Alexander Death (The Paranormals, Book 3) (9 page)

“Huh?” Jenny sat up. The door to her room stood open, but she was pretty sure she'd locked it the night before.

“Good morning, Jenny,” a girl's voice said. Jenny turned to see Kisa pushing open the glass shutters of one of Jenny's two windows. The other was already open, and a soft, salty breeze tousled its curtains.

“What time is it?” Jenny asked. Kisa looked back at her and frowned. Jenny remembered the girl spoke little English, so she pointed to her own wrist, as if she wore a watch. “Time?”

“Oh!” Kisa held up three fingers. “Three.”

“Three?” Jenny got up from the bed. She stretched, and her whole body ached from the beating she'd taken in Charleston. She managed to avoid shrieking in pain. “Guess I slept all day.”

Kisa smiled, but this might have meant she didn't understand Jenny at all. “Clothes. For you.” Kisa indicated a folded outfit on a small table at the foot of the bed. “Mine,” Kisa added.

Jenny picked up the clothes—there was a traditional blouse, with many narrow vertical lines of bright color, and a pair of jeans. There were also sandals, which would probably be nice in this tropical heat, but Jenny didn't like leaving so much of her skin bare.

“Thank you.” Jenny held up the shirt, smiling. “This is very pretty.”

Kisa smiled. “Very pretty? You like it?”

“I love it.”

“I make breakfast.” Kisa hurried to the door.

“Oh, you don't have to...” Jenny began, but the other girl was already gone.

Jenny dressed in the clothes—they were a little loose on her, but light and comfortable. She put on her own shoes, but left off the socks because they were filthy. Then she pulled on her gloves.

She looked out the window and had to catch her breath. Below her, the back yard sloped down to a cliff. The rock wall framed the entire yard, but chunks of the wall along the cliff were deeply cracked or broken away, leaving the impression of a row of bizarre rock sculptures.

Beyond the cliff, the ocean sprawled out to the horizon, glittering with millions of golden flecks of reflected sunlight.

“That's beautiful,” Jenny whispered. She hurried downstairs and through the kitchen, where Kisa was slicing up a mango while a tortilla fried on the stove.

“Eat breakfast soon, Jenny!” Kisa said.

“I want to go out and look at the ocean,” Jenny said.

“Coffee?”

“Yes, please! Thanks! Want to go outside with me?”

“I make breakfast.”

“Okay. I'll be right back.” Jenny pointed towards the back door, which stood wide open to catch the open air.

Kisa smiled and nodded, possibly understanding Jenny's meaning.

Jenny walked outside. There was a huge patio paved with clay tiles, shaded by a roof. The patio had furniture arranged in clusters, like outdoor rooms—a dining table with chairs in one area, a pool table in another.

For one weird moment, the entire place reminded her of Seth's house in Fallen Oak, as if there were some deep similarity under the surface of the two places, though she couldn't quite put her finger on it. Then she shook those thoughts away. She didn't want to think about Seth, or anything back home. She might be in deep over her head here, but this was where she needed to be. All of this felt increasingly like a dream, where she got to be somebody else in a completely different world. She definitely enjoyed that feeling.

Jenny continued beyond the patio and into the huge sunlit yard, which was mostly wildflowers mowed short like a lawn. She crossed the yard, past Iztali and Yochi, who were working at some sort of brick-lined firepit. They didn't look up at her.

Jenny leaned out between two broken pieces of wall.

Below her, the rocky cliff was a sheer, straight drop to a silvery beach more than a hundred feet below. Jenny watched a large wave roll in and crash, the water spreading across the beach and slowly flowing back into the ocean.

“Watch your step,” a voice said, and Jenny jumped. Alexander had walked up behind her without making a sound. His dark, longish hair blew in stripes across his face. His laughing eyes looked down at her. “What do you think?” he asked.

“It's amazing here,” Jenny said. “Why is the beach gray like that?”

