Fever Read online

  ‘I’m going to check the school website. Maybe it’ll say something about it closing.’ Eve reached under the lounger where she’d stashed her pink Macbook Pro and pulled it out. A few clicks later and she was on the Deepdene High home page.

  ‘Anything?’ Jess asked.

  ‘Just the usual. Lunch menu. Sports schedule,’ Eve answered. ‘Jenna’s online. I’m going to IM her and see what she’s heard.’

  Jess grabbed her cell. ‘I’ll text Megan. Megan always knows everything.’

  Eve’s fingers danced over the keyboard as she wrote the IM to Jenna. School might close. Heard?!?

  A response from Jenna popped up almost immediately. Srsly???? So don’t want to do bio hmwrk.

  Gonna try 2 find confirmation. Get back 2 U, Eve answered.

  ‘Megan says she’s watching the news with her mom. We’re up to eighty-one sick people,’ Jess told her, with the phone still to her ear. ‘She says she hasn’t heard anything about school closing. But in other gossip news, a while ago Briony’s dad called her, looking for Briony. She didn’t come home last night.’

  ‘He must be freaking,’ Eve said.

  Jess held up one finger, listening to Megan, then she said goodbye and hung up. ‘Megan said Briony’s dad is really worried, but he thinks she probably took off to see the old boyfriend in Massachusetts. She’s been on the phone with him a lot lately.’

  ‘Yeah, she was talking about him the other day, and how her dad didn’t approve.’ Eve held her hands out, pretending they were weighing scales. ‘So we have cute old boyfriend on one side, and a town with a plague and a disapproving dad on the other. I’m thinking—’ She dropped the hand that represented Deepdene to the ground.

  ‘Briony has to think this town is cursed,’ Jess commented. ‘She got here right when the hell hounds were on the loose. So first those murders and now Flu X. Even without the cute guy, I can understand why she’d bolt.’

  ‘Hey, Luke’s online.’ Eve smiled as she saw his screen name pop up – Sinbad. He’d chosen it because he was a minister’s son and so he knew sin was bad. And also Sinbad, the ancient heroic sailor, was kick-ass. According to Luke, he’d battled, among other things, a Cyclops with teeth like a boar’s tusks, and a snake so big it could swallow an elephant.

  And Luke had battled demons side by side with Eve too. Like Jess, he had no powers. But, also like Jess, he didn’t let that stop him. If there was badness to fight, he was there. Eve felt like she knew him so well, even though she had only met Luke at the beginning of school this year. He and his dad had moved to Deepdene from California so his father could take over as minister at Deepdene Church after the previous minister had died from cancer.

  ‘Are you telling him you luuuuurve him?’ Jess teased as Eve began writing an IM to Luke.

  ‘Telling him about Briony, since they went out a couple of times,’ Eve replied. Although she had to admit, at least to herself, that she had wondered once or twice if she was falling for Luke. She hoped not. The boy was a player – Briony was just one of the many girls he’d gone out with since he came to town – and getting involved with him as more than a friend would probably leave Eve with a broken heart.

  The thing was, Luke was more than just a player. He was brave. He was smart. He was pretty sweet a lot of the time. And, yes, he was a complete cutie with his longish blond hair and his green eyes. Make that green eyes with little golden flecks. He was—

  He was not answering her. How long did it take to answer an IM? Jenna had replied in about a second and a half. Eve could see he was online. To ignore her was just rude.

  ‘Is Luke saying something bad? Is someone else sick?’ Jess asked.

  ‘No. He didn’t answer yet,’ Eve said. Because he was busy chatting with some other girl? He was a player. She couldn’t let herself forget that.

  ‘Oh. It’s just that you just looked upset,’ Jess commented, propping herself up on one elbow.

  ‘There’s a lot of upsetting stuff happening,’ Eve reminded her. ‘Eighty-one people sick. No known cure.’ And Luke possibly blowing her off for some fun girl who’d never drag him into a demon beat-down.

  Eve reached the end of her Vogue, and realized she didn’t remember one thing that was in it. Not one pair of shoes. Not one bag. Usually as soon as she started flipping through a new issue, a shopping list began forming in her head. This time her head had been too full of the epidemic. And Luke, she admitted to herself. She let out a sigh.

  ‘Want to do this relationship quiz?’ Jess asked.

  ‘Unlike you, I’m not in a relationship,’ Eve pointed out.

