Freeks(81)

“Denial is how I cope. If I just deny everything, it can’t hurt me, right?” She laughed darkly. “I don’t know. I just couldn’t face the thought of losing somebody else I cared about.”

I rubbed her back, and Roxie leaned over, resting her head on my shoulder before saying, “I think we’re gonna cremate her. Blossom told me and Carrie once that if she ever died, she wanted her ashes spread over a field of flowers. So that’s what I think we’re gonna do.”

“So is Gideon planning to call the police?” I asked.

“No,” Roxie said. “We know how she died, and we don’t want to deal with the assholes that live here. They’d probably just take her body and send it back to her stupid hippie drug-addict parents, assuming they even found them, and Blossom hated her parents. She wouldn’t want to go back to them.”

She sniffled, then went on, “We were thinking we’d have, like, a ceremony or something tomorrow before we left.”

“I think Blossom would like that,” I said.

Roxie sat up a little and peered at me from under her hood. “Did I hear you correctly last night? Blossom’s been talking to you?”

“Yeah, she has. I didn’t realize it at first, but I think she’s just been trying to watch out for us,” I explained.

“Does she sound okay? Like, do you think she’s happy?” Roxie asked.

“I mean, it’s hard to tell when she’s just telling me to run for my life,” I admitted. “But I saw her last night, in the woods, and she looked okay. She looked like Blossom. My mom can probably help you talk to her, if you want.”

Roxie nodded and wiped her nose with the back of her sleeve. “I think I’d like that.”

“Do you know what Gideon has planned for today?” I asked.

“I don’t know.” Roxie shook her head. “But we only have to stay here one more night, and then we get paid and we can get out of here for good. If we can just keep that thing at bay for one more night, we’re golden.”

“Only one more night,” I murmured, and I’d never been so happy and so sad to leave a place.





51. cursed

The cast-iron wolf head glared out at me from the bloodred door, and I stayed frozen on the porch outside of the Brawley mansion. A warm breeze blew by, ruffling my dress and making the long branches of the willows dance and groan.

When I reached Gabe’s house, my grandma Basima had returned to scream inside my head, idhhabee min honaa. Her voice sent an ice-cold chill all the way through me. I didn’t know what to do, but I knew I didn’t want her yelling at me or scaring me or freezing me out anymore.

“It’s okay, Grandma Basima,” I whispered. “I know Gabe’s a werewolf, and I can handle it.”

No, Mara, idhhabee min honaa. Her voice sounded like it was right in my ear.

I closed my eyes, trying to will her away, but I saw enough from my mom dealing with spirits to know that they didn’t just go away because you wanted them to.

“Please, Grandma,” I said quietly. “You have to let me handle this on my own.”

He is more dangerous than you know! Basima shouted in English this time, and the words echoed painfully through my skull.

The front door creaked open, and I rushed to compose myself so I didn’t look like a crazy person. But based on the confused look Gabe was giving me, it hadn’t worked.

“Were you just talking to someone?” he asked, glancing around the empty porch.

I shook my head. “Nope. It’s just me.”

He cocked his head when he looked back at me. “You know I have super hearing, right? It’s a werewolf thing.” He motioned to his ears. “So I heard you saying something.”

I took a deep breath and decided it was time for us to get all the secrets out in the open. He’d told me he was a werewolf, so he couldn’t react that badly if he found out that I was a necromancer.

“I was just talking to my grandma,” I explained, causing Gabe to look around again. “She’s dead.” His head snapped back toward me and his eyes widened. “I’m a necromancer, and so is my mom.”

For a moment, he said nothing. He just stared at me with his jaw slightly open.

“My parents are out having brunch with the mayor and the sheriff, so why don’t you come inside and we can talk about this all before they get home?” He stepped back and opened the door wider.

He led me into his living room, where we sat together on the bright red sofa, and I proceeded to tell him everything I knew about necromancy, and although my abilities were only just manifesting, I had a sense of what they would be because of my mom’s experiences.

Gabe took it all well, nodding and asking a few questions. So I decided to plunge on ahead and tell him that I wasn’t the only one who had special powers, and that really got his eyes to widen.

“This is all so crazy.” He leaned back on the sofa and stared off into space. “I’ve always suspected that we couldn’t be the only ones. I mean, if werewolves are real, then that means that there’s probably all kinds of other things out there. But I’ve just never met any.”

“It’s hard to bring up in conversation,” I agreed. “People don’t always react well to things they don’t understand, and you never know who to trust.”