The mayor shook Darcy’s limp hand, then Liam’s strong one, and stepped to the door. “You kids will fill them in, won’t you?” she said to me, Krista, and Joaquin.
Officer Dorn looked as stunned as the rest of us as he turned slowly and followed her from the room. The door closed with a bang behind them.
“Uh, what was she talking about?” Liam asked, his mismatched eyes wide.
“What the hell is a Lifer?” Darcy asked.
“Um…I…” How was I supposed to answer that question, exactly?
“Hello? Rory?” She waved one hand in front of my face. “Care to explain?”
I looked into her green eyes, so like my own and my mother’s, and took a breath. “Darcy,” I said, “I’ve got good news, and I’ve got bad news.”
There was really no other way to begin.
“Are we gonna get to see Mom?” Darcy asked me tearfully.
A lump jammed my throat, and I shook my head. Darcy and I were sitting on the window seat in her bedroom, our hands clasped between us, while Krista and Liam perched on the bed, Fisher hovering near the bottom post. He had insisted on being here for Darcy, so Joaquin had stayed behind at the clinic to take his place with the recovery effort. We had walked back to our house to deliver the news away from the madness, and Darcy had run right upstairs crying after hearing the basics. Both she and Liam had finally calmed down—his reaction had been to try to punch Fisher in the face, which hadn’t gone well. Now Darcy had just asked the question I’d been dreading more than any except for one.
“Mom moved on. A long time ago.” I took a breath, the pain of this hitting me all over again, and sat amazed at how it seemed to hurt worse each time instead of getting better. “So, you believe me?”
She sniffled and looked down. “He killed us, didn’t he?” she asked slowly. “That’s how we died—how we got here. Steven Nell killed us.”
I nodded, tears spilling down my cheeks.
“Oh my god, Rory.”
Darcy flung her arms around me and collapsed. She sobbed, her whole skinny body convulsing as her tears wet my shoulder. I cried as well, feeling the devastation of what had happened to us like a fresh stab wound to the chest. I don’t know how long we sat like that, with Liam, Krista, and Fisher silently, respectfully averting their eyes, but I do know that by the time we were done, I was exhausted. She released me, and I leaned sideways against the window, spent.
“So…wait,” Liam said, speaking for the first time in a few minutes. “You guys were murdered?”
I nodded. “It’s a long story.”
“That’s intense.” Liam’s brow knit. “How did I die?”
“You drowned, man. Undertow got you.” Fisher gave Liam’s shoulder an awkward pat.
“Please. There’s no way,” Liam said. “I’d never drown.”
“It’s the truth,” Fisher said. “If you hadn’t become a Lifer, I would have been your usher, so I saw the whole thing when I slapped you on the back before.”
“You saw my death?” Liam asked, blanching.
“Just one of the many special powers we Lifers have,” Krista said sourly.
“So how did you die?” Liam asked her.
Krista shifted atop the floral bedspread, tugging the hem of her white dress down further over her thighs. “I did something stupid,” she said, pursing her lips.
Liam looked around at the rest of us. “Like drowning?” he said lightly, clearly trying to put her at ease.
“No.” She glared at him. “I wanted to get my ex-boyfriend’s attention, so I took a bunch of pills, but I didn’t want to die.” Her eyes trailed off to the side as if she couldn’t bare to look anyone in the eye right then. “I just…took too many.”
“Whoa,” Darcy said.
“What about you?” Liam asked Fisher. Darcy and I both turned to look at him, curious.
“It was an accident on the football field,” he said. “I laid a hit on this guy, and bam!” He slapped one fist into a flat hand. “Neck snapped. Done.”