Stacia Kane - City of Ghosts

“Tulip? Tulip, shit, that you?”

“Lex?”

“Aye, where you at? You give us the tell now, aye, we all over lookin for you, you—”

He disappeared. Had she hung up? Or had she fallen asleep again? Maybe she should just close her eyes and curl up. They were looking for her, they’d find her, right?

Wait, who was they?

Loud voices came through the phone. Arguing. And then another voice. “Chess? Chess, what they done to you? Where you at, you know where?”

“Terrible?”

“Aye. Lookin for you, dig? You got any knowledge where you at?”

“No, I’m—I don’t know where I am, they threw me away and I don’t know where I am.…”

“What?”

“They threw me away. I was in the Dumpster, I don’t know where I am and they … they spiked me and I can’t really … I can’t really think very well, can you find me?”

Silence.

“Terrible, please …” She wanted to cry but couldn’t. Couldn’t seem to muster any tears, her mouth was so dry too, was her water in her bag? “I’m lost, I don’t—”

“You see any signs?”

“I can’t read them. I’m sorry.”

“See anything? Got anything you can give me?”

“I’m so tired. I just want … I just want to go to sleep.” That was wrong, she knew. This was important, she needed to stay awake, needed to tell them where she was. And what were Lex and Terrible doing together? There was no way in hell those two would ever be having a conversation that didn’t end with blood and weaponry.

“Naw, ain’t can sleep yet, Chessie. Hang on, aye? Got anybody around? See anything you know?”

“It … it all looks fake. Not real. They wanted me to tell them who you were.” Pain in her wrists flared, but not too sharp. And this was important. She had to tell them what had happened. Why it was so important she wasn’t sure but it was. “They wanted your names and I wouldn’t. I didn’t.”

“Aye.” Pause. “Aye, know you ain’t. Later on that, aye? Just give us aught where you are. Anything?”

“No, there’s a … Hold on.” If she could get up she could walk to the end of the street. A sign at the corner, fuzzy white against the blurred streetlights.

Of course, she probably wouldn’t be able to read it. But she might see something else there. A building she knew, anything. “I see a sign. It’s a … I think it’s a Stop Shop.”

Yes. It was definitely a Stop Shop. The square green and white sign, its corner broken to reveal a strip of fluorescent light behind, stood alone on the street, guarding the small, empty parking lot.

“I think it’s the one we were at before. Remember? I think it’s that one.” She’d know better if her eyes would work right, if she wasn’t so tired and dry and moving through a fuzzy plastic world shrouded in dust.

Terrible and Lex murmured to each other; she didn’t really hear them. Her legs ached again, she wanted to sit down, but if she did she’d pass out again and she didn’t think she could do that yet.

Lex took over the phone. “Hey, Tulip. Sit you down where you at, aye? Ain’t go closer to that shop, Terrible wants me to tell. You just sit and give us the wait, dig? We almost there.”

“I can’t get my pillbox open.”

“No worries on it. Got straight for you, we do, you just give us the wait.”

Her water was in her bag. Surely that would help? Her stomach couldn’t seem to decide if water was a good idea or not but … anything, she was so dry, and shit she was filthy too. Covered in her own blood, covered in vomit—she didn’t know when that had happened—and muck from the Dumpster. Wow, were they going to be glad they’d found her.

And she’d have to spend the day like that. What little urgency she was able to feel leapt in the back of her mind; they had to hurry, the ceremony would start at dawn, she didn’t know how many hours it was until then and what they still had to do …

She slumped back down on the pavement and started digging for her water. Damn, she’d left some of her supplies at Lauren’s; the graveyard dirt, the mandrake and tormentil … It wouldn’t be hard to get more—she could invade the Church supply room for most of it—but it was still a pain in the ass. Not that she could really feel her ass. Or anything else.

Her fingers didn’t want to work the bottle top; she finally got it open. Water flooded into her mouth, through her body; she gulped it down desperately, ignoring her stomach’s warning that it was too much, too fast. Water spilled from her mouth and dribbled down her chin and shirt and she didn’t care. Honestly, it could only improve things, given how filthy she was. She was tempted to pour it over her head.

“Still there?” Lex’s voice came from her lap.

“Yeah.” Her stomach lurched, a warning she fought; after a moment it settled. Good. Now if she could just get her pillbox open, just to wake her up, she was so tired …

Her eyes closed. Whether she fell asleep she wasn’t sure. All she knew was suddenly the world was flooded with light and noise. Terrible’s Chevelle jumped the curb and came to a stop a couple of feet away.

Terrible and Lex leapt out. She didn’t think she’d ever been so happy to see two people in her entire life. There was an awkward moment when both of them reached for her; they hesitated in unison, then Terrible knelt at her side and scooped her up.

“I stink,” she managed. Not really what she wanted to say, but it came out anyway. Her fingers twisted in the fabric of his shirt, trying to get the signal to her brain that he was real, he was really there. “I was in the Dumpster.”

“Naw, no worryin, now.”

He set her in the car and she closed her eyes. When she opened them they were moving, speeding down the road so fast the streetlights looked like solid streaks of neon. Or maybe that was just her. She was acutely aware of how bad she smelled, how bad she looked, and acutely aware that she was drooling on Lex’s shoulder. As if this whole situation wasn’t humiliating enough.

“Get the wake on, Tulip,” he said. In his hand he held a mirror, three fat lines stretching across its surface like tiger stripes in the reflected light. “Here. Gotta get you up, aye? Gots some knowledge for you. Got work, we do.”

“What? What kind of …” She yawned.

“Here.” He lifted the mirror carefully, tilted a chopped-down black straw in her direction with his other hand. “No time for holding up, it ain’t.”

Okay, that was worrying. Almost as worrying as the way her vision kept blurring and her fingers didn’t want to close around the straw. It took her a few tries to pinch her nostril correctly. Lex held her hair back for her.

Her face went numb; the speed hit the back of her throat and flooded her mouth with that metallic acid taste, so familiar. So fucking welcome. Her heart bounced in her chest, stuttered into life, her eyes focused and her entire body tingled. She—

“What the hell are you guys doing? Together?”

Okay, that was an awkward silence. But she didn’t care, because her blood purred merrily along in her veins and she felt lucky, so lucky and so glad to see them. Beneath the high something dark and uncomfortable stirred: This was a heavier dose than even she was used to. She had no idea how loaded that needle had been, but Lex must have chopped at least a gram for her, and tomorrow’s hangover lurked, chuckling, waiting for her to crash.

But all that was later. For now she was alive in a speeding muscle car, high as a kite, safe.

“Gave you the ring up, iffen you recall,” Lex said finally. “You shout me find Terrible, so I did. Thought he were killin you first, aye, but he weren’t so we figured on you havin trouble, we did.”