“But I have a charm bracelet you may have,” I said, “if your parents approve. I’ll get it to you later.”
Angie’s eyes went wide. “I saw it in thebetweens. It’s pretty!”
“Cra—” I stopped. “It might be too grown-up for you yet. After you discusseverythingyou saw in thebetweenswith your parents andonlyif they approve.”
Angie scowled. “That’s not fair.”
“You’re right. It’s not fair and I don’t care.” I stopped again. A short-term house mother used to say that to me when I was being punished for fighting at school. Her name was Carol Millhouse and she had been a short littlething, about five feet even, with black hair, and when she got mad her eyes squinched into narrow slits like a snake. I made her mad a lot. She wasn’t the only house mother who had ever hit me, but Carol had slapped my face, saying, “You’re right. It’s not fair and I don’t care.”
CHAPTER 22
Short-Term Goal: Kill Mainet
The memories cascaded down on me, overlapping moments of clarity. First day of class. Standing in the heat, dripping sweat. A kid from the children’s home being bullied by three older boys. I hadn’t even known the poor kid’s name yet, but somewhere deep inside I heard the wordKit...Moving with purpose, thinking what I could do, was going to do, and the dangerous consequences. And not thinking at all. I put my book bag on the ground. Pushed back my braid. Walked over. “Hey, dumbass,” I said to the ringleader.A white boy,the thought surfaced.White men are dangerous. “You wanna push someone, you push me. Leave the kid alone.”
Billy. His name had been Billy.
Billy was kit friend,Beast thought.I/we protected kit often.
Dumbass and his pals surrounded me. Gauging me, my skinny self, my golden, non-white skin. Dumbass shoved me, his hands landing on my boobs. He laughed. “I got a feel, guys. Small but firm.”
A white man. Touching my mother.
The thought there in a flash and then gone.
I ducked and rammed his belly with my shoulder. Torqued my body. My other fist slammed into his crotch as we went down. With all the momentum of my lunge and every muscle in my body we hit the earth. The other boys piled on. Something inside me broke that day. And something else took over. The crazy voice said,Roll. Up to paws. Kick. Hit. Roll onto knees. Claw face. Bite.
A principal pulled me off. The bully with the busted balls was named Otis and he had been the center on the football team. Until the fight, which sent him to a specialist doctor for damage to his boy-parts. Otis and I were sent to the nurse along with Otis’s pals, and then we were all sent home, suspended. In my case that meant back to the children’s home. Back to Carol.
I hadn’t gotten off easy in the fight, defending myself for protecting a kit. I had black eyes and really nasty bruises. Of it all, however, Carol’s slap had stung the worst. She had left a few weeks later, after she slapped another girl, one who reported her. “Good riddance,” the slapped girl said.
“Good riddance,” I whispered.
“Jane?” Bruiser said. He slipped an arm around my waist. “Good riddance to what?”
“Huhn?” I blinked my way back from the past. Bruiser’s body felt heated, as if I had been caught up in the winter chill. I leaned into him.
I had no idea what shadowed places inside me that memory had come from. Except for the fact that I was holding the cross and its matching gold Jesus, one in each hand. I placed them carefully on the table and stepped away, my eyes on the gold pieces as if they might bite. “I’m sorry, Angie. I didn’t mean that.”
“It’s okay, Ant Jane. The futures are bad. You have to stop it.” Angie looked at her mama. “You and me and Ant Jane need to talk about your bad magics.”
Molly froze as still as a vamp on the hunt.
“Your bad magics are part of the sacrifice to take my angel and put him in a dark place full of shadows. I saw you, during one of thebetweens.” Tears gathered in Angie’s eyes. “You were all bloody. And you were holding a silver knife.” Angie’s hand raised, as if holding a bladeover her head. Her voice dropped lower. “It was bloody too. And Lachish was dead.”
Soledad said softly, “The evil one whose name may not be spoken has not yet been fully bound.”
I thought of the demon energies being pulled through the transport circle. The demon might not be bound but he had been called. He was partially here, on Earth.
“The evil one whose name may not be spoken is waiting,” Soledad said, “watching, to see if Mainet fulfills his part of the bargain and binds the holy one.”
Lachish, stolen by the vamps as a potential, what? Sacrifice? Part of Mainet’s arcane bargain? “Soledad,” I said. “Who is supposed to have the necklace?”
Leo convulsed and fell to the floor. “Attack,” he grunted.
Evan shouted, “Everharts! Koppa! Defend!”
Using the fob, I raised thehedgearound the clan home.
