“I didn’t want to do this,” Matt said. “I didn’t want to do any of this. I didn’t want my family to be afraid of me. I didn’t want all of my friends to die. I didn’t want my father to die, I didn’t want to kill you, Becca. But your father started all of this.”
“And he’s dead.”
“And yet you still live,” Matt said. “For all I know, he purposely gave you the NaU that would allow you to live—he chose you to be The Keeper.”
Matt’s throat turned blue as he activated his mother’s NaU.
“Matt,” Becca said. “Don’t.”
But her brother didn’t hear her.
He exhaled his breath. It went due straight at Becca. She activated her father’s NaU and reflected it.
Matt almost activated his breath again, but a noise behind him stopped him. He turned.
Jolie was standing there.
There was a hole in her chest.
She fell back into the snow behind her.
Matt rushed over toward her.
Walter was on his feet. He and Becca got into the truck and drove off.
The sky was turning green behind them as they did so.
Chapter Sixteen
Should I be afraid of Matt? Probably Not. I’ve known the boy for a long time, and while I’d never go as far as to say that he was my own flesh and blood, he means a lot to Carol and Rebecca.
But I’ve been wrong about people before. I didn’t think that Nigel’s cruel demeanor could get worse when he got powers, and that’s exactly what happened. Now Matt and his father are two separate beasts altogether, but that doesn’t mean that they are inherently different from the core. Who knows how the boy will react when, just like his father, the desperation comes up to the forefront. That nice boy in the wheelchair might be dashed aside for something far deadlier.
-Robbie’s Journal
“Where have you been?”
Jolie closed the door and walked into her house.
Her parents rose to meet her. Her father looked like he had just come out of work, or perhaps that’s what he looked like yesterday when he came home, and his daughter still wasn’t home. Her mother looked in a fit of worry, which had turned to kindle that now burned with a blaze of anger when she looked at her daughter.
Jolie hadn’t exactly given them much of a notice when she and Matt left.
Danni killing Peter had been a grisly affair. Matt had been the one to discover it, going out to look for his friends that night, but instead only finding Peter’s body in the middle of the field. His body was cold and frozen to the ground when Jolie arrived.
“Danni’s run off,” Matt said, putting some corn stalks over their dead friend. “We need to go find her.”
“How do you know who did this?” Jolie said. “Danni would never hurt Peter.”
“No, she wouldn’t,” Matt said, “at least not the Danni we know. None of us are exactly the same people we were a couple of months ago, though, Jolie.”
“How did she kill him?”
“I’m guessing that there is an injury that Peter’s NaU can’t recover from. Remove the head, and death ensues.”
It was pitch black in the cornfield, and late at night. Matt and Jolie had planned on heading to the movies, seeing one movie or another. It didn’t really matter which one. On the way back, Matt said he felt something, and the two of them searched Greendale from the skies. Matt felt something and found Peter’s body frozen to the ground, his eyes looking up at the sky.
“We need to find her,” Matt said, “There still might be something that Robbie can do for Danni.”
“What about Peter?” Jolie said. “Who is going to tell his family?”
“What would we tell them?” Matt said.
He activated his NaU and ripped the frozen ground apart. It cracked in the quiet night.
“What are you doing?” Jolie said.
“All that I can,” Matt said. “We can’t leave his body out. It might be cold out, but it’ll still start to decompose.”
“Can’t we wait?”
“Where would we put him?”
They placed their friend’s body into the hole and covered it up. Jolie’s eyes were wet. So were Matt’s.
They stood there for a moment and took off to look for their friend. They tried all around Greendale but couldn’t find her. It was nearing morning, and Jolie was tired.
“Go home and get some rest,” Matt said. “I’ll tell Robbie and the others what happened.”
Jolie nodded and headed home. Her parents didn’t say anything about her being out late, didn’t even seem to realize that she hadn’t spent the night there. Jolie got little peaceful sleep before Matt came for her.
Becca had evidently killed Nigel, and Matt didn’t want to be home. They had to search for Danni right then and there.
Finding Danni had been hard. The girl might have been erratic, but she was still precise. She stayed mostly to the trees, not leaving any tracks for the two of them to follow.
They found her, though.
She was huddled up in a cave up in the Adirondacks. At the back of the cave was a dead bear in many pieces, the walls of the cave covered with blood. The girl hadn’t eaten—hadn’t done anything, really. Her clothes were stained a dark red and brown, and her skin was pale. When Jolie and Matt approached Danni, she jumped out like an animal, teeth out as though their friend intended to bite them.
Matt held her down, activating his NaU. The girl was thrown across the other side of the cave.
“We’re your friends,” Matt said. “Stop it.”
He threw the girl against the cave wall. Yellow light flowed underneath her skin.
“Peter’s NaU,” Matt said.
“When you die,” Jolie said, “it goes to the person that killed you.”
“Not necessarily,” Matt said. “Maybe just the person closest to you. Robbie will want to know that his hypothesis is true.”
Danni tried to mutter something, but her words just came out as garbage. Killing Peter must’ve done a number on
