Free Dead Rules by Randy Russell Page B

anything,” Mars said. “She’s in love with this guy. She wouldn’t believe a thing we said about him.”
    â€œYou make everything too complicated,” Wyatt said. “You think too much.”
    â€œI’m looking for clarity, Wyatt.”
    â€œClarity?” Wyatt laughed. “Life’s a mess. Why should death be any different? We could have shown her everything tonight. We have to do the things we have to do. And not think about it so much.”
    â€œThere’s a path here, Wyatt. A road. It’s step by step. You just can’t skip into the middle of everything or you’ll get lost.”
    The Sliders sat on the floor of their room, their backs against the wall. Sliders almost never went to sleep. Their rooms were smaller than the four-person suites on the second floor.
    â€œScrew the metaphors,” Wyatt said. “Let’s jump. For real.”
    â€œHey, I’ll still jump,” Mars protested. “When it’s time, you know I’ll jump. But sometimes it makes sense to look before you leap. She’s smart, Wyatt. She’s strong.”
    â€œWell, she can handle it, then.”
    â€œWe’re not sure Risers can go off campus on their own.”
    â€œSure they can,” Wyatt said. “And so can we. But we aren’t going to if you’re going to sit here all night. It’s time to get out there if we’re going to jump.”
    â€œGive me a minute, will you? I’ve got things to think about. You cutting your arm open didn’t help matters any. What if she had flipped out and screamed for help? The library Grays would have caught you. And you’d have, what, two hours before the school had you in front of the Regents Council? The Virgins had already been sent to the room to warn you once.”
    â€œThose old farts like me, Mars. I got the regents beat.”
    â€œYou have them beat until you don’t. You come out on the bottom one time, Wyatt, and it’s for good. It’s instant.”
    â€œInstant toast,” Wyatt said. “I kind of like that.”
    â€œNo reason to get expelled. If you’re going to be a vacancy, you may as well walk out. At least you’ll have a few days that way.”
    â€œAll right, already. Got it.”
    â€œWell, get this too. You can’t tell any of the Risers too much their first day. And you can’t show them either. They freak, then they put on their Goody Two-shoes the school gives them and never look up again. You can lose them the first day.”
    â€œShe wasn’t going to scream,” Wyatt argued. “Besides, you said she was sent here for you or something like that. I was just getting her introduced, you know?”
    â€œI didn’t expect her to be in love with that guy. Not that in love. It was in her eyes when she said his name. It’s deep. It complicates everything. And you were trying to scare her pants off for the hell of it. You weren’t doing me any favors, that’s for sure.”
    â€œI’m sorry, all right?”
    Mars brushed away the apology as soon as it was offered. “I saw her die,” he said quietly, almost to himself. “You saw her too. On the Planet.”
    â€œOkay, I saw her.”
    â€œShe walked right through me, Wyatt.”
    â€œAnd then she died. So what?”
    Jana had walked through Mars when she picked up her shoes at the counter. He was loitering as a ghost and he should have been more careful. But it wasn’t just that she had walked through him. People on the Planet did that all the time. This girl had walked through him and softly said, “Oh.” She had felt him. In some manner or another, they had touched.
    â€œThat means something,” Mars said.
    â€œIt means she was going bowling, man. That’s all. And you were the one who wanted to flip that place.”
    â€œExactly,” Mars agreed. “Don’t you see? I was supposed to be there.