The best part was the look on his face when the cops came to the house a few days later to arrest him and she was with them. Alive, well, and marked by a goddess.
“Yeah. He said I was evil. Everything about me was evil and unholy.”
“He’s a religious zealot, Arri. He doesn’t matter. We’re your sisters. We’re you’re family.”
She remembered when she met Neecy. One second she was taking Skuld’s hand and the next she woke up to find Neecy standing over her. “Welcome to the party, kid,” she’d said with a pretty smile. And her colors were so honest, so pure, Arri felt an immediate kinship to her.
“But you’re the only one that’s accepted me.”
“That’s not true…and Didi doesn’t count.”
“Yes she does. She leads the Crows. What she feels affects the rest of them.”
Neecy stood in front of her. “Then prove that you’re worth having here. Skuld would have never sent you here if we didn’t need you. She wouldn’t waste her time or ours. We both know that.”
As always, Neecy was right. And so soothing and calming. She always made Arri feel like she could do anything.
“Go on one hunt with me and the team. Just one. If it doesn’t work, we’ll never go there again and I’ll tell that to Skuld myself.”
Arri chewed her lip. A really bad habit she had, and Neecy picked up on it immediately.
Smiling, she teased, “You going to answer me, shithead, or just chew your lip off?”
Neecy was the only one who treated her like family. She joked with her. Teased her relentlessly. And Arri loved every minute of it.
Arri giggled. “Okay. You evil heifer.”
“Evil heifer, huh?” Neecy laughed. “Those are some mighty fightin’ words there, Arri.” Neecy hugged her and Arri felt her warmth and caring. It flowed around her like soft rain. She knew those outside the Gathering saw Neecy as cold and unapproachable. They were wrong. She was anything but cold and unapproachable.
“I wanna show you something. Look up.”
Arri pulled away from her mentor and looked up into the bare trees towering over them. That’s where they were. Where they always where when Neecy was at the house. There were hundreds. At least. They lurked constantly. Always at the ready for Neecy.
“They’re not going to dive bomb us or anything, are they?”
“Don’t be silly.”
Neecy motioned to one and a huge crow glided down from the trees and landed on her shoulder. The bird rubbed her head against Neecy’s cheek and the incredibly tall woman smiled.
“They’re my friends. They wouldn’t hurt anybody I cared about.”
Arri hid her smile. She didn’t want Neecy to know how much what she said meant to her. “She’s beautiful.”
“Yep.”
“When did you know?”
“Know what?”
“That you could call the crows?”
“About a week after I got here.” Neecy grinned at the memory. “I was back here and suddenly looked up and saw all these freakin’ birds in the trees. There had just been an Alfred Hitchcock marathon on channel nine or something the night before, so you know I freaked out big time. Anyway, I screeched like a banshee and they suddenly flew at me. I was only sixteen, so it never occurred to me to run. So I covered my head and screamed ‘stop.’ And they did.”
“And then you knew?”
“Pretty much.”
“It’s very cool. Your Gift.”
“So is yours.” Although Arri’s ability to see auras was not the Gift from Skuld.
Her ability to read people had been there since birth. The problem was…she had no idea what Skuld had given her as a Gift or if she’d given her one at all.
Still, she had no intention of telling that to Neecy. Instead, Arri would go out on the hunt. Get her Korean ass kicked and that would be it. Her only concern was not getting any of them killed in the process. If she could manage that, she’d be damn happy.
“It’s just weird,” Arri admitted. “Knowing more about people than I feel comfortable with. Probably the way Kerri feels about seeing glimpses of the future all the time. It can get overwhelming.”
“I understand.” Neecy put her arm around Arri’s shoulder. “But it’s still cool.
And you should be proud of it. Use it to your advantage.”
Arri nodded as she looked up at the trees. With all the birds that hung around, Arri thought there would be more bird droppings. But their cars, the backyard, the windows…none of them ever had any messes on their stuff. Like all the birds in the world knew who they were and respected them.
“So…you and Yager, huh?”
Neecy stiffened next to her. “How did you...”
“Anytime he’s around, you get these big fat swirls of pink in your color. And you’ve got it in spades at the moment. It’s really cute. They’re all extra swirly.”
“That’s bullshit, Arrianna. And we both know it.”
Smiling, “He’s crazy about you.”
“Shut up.”
“His colors change as soon as he sees you.”
“Shut. Up.”
“Not a little either. Big, fat swirls of color as soon as he knows you’re in the room.”
Growling, Neecy yanked her arm off Arri’s shoulders, causing her little bird friend to head back to the safety of the trees.
“Don’t worry,” Arri yelled at the woman’s retreating back. “They’re pretty colors!”
Didi handed Delia Kim a beer as she sat beside her on the big couch.
“Thanks. So what’s up?”
“I want you to track down the Hunters. Track ‘em down, so we can wipe ‘em out.”
Delia opened her bottle of beer using the corner of the coffee table. “No problem.
I’ll get started tonight.”
“Good.”
“Although I’m still trying to figure out how they saw us. Has Skuld said anything to you?”
“Not lately.” Didi sighed. “I can ask her…maybe in the next twenty years I’ll actually get an answer.”
“These Nordic gods sure are difficult.”
“That’s a nice way of saying bitchy.”
Delia stared at her beer bottle. “One question, though.”
Didi gulped down a swig of beer. “Shoot.”
“Shouldn’t Neecy be on this? This is the kind of stuff she lives for.”
“I know. That’s the problem. The woman has no life.”
“It has gotten kind of pathetic, hasn’t it? Ever since Mr. Tiny Penis Man dumped her about four months ago.”
“Try six months. And I knew that wouldn’t last. She was calling him Mr. Tiny Penis Man.” Didi took another gulp of beer and shook her head. “Right now I want her concentrating on more important things.”
Delia grinned. “Like Wilhelm Yager?”
“Exactly.”
“For a white boy, he’s not bad.”
“White, black, brown, or yellow, he’s perfect for Neecy. That’s all that matters.”
“Maybe. But this is Neecy we’re talking about. If it’s not about the Gathering or school, it doesn’t exist for her.”
Didi grabbed the remote and turned on the TV. “Trust me. Yager’ll make sure she knows he exists.”
Neecy stood in the middle of the mom-‐and-‐pop video store, staring blankly at the horror section. She already had three DVDs in her hand, but she’d completely forgotten what she was supposed to be doing.
Christ, forget what she was supposed to be doing? How about… what the fuck have I done?
To get involved, even for a day, with Yager was such a stupid move on her part.