“Really big lights,” she added for Mr. Buzzkill.
She refused to peek over her shoulder at Custo again, though she felt him behind her like a warm sun on her skin. The sensation was impossible to block so she kept her gaze on the road, on the white license plates with their blue anagramlike letters and numbers. GKM rearranged could be gimmick, and SFR could be surfer, and AGL could be agile, but not angel. No matter how hard she tried, heat and comfort wrapped around her, embraced her. And she knew it was just as dangerous as the Shadow creature that stalked her.
The contradiction of Custo was pulling her apart and called for an exception in her once-a-year cheesecake rule. Just as soon as possible. And with whipped cream. She needed a binge and bad, the kind ballet rarely permitted her.
The building Adam stopped at was three stories high, one in a series of several similar buildings, on a seriously crap street that made her nervous in broad daylight. The brick was dulled to gray, except for the door, which was painted a clashing, crackling reddish pink. Litter clogged the gutter, and a couple of beer cans were lined up neatly against the building. Remnants of the night. A small sign was above the door, black lettering on a black background, so she couldn’t read it until she was standing in front of it. AMARANTH.
Wasn’t that a flower?
Adam pounded on the door while Custo stood to her side. He didn’t try to hold her, for which she was grateful, though he kept shooting her sorry, troubled looks.
Yeah, well, deal with it.
“I don’t want you to worry about whatever she sees,” Custo murmured. “Adam said ‘possible’ futures. Just because he wasn’t able to change mine, doesn’t mean we can’t change yours.”
Her stomach had started to knot in spite of her determination not to worry. She lifted her chin an extra notch. “I’m not nervous.”
“Liar,” he whispered into her ear.
Adam pounded on the door again. “Zoe!” he shouted. “Open up!”
“I thought we were seeing Abigail,” Annabella said.
“Zoe’s her sister,” Custo answered.
Adam turned, a questioning look on his face.
Yeah, Annabella wondered, how did Custo know Abigail had a sister?
“Angel,” Custo answered them both.
Still didn’t answer the how part of the question, but before she could press, the red door was wrenched open from the inside.
A cartoon character of a girl stood in the entrance. She was part Japanese anime, part Goth, with inky black hair, a blunt fringe of bangs at her forehead, the rest parted severely down the middle and woven in lots of thin, long braids. Her black makeup, heavy enough for the stage, exaggerated her eyes, while the rest of her face was ultrapale. A tight black crop top bared her midriff to show her belly button, and she wore low-riding black skinny jeans that fit like tights.
“I won’t let you in,” she said, snapping her gum.
“Tell Abigail I’m here,” Adam said.
Zoe sneered and snapped her gum again. “She knows who’s here, duh. Been up since dawn waiting with her visions. Got herself all dressed up and everything.”
Adam planted a hand on the door to push it open; Zoe countered with her combat boot to the floor to keep the gap just so.
“But I’m not letting you in,” Zoe finished in singsong. “She told me you’d pound and pound until someone answered, so I came down personally to tell you all to fuck off.”
“Listen,” Adam grated, “what Talia did to you was necessary at the time. You are alive and well, so get over it and let us—”
“Abigail is ill,” Custo said, thoughtfully. “Dying.”
Zoe’s pale pout trembled. Her black eyes trained on Custo, wicked arched brows winging. “I don’t know who the fuck you think you are, but forcing my sister to look into Shadow makes her even sicker.”
Annabella blanched. She didn’t want anyone made sick on her behalf.
Zoe’s gaze hit her, too, her sneer turning her eyes into twin crescents. “That’s right, you’d be killing her.” She looked up, as if thinking really hard. “Hmmmm…Now, should I let my sister’s killers in the door, or should I tell them to screw themselves? Hmmm. Gosh, it’s just so damn hard to decide.”
“Let me help,” Adam said. “Let me bring you both to Segue. I have resources that might be able to…”
Zoe’s sarcasm thickened. “Oh, I think you’ve helped quite enough, thank you.”
Annabella lifted a hand to placate the girl. “They’re here for me, and I am totally cool not bothering your sister about my future. I like to think that I make my own choices about my life, so I wouldn’t really want to hear my fortune anyway. It would kinda destroy my illusions, you know?”
Zoe’s black-kohled lids lowered halfway in an expression of acute boredom. Lovely girl.