“And they killed him?” Miri jumps in.
Michael shakes his head, disputing her input.
“They turned him into a zombie.” I lean into the table, and recall the look on Mr. Flores’ face. Poor Luna.
Michael shoots me a somber frown, and Miri a look of utter bewilderment.
“Dad established a few relationships. He called them new friends. He would tell me not to worry, that everything would be different for me, when I reached his age. But then, he started to change. His attitude darkened.” Michael rubs his forehead. “In a matter of weeks, I didn’t recognize him anymore. He’d changed so much.” His gaze shifts to Miri. “And then, Grandma caught him trying to syphon your life force.”
Miri gasps. Jolts back against the chair’s support.
“Of course, Grandma tried to convince me I’d seen something else. But I know what I saw.” He scratches the back of his neck, and the circles around his eyes appear to age years beyond the possibilities. “I never saw Dad again after that day. He got sent away, for your protection.” His gaze tightens on Miri.
“I… I…” she stammers.
“And that’s why I never told you,” he says.
Unlike me, Miri has always wanted for our dad. All these years of wishing and wanting, only to discover he attempted to undo her. My heart squeezes flat.
“I’ve had a lot of years to consider all the possibilities,’ Michael says. “I think the voodoo priest, or possibly the bokor, did something to him that accounts for the changes. And seeing your possibilities at such a young age, they directed our Dad to take your energy, deliver it to them.”
“Use it for a battery,” I interject, recalling the toothy girl’s message for Caleb: “He wants more batteries.” meaning souls.
“Oh.” Miri’s hand flies to her lips. “I could have been reduced to nothing more than someone else’s power cell.”
“What are you guys talking about?” Michael asks.
“This little toothy girl…” I fan my hands out across the table.
“Vampire wannabe,” Miri interjects.
Whatever. I shake my head. “This toothy vampire wannabe gave me a message to deliver to Caleb,” I say. “She wanted me to tell him the boss wants more batteries. Which translates into souls.”
“Well, shit.” Michael bolts from the chair. “Do you think that’s what he’s doing to Mom? Using her as a battery?”
“My gut tells me no.” Miri stares forward, a slightly dazed expression on her face.
“We can’t take the chance.” Michael starts to pace. “We need to do something quick.”
“We are,” Miri says. “One thing at a time, and in the proper order. Phillip is checking on Caleb’s status tomorrow so that we know where we stand on that front.”
Michael grunts. “I just want it all fixed now. Not tomorrow or next week. Now.”
“We all feel the same,” I say. “But we’re bound by circumstances and things outside of our control.”
Miri pushes to a stand. Her hand rubs at her belly. “We’re all tired. Let’s call it a night. Get some sleep.” She glances between me and Michael. Warming behind her eyes is the hint of the powerful witch she could become, if she would only allow it to be so. “Tomorrow, we will find out about Caleb’s current situation and then take it from there. Mike.” She turns her attention to him. “See what you can find out about this soul-powered battery thing from your all-too-private school.”
“Asking questions of that nature won’t go over well with the people there,” he says.
“You’ll figure it out.” She crosses her arms. “I’ll see if I can reach Mom inside that mess upstairs and get her to give me more information about Dad’s relations in the Quarter.”
“And I’ll reach out to my friend James and see if his brother can’t get us more information about the bokor and his dealings.” I pop my hands on my hip and a determined smile on my lips.
“What did I tell you about that?” Michael blurts.
Don’t talk to people we don’t know if we can trust… or something like that. But I totally trust James. I toss my brother a smirk.
“Enough for tonight,” Miri says. “This baby and I need sleep.”
My gaze drops to her belly, and I envision a tiny baby girl tugging at the umbilical cord in protest of the late hour.
With tired grumbles and lazy shuffles, Michael heads out the door, and Miri and I climb the stairs, all the way to the third floor. She falls into bed. I wash off any remaining cemetery mud and slip into a clean tee, crash between the sheets, falling immediately into a deep sleep.
Awake to a howling scream.
Chapter Twenty
I bolt upright. Screaming. Someone is screaming. I blink the fuzz from my brain and take in the room. It’s not a scream, but the shrill of a high-pitched ring.
“It’s Luna!” I jump out of bed and lurch toward the phone.
“How do you know?” Miri sits up and rubs at her eyes. Pushes the bedsheets away.
“I don’t know how I know; I simply do. It’s like our souls are connected on a higher level.” I grab the phone and lift the receiver to my ear. “Luna?”
Miri falls back to the bed and closes her eyes. “The baby wants more sleep,” she mumbles.
“I messed up,” she says, her voice streaked with choked grief. “I told my mom what we saw last night.”
My muscles stiffen. I knew she would; she told me as much when she left me in the cemetery. Still… “I told you to wait.”
“I know. And I probably should have. But I just couldn’t keep it from her.” Luna sniffles.
“I know.” I curl my legs into my chest. “You love her. I totally understand.”
“Yeah, but I should have thought it through,” she says.
“What happened?” A tingle races along my spine, and my back stiffens.
“She stormed off to find the bokor,”
