Hold Me Closer, Necromancer - Lish McBride [114]
“I know,” I said. “I’ll give you what I got.”
“And, Sam?”
“Yeah?”
“If it ever turns out that you had something to do with this, I’ll hang you out to dry, shrink’s office or no.”
“I would expect nothing less.”
I hung up and went back to the game.
After a few days of rest and contemplation, and Brooke’s constant hounding, I had Frank start setting things up for our move. My apartment was too small for three people and a spirit, so we might as well make good use of Douglas’s house. I needed to get over what had happened there. It was also the only way to get Brooke to leave me alone. She could be very insistent when she wanted to be.
In the meantime, I’d clean the house of anything unsavory or dangerous. That way if I hated the place, I could sell it. Or bulldoze it. I hadn’t totally given up on that plan yet.
Besides, I would need the extra room when Ramon got better. I was sure he’d get out of the clinic. He had to. So we needed the house because when he got released he couldn’t exactly stay at his mom’s to deal with his new, um, “lifestyle changes.” A were-bear in my apartment building would be just as disastrous.
I needed to take the house on, if only to prove to myself that I was right—that this power could be used for good. I needed to accept what I was. What I am.
My name is Samhain Corvus LaCroix. I am a necromancer. Now, if only I could say that with a straight face.
The Seattle Times
Wednesday, April 2
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Local citizens were shocked today when Woodland Park Zoo announced that the panda, Ling Tsu, died late last night. Zoo officials are “stunned by the unexpected death.” They haven’t released a cause of death at this time, telling members of the press only that there were several unexplained findings in Ling Tsu’s necropsy. Zoo officials wish to publicly apologize to the Chinese zoo. “With the current political climate being what it is, we hope to make reparations as quickly as possible in order to continue the trading program that we currently have with China,” one inside source informed the Seattle Times. “Thanks to an anonymous benefactor, that might be possible. Because of the generous donation, we are already beginning talks with Chinese officials about setting up a panda preserve in Ling Tsu’s memory.”
Until then, the police will continue their investigation to answer the baffling questions that have surfaced in this case. When questioned, a representative from the police department said, “I just wish we knew why there was so much salt.”
* * *
Acknowledgments
Novels don’t happen by themselves. Here are some of the people who helped me, so now you know exactly who to blame:
Adam and Gryphon, you’re amazing, thank you. My mother, of course; my brothers, Darin, Jeremy, and Alex, and their families, for all their support and general greatness. Grams, Dad, Michele, Ann, Brian—I am lucky that there are too many of you to list. Thank you, my family, for your support, even if half of you have no idea what, exactly, it is that I do.
Devon “Porkchop” Fiene, Abby Murray, Tiny and Erica Crane, Jose Perez III, J’romy Armstrong, Ben “Man of” Steele, and Rachel Trujillo, for baby wrangling and first reads (I owe you); Jen Violi, for guidance—both spiritual and line-by-line; Parker, for thumbs-ups and general shenanigans; Casey “Fox Bandit” Lefante, for encouragement and orphans; Dense, Blake, Jason Buch, and Brent McKnight, for bad movies and reminding me what readers want; Barb Johnson, Trisha Rezende, Jeni Stewart, and the rest of Team Parkview: Where would I be without you all?
Sharon Cumberland, for getting me into graduate school in the first place; Joanna Leake, for reading stories about unicorn death matches and not instantly throwing me out on my ass; Joseph Boyden, for playing the good cop and for always making me stay for another round; Amanda Boyden, for making me throw away the first chapter and for telling me what I needed to hear. Thanks to Ed Dieranger, former NOPD, for all my police-related info. If I got any of it wrong, I swear it’s not your fault. To my agent,