Page 28 of Out of My Flocking Mind

He swallowed hard, his gaze darting around as though he’d just realized I wasn’t merely some yard narc. “You know what it is?”

I tried to stop myself—I really did—but a shudder ran through me as I recalled the way it had felt when someone had sifted through my thoughts with the gentleness of someone forcing tomatoes through a sieve. “Yeah, I sure do. The leader of the Minds seems pretty pissed about this shit.”

The boy shifted dirt with the toe of his boot, the first real break in his composure. “It’s not like I sell to Minds on purpose. In fact, I try to avoid it.”

“Why would other people use it?”

“It works on all Spirits, just not as strong. Gives other Spirits a high and a very mild affect—just enough to sense other’s emotions. Not nearly as addictive to them, not as dangerous. That girl just now, she’s a nymph.”

“And you?”

“Were,” he muttered.

“You’re a wolf?”

“There’s more Weres in the world than just wolves, you know,” he muttered, the annoyance in his voice enough to make me laugh. I sure as fuck understood that, after being looked down on for not being one of the big four. It helped me to understand him a bit more.

“Boy, do I know that,” I said, thinking about all the others I’d dealt with—including how I fit into the world. “How long have you been selling?”

He shrugged, tucking his hands into the pockets of his jacket. “I’ve always sold whatever people can’t find. It was candy and soda when I was a kid, cigarettes later, but now people want more.”

“So now it’s Cloud?”

“There’s a market for it, so why not? Not like I force anyone to take anything or trick them. If they don’t get it from me, they’ll get it from someone else. What are you, some do-gooder who’s here to tell me what damage it’s doing by selling? You should stay off my ass.”

“What’s your name?”

“Trey. You want to give me some heart-to-heart about how my choices are going to ruin my life?”

“No. You want to ruin your life? Go right ahead—better you do it than someone else. This shit, though? It’s dangerous,” I said.

“People make their own choices—”

“It’s dangerous to other people. The first time you feel the way a Mind on this shit picks through your brain, you can sit there and tell me it’s not a big deal.” I tried to go for unaffected, but just talking about it made that old headache come back, the pain through my temples a sure sign that I was far from over that little ordeal.

The boy had the decency to look bothered by my words. However, pity wasn’t something I wanted—and sure as fuck not from some kid—so I shook my head to clear the memory and the mood.

“I’m not here looking to pin anything on you. You’re a dealer—no offense, but you’re small fish to me. I’m after the person creating this.”

He sighed. “Even if I wanted to tell you, I couldn’t. The person who makes it, they don’t exactly go around announcing themselves, you know? That’s a fast way to short career when it comes to drugs.”

“So you don’t know who they are? How do they get you the product, then? How’d they even find you?”

“I meet up with them when I need more. I pay upfront for the product, then price it as I want and the profits are all mine.”

“So you have a number to contact them?”

“Nah. I just leave a note at a dead drop, and they call me the next day with a meeting location.”

“So you’ve met them in person?”

He nodded, then frowned. “Sure, but I couldn’t tell you anything about them.”

“Why not?”

He scratched his temple, gaze troubled. “I don’t really remember. It’s like he uses a filter of some sort, and I can’t remember most of the meeting.”

That sounded strangely like my own powers, but I’d never met anyone else like myself. According to the asshole who made me, there weren’t any more like me around.

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