Hold Me Closer, Necromancer - Lish McBride [37]
“For you,” he said. “My mom’s afraid you might starve. Something about vegetarians—she always thinks you guys never get enough to eat.”
Despite all the turmoil, I dug into the bag. Ramon’s mom was an awesome cook, and my stomach practically cheered at the sight of one of her meals. Rice, beans, oh, dear God, she’d sent some of her homemade tortillas. My day was looking up.
Ramon tossed his books onto the coffee table and flopped down next to me. “I checked out a few books that I thought might help you.”
I nodded at him, focused on my food. A fork, I needed a fork. I got up and grabbed one from the kitchen, then returned to my rice and beans. I scanned titles as I ate. He’d picked up some books on voodoo, death, and the spirit world. If he’d waited until after my meeting, I might have been able to narrow down his choices. He just had to borrow books on necromancers. I swallowed thickly. We weren’t only researching Douglas anymore. We were researching me. I could now be lumped into the same category as him. The scoop of rice that had been on my fork fell off. I swore and scooped it up again, though my enthusiasm had waned some.
Ramon sat forward. “I wasn’t sure if you’d want any, Brooke.”
“Thanks, Ramon, but I’m on a diet,” she said, her face completely serious.
“Yeah, you could stand to lose a few more ounces, chica.” He nodded toward the TV. “They find you yet? I was in class, so I couldn’t hear anything.”
“No, not yet. But my parents aren’t due back until this afternoon.”
Brooke tried to be brave, but I could see her eyes well up. I put down my food and grabbed a paper towel. I couldn’t just sit there and let her cry.
“Hey,” Ramon said, “don’t cry, okay? We’ll get him, won’t we, Sam?” He looked at me, face grim, and even if I hadn’t meant to already, I knew we were going to do something about Douglas. I hoped Ramon had a plan, because I could certainly use one.
Brooke stopped crying and hiccuped a little. “The cops won’t be able to do anything about it, will they?”
They both looked at me. I guess I was the expert. I thought for a minute before answering. “No, I don’t think they will.”
“But they’re probably going to question us, huh?” Ramon asked.
“Yeah, we were the last to see Brooke, um, intact. But I don’t think we should tell them anything beyond what they can discover from the surveillance videos.”
“Why not?” Ramon asked. “We know the bastard who did this. Why shouldn’t we sic the cops on him?” He sat hunched forward, his ears getting red.
I crumpled the paper towel in my hand. I thought about the things Douglas had said at the zoo. Powerful friends. “I doubt the cops could touch him. We’d just be putting more people in danger. If we were lucky, he might be slightly annoyed by it.”
“Sam’s right,” Brooke said. “All you’d be doing is pissing off psycho man. And then he’d kill one of you. I want him stopped, but not at the expense of you guys.”
I pushed back the errant strand of her hair so she wouldn’t have to blow at it anymore. “We’ll get him, Brooke. Promise.”
“I know you will,” she said.
I rocked back on my heels and sat on the floor. “I just wish I knew how to get some more information.”
“Yeah, I had an idea about that,” Ramon said. He pulled a slip of paper out of his back pocket and handed it to me. I opened the paper, which turned out to be a long list of fortune tellers, palm readers, occult shops—whatever Seattle had to offer in the area of the supernatural. The world I was now a part of. Ramon nodded at the paper. “I figure, if one phenomenon—you know, Brooke—is real, then maybe some of this other stuff is, too. And maybe if we go and talk to some people, we can find someone who can actually help us.” He reached over and stole one of my tortillas. “I mean, there have to be others, right?”
“Ramon,” I said, “if it wouldn’t confirm Mrs. W’s suspicions, I would kiss you right now.”
“Lay off. My mug is only for the ladies.”
Frank knocked and walked in, already in his Plumpy’s uniform and carrying a large paper bag.
“Hey, guys, Brooke,” he said, shutting