Trying to Live With the Dead (The Veil Diaries #1)

by B.L. Brunnemer

Rory looked up at her blankly. “I’m not going to punish her for defending herself,” he told her plainly. “She told him to let go, he didn’t. So, she made him. Perfectly justified.” Tara’s mouth dropped, then she turned back to me her eyes calculating. “Dad, she tried to stop me from talking to Asher today,” Tara complained, all but stomping her foot in her tantrum. “We were standing there talking, and she tugged h...

I looked over at Rory and met his gaze. He inclined his head toward me; he understood what happened. “The nosebleed wasn’t about you, Tara,” he told her, turning back to the football game. “Lexie has always gotten a lot of nosebleeds.” Tara looked at him like he was insane. Then she crossed her arms and glared at me. She seemed determined to get me in trouble for something. “She’s hanging...

Rory shrugged. “He didn’t seem so bad,” Rory said absently. I winced. Tara’s eyes went wide. “You met him?” she asked, stunned. Rory didn’t notice the can of worms he had opened. “Yeah, I met all of them. They were ...

Tara looked at me, her eyes wide. “Asher Westfell was here?” “Yeah, we all had dinner.” I got up and took the ice packs to the freezer to put them away for tomorrow. I turned and found Tara blocking my way out of the kitchen. “You have to tell me when Asher is here.” She actually ordered me. I scoffed at her. “I’m not...

“Your friend?” She huffed. “You’re just the new girl, Alexis. Soon enough they won’t even be talking to you.” That hurt, I admit it, it really hurt. Because she was probably right. Even if they did want to be my friends, when they found out about the Sight, they’d be gone anyway. “Night, Tara.” I walked arou...

Tara’s comment shook me. I was just wondering if they’d even talk to me tomorrow when my phone vibrated on the desk....

Zeke: Why do you have physical therapy? That was it; no hi or how are you. Straight to the point, Zeke. I didn’t want to tell him. Especially after Tara had rattled me. So, I asked him something I doubt he’d answer. Alexis: Why do you wake up swinging? He was silent so long that I thought he’d never answer. Then my phone vibrated again. Zeke: Not every family is a good family. My heart sank. I knew exactly what he was saying. Just because someone is your parent doesn’t mean they give a damn. Hell, my own mother couldn’t care less about me. I was invisible as long as I was able to keep food on the table. And when I couldn’t... I pushed those memories away as another text message came in. Zeke: Why do you have physical therapy? I bit my lip trying to decide how to answer. I wasn’t going to lie; he’d been honest with me. Alexis: Not every family is a good family. I thought that would be the end of it, but my phone vibrated again. Zeke: That’s why you moved into your uncle’s. It wasn’t a question, not really. So, I didn’t answer. He sent another text. Zeke: Are you okay? I bit my lip; his simple question shook my control. I took a deep breath to stop the...

I woke up twice that night, both times with nightmares. So, when the alarm went off, I wasn’t happy. At least I got to sleep in an extra half hour since I showered last night. I got out of bed slowly, my back stiff. I rubbed my eyes; I felt like I hadn’t slept at all. I got up and headed to the bathroom. Surprisingly, Tara wasn’t in it this morning. I opened the medicine cabinet and found a small bottle of Ibuprofen. I took two, and then quickly washed my face. After brushing my teeth, I took the bottle with me. By the way my back felt, I was going to need it. Now more awake, I dressed the way I felt today; dark boot-cut jeans, an olive long sleeve, thin sweater with a black cami on underneath. The neckline on the sweater was low enough that the cami kept the girls covered. I brushed my hair, leaving it down and only pulling the front back into a small clip at the back of my head. I did my usual sunscreen and makeup, then I grabbed my jacket, making sure I had my wallet, cell phone, and keys before heading downstairs. Thankfully, I found a metal travel mug. I turned the coffee maker on and made my lunch.

