Page 9 of Spit

“What?” Rose’s voice was muffled as she moved the phone to her ear. “Why on Gaia’s earth would you think that?”

“The eggplants. People use eggplants as a symbol for dicks.” I replied.

Rose exhaled sharply. “I was referring to my vegetable garden. It’s taken ages for my eggplants to actually grow, but I moved them from one side of the greenhouse to the other, and they’ve been thriving. I told you about moving them last month.”

“Huh.” I rubbed my chin. “Did you know that people call them Aubergines in the UK?”

“You’re so random.” Rose smothered a laugh. “Did you get my parcel?”

“You can’t keep sending flowers in the mail,” I told her. “The moment I touch them, they die.”

“I’ve learned that the hard way.” Rose sounded genuinely upset that she had sent her precious children to die at my hands. “No. It’s not a plant. I found something in the attic. Mom said it used to belong to dad if you can believe it.” She allowed her words to trail off.

“Dad?” I winced. We had never met our father, but our mom viewed that as a good thing. “What did you find?”

“It’s some kind of blade. To be honest, I think it looks like a tooth.” Rose informed me. “Apparently, it’s a null blade. Mom doesn’t want it in the house. She thinks it was left for you, whatever that means. Apparently, he used to carry a knife or something.”

“Mom must have been in a good mood if she talked about him,” I said, keeping all emotion from my voice.

“She was having one of her moments.” I heard her wince over the phone even though I couldn’t see my sister’s face.

Neither of us wanted to address the elephant in the room—mom was losing it.

“Anyway, I thought it might be useful. You always did love a good weapon.”

My phone beeped, signaling that a call was waiting. Rosie must have heard the notification because she cleared her throat. “Do you need to get that?”

I didn’t need to check the screen to know that it was an unknown number once again. I could only imagine the demon on the other end of the phone was getting impatient.

“Nah.” I sniffed, checking my stubby and bitten-down nails.

“Ah.” Her voice turned knowing. “How long do you have left on that contract?”

Honestly? I didn’t know, but I didn’t want to tell my sister that. Instead, I just hummed. “Tell me more about those eggplants.”

“I know what you’re doing.”

“I’d be worried if you didn’t.” I laughed without humor. “That subject change was as subtle as a fart.” I let out a yawn.

“Am I keeping you up?” Rosie sounded worried.

I waved away her question, though I knew she couldn’t see me. “No. I just got in.”

“You work too hard.”

“I don’t feel like I work enough,” I told her. “We’ve been around for a year, and it’s just bouncer gigs at the local clubs. There’s something big coming up, though. I don’t want to jinx it until it’s a sure thing.”

Kailee was so excited about The Elementals US tour. As I glanced around my bare apartment, I couldn’t help but feel some of the same excitement.

I liked to travel, but the only time I ever got to was when Mr. Bub had an errand for me. I got to see the worst of the worst. The demonic underbelly of each city as I was thrown into the mire. I wouldn’t mind seeing some more of the US on my own terms.

New Orleans had been my home since I had left Beaux Bridge a couple of years before. Though Rosie visited every couple of months, and we spoke every morning, I missed her, though we had only grown closerafterI had moved away.

The only person I spoke to from back home was my sister, and it wasn’t a coincidence that she was the only person immune to my magic.

A shadow crossed the threshold of my apartment, blocking the light at the bottom of my door for a moment. “I’ve got to go,” I told my twin, and I hung up after we said our goodbyes.

I stood up and walked over to my door, squinting through the peephole. Nothing was on the other side, but I wasn’t fooled for a moment. The salt line on my threshold was the only thing stopping whatever was on the other side of the door from coming in.

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