“Far-fucking-out,” Chris whispered. “This is like some Lon Chaney fucking shit!”
They all looked at me and waited.
“What?” I asked.
“You do it now,” Rico said.
“Like, just do it,” Tanner said.
“Show me your American Werewolf in London,” Chris said.
“Jesus fucking Christ,” I muttered. “I’m not a wolf.”
They were very disappointed in that.
A TEXT came in the middle of the night.
It said, Please tell me you’re all right.
im all right
Bad dream
about what
He didn’t reply.
“GORDO’S A witch,” Tanner repeated.
“Shut the fuck up,” Chris said.
“I knew that motherfucker was up to something,” Rico said. “He sacrifices chickens at midnight and bathes in their blood, doesn’t he?”
We all stared at him.
“What?” Rico said. “It could happen. It’s a thing. I know my shit. I’ve seen stuff, man. Like things. Mi abuela used to slaughter chickens all the time. It was very hardcore.”
“That actually explains a lot,” Chris said. “Because of all his weirdness.”
“Like how his tattoos always seemed to be in different places,” Tanner said.
“Or how when we all moved here, he always went around our houses, rubbing the walls and muttering things,” Rico said.
“Or how he didn’t think it was funny when I wanted to put up witch Halloween decorations at the shop,” Chris said. “Because they were funny.”
“Or how he had daddy issues and never explained why,” Tanner said. “I always thought his dad was just a jerk. I didn’t know he was an evil jerk.”
“There were really a lot of clues,” Rico said. “I’m slightly disappointed in us.”
“We aren’t very self-aware,” Chris said with a frown.
“Holy shit!” Tanner said. “He can do magic.”
I sighed and gave in. “He has shiny arms.”
“Shiny arms?” Rico said. “Like… what.”
“His arms. They glow when he does magic.”