Lainy was waiting with open arms when Katie got home. She only just remembered to swing the back door shut behind her before she sank into their soft and safe folds. It was a poor substitute for hugging Mom or Dad but Lainy was the closest thing to a mother she had in this place and, now that the world was ending, Katie was realising that she needed her mom as much as ever. Maybe more. They stood in the middle of the kitchen, locked in each other’s arms. Katie broke down and let tears drown her and her shoulders shake unstifled. She felt hands stroke gently through her brown hair and murmur unintelligible words into her heads. She didn’t know what these sounds were, if they were even real words, but they did their job and calmed her fit long enough to think one clear thought.
You would have made a fantastic mom.
The gates opened once more and Katie wrapped herself in the hug once more. It was safe in here. Lainy was her protector, her confidante, she was a mommy bear. She would make this okay again.
“Why did you go in to work, sweetie? I’m sure he would have understood if you took the day off.”
Because I needed some normality in my life for a few hours and that place is the most normal thing I’ve got. She shrugged instead.
“The girls told me what happened.”
“They did? They know I kissed Leo?”
The shock was so unexpected it nearly made Lainy gag on her tea. “What? I thought you just said...”
Katie nodded and nearly cried again, burying her head in her hands. Tears weren’t getting them anywhere but the mistake she had made was the only thing on her mind right now.
“Sweetie...”
“It was a huge mistake and if I could just take it back, I would. I needed to do something and I hurt myself and then – he was just there. It all went bad from then on.” If she didn’t get all this out, she never would. Although it made her sing with pride that she had been willing to do something so – so extreme – for the bigger purpose, Katie also knew that keeping it all inside would destroy her. “it was just a kiss. Kisses can mean anything right? Thank you. Goodbye.”
“Did that mean any of those things?”
“I don’t think it meant anything. Like I said, he was right in my face and it – it was an accident.”
“Something else happened.” Lainy put her mug down and caught Katie’s chin in her hand, tilting her face closer. “Your pupils are dilated.”
“Will Jack believe that if I tell him? Do you think he will forgive me?”
Honey, I don’t think Jack’ll forgive anyone ever again.
“Jack is the least of your worries right now.”
Katie tried to pull free of those inspecting eyes, razor sharp, but Lainy didn’t release her.
“You’re 16. You’re still a kid, Katie, and you have the rest of your life to worry about boys. Which ones to love. Which ones to hate. And believe me, getting those two mixed up is half the fun.”
“Adam wasn’t the only one? I thought you two were soul mates.”
“We are. But we went to college in different towns. I wasn’t one to wait around.”
“What about him?”
“Never asked but… probably. Neither of us knew if we’d see each other again when we first broke up so I guess we both tried to find somebody to love that much. No other guy meant as much to me as Adam – no-one ever will.”
“Why are you two in so much trouble now? It’s like, you love each other and I can see it but I can also see you trying as well.”
“Love isn’t easy. It should be but it isn’t. You do the wrong things at times. But, if he loves you, he’ll forgive you.”
Katie felt all turned around. This conversation had done a 180 and become about her again. When had that happened?
“So,” Lainy leaned in as though the two of them were sharing a secret. “What was it like?”
Amazing sickening electric wrong shocking beautiful terrible raw magical fantastic disgusting… the adjectives kept trying to trip off her tongue but Katie swallowed them back and sent out a silent message, not knowing if anyone was there to hear it. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. Because, all in the same instant – under a scrutinous gaze – she knew that she had let everyone down. Mademoiselle Romani- her life was over because Katie hadn’t saved her. Little Leo – still stuck in that bubble. Bernice – who had lost her husband and was mourning alone. Everyone. They all wanted things from her and Katie wasn’t giving them out. It hurt but she knew she had her own battles to fight – Mademoiselle Romani had told her that and ot was a prediction coming frighteningly true already – and if she lost those…
…nothing else would matter.
Lainy gazed into bright brown eyes and took quick note of the burst blood vessels in the eyeball and the dark rings surrounding it. “Something’s wrong. Tell me what it is.” But she didn’t need to be told when she laid her other hand on the wrist strap and Katie winced and jerked away. The room was already singing the songs of all the people who had lived and died here, whispering all the sights it had seen and promises it had heard. She did not need or want this fresh explosion of pain and colour and sound over-loading her senses. This was the very edge of crazy and even one more touch would send her hurtling over the precipice.
