All That Lives Must Die - Eric Nylund [69]
Before he could say more to Robert, however, four girls marched onto the field. They stood with the White Knight boys and eyed Eliot and Robert with a mix of curiosity and contempt. The White Knight boys spoke to the girls, pointing up the gym structure.
Jezebel then emerged from the girls’ locker room, followed a moment later by Sarah Covington.
“We’ll talk,” Robert said, “but later. Catch me after gym today, okay?”
Eliot nodded.
“Does the Infernal . . . ,” Robert whispered. “I know this sounds nuts, but she looks like that girl you hung out with this summer. What was her name?”
“Julie Marks.”
Eliot had thought it was just him, but she really did look like Julie. Uncurl her hair, add a little color to the dead white skin, and she could have been Julie’s twin.
But believing that was wishful thinking. Julie had been mortal; the only extraordinary thing about her was that she had liked Eliot. She even kissed him, before she’d left Del Sombra for Hollywood. Remembering made Eliot feel wonderful and miserable all at the same time.
Sarah Covington waved Eliot and Robert over to where the girls, Jeremy, and Mitch now stood.
Eliot grabbed his pack off the grass and they joined his teammates.
“Where’s Fiona and Amanda?” Eliot asked.
“There was a wee issue,” Sarah told him, and tucked a strand of red hair into her cap. “A girl thing. They’ll be out in a jiffy.”
Jeremy cleared his throat. “We need to be thinking up a strategy,” he told them. “First, we pick the Team Captain.”
“You?” Robert snorted.
“Who else?” Jeremy said. “I’ve studied freshman gym extensively. I know all the tactics.”
The thought of taking orders from Jeremy made Eliot’s skin crawl. “Seems simple to me,” Eliot countered. “Get to your flag before the others do.”
Sarah looked at Eliot like he was a bug. “You think it so simple? I can’t wait to see how you do up there.”
Eliot matched her stare. “Sure, it’s going to be harder than that. But what about Robert or Mitch . . . or Jezebel? It’d be nice to have someone leading us who—I don’t know—knows something about modern technology, like cell phones, for instance?”
Jeremy’s smile vanished.
“What do cell phones have to do with gym?” Mitch asked.
“Field communications,” Robert said, nodding. “We can get a conference call going. We should get headsets, too.”
“Perhaps,” Jezebel told Eliot, “you should be Team Captain.”
She said this without inflection. Eliot wasn’t sure if it was a joke. Her jade green eyes were not like Julie’s clear blue eyes at all . . . yet they had the same sparkle.
“Please m’lady,” Jeremy said. “We need someone with experience in these matters. Someone maybe who has struck another in anger before? . . . In case such a far-fetched possibility occurs.”
“So fighting’s the goal?” Eliot spat back. “Or getting to our flag and winning?”
If Jeremy wanted his résumé on fighting, he could tell him about the ten thousand rats he and Fiona had faced in the sewers, or Perry Millhouse, or an entire air force base, or the Infernal Lord of All That Flies.
Fiona and Amanda stepped out of the girls’ locker room, and seeing those two halted Eliot’s thoughts.
Amanda wore a stunned expression. Her hair was wet as if she’d just taken a shower. But before gym class?
Eliot caught Fiona’s eyes and she gave a shake of her head. Something had happened, but she couldn’t tell him—not now.
He met Fiona halfway and said, “We’re trying to figure out a strategy. Jeremy wants to pick a Captain first. It’s so stupid.”
“He’s so stupid,” Fiona said. She turned to Amanda. “Can you do this? Maybe you better sit it out.”
“No.” A spark of life returned to Amanda’s dark eyes. “I’m okay.”
Fiona stalked over to the rest of their team. She was mad, at whom Eliot didn’t know, but he felt the anger coming off his sister in waves.
“Ah, Fiona, me darling,” Jeremy said, “we be ready to vote for a Captain. I know I can count on your support.”
“You don’t have a Team Captain yet?” one of the girls from