Free Call Me Grim by Elizabeth Holloway Page A

eyebrows.
    “No, I’m fine.” I chuckle for the first time since yesterday. “Really. No need to bloody your sticks. You’ll need them good and clean for tonight.”
    Kyle frowns, and I know what he’s thinking. He’s thinking of Will. In the seventh grade, I told him how Weird Will Collins cornered me behind the stage, groped me, and kissed me. Kyle flipped out. He had a “talk” with Weird Will and the creep never tried that stunt again.
    “It’s not like Will,” I say seriously.
    “Okay, then. No blood.” He tucks his sticks back in his pocket. “But I’m here for you if you need me.”
    “I know, Kyle. But I don’t have anything to talk about. Okay?”
    “Okay, okay. I get it.” He holds his hands up in surrender. “It’s a girly thing. You don’t want to talk about it with your guy friend.”
    “It’s not like that either,” I say.
    “All right, Libs.” He smirks.
    At the end of the day Mrs. Kraus lets us out fifteen minutes early. Even the teachers get a little antsy for sunshine and warm breezes near the end of the school year.
    I didn’t lie to Kyle—well, not completely. I do have to stay after school, but not for Winkler.
    I was right. I’ve heard Aaron’s name before, and now that I know Kyle has too, I need to go to the computer lab to do some research. I would do it at home, but I don’t want to risk Max walking in on me. I don’t know what I’m going to find, and Max overheard me tell Mom I went on a date with the guy.
    The heavy, floral scent of perfume assaults me as the computer lab door swings open. It clings to the back of my throat and nose, and I sneeze. I take a few deep breaths through my mouth. I don’t need an asthma attack today. I have enough going on.
    “Can I help you, Libbi?” Mrs. Lutz watches me over the frame of her black-rimmed glasses as I approach her desk.
    I notice the difference in her soul immediately. A fine, dark line divides the light of her face like a crack in a porcelain doll. It starts above her left eye, zigzags over the bridge of her nose, and ends on her right cheek. A fracture in the light of her soul.
    Without realizing it, I bend over the desk for a closer look, and she leans away, eyes wide.
    “Can I help you?” she repeats, but this time she’s less bored and more irritated.
    “Um, yes.” I straighten up and clear my itchy throat. I feel like I’m drowning in a pool of her perfume, but I ignore it. “I just need a computer for resear—”
    “Research?” She cuts me off with her squeaky, grating voice. “Is it for a new painting? You know, I never told you congratulations on your win the other night. You deserved first place.” She smiles brightly and I can’t help but smile back. “Anything I can help you with?”
    “No, I don’t think so.” My tongue sticks to the top of my dry mouth. “Unless you know something about Aaron Shepherd.”
    Mrs. Lutz’s hand thumps to her desk and caramel liquid sloshes over the lip of her mug. The coffee’s sweet aroma overpowers the floral perfume for a moment, but not long enough for me to catch my breath. She holds me with her gaze, and I force myself not to gawk at the crack in her face.
    “Who?” she says.
    “Aaron Shepherd?” I repeat and swallow. If I don’t get away from her perfume soon, I will have an asthma attack, no matter how hard I try not to have one. I restrain a cough.
    “Aaron Shepherd, huh?”
    “Yeah.”
    Her eyes dart to the window then back to me. She leans across the desk and I can almost see sickening pink tendrils of odor wafting off her skin. My vision blurs as my eyes fill with water.
    “Uh-huh.” She taps her temple with her forefinger, leans back in her chair, and crosses her arms over her ample chest. She thinks I’m screwing with her. “You know, I knew him.”
    “You knew him?” I swallow against the itching in my throat.
    “Yeah, I knew him before he disappeared. We were in the same class.” She leans over the desk toward me and lowers