“Right, you’re going to need to get that reset.”
“No, it’ll be fine.”
“It looks like you’ve been battering a heavy bag with it. It might have broken again.”
“Maybe. I don’t…” She had forgotten the end of the sentence.
“You’ve been through it today. Everyone knows it. No-one expects any more.”
That seemed similar to something Adam had said a few days ago. She should fight her way back to reality and pursue the question but the thought seemed very far away. She felt arms around her and let herself be led up to her room, drifting along on voices.
In no time at all, Katie was half lying on her bed, propped against her headboard. A hand was cupping a couple of tablets under her nose and holding a cup of water in the other. Without a word, without a question, Katie picked up the pills and downed them with water.
“You need to sleep. After your friend and then the fire – you might feel too wired so I gave you something to help.”
“You – you drugged me?”
“They’re fast acting. You’ll thank me in the morning.”
“You drugged…” And again, the rest of the sentence fell away. “But, why?”
“It’s for the best.”
“No!” Katie shouted, weakly. It was too late. The room was spinning. “They come when I’m asleep. They’ll get me if I got to sleep.”
“Who will?”
“The monsters. They always come when I sleep.”
“Monsters?”
“They chase me. I run and run but they’re always right behind me. Don’t let them… get me…don’t let…
“I know, darling, I know.”
“You need… stop… before…”
Lainy just looked down and said something that might have been, “They’re only dreams, honey.” Sounds had all but given out to the velvet dark of enforced sleep. The last thing Katie saw as her eyes closed was a crystal with two tarot cards stood against her laptop. Long ago words swam into her head, demanding to be spoken, sang, breathed.
“One will come. One will destroy you. One will obliterate everything you know and love.”
I’m falling!
It felt like forever. Long enough to put her panicked thoughts into a sentence. A two word sentence but she was falling to her death so – impressive. It was forever and an instant. Finally, the right neurons connected and the instruction to scream blasted through her body. The first notes were out when a hand thrust out of the windows she was falling – no, floating – past. Katie grabbed it with every bit of strength this exhausted body had left. Her body dangled from the one-armed grip. She swung herself close to the wall and looked up,
hoping to see the face of her momentary saviour. For some reason, Katie was more tired than running around should have made her; her body felt different in some way; achey and desperate for rest. That wasn’t going to happen.
The rough surface of the building she was dangling from scraped her knees and thighs. Her hospital gown was pulling further apart, riding somewhere just below her backside but Katie didn’t even care if anybody should happen to be standing below. Below might be three feet away or a mile away. Not falling that far was way more important than modesty. Just cling on to this arm stretched out. Don’t let go. Stay close to the wall. Find some grip within the pebbled wall to generate friction. There was no ridge large enough to hold. Her boots scrabble blindly against the wall, scraping and scuffing. No luck. Her body weight was starting to turn from a pendulum she could use to get a helpful movement going into a dead load that was arguing to drag her down. To still her movements and take her down. That wasn’t going to happen either.
With her fear of falling as strong as it had ever been, Katie twisted herself around, nearly wrenching her arm from its socket, and dug the toes of her boots into the hard rock. It bit into her knees. Trickles of blood slid down her legs. The sting was a minor concern – a distant thing. “Oh God, help. Get me up!” No-one spoke back. She hadn’t expected them to. She also had not expected this supernaturally strong arm to begin lifting her out of this grey nothing. But it did. And Katie was suddenly afraid once more. Whatever awaited her through the window had to be better than hanging here, one slip from falling. “Please! Quickly, I’m losing my grip.” With one hand holding the one thrust out to her and her feet pushing up with every tiny jutting pebble she found, Katie threw her other hand up to the window sill and found that she had to reach in quite a way to get a grip. Between everything, pulling herself out of the grey and back inside was almost easy. If breathless, sweating and grunting with strain could ever be easy. Half in and half out of the glassless window – bent over the sill at the waist and climbing in – she allowed herself a second to breathe. One second to fill her lungs with sweet oxygen. And something else… something cloying and thick.
The stink of decay.
“Shit!”
The arm she was holding was not attached to a body. It looked as though it had been ripped clean off at the shoulder. Recently too. Torn tendons and muscles; tattered skin, paper-thin and pale; slow flowing blood, dark and dead.
