The Downside Ghosts Series Books 1-3: Unholy Ghosts, Unholy Magic, City of Ghosts. Stacia Kane

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СКАЧАТЬ You weren’t supposed to, but it’s done now. You can fix it before you go to sleep. I’ll get you some nails and a hammer, you can close the door and jam the lock.”

      “Ain’t suppose you got some eats? Only my belly getting tight. Can’t remember last food I put in.”

      Chess ignored him and set a couple of nails on the counter. Their pointed tips reminded her she’d need to refill her lube syringe, so she grabbed the bottle of oil from under the sink, too.

      “Chess? Got me a few dollars, I could help for some food …”

      “Take a look in the fridge. I don’t think there’s much.”

      There wasn’t. Brain stared into the empty depths as though a four-course meal would magically appear. When one didn’t his shoulders sagged. “I have a beer?”

      She shrugged. “If you want one. Get me one, too.” Hey, he wasn’t her kid, and chances were he’d already done a lot more than have a beer or two. Kids younger than him OD’d every day.

      He handed her one. “I ask you something?”

      “Sure.”

      She filled the syringe and a spare and set them on the counter. Her bag was a jumble of magic items and mundane; she really ought to clean it out. No time like the present. For some reason she didn’t feel like going into the living room and sitting down. Perhaps it was the unexpected presence of a child in her apartment, or maybe she was just afraid that if she did she’d fall asleep.

      “You gonna try to clear them ghosts at Chester?”

      “Why?”

      Brain leaned against the opposite wall and studied the floor. “I just curious. About what you do. Good thing, right? Good magic clears the ghosts.”

      “In general, yes. The Church doesn’t do black magic.”

      “But do you?”

      “What is that supposed … Brain? Do you know something about that airport?”

      His eyes widened. “Don’t know what you’re meaning. I just curious, is all.”

      No. He’d started to say he’d been there before, hadn’t he? Friday night with Terrible. He’d almost said he went there all the time.

      “Did you see something out there, Brain? Did you see something happen?”

      “No! No, I never been there cepting when you met me. I see nothing there.” His fingers wrapped around his beer bottle were white.

      “You can tell me, you know. If you saw something, it might be important. Really important, okay?” She paused. “I bet Bump would be grateful if you saw something that helped him open that airport. Might even give you a job.”

      “Terrible hate me.”

      “Terrible doesn’t hate you. And even if he did … he’d like you if you helped. Wouldn’t you like that? Working for Bump? Having Terrible as a friend? You could tell Hunchback to fuck off right to his face and he wouldn’t be able to touch you.”

      Some of the fear drained from Brain’s face. “Thinking so?”

      “I do. If you know something, Brain, you should tell me. It might be important. And I’ll … I’ll keep you safe. You can stay here, as long as you need to.”

      “With you?” The hopeful expression on his face was like an arrow straight into her heart. How many times in her childhood had she dreamed of safety, of being somewhere no one would hurt her or of being so powerful no one could?

      Now she was. Practically untouchable, thanks to her position with the Church and her new alliance with Bump. No wonder he’d come to her.

      “Yes, with me.”

      “True thing?”

      “True thing, Brain.”

      He sighed, a long, shaky sigh that seemed to come from his toes and work its way up, and nodded.

      Chess picked her beer up off the counter. “Okay, great. So let’s go in the living room and sit down, and you can tell me all about it, okay? Everything you saw.”

      The knock at the door startled them both. Months went by and not a single person came to visit her. Now she had two, at the crack of freaking dawn. Great.

      Doyle held up a white paper bag. “Thought you might like some breakfast.”

       Chapter Fifteen

      “It is not permitted for those outside the Church to inscribe power into their skins. Only purely decorative tattoos are acceptable.”

      —The Book of Truth, Laws, Article 420

      He took her silence for assent, and brushed past her to come in. “I was up, and I figured you’d be up—you went to the Morton place last night, right?—so I figured, why not. Wanted to find out how that hand is doing, too. Have you been cleaning it?”

      He set the bag on her kitchen counter and started unpacking it. Sodium fumes filled the air, along with the scent of damp sausage. It didn’t make her remotely hungry.

      Chess’s first instinct was to send him away, but Brain had wanted something to eat. If Doyle was so eager to feed someone he could feed him. They’d get some food into the boy, then Doyle could go away and she could hear what Brain had to say. And if Doyle didn’t like it, too bad. It was awfully presumptive of him to just show up here like that.

      “How did you get in the building?”

      “Somebody was leaving.” He glanced at her. “It’s okay, isn’t it?”

      “Well, yeah, but I just wish—”

      “Chess?”

      Brain stood in the middle of her living room, his cheeks paler than usual. “I gots to go, Chess, sorry, I forgot something I’s supposed to do, aye?”

      “But there’s plenty of food, we can talk after—”

      “No! I meaning, no, it’s cool. I catch you another time.”

      “Brain, don’t—” Too late. The boy moved fast when he wanted to. He was down the stairs before she could get into the hall and stop him. “Shit.”

      “Who’s that?”

      She shrugged. Now she was going to have to be alone with Doyle. And mountains of food. “Just a kid. He said … never mind.”

      “He looked pretty upset.”

      “His boss kicked him out.”

      “And he wanted to talk about it? Why’d he come to you?” He opened cabinet doors, finally finding СКАЧАТЬ