"CHAPTER 11" said Quinn who had volunteered to read.
The next few hours were the worst of Phil's life.
"Oh Phil." Poppy sighed sadly. She knew this wasn't going to be easy and she wished there was something she could do.
When I get back, I promise I'll be the best twin sister you could ever ask for, Phil. I promise, Poppy thought sadly.
First and foremost was his mother.
The eyes of every single girl, except for Keller, got misty.
As soon as she walked in, Phil's priorities changed from wanting herto comfort him to wanting to comfort her. And ofcourse there wasn't any comfort. All he could do was hold on to her.
The boys slowly and unsurely put their arms around their respective soulmates except for Rowan, Ash and Mary-Lynnette.
Their all so lucky. They have people they know and people who love them back. Mary-Lynnette thought sadly, as she felt the dept of her loneliness. She failed to notice Ash looking longingly at her.
It's too cruel, he thought dimly. There ought to be a way to tell her. But she would never believe it, andif she did, she'd be in danger,too...
Eventually the paramedics did come, but only afterDr. Franklin had arrived.
"I called him," James said to Phil during one ofthe interludes when Phil's mom was crying on Cliff.
"Why?"
"To keep things simple. In this state, doctors can issue a death certificate if they've seen you withinthe last twenty days and they know the cause ofdeath. We don't want any hospitals or coroners."
"Why? You have a problem with doctors and hospitals?" Eric asked James.
James opened his mouth to answer befor Quinn stopped him, "Don't bother Rasmussen, the book you answers the question.
Phil shook his head. "Why? What's your problemwith hospitals?"
"Looks like its Erics turn to be Phil." Thea joked and gave Eric a small smile. He blushed and returned a shy smile back.
"My problem," James said in a clipped, distinctvoice. "is that in hospitals they do autopsies."
"Oh"
Phil froze. He opened his mouth but no sound came out.
"And in funeral homes they do embalming. Which is why I need to be around when they come to pick up the body. I need to influence their minds not to embalm her, or sew her lips shut, or-"
"Honestly James. You have the tact of a toddler." Poppy said exasperately. James just gave her a sheepish grin.
"Guys, can I continue or do you two want a room first?" Quinn asked cheekily.
"Just read" Delos said.
Phil bolted for the bathroom and was sick. He hated James again.
"Well, I knew it was too good to last." James said in a defeated manner.
But nobody took Poppy to the hospital; and didn't mention an autopsy. He just held Phil's mother's hand and spoke quietly about how these things could happen suddenly, and how at least Poppy had been spared any pain.
Thea magicked a box of tissues and in a matter of minutes, the box was half empty.
"But she was so much better today," Phil's motherwhispered through tears. "Oh, my baby, my baby. She'd been getting worse, but today she was better. "
"Oh mum. I'm so, so sorry." Poppy whispered.
"It happens sometimes. Sort of like the last fight for life." Rowan said sadly.
"It happens like that sometimes," Dr. Franklin said. "It's almost as if they rally for a last burst of life."
"Yeah, we've heard." Jez said tearfully.
"But I wasn't there for her," Phil's mom said, and now there weren't any tears, just the terrible grating sound of guilt. "She was alone when she died."
"Please forgive me mum. I wasn't alone. I was never alone" Poppy said, her voice muffled by James tear stained shirt.
Phil said, "She was asleep. She just went to sleep and never woke up. If you look at her, you can see how peaceful it was."
He kept saying things like that, and so did Cliff and so did the doctor, and eventually the paramedics went away. And sometime after that, while his mother was sitting on Poppy's bed and stroking her hair, the people from the mortuary came.
"Just give me a few minutes," Phil's mother said, dry-eyed and pale. "I need a few minutes alone with her."
"Its hard to lose someone. Especially when you really, really love them" Thierry said softly, looking at Hannah who was snuggled up against her.
"Yeah." Jez whispered softly.
The mortuary men sat awkwardly in the family room, and James stared at them. Phil knew what was going on. James was fixing in their minds the fact that there was to be no embalming.
"Religious reasons, is that it?" one of the men said to Cliff, breaking a long silence.
"Honestly James. You really need to work on your telepathy skills." Ash snorted but stopped when he saw Mary-Lynnettes' cold look.
Cliff stared at him, eyebrows coming together. "What are you talking about?"
The man nodded. "I understand. It's no problem."
This situation managed to draw out some laughter and chuckles from the occupants in the room.
Phil understood, too. Whatever the man was hearing, it wasn't what Cliff was saying.
