Black Bird of the Gallows(26)

I rub the spot where the strap of my electric guitar digs into my neck. In the two nights since I followed Reece into The Dredge, I’ve slept badly. My dreams have been plagued with crows and boys with writhing faces. Bees. Swarms of them that are always on the verge of encircling me. In others, Reece is there with gruesome, all-black eyes. I’m running from him, too, but always find myself in his arms and inexplicably relieved to be there.

“I don’t know.” I tap my foot, encased in my favorite slippers—little ballet flats covered in tiny skulls. “I’m off tonight.”

“You’re more than off,” Lacey replies. “We recorded Deno’s vocals in less time, and he’s partially tone-deaf.”

“I am not tone-deaf.” Deno scratches Roger’s ear. The dog presses against Deno’s hand and grunts in appreciation. “Are you nervous about seeing your hockey boy at The Strip Mall this week? I thought that worked out well for you last time. I can schedule another pee break, if you like.”

I lean back and stare at the drop ceiling. “Do that again and I’ll strangle you with one of your own power cables. I’m just…” I close my eyes.

There are no words. None that would sound even remotely sane to them. “I’m just not feeling this right now.”

I’m so confused. When I returned home from The Dredge, I found a wilted red carnation on my window box. Seeing it didn’t surprise me, but the smile it brought to my lips did. I’m starting to look forward to my crow’s gifts. Almost as much as I’m look forward to seeing Reece again.

Deno kicks off from an amplifier and rolls his stool my way. “Does your being ‘off’ have anything to do with that neighbor of yours?”

Oh yeah. I make a face. “Pfft. No.”

“You are telling an untruth,” Lacey declares.

Deno rolls his eyes at her. “Can’t you say things normally? Like, Angie, you’re lying?”

“That would sound harsh.” Lacey’s brows go up. “My way is prettier. And Angie is not a liar. She’s telling an untruth, maybe because she doesn’t want to tell us what’s really bothering her.”

She’s right, of course. Lacey has an uncanny ability to almost always be right. Deno has the uncanny ability of not ever picking up on this. He pulls his knitted beanie low over his brows, muttering how lying and telling an untruth are the same damn thing.

I look between the two of them and wonder how it is they haven’t made out yet.

“Angie, by all accounts—meaning Deno’s report—the encounter at The Strip Mall went well.” She laces her fingers together. “You talked to Reece. Learned you have compatible taste in music. Made a connection. He’s not interested in Kiera; that seems obvious.”

“Good thing,” Deno gives Lacey a smug look. “Aiden Moore’s mom works at the hospital and he said that Braydon was admitted a few days ago after trashing his house and threatening his parents or something. He attacked a doctor and had to be restrained. He’s been on the psych floor ever since.”

Lacey looks down with a frown. “I heard that, too.”

“Ha!” Deno cries. “I told you it was more than a bee sting.”

She sneers up at him. “Daniel, Kiera Shaw did not poison Brayden. Mrs. Lowsen, the assistant nurse, hit her husband over the head with a wine bottle, then tried to kill herself. Did Kiera make Mrs. Lowsen do that, too?”

I listen with increasing nausea. I’d heard whispers about Brayden and chose to write them off as rumors, but I didn’t know about Mrs. Lowsen. She seemed nice. Definitely sane.

Stay away from the bees.

The Beekeeper. It’s the only explanation. Unlike Brayden, who was treated for a bee sting, I have no way to know if Mrs. Lowsen was stung by the Beekeeper’s bee. Given the circumstances, I can assume she was.

But what are they doing here? Why is Cadence such a hotspot for…hell, I’ll say it—magic—all of a sudden?

“Angie?” Lacey waves a hand in my face. “Earth to Angie. So did something happen between you and Reece to make you sad?”

Deno raises his brows. “All that fancy way of talking, and you come up with sad?”

“Fine.” Lacey’s brown eyes flash. “Unsettled, conflicted, and yes, she looks sad.”

For a brief moment, I consider telling them why I’m unsettled, conflicted, and sad, but I don’t. Can’t. It may be irrational, but I feel like I’d be betraying a confidence, even though I owe Reece nothing. Well, except maybe my life when he intervened with that Beekeeper. There’s also the fact that they would never believe me if I told them about the supernatural goings-on around Cadence.

I give them the easier-to-swallow answer. “It wasn’t me he had the connection with. It was my colorful alter ego, Sparo.”

Lacey leans forward and rests a hand on my knee. Her eyes are very earnest. “You do know that you and Sparo are the same person, right?”

“Yes.” I run my fingers through my hair. There’s about an inch of my natural dark roots, grown out from when I tried out being a dark blonde a few months ago. I pluck at the guitar strings, wishing I were alone. “And so does Reece. He saw through my disguise.”

“He knows?” Deno sits up straight. “You’re just telling us this now?”