with her eyes rolled back.
I squatted down and put my hand out slowly—like to let a cat sniff me.
She didn’t. Just sat there, breathing.
Then I touched her face. She didn’t start.
“She’s hot,” I said.
Penguin turned his head to the side. “Eh … I seen hotter.”
I looked over my shoulder at him.
He shook his head.
I looked back at Danielle. “C’mon, Danielle. Let’s go.”
She trembled some, but her eyes stayed back, and she held her posture.
I sighed, took another drag, then flicked away my cigarette. I decided to improvise. “All right, Dwizaal. You’ve had your fun. Let her go.”
Her eyes rolled down, and her bared teeth went into a smile. “All you had to do was ask.”
The voice was not Danielle’s.
“Holy shit!” Penguin cried out. “Rabbit! Did you hear that shit!”
“Hear wha? I’m takin’ a piss over here …”
I felt a crawl along my spine but forced myself to hold her gaze. “Well, all right then,” I said. “Can we go?”
“Sure,” Danielle said in that other voice. “See you at the Tower, right?”
It’s true Danielle loved the Burning Tower near her house. We’d go down there from time to time. Why? To get fucked up and break shit. Sometimes make out. Oh, and the Tower was especially good for sulking. That was Danielle’s favorite use for it, in fact. She’d spend hours perched atop the damned thing like a crow, sulking over whoever’d broken her heart last. Not that I could say much, but at least I stayed home.
“Right?” she repeated.
“Sure,” I said. “See you at the Tower.”
Danielle’s face went slack, and she fell onto the back of her heels.
“You a’ight?” Penguin asked.
“Where the fuck am I?” Danielle asked.
“We’re at the Plant,” Penguin said, a big ass grin.
Danielle looked at me. “What’s that asshole smiling about? I show my pussy or something?”
I shook my head.
“What then? Spill it, motherfuckers!”
Penguin threw down his finger as his legs went stiff. “Man, that was some fucked up shit! You was all demoned possessed and shit! It was awesome!”
I rolled my eyes, put a hand out for Danielle.
She smiled. “Really?”
“Yeah, man. Fucked up,” Penguin said.
Danielle looked at me. “Was I really? Was it rad?”
I shook my head. “No. It was not.”
She frowned. “Why not?”
I didn’t know. But I knew this was bullshit. Somehow. It had to be. No such thing as demons. It’s the fucking 32nd Century for shit’s sake. “You guys are just too wasted,” I said.
Penguin looked at me, cocked his head. “Oh, come on. Come on! Seriously? You really gon go an say that after what we just seen here tonight?”
“Wha ch’all dumbasses seen?” Rabbit asked as he took the platform.
Penguin pointed at Danielle. “Dani got demon possessed.”
“Bullshit,” Rabbit said.
“Thank you,” I said.
Penguin looked back and forth between us. “Y’all a couple of deniers. Y’all like dem dat denied Jesus and the Holocaust and the Tauran Prince and all that shit.”
“Wha the fuck you talkin’ ‘bout?” Rabbit asked.
“I don’t see how this is equivalent,” I said.
“Y’all’s skeptics,” Penguin said, pointing at both of us like we’d done something to him personally.
“Whatever,” I said. “Can we just fuckin’ go? I’m getting fuckin’ eaten alive by mosquitoes.”
Penguin stopped and looked me up and down. “Nice dress.”
“Fuck off.” I pulled my leather jacket a little tighter to me.
Rabbit put his hand on my shoulder. “Hey. I was just teasin’ b’fore. You do wha you gotta do now. You be you. A’ight?”
I felt some heat at the corner of my eyes and a lump in my throat. I nodded first, then said, “Thanks, Rabbit.”
He smiled. “Hey. You got it. You with us. No matter what.”
9 | Three Dark Spots: The Burning Tower
“Danielle,” I said, “I will never forgive your ass for makin’ me climb this fuckin’ tower.”
But Danielle wasn’t talking. She was sitting atop the Burning Tower, sour-faced, copper hair blowing like a windsock.
My palms were wet. I couldn’t figure for the life of me what fucking evolutionary advantage that was supposed to give me at this fucking height. I thought to look down but immediately decided against it. “Fuck.” I took deep and shallow breaths. “Fuck. Fuck.” I threw my leg up and over the observation platform. My heel hooked it, so I flipped on over and lay flat on my back, panting in relief. Not that I was relieved, per se. I was still pumping sweat like mad and knew I had to get back down from this fucker. Assuming I could talk Danielle down.
The edge of the observation platform had this rickety-ass railing. No flexible fields. Why the fuck not? Who knows, but there were none.
I wiped my sweaty hands and gripped the shitty rail as hard as I could. “Come on, Danielle. Get the fuck down here. You know I hate this shit.”
She didn’t say anything. Just sat there, staring off at the setting sun.
I took another breath, wiped one hand on my jeans, then the other. “Is this about Terry?”
I really had no idea. Was working in the dark. I’d gone over to her house to hang, and one of her older sisters told me she had gone to the Tower. That’s it. All I had to go on.
“C’mon, girl,” I said. “Let’s go get potatoes and some beer.” The waystation near her house in the other direction made these fried potatoes that she adored, for whatever fucking reason.
But
