She props her hands on her hips. “Aren’t you going to let me inside?”
I think of vampires again and shiver. “Afraid not!”
Nicholas makes a strange keening sound. I glance down at him in alarm and wonder of wonders, he’slaughing. It emboldens me to take this a step further. “I can’t tell you what Nicholas is doing because it’s a secret, by the way. A sinister secret. You should go now while you still can.”
“I am not leaving until I see my son!” She pauses, voice dropping to a suspicious tone. “What have you done with him?”
“Nicholas?” I reply questioningly. “I haven’t seen him in days. And that’s the story I’m giving the police.”
I check Nicholas’s reaction and think he might be dead. He is keeled over, forehead on the floor, body shaking with quiet laughter. I can’t believe he’s letting me get away with talking to his mother like this, but after what she said to me yesterday I’ve got no qualms. I’m off my leash and I’ll go as far as he’ll let me. “He’s not here. A spaceship took off a few minutes ago, so if you run you might be able to catch him.”
I’m pretty sure I hear Harold say, “I’m not running even if a spaceshipdidtake him.” He stalks back to the car, but Deborah stays put.
“This isn’t funny. I’ll only tell you one more time to go get my son.”
Nicholas sits up, deliberates for a moment, and then hollers, “I’m not home!”
“Nicky!” Deborah cries, pressing her hands together. He’s alive! “Nicky, is that you?”
He pops up next to me at the window. “No! You have the wrong address.”
“Nicky, I’m serious. Let me in.”
“Nicky is gone forever. A dinosaur ate him.”
“Excuse me?”
“He’s a changeling.”
“Nicholas Benjamin Rose. I’m losing my patience and do not find this humorous. It’s freezing and I came here to speak to you like adults. I will give you until the count of three—”
“He’s been Raptured.”
“You do not talk to me this way! I am your MOTHER—”
Nicholas has never interrupted his mom before, and he’s making up for it now. “This whole time, he was never real. All along, it was... Shia LaBeouf! Method acting!”
Deborah’s figure is shadowy, but I can see her balled handsand jutting chin. When her voice emerges, it’s so guttural that it would make Lucifer lock his doors. “Nick—”
“I drop-kicked him out of a moving train and he’s at the bottom of a ravine somewhere, busy being extremely dead. There is nothing for you here, then, so go on and be banished.” He spreads his fingers wide and thrusts them outward like he’s casting a spell. “I banish thee!”
I think he might be losing his mind a bit, because his giddy laughter drowns out whatever Deborah’s down there squawking. She’s spitting mad, Nicholas has thrown all his fucks to the wind, and it’sglorious. The most beautiful display of childish behavior I’ve ever witnessed.
“Yeah, you tell her,” I say goadingly. I love seeing him brave enough to give that woman a fraction of the hell she’s owed. “You cast D-Money right out of here.”
“I cast you right out of here, D-Money!” he yells at the top of his lungs, and I. Completely. Lose it. I can’t breathe. Neither can Nicholas, who breaks down in the middle of his banishment chant and is laughing so hysterically that no sound escapes save for little gasping sobs. Tears stream down our faces.
“Look what you’ve done!” Deborah screams, shaking a finger at me. “You’ve corrupted my sweet boy! I know this is your fault, Naomi!”
I take a bow.
The spell is a success. Deborah gives up and stomps back to her car. Her tires squeal ominously when she tears off into the night, which is probably pretty close to the same sound she’s making twelve inches from Harold’s face right now.
I wipe the tears from my eyes and give him a high five. “Holy shit, dude!”
“I know!” He’s got a crazed grin, chest heaving deeply.“Unhinged” is my new favorite look on him. I think back to the conversation we had in the car after my stop-and-run fiasco at the traffic light in Beaufort, and how he said that messing with his parents could be fun as long as he was in on the joke, too. He really meant it.
I slide my palm over his cheek, matching his grin. “I’m proud of you. I wish I could see your mom’s face right now.”
