Free Nancy K. Duplechain - Dark Trilogy 03 - Dark Legacy by Nancy K. Duplechain

me, I gotta go !” She hopped
into her Lincoln Town Car and drove off.
    “All right.
Let’s go, then,” said Ruby, looking utterly humiliated.
    Noah looked at
Nadia and raised his shoulders as if to say w hat could I do? She smiled
at him, and the three of them climbed into the Charger and headed for Algiers.
The whole trip across the river was made in painful silence. Before they were
off the bridge, Nadia turned on the radio just to have some background noise.
    As they exited
the bridge, Ruby said, “Turn right up here.”
    “I thought she said
you live a mile further down,” said Noah.
    Ruby huffed. “I
do, but I’d be ever so grateful if you’d turn right up here.”
    Noah turned.
    “Now just loop
back around toward the bridge, but stay on this road.”
    Noah did as he
was told, and then she directed him further until he found himself parked next
to a cemetery.
    “I’ll be right
back,” said Ruby. She left her shoes in the car and stepped onto the sidewalk
and walked up to the wrought iron fence. Without thinking twice, she hitched up
her dress and coat, steadied herself on a fence pole and climbed over, careful
to avoid the spikes at the top.
    Noah and Nadia
shared an incredulous look. “Stay here,” said Noah, getting out of the car.
    Nadia got out,
too. “You’re not leaving me here by myself.”
    “All right. Um
…” Noah squatted on the sidewalk near the fence and laced his fingers together,
his palms upward. “Hop up,” he told her.
    Nadia arched an
eyebrow.
    “Come on,” he
said.
    Nadia put one
foot on his hands and pivoted with the other as Noah tossed her onto the other
side. She had a shaky land, slipping a little on the slick dew that was icing
over, but was able to stay on her feet. Noah backed up into the street, looked
over his shoulders to see if anyone was coming, got a running start, and easily
leaped over the fence, landing perfectly. He smirked at Nadia.
    She looked
unimpressed. “It would have been easier to fly.”
    His smirk
disappeared, replaced with an aggravated sideways glance. “Let’s go find her,”
he said.
    They scanned the
rows of above-ground tombs and crypts with thin layers of frost, making their
way toward the older section of the cemetery where the granite and stone
crumbled and cracked. There were no flowers or wreaths on these graves, which
had been there for generations. Moss grew freely on some, and it was here that
they found her, kneeling beside the tomb of some poor soul named Theodosia Clementine
Honeywell who died in 1901. Ruby was scraping dead moss off the corner slab
with her polished fingernails and putting it in her purse.
    “You really had
to do that tonight?” said Noah.
    “Most
definitely,” she said, not looking away from her task. “My boyfriend—or I
should say my ex —is going to be very sorry.”
    “Is this for
some kind of spell?” said Nadia.
    “Yes, Frenchie.
It’s for some kind of spell.” She stood and turned to them. “All done,” she
said with a fake smile. And for the first time, she really looked at Noah and
said, “What about you? You taken?” She passed a glance at Nadia, sizing her up.
    “Um …,” said
Noah, rubbing the back of his neck. “I really need to go, so can we bring you
back home now?”
    Ruby smirked.
“Let’s go.”
    When Noah
dropped Ruby off at her house in her rundown neighborhood, he walked her to the
door to make sure she’d be safe.
    “Hang on right
here for a second,” she said, and then went inside. Noah stood there awkwardly
with his hands in his pockets.
    She returned a
minute later with something in her hand that she slipped into his. He looked
down to see a black gris gris bag. “Just a little something for your trouble.
Wear it around your neck. It’s for protection.”
    Noah smiled.
“Thanks.” He started to put it in his pocket.
    Ruby rolled her
eyes, took it from his hand and hung it around his neck, tucking it into his
shirt. Her hand lingered on his chest. She stole