binoculars. No, he’s standing in front of his window and staring at me. I could duck—most probably would—but I’m not afraid of this dude, so I hold his gaze and, for added badassery, give him a little wave.

  A smile twists at his lips, then he reaches up and pulls the curtains shut.

  Freak. Which says a lot because I’m a freak. But he’s on a whole other level.

  I make a mental note to start digging up info on the guy so I can get this whole devouring-his-soul party started, then I stroll out of my bedroom to head to Revenna’s.

  Thorn is Becoming a Thorn in My Side

  Revenna lives close enough that it takes me a whole whopping five minutes to get there. The sun has begun to lower behind the mountains and decked out in all my studs, I draw more than my usual attention. Not that I blame everyone for gawking at me. I’m sure I look like I’m up to all sorts of mischief.

  When I arrive at Revenna’s, the lights are all off and it looks like no one is home.

  Weird.

  Still, I stroll up to the door and knock a few times, figuring she probably got some sense knocked into her and decided it might not be a fantastic idea to befriend a creature who drinks souls. But, after three knocks, the door swings open and Revenna steps into the doorway.

  She’s sporting the same clothes she had on at school, only she’s taken her shoes off and her hair is pulled up into a messy bun.

  “Hey!” she greets me with a smile and gestures for me to come in. “You made it.”

  “Yeah. Why wouldn’t I?” I step inside and peer around, my night vision allowing me to see that the walls are bare and the room only contains a fireplace, sofa, and an end table. “Why are all the lights off…”

  Suddenly, something dawns on me.

  What if this is a trap? What if Revenna is one of those people obsessed with paranormals and she’s lured me here to try to capture me?

  Thrumming my fingers against the sides of my legs, I contemplate my next move.

  “It’s my mom,” she utters quietly. “She likes the house kept dark.”

  My instincts are telling me she’s being truthful, but I don’t know. This whole scene is a bit weird. “Why?”

  “Because she’s …” She sighs heavily. “She’s sick … mentally.” She pauses. “Remi, I have to tell you something, and I don’t want you to be mad at me, okay?” she whispers as she backs farther into the room, farther away from me and farther into the darkness.

  But my awesome night vision allows me to track her every move.

  “I’m not going to promise anything,” I reply lowly.

  She sighs again. “It’s just that … he knows all about this stuff. And he’s had his suspicions, too. Plus, he’s my best friend and I couldn’t not tell him.”

  “Aw, dammit,” I say aloud as what she’s saying clicks. “Where the hell is he?”

  She wrings her hands in front of her. “Downstairs. I thought it’d be better if maybe I came up here and told you first. You know, so you wouldn’t be bombarded.”

  She’s not being truthful, at least according to my sensors.

  I step toward her. “You know, I’ve got a sensor built in me that lets me know when someone’s lying.” Not that it’s always reliable, but telling her that would make what I said lose its dramatic effect.

  “I know,” she says. “You also have superspeed, super strength, night vision, can make people forget, teleport, and fly.”

  “Whoa, whoa, whoa.” I hold up my hands in front of me. “I can freakin’ fly?”

  A smile spreads across her face. “You’ve never done it before?”

  I shake my head. “I’m honestly still sort of figuring out what I can do.”

  “Oh, well, Thorn and I can totally help you with that,” she assures me. “In fact, Thorn’s so
rt of an expert at this stuff.”

  I arch a brow. “At helping cursed grims figure out how to use their powers?”

  She starts wringing her hands in front of her again.

  Okay, I don’t want to get annoyed, but I’m really starting to.

  Freakin’ emotions. They need to go away again.

  “All right, I’ve tried to be calm, but I can tell you’re keeping something from, and I’m about to lose my shit,” I warn. “So, either you fess up, or I have to leave before I do something stupid.”

  Her lips form an O, then she hastily nods. “All right, come with me.” She hurries deeper into the darkness and into the house.

  I contemplate turning around and leaving—it may be the smarter move—but I’ve never claimed to be very smart. Do I have super strength? Sure. Clever wittiness? On occasion. But my grades are average at best, so super smart? Nah.

  Letting out an unnecessary exhale, I trail after her, using my night vision to navigate through the house. I’m on high alert as we cross a kitchen and head down a stairway that leads to the basement. When we reach the bottom, Revenna pushes open a door and light spills across the darkness.

  I blink a few times, letting my eyes adjust.

  “This is my own private space, so I can have the lights on down here,” Revenna explains as she starts across a spacious room that has a leather sofa, a television, and a collection of books and movies cover the dusty shelves.

  “Is this your room?” I wonder as I glance around.

  She shakes her head, stopping in front of a shut door. “No, this was my dad’s office.” She pushes open the door. “This is my bedroom.”

  Inside, the walls are painted dark purple and covered with posters of what look like gods and goddesses. A desk is in the far corner with books stacked on it. Clothes cover the floor, along with papers and more books.

  “I never figured you for a messy sort of person,” I remark with a trace of a smile.

  Then my smile fades as my gaze locks on the unmade bed at the back of the room. Well, not the bed per se, but what’s sprawled out on the bed.