Chaos Choreography (InCryptid, #5)(51)

Jessica hesitated. “I was on the beat,” she said finally. “I’m sure of it.”

“Good thing we record everything, isn’t it?” Malena’s question was sweet enough that it could have been mistaken for genuine concern if she hadn’t been smirking. Jessica shot her a venomous look. Malena smiled back, and her expression was, if anything, sweeter than her question. “If there’s any question, for insurance purposes, I’m sure we’ll be able to see who was at fault.”

Jessica was saved from needing to answer by the appearance of the medical team, who swept through the group and surrounded her, already asking questions about what hurt, how badly, and whether she thought she could stand. Sasha rolled her eyes, turning away from the scene.

“Everyone, take fifteen,” she said. “We’ll either continue or start figuring out how to perform with one less girl.”

“What?” squawked Jessica.

“Miss, please be still,” said the medic who was taking her blood pressure.

Sasha ignored them. “Fifteen minutes, and then it’s back to work,” she said. “Now scatter.”

We scattered.

I found myself on the stage with Lyra, Anders, Pax, and Malena, who was becoming an unofficial fifth member of our group. I was fine with that, for obvious reasons. Lyra wasn’t quite as pleased.

“Doesn’t your season miss you?” she asked, putting her hand on Pax’s arm, as if to claim territory. “I mean, everyone else is mostly sticking with their own year.”

“Mac is more interested in keeping up with his ballet company than he is in being social, Emily and I never liked each other, and Troy is banging Lo. Turns out neither of them is into threesomes, which is cool by me, since I’m not into dudes who practice their remedial Spanish on me. He calls me ‘senorita’ one more time, he’s going to be short a couple of fingers.” Malena looked mildly at Lyra. “Do we have a problem?”

“I just want to be sure you’re hanging out with us for the right reasons,” said Lyra.

“I’m a dancer, you’re dancers, me and Valerie are pretty tight thanks to that thing where the tango is more intimate than sex and we’ve tangoed together, and like I said, I don’t get along that well with the rest of the folks from my season.” Malena shrugged. “If you want me to split, I’ll split, but I’d prefer it if you could be chill. I’m just looking for people to hang with.”

To her credit, Lyra looked abashed. “Sorry,” she said. “I didn’t mean to . . . sorry. Pax, can you help me with my leg extensions?”

“Sure,” he said, and walked with her to the other side of the stage. Anders was already sitting on the edge, flexing and unflexing his feet; their departure left me and Malena alone at the back. If we kept our voices low, we wouldn’t be overheard.

“More intimate than sex?” I asked.

She shrugged. “It worked. Real answer is I figure if shit gets bad, you and shark-boy stand a better chance of keeping me in one piece and breathing than anybody else I’m going to find around here. You are thus elected as my new best friends.”

“Swell,” I said. “Have you noticed anything unusual?”

“You mean apart from the tattooed squatter in the apartment under yours? Nah. I’ve been watching, but there hasn’t been anything. No smell of blood, either. If somebody’s carving up the janitorial staff, they’re doing a good job disposing of the evidence.” Malena studied her nails. “I figure I’ll keep staying in well-lit areas with lots of other people around, and not get caught in whatever weirdness is going on.”

I glanced over my shoulder, making sure Lyra and Anders were still too far away to hear me. Then I looked back to Malena, and said quietly, “The tattooed weirdo is my Grandma Alice. She’s here to help make sure we don’t all die.”

“What?” Malena yelped. Everyone turned to look at us. She smiled weakly. “Get out of town, Val, you don’t dye your hair? Wow. You’ve got some great genes in your family tree.”

“We all hate her for it,” called Lyra, before she winked at me and went back to extending her left leg over her head.

“Way to draw attention,” I hissed. In a weird way, I was pleased. Any jealousy Lyra might have been harboring over my new friendship with Malena had just taken a blow. After all, Malena didn’t know I wore a wig.

“Sorry,” whispered Malena. “I just didn’t expect . . . your grandmother? Like, Franny Brown’s kid?”

“Yeah.” My great-grandmother, Frances Brown, was originally from the Southwest. It made sense that a chupacabra would have heard of her, although I hadn’t been expecting her to be remembered that clearly. “She’s here to help. Don’t worry about her.”

“Worry about her? I should kiss her. On the mouth, with tongue.” Malena shook her head. “Franny Brown was a great friend to our community.”

I blinked. “Okay, that’s cool. I didn’t know that.”

“Yeah. She needs anything you can’t help her with, you tell her to come talk to me. I’d be happy to be of service. I’d be honored.” Malena shook her head. “Wow.”

I needed to get the conversation away from my family before someone wandered into it that shouldn’t have. “So nothing else has seemed strange?”