His eyes dropped to the cushion of space I’d put between us when Aaron had knocked. “Who did you think was at the door?” he asked.

“My dad.”

He wrote two more names in the notebook: Aaron and Donavan. Next to his own name he added, revenge for all the math Lacey makes him explain.

I smirked. “I’d want revenge for that, too. I don’t blame you.”

He shut the book. “I have to go. I have to work tonight.”

I looked down at my hands. “Sorry about that, by the way.”

“About what?”

“About showing up at your work and acting . . . I don’t know, however I acted.”

He smiled a little. “You were fine. Just a little demanding.”

I gave a half-hearted laugh. “That’s the quality I would’ve assigned to myself too.”

He stood and lingered for a moment.

I stood too. “Fine, you can go. But let me look at our list one more time. I’m going to hang around and try to talk to a few more people.”

“So demanding.”

I pushed his arm.

He flipped open the book, and I scanned over the names of the suspects we had added. “I’m going to try Phil and Duncan.”

“Who are they?”

“Some of Grant’s security guards. Maybe they’ve seen something.”

“Good idea.”

“Will I see you tomorrow?” I asked.

“Hopefully.” He lifted his hand in a wave and left my trailer.

I stared after him. He was still treating me exactly like a friend. And although I did like him as a friend, it killed me that he didn’t want more.

Dancing Graves

INT. LORD LUCAS’S LAB—NIGHT

SCARLETT overhears EVELIN talking to LORD LUCAS about how Benjamin told her about the cave full of zombies. There had been multiple deaths in the forests lately, and she felt she had to go to the other zombie hunters with the information. Scarlett steps through the window. Evelin screams.

LORD LUCAS

It’s me, darling. Your father.

Scarlett seems to shake off a fog upon seeing her father. She cries out and runs from the mansion.

Twenty-Seven

I walked outside. We were shooting on location the next day, and the set was a hive of activity. The crew was filing out of the studio, carrying equipment and packing it away in open trailers on the other side of the lot. I made my way to the end of the row, where Duncan and Phil stood guard.

“Uh-oh, here comes trouble,” Duncan said when I reached the barrier that led to Grant’s trailer.

“Hi!”

“You want me to radio Grant?”

“No. I wanted to talk to you guys.”

“Really?” Duncan said. “What can we do for you?”

“You two have a pretty good view of my trailer. Have you seen anyone, besides me, of course, go in there?”

“Who don’t we see go in your trailer? It’s like a revolving door.”

“I agree. Anyone who looks suspicious though? Like they shouldn’t be there?”

“Anyone on set would have made it past security up front, so no, it’s all cast or crew. And that tutor of yours.”

“Hmm. What about people going in there a lot when I’m not there?”

“We’re not sure when you’re in there or not.” He looked up as if thinking. “But I’d say your most frequent visitors are probably that tutor kid . . .”

Of course. He was in there all the time.

“The director’s son.”

“Aaron,” I filled in for him. And again, that didn’t surprise me; he was always stocking my fridge and snacks.

“And Faith.”

Faith might have had reason to dislike me because she’d been unsuccessful when she tried out for the movie, but it was also completely expected that she’d be in and out of my trailer. Besides, I just couldn’t picture her trying to sabotage me. I couldn’t picture any of the people I worked with doing that.

“What about Amanda?” Phil added. “I’ve seen her go in quite a bit.”

Of course Amanda had been in my trailer a lot. She was my best friend on set.

“Okay, thanks.” I backed away slowly. That hadn’t helped at all.

Tuesday we were filming at a campground an hour outside the city. All the trailers were lined up in a gravel parking lot, and the action was taking place a hundred yards into the trees. There was a shallow cave that, with the right camera angles and lighting, would look much bigger on-screen. And today that shallow cave was the setting for the bloodiest zombie scene in the entire script.

“Cut!” Remy called. “Remember, Lacey, this is Scarlett’s breaking point. Again. From the top.”

I nodded and picked my way back toward the cave entrance, around fake body parts, when my foot met a human finger that was actually attached to someone.

“Ouch,” the extra hissed, raising his head a little.

“Sorry,” I said.

“It’s okay.” He put his head back down.

We had already shot the beginning of the scene where I had just discovered the carnage. Now we were mid scene, and I was covered in fake blood. It dripped from my fingers and onto the dirt floor. I made it back to the first zombie, my starting mark, and knelt beside her. Simone came over and poured more blood onto my palm.

“Thanks,” I said.

She laughed a little. “You’re welcome?”

I smiled, and she backed out of the shot.

“Quiet on set,” Noah called. “Slate in, sound rolling, camera rolling.”

“Action,” Remy said.

“No!” I screamed, bringing the limp form to my chest in a hug. “No!” I stood and tripped my way deeper into the cave. “Please, no.” I tried to walk again, but my foot snagged on my skirt and I fell down to my knees where I was now eye to eye with a zombie’s dead eyes staring into space. I cried out.

“Cut!” Remy yelled. “Very good. I think we’re done in here.”

And just like that, the dead bodies lying on the cave floor stood and began talking to one another. I stood too. My hands were caked with blood and dirt, and I tried to wipe them off onto each other, which did nothing.

Grant stood just beyond the lights. I hadn’t realized he was watching. He wasn’t in this scene at all.

“Don’t touch me,” he said as I came close.

I held up my hand and lunged toward him. He let out a funny shriek and laughed.

“Don’t worry,” I said. “I’m coming after you and your kind tomorrow.”

“Can’t we just be friends?” he asked.

I paused for a moment and looked at his smirking face. It took me too long to realize he was talking about his character. “Never,” I said. It seemed I didn’t trust anyone right now.

I didn’t use the shower in my trailer often, but I was done for the day and there was no way I was getting into my car like this. I piled my bloodied clothes by the rack for wardrobe and went into the small bathroom. When I was done, the shower walls looked straight from a crime scene. I tried to spray them off with the showerhead, but it was pointless, they’d need to be scrubbed.