“You guys don’t have to come out. I’m fine. I’m going to spend some time with Connie today and I think it will be good for both of us.” She didn’t mention where they were going, she didn’t see a point in worrying her mother with it.
“Oh, that poor woman, you let me know if we can do anything for her.”
“Take her some soup, Debra.”
Her mother put her hand on the phone so she was muffled, but she still heard her say, “Robert, I’m going to pour that hot soup all over you if you don’t stop.”
“It would be a shower of deliciousness,” her dad said.
“Listen, sweetie, despite your dad’s insensitivity—”
“I cook when I’m nervous or upset,” he interrupted her.
She went on. “We are both here for you and if you need anything at all you call me. Small or big. If you just want a Pepsi and don’t want to walk to the fridge you call me. Understand?”
“Yes, I love you guys very much,” Chloe said and hung up. Her parents meant well, but not knowing if she was going to be targeted made her nervous about letting them know anything. She got ready to go meet Connie and heated her coffee up in the microwave. She managed to get down a couple of handfuls of cereal and then it was time to go. Not being able to find her keys, she went into the living room and started searching. There, sitting on the table beside her television was a lighter, a Zippo. Someone had been in her house?
She picked it up and turned it over. ASH was engraved on the bottom. He’d been at her house last night? Why?
At least she was going to work after she left the funeral home, so she’d be able to ask him why the hell his lighter was in her living room.
Following Zazie’s directions, they made their way to Madame Visionary’s humble abode. The sign out front had a picture of her holding a crystal ball. She was wearing a strange looking crown of some sort and smiling. It was the cheesiest thing he’d ever seen.
He’d never come this far down the street before, there hadn’t been a reason. Now he was looking at the grandma he’d never met, and she looked like a carnival performer. Zazie knocked on the door and yelled, “Mama, I know you’re in there.”
A gravelly voice came out of a cracked window. “I don’t open until eleven, come back for your fortune then.” The woman had a strange accent he couldn’t really identify and Zazie rolled her eyes at him.
“It’s Zeezee, Mama, open the damn door. I have your grandson with me.”
She did open the door then and the woman standing in the door looked nothing like her picture. Her face was similar to Zazie’s but wrinkled and she looked angry. When she saw him her face lit up and she looked about ten years younger.
“Brent, I didn’t think I’d ever get to see you, son, come in!”
“You know me?”
“Of course I know you, darling. I’ve just not been allowed to see you since you were a baby. You know, you’re impressionable when you can listen.” Her accent was gone and she was smiling. Her hair was long and gray, pulled into a braid on the side of her head. She wore sweatpants and a shirt that said ‘Ain’t Life Grand’ in big colorful letters.
“You look different than your poster.”
“Oh yeah, I know, I have to make a living,” she said.
“So what brings you by, daughter? How the hell did you get out of the crazy house?” she asked, lighting up a cigarette.
“This amazing young man sprung me.” Zazie patted Brent’s cheek and they all sat in the living room.
“We’re here because we need a favor, Grandma.” Brent was trying out the word and seeing how it felt.
“Darling, please call me grandmother, it sounds a lot better.”
“Okay, Grandmother, Aunt Z was trying to see who killed my friend Layla because we think the same person might be after my girlfriend, Chloe. They’re shifters.” He said it and waited for some type of reaction from the older lady, but she didn’t blink.
“Want me to look in my crystal ball?” She cackled exactly like Zazie, who joined in the cackle. She finished up the cigarette she was smoking and put it out. “I’m just kidding, bring me a bowl from the kitchen, boy, and fill it up with water.”
Brent went into the kitchen and found a bowl, filling it up with water. He brought it over to her and put it in front of where she sat.
“All right, turn off the lights and be quiet.” Brent did what she said, thrilled he would finally get to see some real magic. She put her hands over the bowl and closed her eyes. This went on for five minutes. He timed it. Nothing happened and no one said anything.
“Show me that who would take the life of an innocent girl, show