Rogue by Gina Damico Read Free Book Online

okay,” he said in a pointedly calm voice. “More or less. I’m just a little . . . deader than I used to be. Zara—” He looked at Lex. “You want to field this one?”
    Lex shook her head. She didn’t trust herself to open her mouth because: whipped cream volcano.
    So Driggs launched into the grisly tale of everything that had happened the night before, starting with Zara kidnapping him and leaving him at the top of Greycliff to die, through the part with Lex strangling her and how he’d been half-ghosted, and ending with what little Grotton had told him about the Hybrid situation, all to a chorus of small sobs and gasps. Lex couldn’t tell who was making what noise, since her eyes were shut tight the entire time.
    “I don’t know for sure if it’s permanent, anyway,” he finished, grasping for something optimistic to say. “So for the moment, I’m just not going to worry about it too much. If there’s a way to fix it, we’ll figure it out. And if not  . . .”
    “We’ll fix it,” said Uncle Mort, as if Driggs were merely a flat tire to be patched. “Luckily, to distract us from such unpleasantness, we’ve got plenty of other things to worry about at the moment. Like what our next steps are.”
    “Necropolis, right?” asked Pip. “Wicket said it’s built like a fortress! And they have snipers! And their
snipers
have snipers, and—”
    Elysia jumped in with more questions, as did Bang, her hands flying as she signed. But Ferbus said nothing. Staring straight ahead, he opened his mouth just a crack and spoke quietly to Lex.
    “Is this your fault?” he asked, referring to Driggs.
    Lex wanted to deny it. She didn’t want it to be true. She’d rather have blamed Zara, Norwood, anyone other than herself, because to be the one responsible for such a thing was more than she thought she could bear.
    But she’d be lying.
    “Yes,” she answered.
    Ferbus nodded his head slightly, still staring ahead, and said nothing. Which in many ways was even worse than getting punched or bitched out. Lex saw something pass through his eyes, and though she couldn’t quite tell what it was, it disturbed her more than any of the other Ferbus-reaction scenarios she’d been conjuring in her mind. At least those had ended in blood, and blood she knew how to handle.
    So as Uncle Mort started to outline his unthinkable portal-destroying plan for the res Cn f to wt of the Juniors, she stared out the window and decided to engage in the healthy task of beating herself up over it for a little while. She wished she were sitting next to Driggs, but then the thought of his misty hand brushing up against her skin made her shudder, and then
that
thought made her feel like crying.
    How could she have let this happen? How could he ever forgive her? She wanted to kick her
own
head off.
    Maybe he’s not a ghost at all
, she thought, once again ignoring the overwhelming evidence to the contrary. But even she had to admit she was in denial. She’d seen with her own eyes that part of his soul had flown off into the night air, escaped into the universe rather than the Afterlife, which was precisely how ghosts were made. Plus, Grotton had said it himself—they were both Hybrids. And although Lex certainly didn’t trust most of the things that came out of Grotton’s stupid old British mouth, she was inclined to believe this one. He and Driggs looked the same; their weird, half-tangible bodies behaved the same way. If only there were a way to tell for sure—
    With a jolt, she realized that there was. “Sparks!”
    Uncle Mort paused midsentence to look at her. “I’m kind of explaining our plans here, Lex. Just because you’ve heard them already doesn’t mean you can rudely launch into a conversation with yourself.
”
    “I know. Just open your bag for a sec. I want to see what Driggs’s Spark looks like now.”
    Uncle Mort paused. “That’s . . . actually a good idea,” he said, lifting his bag from its spot near