“Hell, if coffee is all it takes for a hug, I call tomorrow,” Isaac said, raising his hand. A few of them chuckled at Isaac. I ignored it and went to open my locker. With how my back felt today, I wasn’t going to be lugging all my books around all day. “You okay, Red? You look as bad as Zeke did yesterday,” Isaac said. I waved his concern away, still not awake as I put my bag on the ground and pulled out my Chemistry book. “I’m fine, just had nightmares all night,”

They all shook their heads; the twins were smiling. Zeke did his almost smile thing. “We thought you might,” Miles chimed in. “She might make it harder for you to get along with girls.” I sighed, trying to find a way to explain how I felt about this. “If the girls here are so spineless that they can’t think for themselves, I don’t want them as friends,” I told them bluntly. I gestured at them again. “Besides, I’ve got you guys. I’m good.” All the guys smiled; Zeke smirked. “See? This is why we kept you. You think like a guy,” Ethan declared, wrapping his arm around my back jarring me.

I winced as he hit a particularly nasty bruise on my back--my hands actually shook from the pain. I just smiled back at him, hoping no one had noticed.

The bell rang, and the group split up. I couldn’t move yet, I had to give my back a minute. I was looking at the ground focusing on breathing when a pair of motorcycle boots came into view. I bit the bullet and looked up. Zeke’s eyes ran over my face, assessing. “You okay?” he asked. His eyes bore into mine demanding an answer. I put on my best smile. “Peachy,” I lied. He looked at the lockers over my head. “The twins are affectionate with everyone,” he began, tilting his head d...

“I have never had a problem speaking up in my life,” I told him honestly. “You should have seen some of the notes from teachers in grade school. ‘Motormouth’ was mentioned, often.” The corner of his mouth twitched. “Just checking.” He ran his eyes over me again before taking off down the hall. Zeke had noticed the wince. Damn, he was observant. I needed to be more caref...

I was on my way to Algebra 2, and my mind was finally awake, though my body was still tired. I was going to make it through the day and take a nap this afternoon. Hell, maybe I could bribe one of the guys to do my homework. I had put Asher’s warning out of my mind and was simply walking down the hall when a shout rang out. Then another. “Hey, new girl!” That had to be me. I turned to find a tall girl with the same blonde hair as Asher striding toward me with fire in her eyes. I sighed, reminded myself about my temper, and waited. People backed up creating a ring around us. Jessica was pretty but had on too much bubblegum-pink lip gloss. She was wearing a white crop top even though it was cold this morning. Her big, gold hoop earrings shined at me. She stopped within a few feet of me, towering over me. Two of her friends were standing on either side of her. Oooh. A show of force. I barely managed to keep my face straight. “Yes?” I asked, keeping it polite. Her eyes flared at me. “Keep your hands off my boyfriend, bitch,” she spat. I really wasn’t in the mood to deal with this. “Your boyfriend put his hands on me, and I made him stop.” I shrugged, feeling my hair slide down my shoulder. “Tell your boyfriend to keep his hands to himself, and we won’t have a problem,” I added, again, my voice reasonable. Jessica took a step forward, and I swear, she did a head bob.

“Jason told me what happened. How you came up to him, flirting and touching him.” She ran her eyes over me then back to my face. “Acting like a slut….” This was Asher’s sister, so I tried again to make her understand. “Asher was there, ask him what happened,” I said, but she was coming at me hard. Yelling, getting in my face.

Yeah, I wasn't going to back down and crawl away. And to be honest, it seemed like that was what she expected. I was very aware of the surrounding crowd; I even saw a few cell phones out filming. Great. “He’s lying to cover for you,” she snarled. All right, I had enough. I opened my arms to her, palms up. “Then what the hell do you want?” I asked, more of my anger slipping through the more I spoke. “Asher told you what happened, I told you what happened. You don’t believe it.” I shook my head, not caring that I was almost shouting now. She needed to learn that she w...

“Oh well, let her knock herself out,” I said as the late bell rang overhead. “See you guys at lunch.” I waved to them before heading off to class.

