Read Online Naomi Grim by Tiffany Nicole Smith - Free Book Online Page B

some zombie movie. Maybe they all had gone.
    When I entered the house, I
heard nothing except for the gentle hum of the air conditioner and a rumbling
from the icemaker in the fridge. I had the house to myself.
    I ran upstairs to change
into something more comfortable—sweatpants and a T-shirt. I planned on parking
in front of the TV for the rest of the day. From the bedroom, I heard the
chirping sound the front door makes when someone opens it. The others were
home—so much for quiet time. I hung my clothes in the closet and ran
downstairs. I'd hit the bottom step when I saw Hunter standing in our living
room, looking around with his back turned to me.
    "Hunter! You can't be
here!"
    "I wanted to use your
bathroom before I—how did you do that?" he asked, finally facing me.
    "Do what?"
    "That— to your face.
The makeup." I had no idea what he was talking about.
    "I don't know . .
."
    Hunter stepped closer to me,
looking at my face skeptically. "What the—" He reached his hand out
to touch my face. He brought his hand back quickly as if something had burned
him.
    "What?"
    "Why does your face
feel like that?"
    "Like what?" I
touched my face. It felt like it always did. I looked in the mirror that hung
on the living room wall. My face looked normal.
    "Like what? Like bones.
A skeleton."
    That's when I knew. That's
why humans weren't to come inside our home. He could see me for what I really
was.
    "Listen, Hunter. I can
explain—"
    But Hunter backed away from
me like I was a monster. "No, no. Ashley said there was something weird
about you. I should have listened to her. Stay the hell away from me."
Then he darted from the house, leaving the door opened behind him.
    I closed the door and sat on
the living room couch, trying to catch my breath. How was I going to explain
this? How was I going to tell the other Grims I had blown our cover?
    * *
*
    "See? Do you get it
now?" Bram screamed. We were all gathered in the living room. When the
others had made it home, I told them what had happened.
    "I'm sorry. How was I
supposed to know he would come inside?" I wasn't accustomed to locking
doors. We didn't have to do that in Farrington.
    "That's not the
point," Keira said. "You shouldn’t have been with him anyway. You
should have never brought him to this house. He wouldn't even know where we
live if you hadn't let him come here. I don't get you, Nay. You know he's going
to die. What's the point of you hanging out with him?"
    I looked at their faces.
Even Josh and Dorian watched me with angry eyes. "I'm sorry," was all
I could say.
    Bram stood and went to the
window. "I knew it. I knew you were going to be the one to mess this
up."
    "Nothing's messed
up," I replied.
    "What if he tells
everyone what he saw?" Dorian asked.
    I shrugged. "So what?
That doesn't hinder the assignment. We'll still do what we need to do."
    Bram pulled the curtains
shut. "I'm going to feel really, really sorry for you when we get back to
Nowhere."
    * *
*
    To add insult to injury,
Doyle showed up that night. He didn’t say much at first. He sat on the couch
and Keira served him coffee.
    He took a sip and thanked
her. "Grims, leave me a moment to speak to Naomi alone."
    I shuddered as the others
made their way up the stairs. I studied the pattern in the rug as I listened to
three doors close—leaving me alone with Doyle.
    He placed his mug on the
coffee table. "Naomi, we have a problem here."
    I cleared my throat.
"What's that?" I asked, as if I didn't know.
    "You deliberately broke
my rule. Did I or did I not tell you that no humans were to be in this
house?"
    "Yes, you did, but I
didn't bring him inside—"
    "He shouldn't have been
here in the first place. You were present in the training when I told you to
keep your distance, or did you think that didn't apply to you?"
    "No, sir, I mean, yes,
sir."
    Doyle sighed and picked up
his mug again. "You know what this means, don't you? I've going to have to
subtract fifteen years from your life."
    "No!" This