“I’m not sure I do.” I could hear the reluctance in his voice. I’d heard it before, the first time he told me his mom was a zombie and he was worried it would make me not want to marry him. “Just say it.”
“She’s probably shedding.”
“Shedding?”
He nodded. “Flakes of skin. I know, it’s gross.”
I shrugged. “I’ve been sunburned a few times. I’ve peeled. It’s not that big of a deal. In fact, it might be a good thing. At least we’d know she’d been here.”
He smiled, giving me a quick side-eye. “Thanks.”
“For what?”
“For not freaking out about the weird stuff.”
“You can talk to the dead and I have blue hair, which I think is cool but some people probably think is pretty out there. I’m just saying I’m not sure anything can really be considered weird stuff anymore.” I smiled back. “Come on. Let’s find your mom.”
Chapter Twenty-five
Sinclair
The nightclub was a massive space, and checking all the nooks and crannies took forever. But with each passing minute, I knew the chances of finding my mom grew slimmer. So slim that it was time to face facts. She wasn’t there. And there were no signs that she’d been there. So unless my dad turned up something different, we’d finally hit a real brick wall.
Eventually we made our way back to where we’d started. My disappointment was fast turning into anger. The feeling of helplessness made me want to rage.
A juvenile response, maybe, but it was that or break down in a way I wasn’t sure I ever had before. I was not prepared to lose my mom. Not when there had to be something else I could do.
My dad joined us a couple of minutes later, the look on his face mirroring my own emotions. “She’s not here,” he said tersely.
“We didn’t have any luck either,” Jayne said. “Sin, what other possibilities are on the list?”
I shook my head. “Nothing as promising as this.”
She put one hand on her hip. “But maybe he didn’t pick this place because it was too obvious.”
She was trying to keep us going. And bless her for it, but the darkness hanging over me had gotten its claws into my soul, and I wasn’t sure there was any recovering. I didn’t say anything.
Neither did my father.
She glanced at my dad, then back at me like she thought one of us would respond. When neither of us did, she frowned. “Snap out of it. Both of you. I know you expected to find her here. So did I. But just because we didn’t doesn’t mean we’re giving up.”
My dad looked away.
“Sin,” Jayne repeated. “The list of properties.”
I couldn’t ignore my wife, so I pulled up the list on my phone, the rage turning into a numbness that just barely let me remain functional. I scanned the list. Birdie’s notes were helpful, making it easy to eliminate places. “I don’t see anything worth investigating.”
“It’s time to call your Aunt Zinnia,” my father said in a small, quiet voice.
Just the idea made me freeze up. I couldn’t process what he was suggesting. The idea that we’d come to that point. “No.”
“Sin,” my dad said. “At least we’d know.”
“Know what?” Jayne asked.
I shook my head. My father could answer her because I wasn’t ready to put that explanation into words.
“Lila’s great aunt Zinnia is a necro-psychometrist. Basically, by holding or touching something that belongs to someone, she can tell if they’re alive or dead. Well. Dead mostly. Death magic runs in Lila’s family. It’s probably responsible for her turning into a zombie and for why Sin’s necromancy is so strong.”
I couldn’t look at either one of them. Instead, I stared at the floor. “He wants to give Aunt Zinnia something of Mom’s and…” I couldn’t finish.
The softest gasp escaped Jayne’s mouth as she understood what I was saying. “And have her tell you if your mom is…not with us anymore.”
I nodded, my throat a knot of emotion that wouldn’t let words pass.
Jayne shook her head. “I hate to be indelicate, but isn’t your mom…that is, she’s a zombie so…isn’t she technically already not with us?”
“She’s not that kind of zombie,” I explained. “She was turned in her teens, and probably because of the death magic that runs in her family, she survived the bite without losing her life. She just changed. She wasn’t reanimated, like a zombie that came from someone already deceased.”
“Okay,” Jayne said. “That makes sense now. Thanks, Sin.”
“Sure,” I said.
“We should go.” My dad gestured toward the exit. “I’ll take you back to the house, then go get her.”
Aunt Zinnia lived in a retirement community about fifteen minutes from my parents’ house. They’d tried to get her to move in with them, but she’d refused, claiming she didn’t need anyone to look after her. She didn’t either.
But my dad soon might.
Without saying anything else, we all headed for the car. Jayne waited until we were out of the building, then locked the door and slipped back under like she had at Carrie’s.
My father drove. I stared blankly out the window, seeing nothing and trying to hold myself together.
If my mother was dead, she would not go unavenged. My skills had a dark side. A side I’d never used because I’d never wanted to or had a reason to. Until now. And now I had both those things, the will and the reason. Or I would, if my mother didn’t make it home.
Back at the house, Jayne and I went inside while my dad left to get Aunt Z.
Jayne and I continued on in the same silent status. Moving like we were underwater. Moving with a kind of purposeless aim that seemed more about not breaking down than doing anything meaningful.
Jayne went straight to the couch, where Spider was sleeping, and picked him up, pressing her face into his fur. He didn’t seem to mind. Or maybe he knew she needed the comfort he provided.
Birdie and Jack showed up about ten minutes later. Birdie looked at me, sympathy filling her eyes. “No luck, huh?”
I shook my head. “No.” I didn’t have it in me to explain about my father going to get Aunt Zinnia and what that meant. They’d figure it out soon enough.
“Sorry, son,” Jack said.
I nodded. “Thanks.”
Birdie went to her laptop. “Don’t give up hope.”
“I haven’t.” But even I could hear the gloom in my voice. “I thought you two might do some sightseeing.”
Birdie glanced at Jack before answering me. “We did. Sort of. We took a little trip to the Dove and Wand.”
“The magic bookstore?”
Jack nodded. “On a hunch, we had a little talk with the proprietor about the book your father bought.” He sighed. “That Xavier fellow needed a little convincing, but we still didn’t find out much, other than he got it on eBay from a seller by the name of Superfine. Not a lot of help.”
Birdie frowned. “I’d hoped for more. I’m still going to dig and see if I can find out who’s behind that screen name, but…”