  ‘Just use Luke. It will help you decide if you should take him on as a boyfriend,’ Jess answered.

  Eve laughed. ‘You sound like it’s all my decision.’

  ‘It is. I keep telling you that.’ Jess pulled a pen out of her bag. ‘I’ve seen the way he looks at you. You give the guy one encouraging word and he’s yours. Guaranteed.’ She looked down at her magazine. ‘OK, first question. If your guy were a popsicle, what flavour would he be? A – Lime, B – Cherry, C – Orange, or D – Grape.’

  ‘That’s key in deciding if he’s good relationship material?’ Eve asked doubtfully.

  ‘Absolutely. And Seth is definitely orange, like sunshine. Sunshine you want to lick,’ Jess added. ‘What about Luke?’

  Eve wrinkled her nose. ‘It’s kind of a dumb question. I mean, no offence. But guys as popsicle flavours?’

  ‘Just pick one.’ Jess tapped her pen against her magazine.

  ‘Lime, I guess.’

  ‘Which happens to be your fave,’ Jess commented. ‘Your psychology is showing.’

  ‘That isn’t—’

  The sound of Eve’s cell ringing interrupted her, and she jumped to get it. Distraction was good. She didn’t need to do any more thinking about Luke. Who couldn’t even be bothered to answer a simple IM.

  She glanced at the caller ID. Luke. Well, he hadn’t answered her before, but calling her was even better, right? She couldn’t help smiling. ‘Hi, Luke,’ she said as she picked up.

  Jess smirked at her, a see-I-know-all smirk. Eve ignored it.

  ‘What’s up?’ she asked Luke.

  ‘Sorry I didn’t answer you before,’ Luke said. ‘My dad … We just got back from the walk-in clinic. He has it. He almost passed out during the Wednesday men’s lunch group.’

  He was trying to hold it together, but Eve could hear the tremor in his voice. Of course he was freaking. It was his dad. And Luke had already lost his mother. He never talked about it. All Eve knew was that she’d died in a car accident when he was really young, about five years old.

  ‘Oh no, Luke. That’s horrible,’ Eve exclaimed. ‘His dad. The flu,’ she mouthed to Jess, and her friend’s eyes darkened with concern.

  ‘It pretty much had to happen,’ Luke said quietly. ‘I mean, he’s the minister. It’s his job to be around people. He spent the whole day yesterday making calls on everyone in the congregation who’s down with it. This morning before the lunch too.’

  ‘He’s a good man, doing that,’ Eve said. ‘How bad is it?’ Stupid question, she thought, nibbling at her lip the way she always did when she was nervous. If you had Flu X it was bad. Period.

  ‘He’s not feeling all that sick, but his fever’s pretty high,’ Luke told her. ‘But, you know—’

  ‘Yeah,’ Eve answered. It didn’t feel like there was anything else to say. ‘I’m so sorry,’ she added anyway. Why was it so hard to find the right words sometimes?

  ‘Look, I know this is a big favour, but I was wondering …’ Luke hesitated.

  ‘I owe you a couple of dozen favours at least. What?’ Eve prompted him.

  ‘I need a place to stay. The doctor checked me over, and I’m fine. At least so far. But he wants me out of the house or else I’ll definitely catch it too. The Deepdene town council has arranged for nursing teams to give in-home care to all the infected people. They don’t want sick and healthy people living in the s
ame houses. So …’

  Luke. In her house? For days? Eve couldn’t tell if her fluttering heart meant she was thrilled or anxious beyond belief. ‘That makes perfect sense,’ she told him. ‘Let me ask my mom. I’m sure she’ll say you can stay.’

  Jess sat up fast and grabbed Eve’s arm. They had one of their eye conversations. Jess’s eyes: Luke is staying with you? Eve’s eyes: OMG. Just OMG.

  ‘I thought I’d be able to stay with Ben Flood or one of the guys on the team.’ Luke had joined the football team when he first moved to town, and then he moved on to basketball with everyone else when the season changed. ‘But Ben’s sick and so are a bunch of the other guys. We’ve had b-ball practice every day lately, and everyone’s in the locker room together afterwards …’

  ‘That’s like a huge petri dish for germs,’ Eve said, automatically repeating what her surgeon mother always said as her mind whirled with the pros and cons of a Luke stay-over.