“She even goes after some of the boys sometimes.” That really caught my attention. I abandoned my class work and focused on her. “Goes after them how? Yelling, screaming?” The girl nodded, her eyes unfocused for a couple of seconds. “That and she’ll slap them. Once, I saw her slap her brother across the face during lunch.” I’m pretty sure my eyebrows disappeared into my hairline. I reassessed. Jessica wasn’t a drama queen; she was a fucking bully who used drama as an excuse.

The boys had already beaten me to the table. They were leaning forward, looking at Isaac’s cell phone. My smile disappeared. As I stepped up to the counter, I heard my own voice coming from the phone. “I see you’ve heard,” I announced, mildly annoyed. Isaac was beaming, Ethan laughing. Miles was his usual quiet self. “Heard, seen, and watched about a dozen times,” Isaac answered joyfully. “That was the best thing I’ve seen in years.” “You did handle her rather brilliantly,”

“I call library,” Isaac said. Everyone agreed. “Good, because we have a Chemistry test tomorrow, and I’ve had about a day and a half to study for it,” I complained. “Oh, and Algebra and World Civ.” The guys winced in sympathy.

“Chemistry isn’t bad, it’s a ten-question quiz and they’re the ones from the back of the book,” Miles reassured me. “What about English?” Asher asked looking down the line at me.

“What’s the training schedule look like this weekend?” Zeke asked. Isaac emptied his water bottle. “I’ve got training tonight at seven, then Sunday. If any of you are joining me…?” Isaac asked. “I’ll take Sunday with you,” Zeke said. Isaac nodded.

“I’ll take tonight,” Ethan chimed in. “We just need to get our homework done first.” We turned another corner and were walking by a group of girls; they were giggling and pointing at us. I ignored it. They were probably checking out the guys. “I heard she’s already slept with half the football team,” I heard whispered from their group. “What a slut.”

Gym was normal, except the line for the stalls were so long that I said fuck it and changed by my locker. With my hair down, no one noticed my bruises. Yay for thick hair! I made sure to stuff some tissues into my pocket before I left the locker room foreseeing a nosebleed coming. I really needed to find a better way to art class. I met up with Asher, and I asked him. “Is there another way to art class?” He frowned and shook his head. “Not that I’ve found, and believe me I’ve tried,” he said. Great. Daily torture. I sighed. “Have you tried just telling her no?” I asked as we headed down the path. Asher started rubbing the back of his neck. “I don’t want to be rude.” I rolled my eyes.

“Alright, I understand. You’re too busy to help now.” Tara gave him big eyes and a small smile. Shit, was she going to cry? Oh nope, she was pulling the girl card, looking sweet and hurt. “Maybe you could help with Winter Formal and Prom next semester?” she asked. Before he could answer, Asher looked over to me, his brow drew down as he frowned. “Lexie? Is your nose bleeding again?” he asked, his voice filled with concern. My head still pounding, I nodded. He ran his eyes over me, his face worried. He reached out and took my arm. “Come on, let’s get you cleaned up.” He gave me a small nudge to get me moving. “I’ll think about next semester, Tara,” he called over his shoulder, his gaze still on me as we passed by girl ghost. I felt a surge of blood and cursed as I pinched my nose shut. I walked faster, trying to get away so the burning pain in my chest would stop. By the time we turned the corner, my tissues were soaked. Seeing this, Asher pulled his little pack of tissues out of his bag and handed them to me. I added some to my nose. The further away from the dead girl we got, the less my nose bled. “Seriously, Lexie, what’s with your nose?” he asked, still frowning. I tried to figure out an excuse that would explain this. “It’s kind of a medical thing,” I hedged, checking to see if my nose had stopped bleeding. Thankfully it had.