Too late Katie threw it to the floor. A million bodies gaped at her, moaning, reaching, then fell in a pile onto the disembodied arm.
It was just a shame Katie was standing behind it. She danced back a few steps. One hand grabbed for her foot. She tried to jerk free and stamped on the hand with her other foot. It exploded beneath her sole in a glorious mess of flesh and bone.
The now one-handed zombie thing stared at the stump in wonder – a short, slender creature (Jaye?) – then grunted into the writhing mass around her. It? It didn’t seem especially bothered by the sudden loss of a hand. It looked angry. As one, the mass of zombies picked themselves up and started to move towards Katie.
You stopped running. You never stop running.
I didn’t mean to. I’m just so tired.
You never stop running.
I’ve been running forever. There’s no way out of this place.
You never stop.
Show me a way out and I’ll go to it.
Who was she talking to? Who was talking to her?
Running. That was what she did. That was what she was going to do. It was a good plan as they went. But yawning mouths in faces that were just smudges circled her and were reaching for her, edging forward in irregular steps and shuffles. She glanced from one to the other, all the way round, until she lost count of how many there were and which ones she had already seen. They all blurred into one sinister threat. A faceless, nameless, breathing parasite trying to get hold of her.
Katie watched as the one handed one swung its’ arm towards her. She wanted to laugh a the gesture – full of menace and so impotent. One of the taller creatures had picked up the fallen arm and was slapping the shoulder end at his own shoulder socket. It already had both of its arms but it didn’t seem to stop the zombie from wanting a third. Katie stared, fixated on this gruesome display of complete stupidity. And then one of them but a hand on her right shoulder from behind. She slapped her left hand over it, worked her fingers between the gaps and tried to push them back. There was a satisfying crack and the hand fell away. The grabby one fell back a step and held its’ floppy hand up to its neighbour for inspection.. a grunt and a shrug. Another one came towards her, looking determined. Katie kicked out and felt a boot connect with a leg. Something cracked and the zombie sagged a little but kept advancing, uncaring. When it came into touching distance Katie planted both her hands on it’s chest and pushed back as hard as she could. One blurred into motion at the edges of her peripheral vision. Not really seeing the threat, she threw one hand up to protect her face and then jerked her elbow out with enough force to disfigure the zombie for good. Coming one by one, these things were hardly a military operation in organised attack.
No sympathy for the dead, she thought but didn’t really believe her own words. She did have some pity for the dead, the ones who did not deserve to lose their lives, but were these things even dead? They moved like they were alive. They made sounds. That was the very essence of life. Katie blinked and heard a quick rustling sound in the millisecond her eyes were closed. She opened them. No twisted visage stared back at her. Where-? Something solid and heavy connected with one of her legs. It disappeared from beneath her and Katie fell to her knees, bones jarring painfully into her kneecaps and further up into her hips. She screamed – didn’t want to, couldn’t help it. Another foot or fist thumped into her back and she went down hard. Face pressed to the cold tiles. Innumerable pale creatures hunkered down all around Katie and she could swear they were smiling at her. They were on the ground all around her and smiling. All these twisted versions of people she knew, all of them had been chasing her, trying to reach her and all she had done was try to get away from them. But they did not mean her harm. Her friends loved her. They were trying to help her. Was it darker in here? The grey outside had deepened into almost black.
Body after body lumbered over to Katie, bent to stroke her face with the backs of cold, rough fingers then, with an unlikely grace, bent to kiss either her stomach or her forehead before lying down next to her until each of them was lying with some part of their body touching Katie. She glanced at the dark window, tensed to spring up and run. Then she listened to her body slowly ticking over like an engine after 250 miles of motorway, chugging along on fumes and momentum.
Tinny music was pouring from somewhere. Katie dragged her eyes open and searched for the source of the noise. Her head was pounding and her limbs felt heavy, full of lactic acid that she couldn’t have built while she had been… asleep. No no no no! She didn’t want to be asleep. But the open curtains showed it was getting late. Hey eyelids were dragging themselves down. Everything in her campaigned for sleep.
And yet, there was still music. She had to find it. Had to turn it off before anything else. Her eyes fell on the slim white mobile by her mirror. It was singing to her. It was some tune she vaguely recognised as one of her favourite songs – she recalled installing ringtone software on her laptop and transferring the song over but she couldn’t for the life of her remember the band or title. And it didn’t even bear that much resemblance to it anyway – underlaid with the haunting melodies of destruction and innocence and beauty within another persons evil. Katie gave herself a few moments to listen to it, taking her sweet time to go over and answer. It was a withheld number but she clicked ANSWER anyway. If this was another cold caller from an insurance scam she was going epic on them! A click as the call connected and a mechanical but strangely familiar female
voice spoke.
