Hold Me Closer, Necromancer - Lish McBride [76]
Brid ran a hand absently through my hair. “No,” she said, “the lesson was for both of us. And I think we learned it well.”
“My mom will be so happy to see my report card.”
Brid laughed softly, relaxing, and I felt better. If we could both laugh at it, then maybe we’d be okay after all.
“Maybe June will send me that help soon.”
Brid slid another hand through my hair. “June?”
“She’s another dead-wrangler.”
“I think we have enough of those, don’t you?”
A minute later, a big guy brought down a blanket. I couldn’t see who it was, but I felt Brid stiffen at the sight of him. When he left, Brid tucked the blanket in around me and curled against my back, protective. I stayed in a ball. The blanket smelled of lavender, something I wouldn’t have expected of Douglas’s linens. I didn’t find it particularly relaxing. It made me homesick. My mom used lavender laundry detergent. Was she okay? Was she worried? Did my family even know I’d been taken? My need to be rescued was outweighed by my desire to keep them safe, though. If they came after me, they might get hurt. I wanted out of here, but not at the expense of my loved ones.
Brid shifted, moving the blanket up right under my eyes. She slipped an arm around me. Then, over the lavender smell, I could smell the outdoors—sun on the earth, wind through the trees, green things growing, the smell of life. Brid. I relaxed and let sleep take me.
20
C’mon, Baby, Don’t Fear the Reaper
We were woken up a few hours later. A big lug of a guy escorted us up to a bathroom. My whole body ached, I was groggy, and it hurt my eyes when I stumbled into the light. It took me a minute to register that the brightness was because we were in sunlight. Morning, then.
We were led down several hallways, and cut through the kitchen on the way to the bathroom. The kitchen was bright, airy, and extremely spartan, much like the rest of the rooms I walked by. Douglas, apparently, didn’t care for clutter. The cheeriness of the kitchen surprised me, though. Bright yellow walls and white curtains. Strange.
The guy let Brid go first. I leaned against a wall and stared out the window while I waited. Apparently, Douglas didn’t carry the spartan look over into his landscaping. Statues dotted the lawn, a random assortment representing different bits of Greek mythology. I looked over at the hedges and smiled. Douglas had lawn gnomes. I didn’t figure him for that kind of guy. I frowned. One of the lawn gnomes was flipping me off. I closed my eyes and opened them again. The gnome stood normally, holding a tiny shovel over his shoulder, no middle finger in sight. Maybe they were drugging me when I wasn’t looking.
I glanced over at the guy watching me. He looked familiar. After a full minute of peeking, I realized I’d seen him before. Tuesday night, he’d wiped the floor with me. “Oh, goody,” I said. “It’s you.”
The guy actually grinned at me, baring a lot of very large, very white teeth. “How’s the back?”
“Fantastic,” I said. “Much better than the rest of me.”
His grin faltered. The guy looked surprised. He shouldn’t have been. Sure, he could kill me, but it would be fast: a quick snap of the neck, a blow to the head. Douglas would kill me slowly, one excruciating slice at a time. If this guy hadn’t picked that up by now, he had a head full of sawdust. He needed a reminder, if only on the chance that it might drive a wedge between Douglas and his lackey.
I crossed my arms over my chest. “I hate to break it to you, but you’re not the king of the wild things around here.”
He came at me then, only to halt in his tracks when a cat sauntered into the hallway. The cat was mostly white, with big black spots on his head, chest, and tail. He had huge silver eyes that he trained on the man. The cat parked itself in the middle of the hall, tail flicking. The man relaxed and resumed his original position, leaning on the wall across from me. Weird.
I slid down the wall and reached out to pet the feline. Both the cat and the man seemed startled by this.