October Girls: Crystal & Bone by L C Glazebrook Page B

know you better let Pettigrew stew for a while,” Momma said. “Give us time to cook up a good story.”
    “What’s wrong with the truth? You said all good relationships are built on honesty.”
    “I lied.”
    “What does that say about
our
relationship?”
    “What is it with you guys?” Royce said.
    “Shut up,” they answered in unison.
    Minerva opened the closet, returned the broom, and brought out the vacuum cleaner. “I better suck up the residue. No telling what that Lurken glop will mutate into if you leave it laying around.”
    “I’m not going to lose my boyfriend over a simple misunderstanding.” Crystal folded her arms and pouted.
    “One, it’s not simple, and, two, you’re not going to lose him.”
    “Oh, so there you go, knowing everything again.”
    Minerva scowled and tilted her head toward Royce. “Take this back where you found it, and then we’ll talk.”
    Minerva switched on the vacuum cleaner, drowning out Crystal’s snappy comeback. Which was fortunate, because she didn’t have one.
    “Come on,” Crystal shouted over the roar, tugging Royce’s arm. He followed her toward the bedroom.
    “And no funny business,” came Minerva’s last decree, as Crystal shut the door.
    “Hey, Dollface,” Royce said.
    Bone was sitting on the bed, Roscoe in her lap. She’d changed clothes, having slipped into Crystal’s favorite red sweater. Other clothes were scattered across the floor, as if Bone had engaged in her own private fashion show. “You really know how to ruin a date,” she said to Crystal.
    “You know how to ruin a
life
,”’ Crystal answered. “What happened to you?”
    “I dunno. I was walking down the hall when—
boom
—something knocked the wind out of me. I fell and got dragged into the bathroom, where I could smell all those funny chemicals. I thought I saw a shadowy figure rummaging among the bottles, but everything’s fuzzy. When I finally came around, I was lying here on your bed.”
    “And you look real gorgeous there,” Royce said, putting one knee on the bed as if he were going to crawl toward her.
    Crystal rammed a hand in his back pocket and pulled out his ugly toy switchblade, wondering why he hadn’t used it on the Lurken. She felt along the edge until she found the switch, then she sprung the blade and pressed it against his back.
    The tip rested near his heart, if he even had a heart. After all, he
was
a guy, and a dead one at that. The odds were slim.
    “Don’t even think about it,” Crystal said.
    “Hey, sweetie, forget what happened in the kitchen. We’re all friends here.”
    “You heard my momma. No funny business.”
    “You got a point,” Royce said, and she pressed the knife tip a little deeper to punish him for the pun. The blade bent to the side as she applied pressure.
    “What is this thing?” she asked.
    “A movie prop. You don’t want to be cutting nobody on the set.”
    “Are you in Dempsey’s—”
    “Look,” Bone said. “Somebody
else
was messing with your momma’s potions, and I got a feeling they weren’t exactly drumming up a homemade household cleanser, a cure for cancer, or a virgin Bloody Mary. This is more important than a dumb old movie.”
    “Great,” Crystal said. “Another thing Momma can blame on me.”
    “Somebody followed him.”
    “Who, me?” Royce said.
    “Don’t play coy,” Bone said. “You ain’t
that
cute.”
    “Let me get this straight,” Crystal said. “You found an opening and he snuck through your opening and then your hole was open for whatever else wanted to crawl inside?”
    “I think you’re getting it confused with your sexual history,” Bone said.
    “And right now there’s somebody hiding in the trailer who had the power to summon a Lurken?”
    “Somebody or some
thing
.”
    “Hey, what’s all this about a hole?” Royce said.
    “You’re two clicks behind, Autopsy Boy,” Crystal said. “Stay out of it.”
    “Maybe he can help us,” Bone said.
    “Sure,” Royce