“Call for Kathleen Cartwright. Will you accept the charges?”
“Uh… I suppose.” Accepting charges on a mobile phone could cost a bomb, but she could always hang up if somebody was just looking for a free chat. Who would reverse charges on a mobile phone didn’t present itself as a question.
“Please hold.” A few seconds of Greensleeves and then the voice came back. “You’ll be connected now.”
Another click and a rush of voices crowded the air waves.
“Don’t worry. I gave her Zopiclone. She’ll be out for hours yet.”
“I just don’t know what to do, Lainy. I mean, she’s running herself ragged, thinking she’s responsible for every little thing that goes wrong.”
“It’s not your fault. She could have come to us a long time ago.”
“Yeah. I just… I feel as though I’m betraying her somehow. Going behind her back and telling you guys.”
“And all three of you knew?” A pause but the downcast looks and nods might as well have been in the room with Katie. “Okay. Well, we can do something to help now.”
“What, though?”
“I’m not sure yet.” Adam joined in the talk. “But we can’t let her carry on. We all know she’s a special kid but I still think this is too much.”
“Erm, guys… I don’t know if this is the right time but I might have played a part in this mess.” Dina. What could she possibly have to do with anything apart from being that calm, logical voice when her emotions got out of control? Dina had saved he arse a few times too. “The night I slipped into a coma, I saw Katie fighting with this guy on the wasteground. No, I’m not crazy, I was there – sort of on my way to the End Place. Anyway, I knew that he was about to kill her. Jack was out for the count and couldn’t help. And I knew, just knew somehow, that if I didn’t do something, she wouldn’t survive the night.”
“What did you do?” It wasn’t accusing or disapproving – just a neutral question. That neutralness made Katie feel terrible even though she wasn’t on the receiving end.
“I straddled the gap between the spirits and the living. I took the power of the dead and sent it all into Katie.”
“’Scuse me? For the still livin’, never gonna be no Shade, stayin’ right here humans?”
“Straddling is what we call it when somebody stands right on the life line, touching both worlds.”
“Okay.” Leo didn’t sound like he thought it was okay. He had another problem. Sucked to be him.
“But sweetie. All the ghosts on the wasteland. They’re not Shades like me or Jaye. They’re the ones who never made it. Full of darkness. Some good but mostly darkness.”
“I know that now. Scratch that I knew it then. But I was desperate because she was so young and nice and I couldn’t let her die. Not like ‘welcome to Northwood. Rest in peace.’ It was the only thing I could think of.”
“And it did work.”
“But she’s had that darkness growing inside her ever since. I looked and it’s there and it’s getting restless.”
Somebody groaned.
“But that was what? Six weeks ago, or so? It should have taken her over by now.”
“She’s been fighting it. She told us. Now, she’s afraid it’ll get out and put somebody in danger.”
“Oh, like the poor kid hasn’t got enough on her plate.”
“Bitch likes to fight. Telling ya.”
“Not helping Leo. I know what we need to do.” What, Adam? What am I meant to do now? “She’s strong – gifted – but she is a child and we can’t let this carry on. Lainy?”
“Agreed. We’re glad you told us now before it’s too late. Two people have died, one’s missing, all of you nearly joined them, there’s a killer on the loose, her dreams are trying to get her – however that works – and who knows what else she hasn’t told us. She’s too young to deal with that. We’ll do whatever we can.”
“She’s too young to know the secrets of the town.”
“We understood it was a risk to take her in.”
“There are people. People who can strip that knowledge from her head. We can deal with these problems and she won’t know a thing.”
“I mean it, girl won’t give up without a fight.”
Katie shut off her phone and turned it off completely. For the next few hours she did not want anyone to be able to contact her. Not if something as casual as a phone call could be that painful. The backs of her eyes prickled with tears that felt like chips of ice. Feet skipped up the stairs and Katie leapt back into bed, screwing her eyes shut in case anyone came in and tried to speak to her. It probably wouldn’t fool anyone into thinking she was asleep but it made her feel better. The pretence was good practice for drama class. It counted right? Having your eyes closed was still acting. A pair of heavy platform shoes thundered up the stairs and followed the other set into the big bedroom. The worry was far from over though. Katie took a calming few breaths then looked inside. The ball of energy was purple-black and slippery-looking, but there was enough. She hoped.
