Page 38 of The Grave Robber

I laughed. “You’d be surprised how often I don’t hear that.Have you always been this beautiful?”

“Now it’s your turn to be surprised. I’ve never found anyoneI wanted to share this moment with. I’m glad it was you. I wanted to experiencethis kind of surreal magic at least once before I die.”

My chest tightened at the reminder. “I’m going to doeverything in my power to keep that from happening.”

She frowned at me. “That’s not why I did this, Eric. I don’texpect anything from you. Dad and I will figure it out. If my death can beavoided, so be it. If not, that’s not on you. I don’t want you to feelobligated just because you have this gift.”

“Gift?” I asked. I’d never seen it as one. Especially sincechanging fate had proven far more difficult than I ever imagined. ZacharyChurch was an exception, not the rule.

“You’re a gift whether you see that or not. I hope you find happinesswherever you go.”

“You sound like you’re saying goodbye.”

“Not at all. I hope you stay longer, but I don’t want you tofeel—”

“Obligated.”

She nodded. “Exactly.”

I had every intention of staying a while and getting to thebottom of Halle’s last moment before it happened. I decided to give it one moreshot before calling it a day. There was always tomorrow. “Halle, can you tellme what happened when you were twelve? Can you tell me how all of thisstarted?”

She rolled onto her back and stared at the ceiling, but whennext she spoke, her words didn’t quite register. They didn’t fit, like adissonant note in a favorite song. She yawned as fatigue took over and then saidsoftly, “It all started when I killed a man in the woods.”

Chapter Eight

I either give too many shits or no shits at all.

I can’t seem to find that middle ground

for moderate shit distribution.

—True fact

“Can you repeat that?” I asked, not sure I’d heard her correctly.

She faced me again. “I’ve never told anyone. I’ve neverdared. See?” she said with a sparkling grin. “I told you, you’re supernatural.Less than twenty-four hours after meeting you, and I’m having sex for the firsttime and spilling all my secrets.”

She was stalling. I waited for her to gather her thoughtsand courage. Surely, she didn’t mean she’d actually killed a man. It had to bea metaphor for puberty or something.

“When I was twelve, I went to a cousin’s birthday party atBaymore Park. She was turning sixteen and invited me to the cookout. I was soexcited to hang with her. She was the cool cousin. Very popular. Veryenigmatic.”

“And you wanted to be just like her.”

She shrugged. “I did. But she was also a bit wild. Always introuble. And most of that trouble revolved around boys.” She started rubbingher hands, and I knew this was not going in a good direction.

I took one of her hands in mine and kissed her knuckles.“Take your time, hon.”

She nodded and seemed to think back. “She wanted to go for awalk in the woods, but she was grounded. They only let her have the partybecause they’d already paid for everything. But my aunt and uncle didn’t trusther. That was when I realized why she’d invited me to her party when she nevergave me the time of day. Not that I blamed her. I was a twelve-year-old geek.She was the homecoming queen. We may as well have lived on different planets.”

“I wish I would’ve known you when you were a geek.”

“Oh, you do. I still am. I just hide it better.”

“You think?” I asked in doubt.

She punched me, despite the fact that I’d been sideswiped.Zero respect. “Because my cousin promised we’d be together, they let us go.They thought I’d be a good influence on her.”

“Had they met you before that day?”

---