Dead Girl Walking (22 page)

“Join the club. For an initiation prize, you get to ditch my brother and have a kiss.” He blushed at my startled look, then dug in his pocket. “A chocolate kiss,” he amended, giving me a foil-wrapped candy.

“Yumm.” I ripped off the foil faster than you could say “Amber Borden is a chocoholic” and popped it into my mouth. Funny, though, as much as I craved chocolate, I was a little disappointed the kiss offer was only chocolate.

As we neared the car, I caught a glimpse of a figure in the back seat. I slowed, uneasy about meeting Eli’s friends.

“You brought someone with you?” I asked accusingly.

“Relax.” He put a calming hand on my arm. “He’s a friend.”

“This isn’t a good time to meet your friend.”

“I didn’t say he was my friend. I hardly know him. But you do.” Eli cleared his throat, stopping on the sidewalk. “Go on ahead without me. You should talk alone.”

Before I could ask anything else, the car door opened. A lanky leg wearing brown pants with a yellow sock poked out—and that was all I needed to know.

“Dustin!” I shouted, rushing forward until I realized he couldn’t possibly recognize me. I stopped. What was I thinking? He wouldn’t know me now any more than he had when we’d talked at the hospital.

So I was totally shocked when Dustin moved toward me, grinning in that familiar goofy way. “Eli’s been telling me an impossible story.”

“He has?” I asked cautiously.

“About body-snatchers.” He stopped a foot from me, studying. “Lose any cell phones lately?”

“Not since I fell into the cemetery.”

“And ruined your clothes.”

“But you rescued me and loaned me—”

“—my shirt.”

“Right off your back. A hideous orange but baggy enough to cover my nettle bumps.”

“Nettles?” His eyes narrowed, then widened. “Amber? It really is you?”

I nodded—then burst into tears as I fell into his arms.

Eli drove us to Dustin’s house; a single-story wood-paneled home in one of those cookie-cutter neighborhoods.

Dustin’s father, an electrician, was off early and did a double take when I walked through the living room hand-in-hand with Dustin. It was so amazing to be with Dustin again that I didn’t want to let him go. Dustin rarely invited girls to his home, and never one that looked like Leah. No wonder his dad was surprised, impressed even.

I smiled and played it up, leaning against Dustin and giggling like I had hair gel for brains. Dustin whispered, “Cut that out!” while turning an interesting shade of red.

“Are you sure you want me to?” I vamped.

“Amber, can’t you control yourself?”

I just grinned. He’d called me
Amber
.

We headed for Dustin’s self-proclaimed “Headquarters.” Not a bedroom, like a normal person would have, but a room crowded with desks and electronic equipment, including three computers linking networks around the world for radical anti-government reasons. There was no bed. Dustin liked to sleep on the saggy leather couch in a sleeping bag. His mother had given up years ago trying to convince him to sleep on a mattress.

Once I teased her: “It could be worse—he could sleep in a coffin like Alyce.”

Not true; Alyce wasn’t that Goth-centric. But Dustin and I cracked up over his mother’s shocked expression. When Alyce heard about my joke, she smacked my arm hard. Even after Dustin told his mother the truth, she still acted nervous around Alyce.

Eli’s gaze rose to Dustin’s ceiling, where the myriad of keys he’d collected as a locksmith circled the top of the walls. Eli seemed awed, spinning slowly in place to look at the hundred-zillion keys. Dizzily, he caught himself before he tripped over some cables twined like black snakes on the floor.

“Cool,” was all he said as he sat in a swivel computer chair.

Then we sat down and got to talking.

I hardly knew which of my zillion questions to ask first. I stared at these two guys, one a very new friend and the other closer than a brother. At first glance someone might shrug them off as geeks, since they were both smart and went their own way rather than following popular trends. But that’s where their similarities ended. Dustin was a born activist, intense and idealistic. Eli seemed easygoing, considerate and a little shy.

“I never expected you two to hang out,” I told them.

“It was all Eli’s doing,” Dustin explained. “Your pal here wouldn’t leave me alone until I heard him out. He cornered me at school today and told me that you needed him. I thought he was nuts and blew him off—but he kept after me. The more he talked, the more things added up. I knew there was something odd when I met Leah … you … at the hospital. The way you moved and talked made me think of Amber—which made no sense. Then, when you told me about my socks, using the exact words Amber always said … well, I didn’t know what to think.”

“Socks?” Eli interrupted.

Dustin glanced away like he always did when reminded of his color-blindness.

“It’s nothing,” I said quickly to save his pride. “A joke between Dustin and me.”

“Which is what freaked me out.” Dustin shook his head. “I couldn’t stop thinking about you … well, the girl I thought was Leah … and it didn’t make any sense. So when Eli told his impossible story, I listened. I mean
really listened
.”

“And believed,” I said gratefully.

“Not at first. But I was hooked with curiosity and figured why not check it out. Then the weirdest thing happened—as you walked toward me, looking exactly like another girl, I knew it was you. And when you talked about nettles I was positive, ’cause you did that funny crinkly thing with your nose and stuck out the tip of your tongue like you always do when you’re grossed out.”

“I do not!”

“Yes, you do. Even when you’re not you anymore.” He stared at me solemnly. “Geez, Amber! How did this happen?”

I blew out a sigh, sinking into the cushioned chair. “I wish I knew.”

“You’re so … so different. I don’t think I can get used to it.”

Eli leaned in with a serious expression. “You won’t have to—if we figure out a way to switch her back.”

“I’ve tried and tried, but even when I was in the hospital room nothing happened.” I swallowed the lump in my throat. “And by now … my real body is … gone.”

No one spoke for a few minutes, and except for the soft hum from the computer monitors, the room was still as death.