I felt the wall I kept around my heart crack a little more. Shit. “Feel free to come over anytime, guys,” I said, keeping my voice light. “It’ll annoy the crap out of Tara.” Chuckles ran around the table. We all got to work studying. I focused on my World Civ. for the first hour. I had moved on to Chemistry when I noticed Ethan shifting out of the corner of my eye, wincing. I looked up from my book and watched him trying to stretch his lower back while staying in his chair.

“Ethan, are you okay?” I asked. He was still grimacing when he answered. “Yeah, I just...” He closed his eyes, grunting in pain. Isaac’s head snapped up, his face serious. He ran his eyes over his brother like he was examining him. “It’s just an old back injury,”

What did he do to his back? For once, I wasn’t going to ask; Ethan didn’t seem okay with the situation. He went back to his homework. I went back to my chemistry. “Muscle spasms?” Isaac asked quietly. “It’s fine,” Ethan all but growled at his brother.

As soon as she finished fading away, I ran. I didn’t have time to walk. I ran through the aisles, my stomach already rebelling. Not yet, not yet, not yet. I ran into the alcove with the bathroom doors, barely noticing that the guys spotted me diving through the door. I ran to the closest stall, dropped to my knees and threw up. I was sick over and over. Blood streaming into the bowl from my nose, eyes streaming with tears. My head exploding. The world spun as I tried to breathe between bouts of sickness. Finally, I had nothing left. I held my hair back in one hand and fumbled for the toilet paper with the other. When I was sure I wouldn’t be throwing up again, I flushed the toilet and sat back on my butt, my back against the stall wall. I held more tissues to my nose and used my other hand to clean up my face. I felt weak, drained, and wobbly. So, I just sat there focusing on breathing as my stomach stopped cramping. I had to keep changing out my tissues; my nose didn’t want to stop bleeding. I was there a long time.

When my nose finally stopped bleeding, I threw the bloody tissues into the toilet and slowly got to my feet. I went to the sink, washed my hands and looked in the mirror. My already pale skin looked even whiter, my skin clammy. Dry blood had crusted around my mouth and chin. A few drops stained my sweater. Great. Feeling shaky, I washed my face and used the paper towels to dry. I felt weak, like one breeze would knock me over. I knew I needed to go home. What was I going to tell the guys? Food poisoning would work, right? People get food poisoning all the time. Right?

In what felt like a second later, Rory was shaking me awake. Ugh, nooo. “Huh?” I asked, sitting up still half asleep. Rory’s hands grabbed my face and forced me to look at him. He was trying to open one of my eyelids when I finally woke up. “I’m fine! I’m fine!” I snapped at him. My head throbbed, and my stomach churned with the motion. It was a heartbeat before his hands let go of my face. I blinked my eyes open; the living room was dark except for one lamp. “What happened?” Rory demanded, his face hard. “Tara’s upstairs swearing you came home drunk and passed out on the couch.” I snorted and immediately regretted it. My face ached. I lay back down with my eyes open so Rory wouldn’t freak out again. “I ran into that girl ghost again today, she was being a real bitch, too,” I told him, rubbing the bridge of my nose. “Then we all went to the library, and I ran into a dead woman there.” I groaned as I sat back up putting my feet on the floor. “I helped her move on, got a really bad bloody nose and got sick.” Rory turned until he was sitting normally on the couch next to me. “How did you cover for that?” he asked. I smiled painfully. “I told them I ate a bad burrito from the quick mart.” Rory snorted at that. “Asher was asking about the bloody noses today, I told him it’s a medical condition that crops up now and then.” “You think that was a good idea?” His voice was full of doubt. I rubbed my fingers against my forehead trying to ease the pain. “It’s better than the truth,” ...

