“We’re going to try,” says Candy.
“You might want to shake a leg.”
Sally winks at me as she goes by and sits on the Bugatti. A wink is as close to a get-well card as she’ll ever give you, but it’s plenty for me.
Candy comes over and props me up against her. In the distance, Flicker and some of the others are rearranging the parking spaces into a hexagram. In the center of the hexagram, Kasabian and Carlos seem to be trying to light a pile of wood on fire.
Allegra is by me. She takes a stone from her bag and places it on my forehead. It turns black and crumbles. She rubs a purple salve on my cheek. It too turns to ash and falls off. She puts a leaf into each of my palms and closes my hands. When she opens them again, you can probably guess what they’re like.
She closes her bag and curses quietly.
“I don’t know what to say, Stark. I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay. I know embalming isn’t your specialty.”
That wasn’t the right thing to say. When she moves away, I think she’s crying a little.
I look up at Candy and nod at the screen.
“What’s playing tonight?”
She says, “Saving Private Asshole.”
“Porn? Kasabian will be happy.”
Candy looks at Sally, then back at me.
“Was Sally right? Do you want to die?”
“How’s your head?”
Candy frowns.
“Is that what this is about? I got a bump on the head?”
I try to push myself upright. I make it a few inches, then lean back against her.
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“It’s your head and everyone else’s,” I say. “I was ready to fuck over the world to come back. I’m afraid if I stay, I’ll bring more trouble down on everyone.”
“Leaving isn’t entirely your decision.”
“Yeah, it is.”
“Then get up and walk away.”
“I can’t.”
Candy gestures with her hand to the others working.
“All the people you were fucking over are here to help you.”
“That was the old me. Not the Wormwood me. Buy them a popcorn and send them home.”
Carlos and Kasabian finally have their fire going. Are they having a cookout? Is this my going-away party?
Candy says, “That’s a shitty thing to say after everything they’ve done for you. If you want to send them home, tell them yourself.”