Burned Ones

Chapter 10

Annabeth.
14 years old.

"I've gotta piss, be right back," Max said and left his small kitchen.

It was just the two of us but ever since I was first introduced to him, I came over as often as I could so I was pretty well acquainted with him by now. It was easier to visit now because I was out of school for December break. I watched the mixture we'd put together. It was supposed to be just potent enough to go unnoticed to anyone given it. But over time, it was supposed to ruin you. I liked the idea of it but not as much as I liked something with an instant effect.

Max had a small, miniature Christmas tree on his table, pushed out of the way from our stuff. A few tiny ornaments with glittered swirls decorated it. I reached out and turned one of the ornaments around so I could see all sides of it. I tugged the ornament off, holding it in my fingers.

The Casey house never had anything like this up during December. Sometimes, Alex, Cameron, and I would give each other gifts but it was whenever throughout the year. We didn't ever know what was going to happen year to year to be able to hold off on giving a gift like that. And then sometimes, we would go to a diner or get fast food during the actual day of Christmas but that was all.

I pursed my lips, looking at the glitter fleck off onto my fingers. Max was teaching me how to poison someone but even he celebrated Christmas and put up decorations, no matter how small. Even though we were doing something so uncommon, he was still doing this one normal thing.

I was jealous so I pocketed the ornament.

A few minutes after he came back out, it started to smell weird.

Max coughed, looked over at everything we used, and tried to put as many lids on things as quickly as possible.

"Shit, shit, shit," he said, pushing me so hard I nearly fell over. "We fucked up the measurements."

I couldn't stop coughing as we ran out of his place. I was still wheezing as I sat down on the gravel. Max seemed worse than I did, coughing like he was hacking something up, spitting now and then.

"My place is going to smell," he muttered.

"How long until we can go back in there?" I asked after I finally had enough lung capacity to speak a full sentence. He didn't seem to worried about his own well-being, so I figured we were fine. Max was always very careful about that sort of thing so if we were in danger, I knew he'd tell me.

Max took a minute to answer but he shook his head roughly. "Not tonight. Few days."

"That's where you sleep," I said because why were we doing this there in the first place?

Without looking at it, he tapped twice on his car behind us. "This'll do."

"Max, no," I said. "It's probably my fault. I probably measured something wrong. You shouldn't have to sleep in your car because of me. I have a house, I have a lot of rooms, you can stay there. You can stay with Jay," I listed off every option I could think of because if I fixed his problem as best as I could, then he couldn't be mad at me and maybe he would keep teaching me. But we'd definitely have to find a new place to work.

"Nah, you're good. I've done it a lot in the past. It's no big deal," he said, like it was that simple.

"If you change your mind..." I trailed off.

He nodded. "I have Jay's number."

Jay wouldn't be able to just waltz Max right in. Not unless Max joined the gang but I'd have to talk to Jay ahead of time, just in case Max called and warn him he might. And if he did, to find me so I could help sneak Max in through the security cameras.