Free Skeleton Crew by Cameron Haley Page B

shook her head and thought for a moment. “I was born during the Great Depression,” she said finally. “We came out here from Oklahoma when I was a little girl, and my father worked in the orchards and the fields. He’d be gone for weeks at a time, and sometimes we didn’t know when he’d come back. When I was a little older, he enlisted and went away to the war. That was even worse—we didn’t know if he’d come back at all. I know what it feels like to wait for someone, honey. This feeling wasn’t the same. With Daddy, the feeling was always about him. I was waiting for him. This time…it was just an absence and a sense of expectation that hung there in the room, thick enough to breathe. I was just waiting.”
    I glanced at Adan and he shrugged. I turned back to Pearl. “Is there anything else you can tell me? How are you feeling now?”
    â€œI hurt. Everything feels…tight. Inside. Like cramps, but sharp and hot.” She started crying again and covered her curler-studded hair with her arms. “I’m hungry. Oh, God, I’m so hungry, and I know what I want. I know what I want and I can’t bear it!” She began rocking herself and clawing at her head, pulling out fistfuls of fine, white hair and blue curlers.
    â€œDomino…” Adan warned.
    â€œYou won’t have to wait much longer, Pearl. I promise. It’ll just be a little while and then you can go home.” I knelt down and touched her wrinkled face, tilting it up to me. Ismiled at her, putting as much warmth in it as I could find, and then I spun the spell and pulled her spirit free. I laid her body down beside Henry’s as gently as I could.
    â€œWe need to get out of here,” Adan said.
    I stood there looking down at Pearl’s body. “I know, but we can’t just leave them here like this.”
    â€œLet’s get moving,” he said. “I’ll call 911. I do have a cell phone,” he added, smiling.
    I nodded and whistled to the piskies, who were still flying air patrol over the crowd. We all piled into the Lincoln. I reached for the ignition and then slumped back in my seat. “It’s never like this in the movies.”
    â€œWhat’s that?” Adan asked.
    â€œThis shit is cruel, man. Dying’s got to be bad enough, but this is just brutal. It’s just wrong. I don’t care if it’s God Himself fucking with us—I’m going to find out who’s responsible, and I’m going to break off a foot in his ass.”

five
    When we got back to my condo, Honey took Jack in to meet her family. They seemed to be moving pretty fast, but I wasn’t exactly qualified to offer relationship advice. The last time I’d gotten involved the man of my dreams turned out to be a shapeshifter who wanted to skin me and steal my magic. Honey couldn’t do much worse than I had with Adan’s changeling. And Jack seemed okay—the strong, silent type, as piskies went.
    â€œWhat?” Adan said.
    â€œWhat, what?”
    â€œYou were staring at me.”
    Damn. “I was just thinking about, uh, where to start.” I gestured vaguely at the living room. “Have a seat.” I went into my bedroom and came back with my laptop. I pushed the Chinese checkers board out of the way and put the computer on the coffee table.
    â€œDomino, I told you, I’m not really into gadgets.”
    â€œGadgets? It’s a computer, Adan. And I use it for divination magic.”
    â€œWhy? You could just use—”
    â€œSkip it, Adan. Okay, we do the summoning ritual first,just so we can get it off our plate and deal with the zombie problem.”
    â€œYou want to identify the ritual,” Adan said, and I nodded. “Okay, what can I do to help?”
    â€œLet’s see what I get. Then you can help me think it through.” I brought up Wikipedia on the browser and tapped the ley line running