  ‘Yeah. It’s no surprise the flu spread through most of the team,’ Luke agreed. ‘But I’ve been checked out by the doctor and am showing no signs – at least for now … Anyway, I didn’t know who else to call.’

  ‘I’m the first one you should have called. Have you ever been in Ben’s room? The flu probably isn’t the worst thing you could catch in there,’ Eve told him. ‘I’ll check with my mom and call you back.’

  ‘You’ve been in Ben’s bedroom?’ The volume on Luke’s voice had gone up a few notches. Is he jealous? Eve wondered, and the thought made her smile.

  ‘We were partners on an English project last year,’ Eve said. ‘I’m hanging up. Call you in a few.’

  ‘Luke wants to stay here. With you?’ Jess burst out the second Eve hung up.

  ‘Yeah. The public health people don’t want healthy people and people with the flu in the same house,’ Eve answered.

  ‘His dad. That part flew out of my head for a second. Poor Luke. I can’t even imagine. I don’t want to even imagine …’ Jess shook her head.

  ‘I know. I couldn’t even come up with something decent to say to him. What are you supposed to say to someone whose father is that sick?’ Eve asked.

  ‘It’s more about being there than about what you say, I think,’ Jess answered. ‘It’ll be good for him to stay with you. Are you freaking about it though?’

  ‘A little,’ Eve admitted. ‘Of course I want him to come if he needs a place to stay. It’s just weird having a guy in your house.’

  ‘A guy you like,’ Jess corrected.

  Eve didn’t confirm or deny. And she still hadn’t quite figured out if she was excited or anxious. ‘I’m going to go ask my mom if it’s OK.’

  She crossed the patio, opened the sliding glass door, and headed into the living room. Her mother was watching CNN with the air conditioner cranked.

  ‘Mom, Luke just called. His dad is sick – Flu X – and so Luke needs a place to stay. Would it be OK …?’

  She didn’t have to say anything else. ‘He’s welcome as long as he needs to be here,’ her mother told her. ‘No one healthy should be in the same house as someone who’s sick.’ Mrs Evergold stood up and turned off the TV. ‘I’ll go get the guest room ready.’

  Eve returned to the back yard and her lounger.

  ‘She said yes, of course,’ Jess said.

  ‘Of course,’ Eve answered. She’d never doubted that would be her mother’s response. She picked up her iPhone and hesitated.

  ‘It’s going to be all good. You look adorable when you brush your teeth.’ Jess gave Eve’s shoulder a pat.

  ‘I’m not letting him see me brush my teeth,’ Eve shot back.

  Jess held up her hands. ‘OK, OK, I just thought it would be cute, like in Bring It On, when Kirsten and Jesse were brushing their teeth together and taking turns spitting.’ Jess had seen every cheerleader film ever made. She considered it her cheerleader duty. Which meant Eve had seen all of them too.

  ‘Good scene. Still not letting him see me spit,’ Eve answered. She took a deep breath and called Luke. He answered on the first ring. ‘OK, get your stuff and come here,’ Eve told him. ‘Mom says you can stay as long as you need to.’

  ‘Great. That’s great. Thanks. I’ll be over in a couple of hours,’ he replied. ‘I want to make sure my dad’s nursing team gets here and all. You know, it’s good that I’m staying with you instead of one of the guys. It’ll make it easier to talk about stuff.’

  Eve instantly knew what he meant. She was getting almost as telefriendic – a word she and Jess had come up with for friends being able to read each other’s minds – with Luke as she was with Jess. ‘You’re thinking that the plague is demon related,’ she said.

  An expression of alarm flashed over Jess’s face. ‘It’s the flu!’ she cried.

  ‘Wait, I’m putting you on speaker. Jess has to hear or she’ll implode.’ Eve turned to Jess. ‘If you see my mom coming out here, tell me.’

  ‘You think we’re in the middle of a demon plague?’ Jess exclaimed. ‘Luke, the doctors are all saying it’s a mutant strain of the flu. They’re working on a vaccine. It’s bad, but it’s not demon bad.’

  ‘Tell that to my dad,’ Luke snapped. ‘Sorry,’ he said immediately. ‘I’m just—’

  ‘Worried about him,’ Jess supplied, her voice tender.

  ‘Yeah,’ Luke answered. ‘And maybe I’m just wanting it to be a demon thing because it would give me – us – something to fight. I hate not being able to do anything for my father.’