Then Dustin tapped his desk top, swiveling in his chair and clicking commands onto a keyboard. “Never say never,” he declared in the tone he used to use when on the debate team. “Even when obstacles seem insurmountable—like when I’m pitted against some mega corporation—there are battle strategies. I can’t stop big money from funding dirty politicians, but I can still fight back.” He waved, as if his hand were a magic wand, toward the monitor where a handsome silver-haired man smiled. “Meet Councilman Beaumont, a great family man, friend to the environment, and all-around good guy. At least that’s what he wants his voters to believe.”

“I’ve seen his commercials,” Eli said. “But what does this have to do with Amber?”

“I’m getting to that. First, look at the councilman’s official website, where he makes nice with the public. His people invested tons of money and energy into their website to win over voters. But voters don’t know that his influence is for sale to the highest bidder, and since my sources won’t go public, I have to attack the councilman in a more subtle way.” He clicked a few more keys and a different website popped up. At first glance this looked exactly like the official Beaumont website, except the picture of Councilman Beaumont showed him with a sly expression as he stood with a sleazy-looking guy, his hands on a large envelope. The caption below the picture read: Councilman for Sale!

“Anyone searching for the dishonorable Councilman will find my alternate website,” Dustin explained proudly.

“Score one for the good guys,” I said, applauding. “Alyce would call Beaumont a corruptician.”

“Actually, she did.” Dustin hit a button and the screen blacked out. “I hope this website and others can even out the justice scales—at least until they’re shut down. I didn’t solve the problem, but I found another way to fight back. And you can, too, Amber.”

“How? I’m stuck in this body.”

“You can still get your life back. You do want to go home, don’t you?”

“More than anything,” I admitted softly. “But my family won’t even recognize me.”

“I did,” Dustin pointed out.

“Only because you have a very strange mind.”

“A logical mind has to accept the impossible when there is no other explanation. Unfortunately most people aren’t logical.” Dustin twisted his lips in a way that told me who he was thinking about.

“Like Alyce,” I said sadly.

“When I talk to her about you, she shuts me down. Today she skipped school. Afterwards I went by her house, and her mother wouldn’t let me in—said that Alyce didn’t want to see me.”

I nodded, understanding too well. Alyce moved on emotion. I’d known her long enough to sense when one of her dark moods was coming on, and could tease her back into smiles. But I couldn’t make her smile if she wouldn’t let me prove who I was.

I wanted to go to her house right now and make her listen. But when I glanced over at the clock, panic struck. An hour had passed since I’d left Jessica’s party—soon Luis would arrive to pick me up. All hell would break loose if I wasn’t there. Each time I’d run away, Leah’s father had had someone bring me back. He’d warned that there wouldn’t be a third time—that he’d send me to DeHaven, where I’d never be able to escape.

Unless he couldn’t find me.

I’d hide out with my friends, change my appearance, and start over with a new identity. But what would it change? I’d still be living a lie, pretending to be someone I wasn’t, unable to live with my family.

And what about school? My career? My future?

Running would solve nothing. Besides, no matter how far I traveled or how much I changed my appearance, Mr. Montgomery would find me.

Dustin patted my trembling hand. “You okay?”

“Not really. I want to stay, but I better leave.”

“What are you talking about?” Eli furrowed his brow. “You don’t have to go anywhere. We’ll protect you.”

“That’s for damn sure,” Dustin agreed. “I have a network of friends who can help.”

“So does Mr. Montgomery,” I pointed out. “Rich and powerful friends.”

“So what?” Dustin shrugged. “You don’t have to pretend you’re Leah. We’ll help you explain to your parents that you’re alive. Last time I saw them, they were talking about funeral arrangements. It’s not fair to let them go on thinking the body in the hospital is all that’s left of you.”

“It’s not fair that I look like this.” Tears blurred my eyes. “I don’t want to hurt anyone … all I know is that if I don’t go back, things could get worse.”

“She’s right.” Eli folded his arms across his chest and turned to Dustin. “Mr. Montgomery is bad news. Our families hang in the same social circles, so I’ve seen him con people. He comes off as sympathetic because he puts up with an alcoholic wife. But I’ve heard rumors that he bullies his employees and even his family.”

He’s worse than that, I thought uneasily, remembering his creepy obsession with Leah’s appearance and the sting of his slap.

“I don’t want Amber to go back anymore than you do,” Eli told Dustin in a grim tone. “But if she doesn’t, Mr. Montgomery will probably send the FBI looking for her.”

“Let them look,” Dustin argued. “They’ll never find her.”

“What kind of life would that be? But if she goes back, it’ll give us time to come up with a plan so she can get away for good.”

“No!”
Dustin smacked his fist on his desk, rattling pens in a container. “I’ve searched Mr. M online and he’s deep into shady dealings, even if no one can prove it. Amber isn’t safe around that creep. If you won’t protect her, then I will.”

“I never said I wouldn’t. I-I care, too.” Eli bumped his elbow on the desk and caught the container of pens before it fell over.

“Then work with me to hide her.”

“Excuse me! I’m right here.” I threw up my hands, shoving between them. “I can make my own decisions.”

“I just want to help,” Dustin said.

“Me, too,” Eli added.

“Arguing isn’t solving anything,” I pointed out.

“Okay.” Dustin studied my face. “Tell us what you want.”

“Yeah,” Eli said. “Where do you want to go?”

They both watched me, waiting. But I didn’t know … I had no idea what to do. It was like being trapped in a pitch-dark room with no windows or doors. No way out.

Eli couldn’t hide me in his house—not with Chad living there. And Dustin couldn’t exactly offer to share his couch. Where did that leave me?

Homeless in a borrowed body.

So I said, take me back.

To Leah’s life.