Jack. I’m not asking this time. If you’re there, if you still love me, you will come and be with me. Just hold me. Answer me, at least. Jack.
But there was nothing. Jack could make the whole world makes sense with that strange little smile of his. The smile that was broken by the thin scar of a split lip that was received 150 odd years ago. The smile that only came out when they were together and he allowed himself to forget all the other problems they faced. It was rare, that smile, but that only made it even more special when it shone. She needed that right now – tried to imagine it but it made no difference. A picture might say a thousand words but they were still ink and paper, fragile, just waiting to be ripped to shreds. A person could be battered, broken, bled to death, and that smile would always be the same. She tried once more – this time pouring emotion into every word.
I love you, Jack. Maybe I took too long to work that out but I know now and I know this is real. Please come back to me. I need you so much. I wish I could tell you what’s been happening lately so you can stroke my hair back and tell me I’m safe now. I wish I could touch you and feel that spark between us because we know it’s wrong. I want you by my side to pull me back when I go too far. I want you to tell me you love me too.
Seconds turned into minutes. The silence, the stillness, was crushing. This was dumb. She was waiting on a boy she knew wasn’t coming back. Wasting more time on a lost love – wallowing in self-pity and loss – was getting nothing done. It was just that… it all seemed easier when Jack was holding her hand. Suck it up, kid. Things to do, people to end.
What? No. No ending anyone.
Not even if you have to?
Hadn’t she killed enough people already because she had to?
Did you really kill them though? Weren’t they already dead to begin with? Ca one kill a corpse?
Shut up, Katie instructed her brain. They were both out for m-
So it was kill or be killed. You made the choice. Was it easy?
They wanted me dead. Yes, I sent them both back to where-ever they came from and I did some unforgivable things first.
An accusing silence followed. She let her body do its own thing for a few minutes, packing her backpack for the morning and using the bathroom. Mr Brain was whirring away, dwelling on a question the dark part of her had raised. Was it easy? Well… yes. When some-one was threatening her life, she did not tend to put theirs first. So no, there had been no torturous moral struggle over it. If there had been another choice in front of Katie, she surely would have taken it; but there had been none. Was it easy? The question came back round.
She knocked on the door to the large bedroom and walked straight in, sitting on the nearest bed. “I need to know something.” This was no time for manners or small talk.
Dina and Jaye looked at each other, nodded and Dina
got up to shut the door. “Before you say anything, babe, we want you to know we’re really sorry. I mean, you’re so young and if we can’t handle it, we can’t expect you to.”
“Sorry? Sorry for what?”
“We had to tell Adam and Lainy what you know. It didn’t seem like we had another choice.”
“But they said they’d help take care of everything.”
Including me! The part about stripping away everything she knew clanged around her head. “You did what?”
“I’m sorry. Do you hate us now?”
Honesty wasn’t always the best policy. But sometimes it was the only one. Her mind was on a complete strike from lies – they were too much work to keep going. “Well… yes. I feel like killing each and every one of you to be honest but that’s beside the point. Jaye?”
She turned to face the other girl, worry for her own safety creasing her pixie face. “Yeah?”
“You’re a Shade. I know you can heal from pretty much anything that happens to your body. You know, change from an imperfect body with scars and bruises and stuff.”
“Well, only superficial cuts. If it goes deeper than-“
“Cool. So, is it possible, do you think, for a Shade to change their entire appearance?”
“Nothing I can do but…”
“But. I like buts.”
“I don’t think you meant to say that.”
“D!”
“I suppose the darker ones might be able to. You know, like the ones that infected you.”
“Why not you?”
“Because I’m light. I’m rooted in this world and it would confuse people if I kept changing I look. The darker ones don’t have that problem. I guess they can look however they want.”
“Interesting. Can dark Shades pull on energy and look like a normal guy?”
“Sure. Jack’s dark.”
“He told me he was a bit of both.”
“It’s the yin yang thing,” Dina explained. “Nothing can exist without a tiny bit of the other side.”
