Voice of the Undead Read Free Page B

louder. “Who is it?”
    â€œOpen up!” It was the voice of Bill Merrill, another student. “Student” wasn’t really an apt label. Bill Merrill was . . . a nightmare, a jerk, an old-fashioned bully. And he was rarely alone. What could he possibly want?
    â€œI want our DS!” Bill shouted. He pounded again at the door.
    Alex glanced around the room, taking his eyes off the stack of books. He called to the closed door, “Aren’t those things against the rules?”
    â€œDon’t give me that,” Bill retorted loudly, pounding the door again. “Open up.”
    Alex pulled on a T-shirt that said MY OTHER SHIRT BEARS AN ANTISOCIAL SENTIMENT and yanked the door open. “What?”
    Bill Merrill, not as tall as Paul but bigger in every way than Alex, stood in the hallway. He was flanked by his silent brother, Steven. Bill did most of the talking, and most of it was hostile.
    Bill pushed his way in and Steven followed. “We’ve been good to you, haven’t we? We let you leave our room without a fuss,” Bill said, shaking his head as he looked around. He was referring to the fact that Alex had originally been assigned to room with Bill and Steven, but they had made his life miserable until Alex moved out. This apparently qualified as a shared history. Bill touched some of the lamp’s shattered glass with his shoes. “What are you doing in here?” He kicked at some random airplane parts.
    â€œIt’s—”
    â€œNever mind. Steven has a Nintendo DS that he thinks you took, and by you I don’t mean you, I mean the person who does your fighting for you.”
    â€œYou mean Minhi?” Alex asked, referring to Minhi Krishnaswami, a girl from LaLaurie School across the lake. Minhi was a kung fu expert and had beaten Bill once.
    Mentioning Minhi made Steven, the silent brother, laugh. Bill frowned. “I mean Paul . Where did he put it?”
    â€œWhy would Paul want your DS?” A Nintendo DS—or any other gaming system—was strictly verboten at Glenarvon. But some students broke the rules, and the Merrills definitely fit that category. Alex couldn’t think of a reason why his roommate would want to steal a game system from the Merrills, nor had he seen Paul playing on one.
    â€œMaybe he just thinks it’s funny,” Bill said. He and Steven were idly searching the room, more with their eyes than anything.
    Alex had had enough. “Look. I have to get changed.”
    Steven froze, staring up at the ceiling. Bill seemed to sense his brother’s stopping and turned, looking up.
    Alex saw it now, too. Neatly glued to a ceiling tile was a Nintendo DS.
    Bill looked back at him, crossing his arms and blinking with something like innocence.
    Alex said, “You have to admit, that is pretty funny . . .” but then he noticed that the books on the floor were starting to wobble the tiniest bit.
    Steven looked at him silently and stepped up on the stack of books. He swiped up with one long arm, yanking the DS from of the ceiling. A puff of tile chalk ripped free as the DS came loose, and then Steven was falling.
    Something was churning through the books and now Strange Creatures: Anthropology in Antiquity was dancing on end. It exploded in a burst of paper. The red worm creature, a starfish spinning in the air, soared and bounced off the wall. It landed on Steven’s back as he found his footing.
    â€œWhat the hell is that?” Bill yelled, momentarily shocked. Alex balled his fist into a towel and swiped at it across Steven’s back, feeling it protest as it yanked free and flopped on the floor, spreading its starfishlike arms and breathing. “It’s like a—what is that, a bat ?”
    Bill was already raising his dress shoe to stomp on it.
    Yes, kill it, Alex thought. Squish it before you get a good look at it. Bill’s foot came down and just caught it by the tail. The