Dead and Alive

Chapter 9

Flynn lifted her head from her homework. Her Gift had just fired on all cylinders. Something was going to happen.

Quickly she threw a bathrobe on over her pajamas and slipped her phone into her bathrobe pocket. She went down the stairs to the front door.

Her mom was reviewing legal briefs at their dining room table. She looked up when Flynn went past. "Where're you going?"

"One of my friends is upset," Flynn said. "I'm going to meet them outside."

"Okay, be safe," her mom said vaguely, attention already back on her work.

Flynn sighed. It was usually great that her mom let her do pretty much whatever she wanted, but every once in a while, she wished her mom were more like Julie's dad, and actually cared where she went and who she was with. She slipped on a pair of flip flops and went outside.

There was no one there. Flynn frowned, wondering what her Gift was trying to tell her. She walked down her front steps to the driveway in front of the house, still on her property but closer to the sidewalk. She crossed her arms and got ready to wait.

Less than thirty seconds later, Reggie appeared in a flash of golden light, barefoot and soaking wet.

"Hey Flynn," he said with barely a shadow of his usual exuberance. He dropped the boots he'd been holding onto the driveway and ran his hand through his hair, plastering it back from his forehead.

"Reggie!" Flynn ran to him, stopping just short of hugging him. He looked skittish and vulnerable in a way she'd never expected, and she wasn't sure if her touch would be welcome. Plus, he was wet. "What happened?"

"I went for a swim," he said with a grin that didn't even get close to his eyes. "And Julie made me visible again, so..." He shrugged.

"You went for a swim?" She took his hand, lacing their fingers together. His skin was wet and cold beneath her palm and she could see that he was shivering. "You're cold." She took off her bathrobe and gave it to him, putting it around his shoulders. She was wearing long pajama bottoms and a tank top with no bra, but there was nothing she could do about it now. Thanks, Gift, she thought to herself. God forbid she'd have a head's up that Reggie would need a towel.

"Don't. You'll get cold," but he slipped his arms inside it gratefully.

"I'm not soaking wet," Flynn said. She led him to their front garden. It had a short stone wall and she directed him to sit. It was close to her house but out of the line of sight of anyone who might look out the front windows. "Swimming? At night? In September in all your clothes? Really?"

"The water's not cold in September," Reggie mumbled.

"Maybe not the water, but the air gets cold and night." She was already feeling chilled, but she wasn't going to leave him to get a sweater. Not when it was obvious something was wrong. "Reggie," she repeated, "what happened?"

"I went swimming," he said again, teeth glinting in the light as he smiled. She'd never seen anything so fake in her life. Except Julie's laugh when she was lying to her dad.

She took both his hands in hers, feeling the chilled skin, the hard calluses on his fingertips from playing the bass, and the way his hand curled around hers. She looked into his eyes, their brilliant green nearly black in the low light, and waited.

"I pulled a knife on Mr. Molina," he said after they'd just sat quietly for several minutes. He was looking down at their linked hands, voice so soft it was like she wasn't meant to hear it.

Flynn's eyes widened in shock, but she immediately schooled her features, concerned if he saw her react, he'd stop talking. "I assume you didn't go swimming to hide the blood," she said dryly, hoping it was actually a joke.