He looked at Kody. Are you sure this isn’t from the Arelim civil war?

No, Nick. I have a bad feeling it’s from something a whole lot worse.

His stomach shrank with dread as stark cold terror filled him. “What could be worse?” Nick asked without thinking.

No sooner had those words come out of his mouth than a swarm of bat-sized mosquitos swarmed, driving parents, students, Squires, and faculty back into the building. They screamed and ran, fleeing the pests and seeking shelter.

Nekoda glared furiously at him. “What did I tell you about saying things like that, Nick?”

Not to be stupid. But that was like asking him not to breathe. It seemed to come a little too naturally to him most days. “At least they’re not loc—”

She covered his lips before he could say finish saying “locusts.” Which was probably a good thing given what kept happening to them. But …

Nick stumbled back as a weird feeling came over him. One second everything was weird.

The next, it went dark. He struggled to breathe against a frigid cold calm that invaded him. It paralyzed every part of his being until he couldn’t see or hear.

His eyes rolled back in his head and his knees buckled.

“Nick!” Kody panicked at the way he hit the ground. It was as unnatural as the sudden pallor of his skin. Terrified and shaking, she met Bubba’s gaping stare as he knelt beside them.

Bubba gasped in his own alarm. “Nick? C’mon. Talk to me! Say something stupid, boy!”

Yet it was too late. Tears filled Kody’s eyes as grief choked her. She couldn’t find Nick’s pulse in his wrist or neck. He wasn’t moving.

Not breathing. No. It couldn’t be.

Yet it was.

Nick was dead.

CHAPTER 4

Nick choked and wheezed as someone gave him mouth-to-mouth. “That better be you, Kody. I swear to God if it’s Bubba, I’m about to need a truckload of Listerine.”

Bubba snorted as he rolled Nick over toward her. “For the record, it was. Again, you ain’t that cute in high heels, boy. Though I guess I’d have done it for you if I had to. But only ’cause your mama is, and she’d have stabbed me someplace real uncomfortable with hers if I let something happen to your rotten little hide.”

Laughing, Kody brushed the hair back from Nick’s face. “You okay?”

“Yeah. What happened?”

Her brow lined with worry, she kept her hand on his cheek. “You stopped breathing and turned a shade of blue I only want to see in your eyes. Not on your skin or lips.”

Grateful he’d remembered to shave extra close that morning, Nick rolled to his back and scowled up at his friends, especially as he realized there was a crowd gathered around them. Great. An audience for this embarrassing display. Just what he craved …

’Cause puberty just wasn’t humiliating enough on its own.

Kill me now.

Bubba held him down as he started to rise. “I’ve already called an ambulance. You ain’t going nowhere till you get checked out. Not with that heart condition you have. My mama and yours would slaughter me.”