“I bring chicken soup!” My head snapped up so fast I got dizzy. Ethan was standing in the doorway. A big plastic tub in his hands with DVD cases on top. “And movies with minimal gore,” Rory smirked and gestured for him to come in. Ethan tossed the movies to me and then headed into the kitchen. “What are you doing here?” I had never been more surprised in my life. Ethan was banging some pots and pans in the kitchen. “Beautiful is sick, we make Beautiful better,” he told me, his smooth voice calling from the kitchen. Rory was still smirking when I looked over at him not knowing what to do. “It’s what friends do, Lexie,” he said gently. I couldn’t wrap my head around the fact Ethan was here. “What about training?” I asked. Ethan came back over and held out the videos for me to pick one. “Isaac said he could spar with one of the other fighters tonight.” He shook the videos in front of me to get me to pick. I picked a superhero movie. As he went to put the movie on there was another knock on the door. Rory’s brow furrowed as he got up and answered it. Miles was standing there with a plastic bag in his hand. His ears went pink as he held it up. “I brought some medicine that might help Alexis feel better,” Miles offered uncertainly. Rory smiled a big smile and gestured for him to come in. Miles made a beeline for me; he sat down to my right and dug into the bag. “Are you still nauseous?” he asked, pulling out a white box, which he started to open. “Um, a little, just when I move ...

“You’re still wearing shoes?” Ethan groaned. I didn’t even get to answer. Ethan started taking my boots off. Ethan tossed them over to Zeke, who caught them and set them on the floor. “We have a strict no-shoes-when-you're-sick rule,” Asher pointed out, stretching his arm across the back of the couch. “I-I see that,” I stuttered, still in a daze. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Tara walk slowly to the bottom of the stairs.

I took a second to look around at them all. I was sick, they thought with food poisoning, so they came to keep me company and take care of me. “You guys are pretty amazing, you know,” I told them honestly. I’m glad I kept my voice from cracking. Most of them shrugged, a couple waved a hand dismissively as they watched the start of the movie. “We’re family, it’s what we do,” Miles told me absently. They really didn’t know just how incredible that was to me. I ate my soup, covered in my blanket, surrounded by people that actually seemed to care about me. It wasn’t long before I fell asleep again.

I smiled to myself and pulled on my dark boot-cut blue jeans, gray v-neck shirt, and a royal purple plaid that I left unbuttoned. I did my usual morning routine and put my hair back in a loose braid. I pulled on my jacket, making sure I had everything. I made my lunch, grabbed my bag, and was out the door early. I picked up the coffees and was extremely grateful the coffee drive through had good holders. I was carrying in my bag and the coffee when I realized I could see my breath, it was so cold this morning. I was surprised to find Miles, Asher, and Zeke were already there at the table. “Morning.” I put the coffees on the table and pointed out what was what. “How are you feeling this morning?” Miles asked as he looked through the coffees finding his.

Zeke and Miles chuckled. Asher groaned. I looked up to see his face pained. “She kept trying to get Asher to talk to her,” Zeke answered me, a smirk on his face. “He answered her, but he kept his answers short.” “Then one of us would change the subject or ask Asher something,” Miles admitted, smiling his small smile. “I suffered for you, Ally,” Asher declared, pointing at me. I walked over and hugged him around the waist. He gave me a squeeze. Vanilla and cinnamon filled my nose. “Hence the coffee.” I stepped back smiling. He was smiling back at me when a blur bashed into me. “Red!” Isaac shouted as he practically tackled me. I would have fallen if it weren’t for Isaac lifting me up around the waist and swinging me in a circle. I barely managed to save my coffee. Isaac put me back down, his arms moving up to a hug. “Sorry, I wasn’t there last night. How are you feeling?” I hugged his arm across my chest, smiling. Isaac was so sweet. Ethan strolled up at a normal pace. “Much better, thanks.” I leaned my head back against his shoulder. “Asher was just telling me about Tara last night.” I felt Isaac laugh as he gave me a squeeze before letting go. “Oh yeah, Tara wasn’t happy,” Ethan said as he stepped around me to grab his coffee. “She probably thinks you're trying to steal him away, especially after you fell asleep last night,” Isaac said, smiling as he drank his coffee. “What do you mean?” I asked, looking around the group, my heart racing. Did I say something weird in my s...