The Second Life of Bree | Page 5

blood in my system. I probably wouldn‘t really
burn for a few days.
Diego was still waiting, whistling quietly through his teeth.
When I let the body fall to the ground with a thud, he turned back
to me and smiled.
―Um, thanks,‖ I said.
He nodded. ―You looked like you needed it more than me. I
remember how hard it is in the beginning.‖
―Does it get easier?‖
He shrugged. ―In some ways.‖
We looked at each other for a second.

―Why don‘t we dump these bodies in the sound?‖ he
suggested.
I bent down, grabbed the dead blonde, and slung her limp
body over my shoulder. I was about to get the other one, but
Diego was there before me, the pimp already on his back.
―I got it,‖ he said.
I followed him up the alley wall, and then we swung across
the girders under the freeway. The lights from the cars below
didn‘t touch us. I thought how stupid people were, how oblivious,
and I was glad I wasn‘t one of the clueless.
Hidden in the darkness, we made our way to an empty
dock, closed for the night. Diego didn‘t hesitate at the end of
the concrete, he just jumped right over the edge with his bulky
burden and disappeared into the water. I slid in after him.
He swam as sleek and quick as a shark, shooting deeper
and farther out into the black sound. He stopped suddenly when
he found what he was looking for—a huge, slime-covered
boulder on the ocean floor, sea stars and garbage clinging to its
sides. We had to be more than a hundred feet deep—to a
human, it would have seemed pitch-black here. Diego let go of
his bodies. They swayed slowly in the current beside him while
he shoved his hand into the mucky sand at the base of the rock.
After a second he found a hold and ripped the boulder up from
its resting spot. The weight of it drove him waist-deep into the
dark seafloor.
He looked up and nodded to me.
I swam down to him, hooking his bodies with one hand on
my way. I shoved the blonde into the black hole under the rock,
then pushed the second girl and the pimp in after her. I kicked
them lightly to make sure they were in, and then got out of the
way. Diego let the boulder fall. It wobbled a little, adjusting to the
newly uneven foundation. He kicked his way out of the muck,
swam to the top of the boulder, and then pushed it down,
grinding the obstructions flat underneath.
He swam back a few yards to view his work.
Perfect, I mouthed. These three bodies would never
resurface. Riley would never hear a story about them on the

news.
He grinned and held up his hand.
It took me a minute to understand that he was looking for a
high five. Hesitantly, I swam forward, tapped my palm to his,
then kicked away, putting some distance between us.
Diego got a weird expression on his face, and then he shot
to the surface like a bullet.
I darted up after him, confused. When I broke through to the
air, he was almost choking on his laughter.
―What?‖
He couldn‘t answer me for a minute. Finally he blurted out,
―Worst high five ever.‖
I sniffed, irritated. ―Couldn‘t be sure you weren‘t just going to
rip my arm off or something.‖
Diego snorted. ―I wouldn‘t do that.‖
―Anyone else would,‖ I countered.
―True, that,‖ he agreed, suddenly not as amused. ―You up for
a little more hunting?‖
―Do you have to ask?‖
We came out of the water under a bridge and lucked right
into two homeless guys sleeping in ancient, filthy sleeping bags
on top of a shared mattress of old newspapers. Neither one of
them woke up. Their blood was soured by alcohol, but still
better than nothing. We buried them in the sound, too, under a
different rock.
―Well, I‘m good for a few weeks,‖ Diego said when we were
out of the water again, dripping on the end of another empty
dock.
I sighed. ―I guess that‘s the easier part, right? I‘ll be burning
again in a couple of days. And then Riley will probably send me
out with more of Raoul‘s mutants again.‖
―I can come with you, if you want. Riley pretty much lets me
do what I want.‖
I thought about the offer, suspicious for a second. But Diego
really didn‘t seem like any of the others. I felt different with him.
Like I didn‘t need to watch my back so much.
―I‘d like that,‖ I admitted. It felt off to say this. Too vulnerable

or something.
But Diego just said ―cool‖ and smiled at me.