“Volcanic sand.”

“I've never seen that before. So...how did you get a place like this?”

“Not so hard.” Alexander swept his arm around to indicate the buildings. “This used to be a private retreat of Senator Hector Ramirez, a big gun in the Institutional Revolutionary Party. After the Zapatista uprising in '94, he was too scared to vacation here. The place was abandoned for a decade. Real mess when I moved in.”

“The what uprising?”

“Some of the local revolutionaries took over a big chunk of the state in 1994,” Alexander said. “And in a lot of places, the federal authority still hasn't returned.”

“So this is kind of a dangerous place,” Jenny said, thinking of the broken glass embedded in the walls.

“Only if you go looking for trouble,” he said.

“Why do you live here?”

“Papa Calderòn needed me close to the Sierra Madre,” Alexander said. “The mountains, where we do a lot of work. So he gave me this place.”

“He's your boss?”

“Yep. Everything you see belongs to him.”

“And his name is really Papa...something?”

“That's what everyone calls him.”

Jenny looked down at the ocean again. “Why did you bring me here?”

“You need a place to hide for a while.” He took her hand. “And I need you. I always need you.” He stepped closer, his face overshadowing hers, and Jenny's heart beat faster.

She pulled her hand back. “I don't have all the memories you do,” she said. “I only know you from my dreams. You're still new to me.”

“You'll remember.” Alexander smiled and started back toward the house, where Kisa was setting out Jenny's breakfast on the outdoor dining table.

“When?” Jenny asked.

“I'm already working on it.” Alexander walked away into the house.

Jenny walked back up the gentle slope to the dining table, where Kisa had set out coffee, eggs, and a corn tortilla topped with beans and green chiles. There was also a big sliced mango, probably plucked from one of the trees in the front yard. Kisa smiled and stepped back, pulling out the chair in front of the food.

“That's so much,” Jenny said as she sat down. “You should have some.”

Kisa just smiled. Jenny gestured to the empty chair across from her, but Kisa waved both hands and backed away. Apparently, she intended to just stand and watch while Jenny ate.

Jenny bit into a slice of mango, and sweet juice dribbled down her chin. It tasted like candy.

“Oh, this is so good!” Jenny said to Kisa, who smiled and nodded quickly. Jenny could never be sure how well the girl understood her.

While Jenny ate, Alexander returned and tossed a thick roll of bright Mexican pesos onto the table. Kisa's eyes bulged at the spool of money.

“I have to run out for work,” Alexander told Jenny. “Kisa and one of her brothers will take you into the city.”

“Why?” Jenny asked. She never liked the idea of going into cities. Too many crowds, too many people to avoid touching.

“Shopping, so you can get clothes that fit,” Alexander said. “I don't mind watching Kisa's jeans sliding off you, but you might have a different opinion.” He sat across from her and dropped a pouch made of bright woven fibers onto the table between them. Jenny frowned at him.

“I don't want to go into any city,” Jenny said. “I hate shopping. I can just wear what I have.”

“But you'll want something for the party tonight,” Alexander said.

“What?”

“That's why Iztali and Yochi are getting the grill ready.” Alexander gestured to where the two short, muscular brothers were preparing the large brick-lined pit. “We're having a party to welcome you here.”

“You don't have to,” Jenny said. “I don't like parties.”

“What's not to like? Musicians, wine, pig roast—you can meet some of my friends—”

“I really don't want to,” Jenny said. “I'm serious. I can't be around people.”

“Why not?” Alexander asked.

She scowled at him. “You know why. Nobody can touch me.”

“No touch!” Kisa said, shaking her finger.

“What she said,” Jenny said.

“So you throw on a pair of gloves and something with sleeves,” Alexander said. “Don't get drunk and try to make out with anybody, and you'll be fine.”

“But I have to be so careful with a crowd like that,” Jenny said. “It's really hard to avoid contact, you know? It's the most stressful thing in the world. Can't we just keep things quiet?”