"The only thing is, you'll want to have the viewing right away," the other man said to Cliff. "Or else a closed casket."
"Yes, it was unexpected," Cliff said, his face straightening out. "It's been a very short illness."
"Now they're having two completely different conversations!" Gillian laughed out. Her eyes met David's equally laughing ones and for a brief moment, something passed between them before they shied away.
So now he wasn't hearing what the men were saying. Phil looked at James and saw sweat trickling down his face. Clearly it was a struggle to control three minds at once.
"Not for me." Both Ash's said smugly.
"Arrogant idiots." Mary-Lynnette and Rowan said together before looking at each other.
I like her. You chose well Ash, even if it wasn't your choice per say. Rowan thought wryly.
"Are you two done being fools? Good, I'll continue then." Quinn said.
At last Cliff went in and got Phil's mother. He led her to the master bedroom to keep her from seeing what happened next.
What happened was that the two men went into- Poppy's room with a body bag and a gurney. When they came out, there was a small, delicate hump in the bag.
The girls all let out a muffled cry/choke and were immediately comforted. Even Mary-Lynnette had
Phil felt himself losing rationality again. He wanted to knock things down. He wanted to run a marathon to get away.
Instead, his knees started to buckle and his vision grayed out.
"And here comes the crash." Keller said before shutting up after the cold glare Poppy shot her.
Hard arms held him up, led him to a chair. "Hang on," James said. "Just a few more minutes. It's almost over."
"Thank you." Poppy said firmly, looking straight into James' eyes.
"Anything for you." James blurted.
Morgead and Quinn who never missed an opportunity to embarrass people made kissy faces behind them.
"Cut it out you two. Past me, stop making us look like idiots and just read." Quinn said exasperately.
Right then Phil could almost forgive him for being a bloodsucking monster.
It was very late that night when everyone finally went to bed. To bed, not to sleep. Phil was one solid ache of misery from his throat down to his feet, and he lay awake with the light on until the sun came up.
The funeral home was like a Victorian mansion, and the room Poppy was in was filled with flowers and people. Poppy herself was in a white casket with gold fittings, and from far away she looked as if she were sleeping.
Phil didn't like to look at her. He looked instead at the visitors who kept coming in and filling the viewing room and the dozens of wooden pews. He'd never realized how many people loved Poppy.
"You never know how much you love something or someone until its gone." Ash said wisely which caused everyone to looked at him in shocked.
"I've grown up." Ash said with a shrug.
"Yes, you have." Rowan said, biting a smile.
"She was so full of life," her English teacher said. "I can't believe she's gone," a guy from Phil's football team said. "I'll never forget her," one of her friends said, crying.
Phil wore a dark suit and stood with his mother and Cliff. It was like a receiving line for a wedding. His mother kept saying, "Thank you for coming," and hugging people. The people went over and touched the casket gently and cried.
Morgead opened his mouth to say something but Ash cut him off.
"People, it is nearly two in the morning, can we PLEASE just finish this chapter in peace without any interruptions." Ash said giving Morgead and Quinn a meaningful look.
"I'll just continue then" Quinn muttered.
And in the process of greeting so many mourners,s omething strange happened. Phil got drawn in. The reality of Poppy's death was so real that all the vampire stuff began to seem like a dream. Bit by bit, he started to believe the story he was acting out.
After all, everybody else was so sure. Poppy had gotten cancer, and now she was dead. Vampires were just superstition.
James didn't come to the viewing.
"What? Why?" Poppy asked, turning to face him. James gave her a 'really, haven't we moved pass this situation already?' look.
"Right." She said with a watery grin.
Poppy was dreaming.
She was walking by the ocean with James. It was warm and she could smell salt and her feet were wet and sandy. She was wearing a new bathing suit, the kind that changes color when it gets wet. She hoped James would notice the suit, but he didn't say anything about it.
Then she realized he was wearing a mask. That was strange, because he was going to get a very weird tan with most of his face covered up.
"That doesn't sound like me." James said frowning.
"Shouldn't you take that off?" she said, thinking he might need help. "I wear it for my health," James said-only it wasn't James's voice. Poppy was shocked. She reached out and pulled the mask away. It wasn't James. It was a boy with ash blond hair, even lighter than Phil's. Why hadn't she noticed his hairearlier? His eyes were green-and then they were blue.
James frowned, No, it can't be.
"Who is it?" Maggie asked curiously.
"Who are you?" Poppy demanded. She was afraid.
"Haha, looks like we think alike" Maggie said happily.
"That would be telling." He smiled. His eyes were violet.