  ‘We get that,’ Eve told him. ‘It definitely went through my mind that the plague might be connected to a demon.’

  ‘It did?’ Jess exclaimed, outraged. ‘And you didn’t tell me?’

  ‘We were both already scared,’ Eve said. ‘And pretty much right away I decided all those doctors couldn’t be wrong about the epidemic being a weird strain of the flu.’

  ‘So why did you think demons at all?’ Jess asked.

  ‘Because it’s Deepdene, home to a portal to hell,’ Eve said. ‘And the last two times really bad stuff happened it was because a demon came through the portal. Plus I was thinking how the first demons caused mental illness and that maybe a demon causing physical illness was a possibility.’

  ‘Exactly,’ Luke jumped in. ‘And then there’s the bizarre weather. It’s the hottest temperature on record for March in the Hamptons, by almost fifteen degrees. It’s nearly a hundred today. The record for the beginning of March is eighty-three.’

  Jess pressed one hand over her face. ‘Demons,’ she whispered.

  ‘Maybe not,’ Eve said. ‘I think the first thing we have to do is check the portal to make sure it’s still blocked.’ The wargs – demon-faced hellhounds – hadn’t come back through the electric spider web that she’d woven over the opening, so she’d assumed it was holding.

  ‘Good idea,’ Luke told her. Jess nodded in agreement. ‘But even if your net is still in place, it doesn’t mean a demon couldn’t come through. Maybe it’s only strong enough to keep out lesser demons, like the wargs. Maybe a more powerful demon could stroll right through, no problem.’

  ‘You are definitely not an orange popsicle,’ Eve muttered.

  ‘What?’ Luke asked.

  ‘Nothing,’ Eve said. But he so was not a beam of lickable sunshine right now. He was more like a dark cloud. She got it though. She could see why he’d want something to fight to save his dad. ‘Let me check the portal first. Jess and I will go over right now. When you get here, we can decide what to do next.’

  ‘Sounds good. Thanks. See you guys soon,’ Luke replied.

  ‘See you.’ Eve snapped her phone closed and stood up. ‘Feel like taking a walk to the edge of hell?’ she asked Jess.

  ‘Absolutely,’ her friend answered, tying a sarong around her hips and pulling on the oversized white shirt she liked to use as a cover-up. Eve slipped into the T-shirt and denim shorts she’d had on when they first came out to the back yard.

  ‘And then we have to go shopping,’ Eve ann
ounced.

  ‘For new pyjamas, right?’ Jess knew her way too well.

  ‘I’ve been needing some,’ Eve said.

  ‘Right. It has nothing to do with the fact that Luke’s going to be sleeping over,’ Jess teased her.

  ‘Of course not!’ But Eve didn’t even manage to convince herself, never mind Jess. Luke was sleeping over. Which meant that they might run into each other in the hallway or the bathroom or on a midnight-snack fridge raid. Demon investigation might be advisable. But pyjama prep was mandatory.

  Chapter Two

  A shudder rippled through Eve, and she shivered as she and Jess stepped onto the wildly overgrown lawn in front of the Medway mansion. Make that the remains of the Medway mansion – the place was nothing more than piles of brick and masonry scattered about like a giant had stomped on them. One of the worst nights of her life had happened in that house, back when it was still standing, and just to put the cherry on top of the horribleness, it was a night that had started out feeling like one of the best.

  Mal – gorgeous, sexy Mal – had invited Eve over for dinner, a dinner he was cooking just for her. It had been so insanely romantic. Until she realized that Mal was in fact Malphas, a Prince of Hell, and she’d had to use her power to blast him into a few wisps of smoke.

  ‘Thinking about Mal?’ Jess asked, being telefriendic, as usual.

  ‘Malphas,’ Eve corrected her. She preferred to use his true name, his demon name. Not the name they had all known him by at school. ‘And, yeah, I was. I still can’t believe I dated a demon.’

  ‘Why not? He was unbelievably cute. Pretty much every girl in school wanted to go out with him,’ Jess reminded her. ‘It’s not like he walked around smelling like brimstone – whatever brimstone smells like – with horns sprouting out of his head. You didn’t know he was a demon.’

  ‘Actually, he did always smell. Like wood-smoke,’ Eve said. ‘Not brimstone. Or maybe that’s how brimstone smells?’ She frowned. ‘I smelled wood-smoke when the wargs were out too.’ She gave a long sniff. ‘But right now, nothing.’