Page 92 of Wings of Ebony
“Rue!”
I yelp.
Aasim’s running full speed toward me. Jhamal throws sand on the fire and we dash toward him.
“Been looking all over for you.” Aasim does a double take from me to Jhamal and back to me.
“You scared the mess out of me,” I say. “What’s up?”
Aasim’s stare is laced with worry.
“What’s wrong?” I ask.
“Bri’s here.”
Over Aasim’s shoulder in the distance is a narrow, fair-skinned figure also running toward us, waving her arms. I push past him, eager to hug my girl, but angst is all over her face.
Something’s up. “What happened?”
She catches up to us, out of breath. “I-I wanted to synthesize a satellite signal with the hologram feature on my watch and try to connect it to a cell phone. A long shot but…”
“Bri, English.”
“I tried to reach Tasha on the way here to see if it’d even work.” She fidgets. Aasim paces in the backdrop.
“And?”
“Rue, there’s been another shooting in East Row.”
CHAPTER 29
BACK INSIDE MY CHAKUSA,Tasha’s face flickers into view, the hologram hovering there above my watch.
“Tasha,” I say. Her mouth is moving but the image comes and goes, glitching.
“Can you hear me?” Her voice comes through choppy.
“It’s connected securely,” Bri says, tapping a giant screen on her lap. “I can’t see her, but you should be able to. Hold on… two more seconds…annnnndnow. She should be able to hear you.”
The image sharpens and Tasha’s face comes through clearer. Her cheeks are puffed, eyelashes wet. “Rue?”
Just hearing her voice is like wedging a dagger into an open wound. The necklace sits on her neck and my pulse ticks a little slower.
“T, you okay?” I reach for her face, but my fingers flutter through the orangey hue. My heart sinks.I wish she was here.
“I’m okay, but Demarcus…” Her voice trails off. Demarcus is like a nephew to Ms. Leola. The same Demarcus who comes around from time to time with Julius to help her around the house. He worked at Ole Man Stan’s Meat Market and went to college at night.
“How’s Ms. Leola doing?” I ask.
Tasha glances over her shoulder. “She’s okay I guess. Just trying to get in touch with her sister. She’s working on a few cakes to take over there this evening.” Body ain’t even cold and Ms. Leola already cooking up love in the midst of her own pain.
“Hug her real tight for me, T.”
She nods, smoothing a tear from her cheek.
“Did the cops have any more information?”
“Nah,” she says. “They didn’t even come tell us. We found out on the news. They saying he might have been mixed up in drugs.”