"Ash!" James all but growled, "What are you doing. I swear, if you hurt her…" James hissed angrily at Ash, who just looked back at him in a bored manner.
"I'd be doing the world a favour, most importantly I'd be doing you a favour." He shot back with a strained voice.
James pounced on him and in minutes, a full blown fight broke out.
"Aren't you going to do anything about that." Thierry asked Ash.
"Nope. He deserves it. I really was a bastard wasn't I." Ash said grimly.
"Hell yeah. But if you don't stop that. I don't think you'll live long enough to meet her." Thierry said. He didn't have to explain who 'her' was, Ash just knew. With a tired sigh, he broke them up.
"Alright boys. Great display of testosterone, but I think everyone whould like to continue with the book." Ash said tiredly as if talking to a pair of 5 year olds.
The two cousins looked at each other with pure hatred but after a long, hard look from Ash, they backed down.
"Here, let me help." Poppy said, eyeing James' black eye. He kissed the top of her head as Ash looked on jealously. Then, unexpectedly, a timid voice said "Are you alright?"
Ash turned and was surprised to see Mary-Lynnette looking at him with her big gorgeous eyes. For a minute, Ash was speechless.
Quinn cleared his throat to notify Ash that they were all still in the room. He gave Ash a looked that was more of a 'can I continue?' and Ash nodded tightly. Ignoring Mary-Lynnettes question and just sat moodily on his beanbag.
Then he lifted his hand, and she saw that he was holding a poppy. At least, it was shaped like a poppy, but it was black. He caressed her cheek with the flower.
"Just remember," he said, still smiling whimsically. "Bad magic happens."
"What?" Poppy asked, confused.
"What?"
Poppy blushed. "Yup, some people just never change." James teased her, earning him a swat on the arm.
"Bad magic happens," he said and turned and walked away. She found herself holding the poppy. He didn't 'leave any footprints in the sand.
Poppy was alone and the ocean was roaring. Clouds were gathering overhead. She wanted to wake up now, but she couldn't, and she was aloneand scared. She dropped the flower as anguish surged through her.
"James!"
Phil sat up in bed, heart pounding.
God, what had that been? Something like a shout in Poppy's voice.
"Wait, Phil saw that? How?" Poppy asked, looking at the night world people. They all shrugged or shook their heads except for Thea and the future people.
"I have an idea but I think I'll keep it to myself first." Thea told Poppy. This didn't exactly pleased Poppy but something about Thea made Poppy trust her.
I'm hallucinating.
Which wasn't surprising. It was Monday, the day of Poppy's funeral. In-Phil glanced at the clock about four hours he had to be at the church. No wonder he was dreaming about her.
But she had sounded so scared...
Phil put the thought out of his mind. It wasn't even hard. He'd convinced himself that Poppy was dead, and dead people didn't shout.
At the funeral, though, Phil got a shock. His father was there.
"He came!"
He was even wearing something resembling a suit, although the jacket didn't match the trousers and his tie was askew.
"I came as soon as I heard..."
"Well, where were you?" Phil's mother said, the fine lines of strain showing around her eyes, the way they always did when she had to deal with Phil's father.
"Backpacking in the Blue Ridge Mountains. Next time, I swear, I'll leave an address. I'll check my messages..." He began to cry. Phil's mom didn't say anything else. She just reached for him, and Phil's heart twisted at the way they clung to each other.
He knew his dad was irresponsible and hopelessly behind in child support and flaky and a failure. But nobody had ever loved Poppy more. Right then, Phil couldn't disapprove of him, not even with Cliff standing there for comparison.
"Wow, that's impressive." Morgead said before getting slapped in the head by a teary Jez.
His shock came when his dad turned to Phil before the service. "You know, she came to me last night,"
he said in a low voice. "Her spirit, I mean. She visited me."
Phil looked at him. This was the kind of weird statement that had brought on the divorce. His father had always talked about peculiar dreams and seeing things that weren't there. Not to mention collecting articles about astrology, numerology, and UFOs.
A light bulb flickered on in James and Ash's head. Thea just smiled smugly, took you long enough, she projected to James and Ash. James gave her a grin whereas Ash just gave her a passing glance.
"I didn't see her, but I heard her calling. I just wish she hadn't sounded so frightened. Don't tell your mother, but I got the feeling she's not at rest." He put his hands over his face.
Phil felt every hair on the back of his neck standup.
"That's kinda creepy." Maggie said.
Gillian bit her lip. Poppy's dad sounded just like her mother. With the weird dreams and peculiar sayings. At least I'm not the only one, she thought.
