“My rekulak heals me?” I said, still in shock.
“To a point,” she said. “But don’t go jumping off any buildings.”
“How did you know?”
She put a hand on my cheek. “I knew you were a sojourner since you were a baby. Warren smelled it on you.”
“Warren? That sociopath?”
“Yes, him. The Friends have been waiting for you to come of age ever since, planning on how to get you infected. I knew they succeeded because I’m still connected to the Memoirist. To become one of the Friends, I took a diluted form of her cackle. She knows what I do, and I know what she does, so don’t tell me anything about where you’re hiding or how you’re getting otalith cackle.”
“I don’t understand. Is she listening right now?”
My mom shook her head. “It doesn’t work like that, but eventually she’ll know the basics of this conversation. She’ll know I’m plotting against her, but she’s known that for years.” My mom leaned forward, snatched an envelope from the counter, and dropped it in my lap. “I’ve been searching for another sojourner to train you for years, and I finally found one. You have to start right away. Today if you can. Their address is in the envelope. Just don’t open it in front of me. I can’t know where they live, but they know you’re coming.”
I stuffed the envelope in my pocket and glanced at my hand again, half expecting to see gushing blood. “I can’t start today. I’m busy with other training. My bond’s in prison. I have to help her.”
“Why?” my mom said with venom in her voice. “I’ve heard of your shanika. Kaliah Sinclair. Did you know she’s had three shakas die on her? She’s a black widow. She doesn’t care about you. You have to worry about your family now. You’re the man of the house. Protect your family.” She gathered my hands in hers and looked into my eyes. “I know about Em. With this training, you can cure her. You can free me and you from our shanikas. We can live in peace. Together. As a family.”
“I can cure Em?”
“Yes. You can cure all of us with this training. We can live a normal life together. No drugs. No mobiaks. Just us.”
She hugged me, and I hugged her back, stunned. Kaliah never told me my rekulak could heal me, could heal Em. She also never told me there were two other dead shakas in her past besides Diane.
My mom let go first and said Blanche would find us if we stayed together any longer. After we exchanged numbers, I told her I would leave money at the shop in town for her to get new tires and a tune-up. She called me her sweet little boy, and we said goodbye.
Chapter 9
ICLOSED THE FRONT door with my foot and greeted Em, but she ignored me, got up, and left the room. I carried the groceries to the kitchen and set them on the counter. My sister was washing dishes.
“Is Em mad at me?” I said.
“You didn’t take her with you,” May said over her shoulder.
“She didn’t say anything.”
My sister shut off the water and turned around, wiping her hands on a dishtowel. “You didn’t ask.”
“I’ll apologize. I got her candy.” Then I pointed to the back of my hand. “Have you seen . . . ?”
“Yes. And I’ll handle it. Don’t worry about it.”
“Did you talk to her?”
“I said don’t worry about it.” She slapped the towel over her shoulder. “Lou wants to talk to you. He’s in the basement.”
“Saying don’t worry about it doesn’t make me not worry about it,” I said, and left the room.
Lou was in downward-facing dog, wearing jeans and a T-shirt when I descended the stairs. After glancing up at me through his eyebrows, he pushed off the floor and unfolded into a standing position with surprising ease and grace for a man his age.
“Your ankle feeling better?” I said.
“Eh,” he said. “No pain, no gain. Turns out I’m a little rusty. I’m going to need your help after all. You get a second chance. You think you can follow instructions this time?”
I thought of how many times I’d entered the Omen Totem while he was away, but he didn’t need to know about that, so I nodded to him. The more I learned, the better equipped I would be to protect my family.
“Good,” he said. “This backwood prison has more security than Buffalo. It’s ridiculous. One road in, one road out. But I got a plan. You’re going to be my inside guy. We get you in full season, have you wander to the Lodge, okay? They take you to this prison, and then you let me in from the inside. But for this to work I’m gonna have to teach you a little trick that not many people can do, okay?” He moved both his hands in circles, like he was waxing a car on either side of him. “You see all these mirrors? These are here for a reason, okay? Mirrors are used to control mobiaks in full season. You have all this cackle bouncing around in your head and you don’t know who you are, but there’s a part of you that recognizes your reflection, and you just can’t let it go.”
“I’ve seen it before,” I said.
Lou exaggerated a frown and nodded. “Good. You know what I’m talking about then. We need to get you not to do that. Because that’s how they’re going to get you to prison, and that’s how they’re going to keep you there. That’s standard operating procedure.” He stepped over to the shelf of Kaliah’s totems and took down the crystal candy dish and the stuffed fox. “You need a guide, one voice in the cackle louder than the rest. Okay? Now I don’t know what’s on the other side of these totems, but I know you’re about to feel more pain
