The Death Catchers by Jennifer Anne Kogler Read Free Book Online Page A

in front of me. Then blackness. Then the girl. The world was dimming around me, my lungs were running out of air.
    The mirror weighed heavy in my hands. I could barely lift it. But lift it I did. Right in front of the girl’s contorted face so that she was staring directly into it.
    I heard an explosive pop, then a rush of air. I winced as the blast of a thousand tiny particles hit my face.
    The screeching finally stopped. I dropped to my knees and collapsed next to Bizzy, unconscious.
    Miss Mora was standing over me when my eyes fluttered open. Jodi was beside her.
    â€œLizzy?” she questioned. “Lizzy, are you okay? What on earth happened? Why is there sand everywhere?” Miss Mora had her arm around Jodi, who was staring at me like I was a stranger.
    â€œShe done fainted. Saw me bleedin’, poor thing!” Bizzy, still lying on the ground next to me, chuckled. Her voice was weak. I wobbled to my feet and stared at Bizzy, who winked at me.
    â€œSand’s from Dixie,” my grandma continued. “I weighed her down with the stuff so she controls speed easier on downhills.”
    â€œI’m amazed you’re conscious, Bizzy!” Miss Mora said.
    â€œAn ox ain’t got nothin’ on me,” Bizzy said. “But criminy, gals. Don’t stand there like you’re ’bout to put nails in my coffin,” she continued, growing quite animated. “Help an ol’ lady up, for Pete’s sake!”
    â€œWe really shouldn’t move you in case you have an injury to your spine, Bizzy,” Miss Mora said. She then turned to me. “Lizzy, are you sure you’re all right?”
    â€œI think I just fainted … I’m fine now, I promise,” I said, embarrassed.
    â€œYou’ve all had quite a shock, to be sure,” Miss Mora said sympathetically. “I think I’ll just run in and get you some water. Girls, make sure Bizzy does not budge!”
    â€œOkay,” I said, catching my breath, my ears still ringing and my brain still throbbing.
    Miss Mora’s gaze connected with the concerned eyes of her daughter.
    â€œJodi, honey, Bizzy is going to be fine, okay?”
    â€œUh-huh,” Jodi mumbled.
    I dropped to my knees and took off my vest. Then I grabbed Bizzy’s head by the back of her cracked helmet and lifted it ever so slightly. I quickly slid the vest underneath.
    â€œThat’s awful nice of you, Sweet Pea,” Bizzy said. Her eyes had a shininess to them that gave her a far-off quality, as if her mind was somewhere else.
    â€œWhat was that? The girl and the mirror and the sand and … I thought we were both going to die—”
    â€œShush up now,” Bizzy said softly, shifting her eyes toward Jodi, who was standing a few feet away, still dazed. “Take a look at your hand,” she whispered.
    I turned my left palm upward. The normal lines and wrinkles were there but nothing else. Jodi Sanchez’s name had vanished.
    Bizzy’s eyes flickered closed. “She’s safe,” Bizzy said, struggling to form the words, her eyes still closed. “We cheated the death-specter.” I surveyed Bizzy’s body.
    â€œBut what was that thing ?” I asked, refusing to believe the girl was an actual human being. “That sound—”
    â€œWhen we’re alone!” Bizzy insisted with a whisper.
    â€œYou’re bleeding,” I said, noticing the growing pool of shimmering red on the sidewalk underneath Bizzy’s hip. The pool was the size of a paper towel and growing.
    â€œIt’s nothin’ more than an itty-bitty scratch,” Bizzy said. “My skin ain’t as thick as it used to be, I’m ’fraid.”
    Jodi knelt next to me. She took off the red apron and tied one of the straps around Bizzy’s bleeding elbow.
    â€œOh my stars,” Bizzy said, turning her head toward her elbow and reopening her eyes as Jodi applied the cloth to it. “Why,