You're Dead: Chapter Nine (special preview)

I sat in the back of Stevie’s food truck with Booker. The atmosphere was so quiet it was crushing. Freddie was back to normal in the front seat, after having gone through some magical transformation I can’t quite wrap my mind around. Not a word had been spoken since Freddie had to discard his shoes on the street after I blew up all over them.

“You have no idea how much worse you’ve made things on yourself.” Freddie’s voice from the front frightened me. I tensed up into a tighter ball than I already was. “I would have understood you running away. But running into the arms of-” He clenched up and went quiet.

“Bowie,” Booker chimed in.

Freddie cast a glare back at the both of us. “I’m talking now.”

Booker’s eyes widened and he scooched further away from the front.

Freddie huffed and pushed his hair from his face. “You have no clue how dangerous he is. Getting roped up with him is not safe, no matter what you were told. He and Grace are two sides of the same extreme. Falling away from the path of our roles in this world is not an option.”

I turned my head away, staring into the dark shadows of Stevie’s truck where I saw moths fluttering around.

“We are here to protect humanity, to serve it. Making sure souls do not become lost and add to the chaos of this world is a worthy endeavor.”

“Then why did you turn into the big bad wolf?” I grumbled.

Freddie scoffed.

Stevie reached out and shoved Freddie’s arm. “She brings up a good question! She needs to know at least that.”

Booker moved across the aisle and sat beside me. He offered his hand to me and when I didn’t take it he put his arm around me. “We all can do that. Did you not see Bowie’s mouth?”

I remembered the blue flames and smoke. “Is he a dragon?”

“Not that cool.” Booker smiled. “You remember that first lost soul that Freddie siked on you, how it looked all...fucked up?”

I glanced up at him, cocking my eyebrow up in confusion. “Yeah?”

“Souls aren’t meant to exist on this side without a body,, not for long anyways. Same goes for us.”

“Then what is this?” I slapped my arms while keeping them crossed. “Am I wearing a meat suit?”

Booker shrugged and nodded at the same time.

“I’m wearing a meat suit?” I blurted.

“It’s not a meat suit!” Freddie huffed in the front seat. “They are temporary forms. Vessels that allow us to walk amongst the two plains at the same time. Because of this our souls still warp, but at a much closer rate. This is what we call an alter.”

I stared at Booker for assurance and his arm tightened around me.

“They are powerful, filled with energies we brought from our previous life as well as this one. The more souls we protect, the more threads we cut, the less severe this transformation becomes. That is why Grace is in the state she is in. Bowie too to an extent”

Booker hugged me close. “Things you should have been warned about earlier.”

Freddie grumbled under his breath. “Yes. Things you should of-” he stopped and scoffed. “Look,” he turned around in the front seat to look back. “I didn’t want to have to do this at all, but we are going to be dealing with a crisis any day now. I can’t have you running around freely while we deal with something that could be cataclysmic. Until that is over, you’ll be staying with someone who will be able to show you how badly you almost fucked up.”

I glared forward at him. “You’re talking like a long winded fortune cookie.”

Booker smirked but quickly sucked it back in.

Freddie turned back forward. “My friend Rosemary is going to keep you until we can figure out what Iggy is warning us about.”

“Iggy?” I looked to Booker. “What did Iggy do?”