Chaos Choreography (InCryptid, #5)(74)

Both of them turned to look at me, Malena expectantly, Dominic with the sort of quiet patience that had seen us both through so many potentially life-ending encounters. They were good backup. Maybe not as good as my entire heavily armed family, but still . . . with these two standing beside me, there was a chance that I would come through this alive. That was more than I’d had a few weeks before.

I’d take it.

“My grandmother bought a motorcycle when she got to Southern California,” I said. “Since there’s no parking at the apartments, she’s been keeping it with a local family of ghouls who live nearby. They have a garage.”

“So?” asked Malena.

“So ghouls are like bogeymen: they prefer to live underground. They don’t here in Southern California, which is odd until you account for the earthquakes—but even then, they usually have tricks and techniques that let them build in seismically unstable areas. So why are they living in houses? Why not burrow and reinforce the walls?”

“Maybe they did, and something came and took their burrows away from them,” said Malena slowly. “Like how chupacabra used to mostly live in cactus patch burrows, until humans decided it was time to clear the land. No cactus, no convenient cover for your scrape. No convenient cover for your scrape, you may as well get a condo.”

“That is the most practical approach to industrialization I have ever heard,” said Dominic.

Malena shrugged. “You do what you gotta do. Besides, it’s hard to run plumbing into a burrow, and this girl likes her showers.”

“I think someone did come and take their burrows away,” I said. We were almost to the hole in the fence, following the path Alice had shown me earlier. Dominic and Malena looked at me. I shook my head. “That sort of subterranean construction would have needed to be done before this area was so overbuilt—if not, it would have attracted a lot of attention. We know the ghouls moved to California before it became part of the United States. They were in this area when it was still a part of Mexico. So I ask again, why would they be living in houses?”

“They wouldn’t,” said Malena. “Not unless they had to.”

“Exactly,” I said, and ducked through the hole in the fence.

The cul-de-sac on the other side hadn’t changed: it was still run-down, still smaller and shabbier than the Burbank I was accustomed to. Dominic looked around without comment. Malena walked a little straighter, clearly more comfortable now that we were in a place where the shadows were not only allowed, but encouraged to gather.

The little girl was on the lawn again, her tea party set up in front of her with all the care and precision of a royal wedding. She looked up as we approached, tensing. I realized I was still wearing my wig. I was about to reach up and snatch it off when Malena smiled, showing a mouthful of inhumanly sharp teeth.

The little girl visibly relaxed before asking Malena a question in that same almost-French language she’d used when speaking to Alice.

“Sorry, pudding,” said Malena. She had a slight lisp now, no doubt brought on by the size of her teeth. “Spanish, I can do. English, I can do. French, I can’t do. Do we have any languages in common?”

“I speak French,” said Dominic. “That was not French.”

“It was Acadian,” said a male voice. I turned and found myself looking at a group of three male ghouls. There was no mistaking their species: not with their grayish skin and jagged teeth. All were fully grown, and taller than me. None of them looked pleased by our presence. “No one here speaks it, so it serves us well within the community. Keeps eavesdroppers at bay. There a reason you’re talking to our Aurelie? Last time I checked, it was considered socially inappropriate to talk to someone else’s children without their permission.”

My grandmother trusted these people enough to rent garage space from them. I took a breath, took a step forward, and said, “My name’s Verity. Alice Price is my grandmother. She’s renting space in your garage.”

Their spokesman frowned. “That didn’t so much answer my question as it danced around it in a big circle.”

I relaxed. “You know me.”

“The dancer? Yeah, we know you. She’s right proud of you, you know. Why are you here, and who are your friends?”

“Malena,” said Malena. “I’m a chupacabra.”

“Dominic,” said Dominic. “I’m . . .” He hesitated, clearly looking for a definition that wouldn’t send us plunging into deeper water. He finally settled for, “I’m married to the dancer.”

“I can vouch for him, and you know my grandmother can vouch for me,” I said. “Please, I need to talk to whoever’s in charge here. It could be a matter of life or death.”

“You got that right,” said another voice, again from behind us. This time, it was female. I risked a glance back. Three ghoul women had appeared on the lawn. One of them was holding Aurelie, who looked more annoyed about the disruption of her tea party than anything else.

It must have been nice to be young and unaware of the dangers of the world around you. I didn’t have that luxury anymore, if I ever really had. I looked back to the men, and said, “She’s missing. Alice is missing. She disappeared in the basement of the Crier Theater, where we were trying to catch the snake cult that’s been sacrificing my fellow dancers. I know we’re not welcome here, and I know we’re not friends of yours, but please. If you know anything about that place and what’s underneath it, we need to know. I need to get my grandmother back.”