“Any time. But let’s try a visit with less drama and more shopping next time, okay?” She picked up the kitten and got off the bed, then called Jupe. I heard him clomp across the living room—which was across the entryway hall from my room—and pad through the door.
“Jupe is going to sleep in here with you tonight.”
“Why?”
Nola pointedly looked out the door, and I propped up enough to see what she was looking at.
Zayvion had made up the couch in the living room, and was stretched out on it, a blanket tossed over his hips and chest, leaving his bare legs and arms free. His eyes were closed, but I didn’t think he was asleep yet.
“Like I can’t look after myself?” I whispered. “I’ve been dealing with him for days.”
Nola raised her eyebrows and gave me a long look. “Do you know this man?” she whispered. “Do you know anything about who he is? I’ve watched you fall into bed with men so fast that you didn’t even know their names. And not one of them treated you right.”
“That was high school, Nola.” At her look, I added, “Okay, okay. And college. And after that.”
“And this is now,” she said. “It doesn’t change my opinion.”
“You worry too much.”
“I’m not the one with burns up my arm and face, nor am I on the run from the law.”
I looked up at her. She wasn’t angry, wasn’t trying to make me feel bad. She was worried. Deeply. And I was lucky to have a friend who cared that much about me.
“Sorry,” I said. “I’m just not thinking very straight.”
“I know. That’s why I’m thinking for you.” She walked over to the bed and squeezed my hand. “Good night, honey. Are you sure you don’t want anything for the burns or bruises?”
“No. They really don’t hurt.”
She walked to the door, and Jupe followed her. “Stay, Jupe,” she said.
Jupe wagged his tail and tromped back into the room, made a circuit of the meager space between the bed and door, then sprawled out across the floor. He took up so much room that my chest instantly tightened with the panic of being closed in, trapped.
Nola propped the door open wide, giving me more breathing room. “Good night, Allie.”
I licked at my lips, eyed the floor full of dog, and looked out at the not-sleeping Zayvion with all that great space around him.
“Is this really necessary?”
“I think so,” Nola said. “Trust me on this.” She turned off the lights, leaving me and the beast in the darkness. I heard her stocking feet go through the living room, then up the stairs to the second floor. I listened to her check on the kid in the real guest bedroom, wished she’d put me in that room instead because at least it was big enough for me and the dog, then heard her walk to her own room. Pretty soon I heard her light click off and then the squeak of bedsprings as she settled down.
The dark room was a box, a grave, a coffin. My heart beat clunked along while I practiced calming mantras. I could do this—I’d shared a dorm in college. When I had to, I could handle small spaces. And this room was much bigger than an elevator. Bigger than a bus, a crowded subway, a compact car, a cramped closet, a crate—okay that line of thinking was not helping. I was starting to sweat.
Think positive.
This room was so big, a dozen Jupes would fit in it with me. And if I could just stop thinking about it, I could fall asleep and if I could fall asleep, I could stop thinking about it.
I worked on meditating and relaxing my muscles systematically, starting at my toes. By the time I got to my knees, the dog was snoring. By the time I got to my elbows, Zayvion was snoring.
Great. Like sleeping between dueling chainsaws was going to do me any good. I knew I’d never be able to fall asleep.
Then, of course, I did.
Chapter Nine
Cody wasn’t asleep. He kept his eyes closed while the lady he did not know came into the room. She stopped by the bed he was lying in and pulled the covers up closer to his chin. That felt good and made Cody wonder if he should stop pretending to be asleep now.
Wait, the older, smarter part of him said.
So Cody waited. A lot of people had done bad things to him. Maybe the lady was going to be bad too.
She moved around in the room and Cody didn’t know what she was doing. Pretty soon, he felt something press down at the bottom of the bed like she had left something there. Then the lady walked out of the room.
Cody waited. He was good at waiting. He thought about nice things, like sunshine and wind, and maybe fell asleep for a while. When he woke up, he tried not to think about bad things, like the Snake man and the death man and the knife and the magic and the pain. . . .
Cody whimpered. He remembered the bad things. The bad things were bigger and stronger than the good things. He breathed and breathed, but it did not make the bad things go away. He had to get away from them. He had to run. But the older, smarter part of him had told him to be quiet. He didn’t want to make the older, smarter part of him mad.
Open your eyes.
Cody opened his eyes. He was in a room. A new room. He had never seen it before.
He turned his head. The room was dark, but a little yellow light, like a star, twinkled by the floor and made just enough glow that he could see. There was a window with pretty curtains on it and the wall was covered in rows of little flowers.
Cody liked flowers.
Maybe this was a good place. A place where the bad things couldn’t find him. He held still and listened. There was wind outside the window, but not a lot of other sounds. Cody was curious about the outside, but tired, too. The spell the older, smarter part of himself had used on him to make the Snake man think he was dead hurt really bad. A tear trickled down the side of his nose. Cody didn’t like that the older, smarter part of him had done that bad thing.
It was a good thing, the older, smarter part of him said. It saved us.
“It hurt,” Cody whispered.
I’m sorry. You were brave.
Cody sniffed and wiped his nose on the back of his hand. The older, smarter part of him did sound sad. And Cody had been brave. Brave enough to ask the lady with magic inside her to help.
Yes, that had been a good thing too.
Cody wondered where that lady was. And then he thought about something else. Kitten. His heart started hitting the inside of his chest too fast, and his throat got all scratchy and scared. Where was Kitten?
He sat up and looked around the room. More tears fell down his face. Cody was all alone and afraid. Maybe Kitten was all alone and afraid too. He had to find her.
He moved his foot and bumped something at the bottom of the bed. Something heavy like a blanket or a towel. Cody looked down at it. It was a towel with a lump in the middle.
Cody pushed away the blankets and crawled down to the bottom of the bed because he knew what the lump was. It was Kitten. Kitten was here!
Cody picked up Kitten and brought her back up to the top of the bed. He put her very carefully down on the pillow next to him, close to the window so she could see that they were in a new place too. Kitten didn’t wake up, but that was okay. Cody was happy. Happy she was here.
He put his head down on the pillow next to her and petted her soft fur with his fingertips. Everything was going to be okay now. Everything was going to be good.
Then Cody felt a strange tingle grow in his stomach, like bees had gotten under his skin, right where the Snake man had cut him.
But it wasn’t bees. Someone was looking for him. Looking with the magic coins. Looking with the bones and