“Why all the questions, babe? It’s a bit late for the third degree.” As if to prove the point, Jaye yawned. It had been a long day for her too. “You should totally get some shut-eye.”
“I will. I was just curious. These aren’t the kind of questions you can ask Google.”
“True. I tried typing Shades into a search – the obligatory porn, seriously every single word is a euphemism to these people, and then Dulux colour charts. Not useful.”
“Unless you were an exhibitionist with a passion for DIY.”
“That sounds likely,” Katie snorted. The older pair just curled their lips and shrugged like it was as possible as anything else. If you could believe in ghosts that walked and talked like anyone else, anything was possible. She stretched up, grimacing briefly as her wrist loosed fresh bolts of pain into her body – got to get something done with that – yawned theatrically and muttered her goodnights. There was no time just yet to be running off and patching herself up. There was a plan to come up with. All the pieces of the puzzle were there, she thought, it was just a matter of figuring out how they fit together. And Leo sitting on the edge of her bed flipping her two tarot cards into each other was not a puzzle piece she needed – at least, not in this puzzle. Katie stopped just inside the door. “Leave.”
“We need to talk.”
“No. We need to never talk again. Bad things happen when we talk.”
“You weren’t exactly saying no.”
“You try saying no with some-one else’s tongues down your throat.”
“You never told me why you got these.” Leo held up the two cards. JUSTICE and the HIGH PRIESTESS.
“Apparently they represent what I am and what I will be. Or something.”
“How’s that work?”
She shrugged, eyeing the bed behind him. Maybe it was the long and stressful day, maybe it was the remnants of the sleeping tablets still making their way through her system, but Katie felt her eyelids trying to meet in the middle. “It’s a psychic thing. Don’t understand a word of it. Best I can figure… justice is all backwards here. Nobody gets what they deserve.”
“So, why do you have it?”
“Quick demonstration. Then you’re out.” Katie went over to her computer and grabbed up the tiny chip of quartz Mademoiselle Romani had pressed into her hand. On the bed, she laid out the two cards as they had been dealt out – JUSTICE upside down with the HIGH PREISTESS next to it but the right way up. Then she placed the crystal over the heart of the woman on the second card. “Why do you keep trying to help me?” She tried to make it sound casual. It didn’t work as well as it had it her mind.
“’Cos you need it.”
And that was true enough. “What if I don’t want your help?”
“Still here when you change your mind.”
“Right, this is how they came out. There’s justice around me but it’s all upside down and fucked up.”
“And this bitch here?”
“What did she ever do to deserve your insults?” But it didn’t matter. He didn’t mean it when he called any of them nasty names – she was learning that. “I’ve been doing some reading and she’s got bags of power. She’s kind of the queen of all the events in the world. She makes things happen.”
“What’s that got to do with you? I mean, I get the power stuff and everything, but not you.”
“Thanks for having confidence in me, Pointer.”
“That’s not how I meant it. And you know it.”
He was right. She did know. That Leo had any faith in her was something of a miracle, particularly when you considered how often he’d had to come running to her rescue. She was good to fool around with, maybe have a thing with, that was it. Good for nothing more important than the passing pleasure of a stolen kiss before she was put underground. She would disintegrate, become the dirt, be long gone before anyone missed her.
“… person I know,” Leo was saying and Katie realised she had missed everything he had said. It was nothing good, she was sure.
“I told you about the cards. I kept my side of the deal. Now you keep yours.” Katie jerked her head at the door. “Wait!” she called as he got up. Leo paused and turned to her. Dark blue eyes sparkled and begged to draw her in, to rip the breath from her lungs and blast her into heaven. She had to stop her own feet from bouncing up on their own and sprinting into those promises. This had been a bad idea. Letting him stay in her room was a mistake. Engaging him in conversation was a mistake. Kissing him had been… and she didn’t regret a single one of them.
“What?”
“Us two, Dina and Jaye. Four o’clock at the track tomorrow. Tell no-one else.”
“This another of your plans to get us all killed?”
“Yes.”
“Okay. I won’t wear church clothes then.” He had special clothes for going to church in?
“Oh, the photos you showed me earlier – you have them?”
Leo held up a finger and disappeared for a minute. Something fell to the floor in the next room, there was a swear word or two, some rustling and rooting. Finally an “aha!” He returned with a few folded sheets of paper which he dropped on the bed. “Hope you know what you’re doing bitch.”
Chapter ten