The Immortals by Mary Hallberg (chrysanthemum read aloud txt) 📗

said. “I found something last night and wanted you to take a look at it.” I pulled the bookmark out of my pajama pants pocket. “It looks like it was cut out of an old letter or something, but laminated to make a little bookmark.

Mom examined the bookmark for a minute and frowned. “Where did you find this?”

“In that old book that was on your bed last night. Was it dad’s?”

She nodded. “Your dad loved pulling quotes from different places. He used to keep every fortune from all the fortune cookies we got. And before the collapse, we had a lot of them. But I eventually convinced him to throw them all away.”

“So, what is this from? A letter?”

“It looks like it.” She sighed. “Honestly McKenzie, I have no clue. Your father knew a lot of scientists when he was working in Washington because they were all working with the Congressmen to discuss the legalities of TNV when it was first invented. Who knows, it might even be from Dr. Cooper.”

“Dr. Cooper? The guy who invented TNV? Why would he be talking to dad?”

She shrugged. “I’m not sure, Kenzie. I don’t know how much they communicated. I wish I had more answers for you, but I don’t. It’s probably just something he liked the sound of and wanted to keep.”

I sighed. Mom hadn’t given me as much information as I was hoping for, but at least she wasn’t still in her mood from yesterday. I sat down and started to eat.

Mom’s project turned out to be better than I had feared. She works with a company that builds low income housing, among other things, and they needed to finish painting a house before the family moved in. A young-ish looking male supervisor supplied us with several pails of pink paint, told us to paint all of the walls and that we would be joined by another volunteer shortly. Then he left.

“I love this color,” I said. “I guess it’s a daughter’s room?”

“I would assume so,” Luke said.

I pried open the paint lid. “So why do you think this family moved in here? Most people don’t need government funded houses anymore. Or can’t get them.” I scratched my head and a blob of paint got stuck in my hair.

“Probably a single mom. The kid’s father probably died and the government is helping them. If mom hadn’t taken a second job after dad died, we might be in one of these houses right now. Stop rubbing that paint. It’ll come out a lot easier if you let it dry and scrape it out.”

I put my hand down but the paint was driving me crazy. Ten minutes later I was finally about to start scraping when Elizabeth walked in. I had never seen her in jeans and a t-shirt before. She was smacking gum and waving at me, perhaps a bit too enthusiastically (though that seemed to be the norm for her).

“Kenzie!” she squeed. “I didn’t know you were going to be here. This is going to be so much fun.” She pulled me into a one armed but tight hug.

“Oh um, hi...Elizabeth,” I said. Luke looked back at me and mouthed ‘Immortal?’ I nodded. I knew he was probably wondering the same thing I was — what was an Immortal doing here? Most of them didn’t do charity work outside The Necropolis.

She turned to Luke. “And you are...?”

“I’m Luke. Kenzie’s brother.”

She smiled, exposing her unnaturally white teeth against her equally unnatural tan. “Oh, hello there Luke. I guess good genes run in the family.”

Luke didn’t respond, and Elizabeth kept talking. “People say me and my brothers look alike but, you know, we really don’t. I always tell my oldest brother he looks like our dad, but I don’t think he likes that much. Can’t say I blame him. I mean, I love my dad, but I am really glad I look like my mom.”

I picked up my paintbrush again and crouched on the opposite side of Luke. Elizabeth continued to talk, seemingly without breathing. “So how was your Christmas? Mine was amazing. Jacey got me this bracelet.” She flashed her wrist at us, revealing a pink diamond bracelet. “And her mom got me a new couch. Her mom! I had no idea she was even going to get me anything. It’s 100 % leather. I love her so much. So what did you get Kenzie?”

“Elizabeth,” Luke said, “You might want to be careful with that bracelet. It’s gorgeous and I really wouldn’t want it to fall into the paint.”

“I’ll be careful, I promise!” She didn’t look up and I realized that she'd painted the same area twice. “Anyway, that’s a really pretty bracelet you’ve got too, Kenzie. Is that the one Gage gave you for Christmas?”

“Mmmhmmm.”

She made a face but said, “It’s gorgeous.”

“Mmmhmmm.”

Elizabeth left the wall and sat on a chair in the middle of the room. “What else did you get?”

“Um...” I looked at Luke. “Just a couple of other things.”

“Oh!” she blurted out. “I almost forgot. Paige got me a bunch of diamond earrings. Three different pairs, I think. And an emerald one too! And my mom says she wants to find me a new apartment. Mine’s kind of cramped, what with the new couch and all. I don’t know why she wants to tag along with me. I’m an adult, you know? I can pick out my own apartment. But whatever makes her happy. And she doesn’t get to come up here a lot, you know. So I think she wanted to spend time with me.”

I didn’t say anything else and neither did Luke or Elizabeth so we worked in silence for awhile. Luke worked his way around the room while I stayed on the far wall we had started with. Elizabeth painted a square inch of wall then sat in a chair, fiddling with her phone. Once she got up and repainted a few square feet of wall near a window. Occasionally she would asked questions about Christmas