Witch Ball - BK 3 by Linda Joy Singleton Page B

especially Penny-Love
who had a low opinion of Goths.
    I'd gotten closer to Thorn on the trip to Pine
Peaks, learning her real name (Beth), her true hair color (dark blond), and her mother's profession
(minister).

    Today she wore black leather pants, a black
jacket, a spiked collar, and a belt woven with barbed
wire. But instead of her black shoes, she wore bright
pink sneakers that matched the pink rhinestone
pierced through her eyebrow.
    "Pink is the new black," Thorn said when she
caught me staring. "I'm thinking of getting a pinkand-black wig."
    "Go for it." I grinned.
    "Manny filled me in on the weird predictions
and I couldn't resist coming along. I hope it's okay."
    "It's better than okay," I told her honestly. She
was the first person my age I'd met with a psychic
ability, although she downplayed her skill for finding things as just a game. It had been more than a
game when she helped find a classmate who was
bleeding to death. Her game had helped save a life.
    "I figure I can help you guys," Thorn said as
she buckled up in the front seat.
    "Because you're a Finder?" Manny teased, knowing Thorn hated labels, especially on her.
    "Not even." She shot him a scathing look. "I
can help cause I have a friend who lives in the same
apartment building."

    I pulled against my seatbelt, leaning forward
from the backseat to face Thorn. "Does your friend
know K.C.?"
    "No. She says I must have the wrong apartment number, because only a woman and a girl live
there."
    A thought hit me I hadn't considered before.
"Could K.C. be a girl?"
    Manny shook his head. "Not according to the
school records."
    "Maybe he moved and didn't tell the school,"
Thorn suggested.
    "Easy enough to check out. There's something
weird about a dude no one knows."
    "Nothing wrong with being independent, not
a follower," Thorn said with a critical glance at me.
    "He could be shy," I said a bit defensively.
    "Or invisible," Manny joked. He clicked the
right-hand signal, then drove down a street with
few lights and fewer street signs.
    Not the best part of town, I thought uneasily as I
noticed seedy figures milling around corners. Thorn
directed Manny to a shabby three-story apartment
complex. Even in the dim light, it was clear it needed
a paint job and new roof. We found stairs and
walked up to the third floor.

    "You girls wait here," Manny said as we neared
apartment 34C. "I'll go ahead to check things out."
    "And have all the fun without us?" Thorn retorted. "I don't think so."
    "It's safer for only one of us to go ahead."
    "So why should it be you? Because you're a
guy?" Thorn arched her pink-studded brow. "FYI-
I've taken self-defense and kick-boxing lessons. You,
on the other hand, freak out over a paper cut."
    "Just that one time," Manny insisted. "My
thumb was bleeding."
    "Wimp."
    "Well you're a heartless-"
    "Enough." I stepped between them. "This is
my problem, so I'll go ahead."
    Before they could stop me, I pushed past them
to knock on the door. Glancing behind me, I put
my fingers to my lips, gesturing for them to stay
back.
    When I heard footsteps behind the door, I
forced a calm expression. A lifetime of pretending
not to see ghosts or hear spirits made it easy to
mask my emotions. Only my pounding heart betrayed my anxiety. What was I doing here anyway?
If K.C. answered the door, what should I say to him? I couldn't just blurt out, "Had any death predictions lately?"

    So I was kind of relieved when a middle-aged
woman answered the door. She had tired lines
etched in her skin and her black hair was tied back
in a scarf. She gave me a dismissive look. Her hand
clutched the knob, poised to slam the door in my
face.
    "I'm not buying anything," she said briskly.
    "Good, because I'm not selling."
    "Then what do you want?"
    Deep breath. "I'm looking for K.C. "
    "Why?" she demanded. "What do you want
with him?"
    "We, uh, go to school together. Does he live
here?"
    "Of course he does, I never said he