“Wow,” Alexander said. “No cities. No shopping. No parties. Who are you?”

“I'm just me,” Jenny said.

“But you're not.” He studied her eyes. “You're still asleep in there.”

“I'll have more coffee, then.” Jenny held her empty coffee mug toward Alexander. Kisa immediately lifted it from her fingers, and Jenny hurried to pull her arm back to avoid any contact with the girl.

“No touch, no touch,” Kisa repeated, rolling her eyes just a little. She carried the coffee mug inside for a refill.

“She doesn't have to do every little thing for me,” Jenny said. “It's kind of weird.”

“I hoped she would make things easy for you. And you do need clothes. You'll be staying here a while.”

“Unless I change my mind,” Jenny said.

“Well, obviously,” Alexander said. “But the feds are searching for you. They know you killed hundreds of people—”

“Ugh.” Jenny buried her face in her hands. The reminder of her own evil nature was like a punch to the gut.

“—and they want to know how,” he continued. “They'll probably be watching your father. How much does he know?”

“Basically everything,” Jenny said. “He knows what I did. He kind of hates me now, I think.”

“How could anyone hate you?” Alexander said.

“Maybe if I killed your wife and a bunch of people you'd known your whole life, you'd hate me, too,” Jenny said. “I deserve it. He was always too nice to me.”

“Are you feeling any pain?” Alexander asked. “From your injuries?”

“It'll be okay,” Jenny said. “I heal fast.”

“I know you do.”

Kisa placed Jenny's coffee in front of her, and Jenny smiled and thanked her. Alexander opened the woven pouch and took out a few oval-shaped, yellow-green leaves.

“Chew some of these.” He put the leaves in his mouth and smiled as he crunched into them. “Spit them out when you're done. They'll help with the pain.”

“Yeah?” Jenny placed a few of the leaves in her mouth. Her tongue began to turn numb.

“Chew it,” he said.

Jenny chewed, and a pleasant numbness filled her mouth. She felt it spreading slowly through her head.

“What is it?” she asked.

“A little local coca leaf,” Alexander told her, putting another in his mouth.

“You mean chocolate?”

“Nope,” Alexander said. “Kills pain, clears the head, gets you moving. Just the thing for running through mountains. Coca.”

Jenny stopped chewing. “Coca, like cocaine?”

“Don't worry, it's totally organic,” Alexander said.

“Isn't it addictive?”

“There's only a little tiny bit in the leaf. Kisa likes it, too, don't you?” Alexander held the bright little bag out to her. Kisa smiled and took a big handful of the leaves.

“Whoa, leave some for the rest of the class,” Alexander said. He dropped the bag on the table in front of Jenny. Jenny hesitated, then took just a couple more. They really were helping with her pain. She felt energized, too, suddenly in a mood for adventure.

“So,” Jenny said, “My first day here, and you were really going to just send me off shopping somewhere?”

“I don't want to, but I have to meet with some people. I've been away for a while, searching for you. Now I have to catch up.”

“Are they running low on zombies?” Jenny asked.

“Very funny.”

“I thought it was a serious question. What are you really going to do?”

“Pick up money from a few people and pay it to a few other people.”

“Sounds pretty easy.”

“It does sound that way,” Alexander said.

“When do I get to see the zombie farm?”

“Zombie farm?”

“You said you use them for agriculture.” Jenny made an exaggerated show of looking around the back yard. “I don't see any zombies working around here. So where are they?”

“Up in the Sierra Madre,” he said. “In the jungle.”

“Cool. Let's go there.” Jenny stood up, feeling a little dazzled. “I'm done eating. My appetite's just, zip, totally gone. Come on, let's do another crazy Jeep ride. That was fun.”

“I wish we could, but I have more boring things to do.”

“Fine. When's the party starting? Soon?”

“Later.” Alexander stood up. “You could go shopping if you want something to do.”