Shapeshifted (Edie Spence 3)

“I can’t go inside. It’d diminish my don. ”

“What is that, even?”

“It’s my gift, as a curandero. ” He gestured grandly out at the street in front of us.

“Well, then, of course. ” I looked back at the wall outside. The paint didn’t cover as well out here as it had inside. It’d need another two coats for sure. “We’ll probably be back to normal on Monday. Whatever normal is. ”

Olympio cocked his head at me. “I wasn’t kidding about the ghost. You sound down, mija. ”

“What’s it to you, mijo?” I asked back.

His eyebrows rose.

“That’s right. I know three words of Spanish. The other two are curse words, though. ”

Olympio grinned, showing me a mouth full of chips. “I could teach you more. ”

“Curse words?” I laughed out loud, and he did too. It felt good.

“More Spanish. Not curse words,” he amended.

“Sure,” I said and nodded. “It’d be useful. ”

“There’d be a small fee, of course. ”

“Of course. ” I took a big bite of my burrito and chewed it.

“Can you tell me about the vampires now?”

I sighed with regret. I should have watched myself better. “They’re sort of like the ones you see on TV. Or read about in books. You’ll probably never meet one. The end. ”

Olympio screwed up his face. “You have to tell me more than that. How many are there? Where did you meet them? Did they bite you?”

I twisted my lips sideways. “There’s a bunch of them. More than you’d care to think about. I met them where I used to work, at my old hospital. ”

“They were there for the blood?” Olympio guessed.

“Something like that. ” I folded the wrapper back over the end of my burrito, my appetite gone. “I got fired, and now I don’t know where they are anymore. ”

“But you’re looking for them now. Why?”

“I didn’t promise to tell you that,” I said, setting the burrito down. I wished I’d brought out my Coke. “Your turn. Are the Reina de la Noche really run by a queen?”

His eyes widened, and he got a silly grin. “Oh, yeah. But here’s the thing—no one’s ever seen her. ”

“Really?”

> “Seen her and lived. Even her own people don’t know what she looks like. She’s like a ghost. ” He squinted at me. “Or a vampire? The teeth and the blood of the Reinas—is that what you think?”

I shrugged mysteriously, trying to act like I knew more than I did, while still desperate to hear him go on. “You tell me. ”

“Whoa. Whoa. ” He set his cup down. “Then all the stories would be real. They say she killed all of the Port Boyz gang in one night—that’s how the Reinas got their territory. ”

That did sound like a vampire, if, and only if, it were real. I could see the stories he’d heard through his mind.

“They said she ripped their heads off. I didn’t believe it—how could a girl rip off anyone’s head? But—”

I waved my hands for him to slow down. “People make up stuff all the time. And it’s always been cool to have other people scared of you. Right?”

He closed his mouth, trapping all his previously outlandish stories inside, and nodded. “Yeah. Right. ”

We were quiet then, eating. The sun was beating down, and everything was still. People were walking in and out of a small store a few corners down, and behind us was a low hum of conversations I couldn’t understand, but right now it seemed like it was just the two of us sitting outside, Olympio, me, and a few brave ants.

And whatever was moaning across the street from us in the storm drain.

“You cannot tell me that you don’t hear that,” I told Olympio.

“What?”

The day was completely still. The only other sounds were from people inside the clinic.

“That,” I said, pointing to where it sounded like it came from, the drain. “Maybe it’s my ghost. Or the Queen. ” I gave him a look.

Olympio seemed like he was trying to listen. He leaned forward, tilting his head. “Nothing. ” I heard the moan again.

“Oh, come on. What good are your curandero powers if you can’t hear that?” I said, but the moaning had stopped, and Olympio shook his head.