Free The Bloody City by Megan Morgan Page B

arm. “There’s nothing I’d rather do. We can leave tonight if you want, when you get back. I have a rental at the hotel.”
    Worry shone in his eyes, the same worry her mother must have had in hers every single day since her children went missing. She hated Sam even more for his manipulation.
    “I don’t know yet,” she said. “I’ll give you an answer when I get back tonight. Don’t fill Jason’s head with false hopes while we’re gone, though.”
    “June…”
    “I’ll think about it, Diego.” She squeezed his hand on her arm. “It’s not that easy.”

Chapter 7
     
    Occam arranged their meeting at the Hotel Burnham on West Washington Street, or rather, the restaurant adjacent to the hotel. The place was ridiculously fancy. Red pillars held aloft a high ceiling hung with chandeliers, the walls painted smooth black, the tables draped in white tablecloths. Tall windows provided a panoramic view of the nighttime streets around them.
    Patrons filled the restaurant. The chatter of voices and clink of silverware and glasses created a nerve-wracking cacophony of humanity June hadn’t realized she’d gotten so unfamiliar with. All the people put her on edge.
    Occam had reservations under a false name, and despite being for one less, since he hadn’t expected June, they were shown to a table. June trailed behind Sam, who was disguised again as the woman from the Nocturnal District, and Micha, disguised as a dark-haired swarthy man, arm-in-arm with Sam.
    June wore a red slinky dress Cindy had provided. The dress was undoubtedly short on Cindy but fell to June’s knees, and Cindy had to pin it in the back, since June was nowhere near as busty as Cindy. A black jacket accompanied the dress, hiding this embarrassment, as well as most of June’s tattoos, which might spark a memory more than her face would. Muse had provided a pair of black heels in June’s size, to match the outfit.
    June had been stunned Muse actually owned some non-white clothing.
    Occam lounged in a curving gray booth, waiting for them. He wore a black jacket and a white dress shirt, the top three buttons undone, his hair a wild blond tangle.
    June had no choice but to sit next to him, as Sam and Micha had to sit across the table together to maintain contact. June looked around, seeking out the sommelier, before she had to do this completely sober.
    “Hello, Little Red.” Occam draped his arm across the seat behind her. “What a nice surprise. I didn’t expect you to tag along. You smell nice.”
    “You don’t,” June informed him.
    He reeked of cigarettes. In the light, she could tell he was middle-aged, bony, and grizzled. His eyes were pale gray.
    “You look good too,” he said. “Good enough to eat.”
    She scowled. “I’ll get up and piss on you, Occam. Right here. I’ll do it.”
    “Reminds me of an ex-girlfriend.”
    “You’re an asshole, Occam,” Sam said. His voice, disturbingly his own, came out of his pink lipstick-painted mouth. “You could have picked a more discreet location.”
    “Discreet.” Occam held his wineglass aloft as a waiter sped by. “Why, so your band of yahoos can attack me?”
    “Why would I want to harm you?” Sam’s voice was sardonic. “You’re my only hope right now, unfortunately.”
    June tried to slink farther away from Occam and glanced at Micha, silently willing them both to have strength. Micha looked handsome in his current form, like a negative of himself, though she still preferred him the other way. He remained the same size and height.
    June had learned a few things about Sam’s power: he could change appearances, but not dimensions. His power worked on the same principle as ghosts, in that it used energy to project an image to the observer. He could stretch it over the available canvas, no farther, and he couldn’t make things invisible. This left him a rather burly woman, though somehow, it worked. She was pretty.
    “I’m not stupid enough to think you don’t have