The Immortals Mary Hallberg (top non fiction books of all time .TXT) 📖

going to remember you. Even if I don’t publish the book, which I’m not. And even if you stop taking the TNV and never come back to The Necropolis again. And you deserve it a hell of a lot more than I do.”

I cringed when she said ‘hell.’ Wasn’t swearing in church supposed to be some sort of taboo?“That’s ridiculous,” I said. “What is it that sets me apart from the other Immortals? What makes me so special?”

“You’re a good person, Kenzie.”

I snorted. “Yeah right. You don’t know half the stuff I’ve done. I am not a good person.”

“Yes you are,” she said.

“What makes you so sure?”

She grinned. “You know why.”

chapter one

I was dozing off in front of the TV when my phone rang. I had no idea what I was pretending to watch; Luke had put on one of his stupid crime shows and I hadn’t cared to look for something else. Apparently it wasn’t enough to distract me from all the terms I had to study for my biology test the next morning. Mitosis, meiosis, anaphase, telophase, telephone…

I hadn’t bothered to change the ringtone from the default one since I got it a month earlier, so it took me a minute to even realize that strange noise I heard was my phone. And when I did, I still wasn’t sure which button to press. Back home, all we had one of those phones they used a hundred years ago; the only thing you could do was call people, and you had to press a bunch of buttons. This one was entirely touch screen. What if I touched the wrong part of the screen and accidentally sent the person calling — according to the display, it was Jace — one of my embarrassing old photos? Last week I was trying to send in an English assignment and almost sent the teacher a picture of me sitting in my high chair at age three with face paint covering my forehead and cheeks. Jacey was my friend, but I wasn’t quite ready for her to see stuff like that. Why had I even let Luke put those pictures on my phone? And how could he already work the damn thing better than me? One of his Immortal friends must have let him practice on theirs.

Finally, I figured the ‘talk’ button was my best bet.

“Hello?” I said.

As usual, Jacey began rambling a mile a minute without so much as returning my greeting. “Are you getting any of this bio stuff? I have no clue what we’re supposed to do with this homework. And don’t we have a quiz tomorrow? Please tell me you get this.”

I rubbed my eyes and looked at my notebook. “Um, sort of,” I said. “Do you need help?”

“No, I’m just freaking out for the hell of it. Yes I need help! Can you come over? My mom’s not here, but I can make dinner and then we can study.”

“Um, okay.” I wasn’t sure how to turn on the speaker phone, so I closed my notebook with one hand.

“Oh, I have a friend over. Is that cool? He’s going to eat with us, but then he’ll probably leave.”

“Oh, it’s a guy?” I said teasingly. “Do I know him?”

She hesitated. “No, I don’t think so. See you in a few minutes.”

Because it was still light out and Jacey’s house was only a block away, I decided to walk. Our apartment building was smack in the middle of a neighborhood full of Immortals’ houses. Well, I say full. There were only three houses between Jacey and me, but they were all bigger than my old high school. I had been in The Necropolis for almost three months and still hadn’t gotten used to that. I probably could have bought a small house with the grant money I'd already saved up, but I didn’t feel quite ready to move out yet. I didn’t even know if it was legal for a 16-year-old to be living on her own, though most laws didn’t apply to Immortals anymore. I’m sure nobody would have said anything. But for now, I was content living with Luke — even if he did have horrible taste in TV.

Luke is a member of the Underground, the name given to people who somehow contribute to the Immortals’ lifestyle. The Underground is made up of maids, TV reporters, even dentists; anyone who serves Immortals. Luke is a photographer, and a lot of his clients are Immortal. Between the money he gets for his freelance jobs and my grant money, we manage to live pretty comfortably.

There was a red convertible parked in Jacey’s driveway. Must be her little friend’s, I figured. She had already gone on several dates since the school year started six weeks earlier; I had never met any of the guys, so I figured she must really like this one. She had been hung up on one of her exes for awhile, so I took this as a sign that she was finally moving on.

As I'd already learned to do, I walked right to the front door and opened it without knocking. “Jacey?”I called. The kitchen was quiet, but I saw a pot on the stove and smelled noodles. Jacey's an amazing cook.

She came shuffling out of the living room, already changed from her school clothes into sweats. “Oh good, you’re here,” she said. Her brown hair was sticking up in odd places, and her cheeks were pink. “Matt’s already in the living room. We’re about to watch some TV.”

“Um, okay.” It was weird that her new guy had the same name as her ex, but whatever. I guess names are pretty trivial once you’ve found the right person. “What are you cooking? It smells great.”

“Chicken noodle soup.” She didn’t look back and walked faster down the hall. I followed her.

“Oh good, that’s what I thought when I saw the pot on the stove. I’ve never