But the spooky feeling was drowned almost immediately in the sheer grief of the funeral. In hearing things like "Poppy will live on forever in our hearts and memories." A silver hearse led the way to Forest Park cemetery, and everyone stood in the June sunshine as the minister said some last words over Poppy's casket. By the time Phil had to put a rose on the casket, he was shaking.
It was a terrible time. Two of Poppy's girlfriends collapsed in near-hysterical sobs. Phillip's mother doubled over and had to be led away from the casket. There was no time to think-then or at the pot luck at Phil's house afterward.
Everyone was silent in the room except for the occasional sob by Poppy. Even Morgead knew better than to say anything.
But it was at the house that Phil's two worlds collided. In the middle of all the milling confusion, he saw James.
He didn't know what to do. James didn't fit into what was going on here. Phil had half a mind to go over and tell him to get out, that the sick joke was over.
Before he could do anything, James walked up and said under his breath, "Be ready at eleven o'clock tonight."
Phil was jolted. "For what?"
"For what else. He's not the brightest vermin in the hole is he." Ash said spitefully. James just gave him a withering look.
"Just be ready, okay? And have some of Poppy's clothes with you. Whatever won't be missed." Phil didn't say anything, and James gave him an exasperated sideways look.
"We have to get her out, stupid. Or did you want to leave her there?"
"Really James. I disagree with Poppy. You don't have the tact of a 5 year old. You have NO tact. Period." Rowan said. James just gave her a sheepish grin and motioned Quinn to continue.
Crash. That was the sound of worlds colliding. For a moment Phil was spinning in space with his feet on neither one.
Then with the normal world in shards around him, he leaned against a wall and whispered, "I can't. I can't do it. You're crazy."
"You're the one who's crazy. You're acting like it never happened. And you have to help, because I can't do it alone. She's going to be disoriented at first, like a sleepwalker. She'll need you."
That galvanized Phil. ("What's galvanized?") He jerked to stand up straight and whispered, "Did you hear her last night?" James looked away. "She wasn't awake. She was just dreaming."
"How could we hear her from so far away? Even my dad heard it. Listen." He grabbed James by the lapel of his jacket. "Are you sure she's okay?"
"A minute ago you were convinced she was dead and gone. Now you want guarantees that she's fine.
Well, I can't give you any." He stared Phil down with eyes as cold as gray ice. "I've never done this before, all right? I'm just going by the book. And there are
always things that can go wrong, but," he said tersely when Phil opened his mouth, "the one thing I do know is that if we leave her where she is, she's going to have a very unpleasant awakening. Get it?"
Phil's hand unclenched slowly and he let go of the jacket. "Yeah. I'm sorry. I just can't believe any of this." He looked up to see that James's expression had softened slightly. "But if she was yelling last night, then she was alive then, right?"
"And strong," James said. "I've never known a stronger telepath. She's really going to be something."
Phil tried not to picture what. Of course, James was a vampire, and he looked perfectly normal most of the time. But Phil's mind kept throwing out pictures of Poppy as a Hollywood monster. Red eyes, chalky skin, and dripping teeth.
Every vampire/lamia snorted at that stereotype.
If she came out like that, he'd try to love her. But part of him might want to get a stake.
Forest Park cemetery was completely. different at night. The darkness seemed very thick. There was a sign on the iron gate that said, "No visitors after sunset," but the gate itself was open.
I don't want to be here, Phil thought.
James drove down the single lane road that curved around the cemetery and parked underneath a huge and ancient gingko tree.
"Shouldn't you guys be hiding or something? What if somebody sees you. I'm pretty sure they have a guard." Maggie said worriedly.
Quinn gave her a crooked smile before reading the next line.
"What if somebody sees us? Don't they have a guard or something?"
Maggie blushed whiled Quinn gave her a teasing look. Rashel and Delos immediately felt…something.
"They have a night watchman. He's asleep. I took care of it before I picked you up." James got out and began unloading an amazing amount of equipment from the backseat of the Integra.
Two heavy duty flashlights. A crowbar. Some old boards. A couple of tarps. And two brand-new shovels.
"Help me carry this stuff."
"What's it all for?" But Phil helped. Gravel crunched under his feet as he followed James on one of the little winding paths. They went up some weathered wooden stairs and down the other side and then they were in Toyland.
That was what somebody at the funeral had called it. Phil had overheard two business friends of Cliff's talking about it. It was a section of the cemetery where mostly kids were buried. You could tell without even looking at the headstones because there were teddy bears and things on the graves.
Poppy's grave was right on the edge of Toyland. It didn't have a headstone yet, of course. There was only a green plastic marker.
"I don't know whether I should be offended at that." Poppy joked, but she guessed it wasn't funny because she got a handful of barely there chuckles.
James dumped his armload on the grass and then knelt to examine the ground with a flashlight.
Phil stood silently, looking around the cemetery. He was still scared, partly with the normal fear that they'd get caught before they got finished, and partly with the supernatural fear that they wouldn't. The only sounds were crickets and distant traffic. Tree branches and bushes moved gently in the wind.
"Okay," James said. "First we've got to peel this sod off."
"Huh?" Phil hadn't even thought about why there was already grass on the new grave. But of course it was sod. James had found the edge of one strip and was rolling it up like a carpet.
Phil found another edge. The strips were about six feet long by one and a half feet wide. They were heavy, but it wasn't too hard to roll them up and off the foot of the grave.
"Leave 'em there. We've got to put them on again afterward," James grunted. "We don't want it to look as if this place has been disturbed."
A light went on for Phil." That's why the tarp sand stuff."
"Yeah. A little mess won't be suspicious. But if we leave dirt scattered everywhere, somebody's going to wonder." James laid the boards around the perimeter of the grave, then spread the tarps on either side. Phil helped him straighten them.
What was left where the sod had been was fresh, loamy soil. Phil positioned a flashlight and picked up a shovel.
I don't believe I'm doing this, he thought.
Neither can I. you've always been a stickler for rules Phil. Poppy thought to herself.
But he was doing it. And as long as all he thought about was the physical work, the job of digging a hole in the ground, he was okay. He concentrated on that and stepped on the shovel.
It went straight into the dirt, with no resistance. It was easy to spade up one shovelful of dirt and drop it onto the tarp. But by about the thirtieth shovelful, he was getting tired.
"This is insane. We need a backhoe," he said, wiping his forehead.
"You can rest if you want," James said coolly.
Phil understood. James was the backhoe. He was stronger than anyone Phil had ever seen. He pitched up shovelful after shovelful of dirt without even straining. He made it look like fun.
"Why don't we have you on any of the teams at school?" Phil said, leaning heavily on his shovel.
"Probably so he doesn't attract any attention. Its not normal for a guy to be that strong" Mary-Lynnette said.
"Yeah well, I'm stronger." Ash blurted which shocked him. He hadn't mean to say it. It just slipped.
"Oookay. I'll just get back to the book now."
"I prefer individual sports. Like wrestling," James said and grinned, just for a moment, up at Phil.
The boys in the room all couldn't hide their grins as they looked at each other.
"Boys." The girls muttered.
It was the kind of locker-room remark that couldn't be misunderstood from one guy to another. He meant wrestling with, for instance, Jacklyn and Michaela.
Poppy made a face while the girls just looked disgustedly at the boys.
And, just at that particular moment, Phil couldn't help grinning back. He couldn't summon up any righteous disapproval.
Even with James, it took a long time to dig the hole. It was wider than Phil would have thought necessary. When his shovel finally chunked on something solid, he found out why.
"It's the vault" James said.
"It's the vault," James said.
Morgead was about to say something but was stopped by Jez.
"Yes Morgead, we know."
"What vault?"
"The burial vault. They put the coffin inside it so it doesn't get crushed if the ground collapses. Get out and hand me the crowbar."
Phil climbed out of the hole and gave him the crowbar. He could see the vault now. It was made of unfinished concrete and he guessed that it was just a rectangular box with a lid. James was prying the lid off with the crowbar.
"There," James said, with an explosive grunt as he lifted the lid and slid it, by degrees, behind the concrete box. That was why the hole was so wide, to accommodate the lid on one side and James on the other.
And now, looking straight down into the hole, Phil could see the casket. A huge spray of slightly crushed yellow roses was on top.
James was breathing hard, but Phil didn't think it was with exertion. His own lungs felt as if they were being squeezed flat, and his heart was thudding hard enough to shake his body.
"Oh, God," he said quietly and with no particular emphasis.
James looked up. "Yeah. This is it." He pushed the roses down toward the foot of the casket. Then, in what seemed like slow motion to Phillip, he began unfastening latches on the casket's side.
When they were unfastened, he paused for just an instant, both hands flat on the smooth surface of the casket. Then he lifted the upper panel, and Phillip could see what was inside.
"Done. Who's next?" Quinn asked the room when an unfamiliar voice spoke.
"Poppy?"
"Phil?"