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“Who’s marked?’ Jade asked. “Nell still or someone new?”
“It’s like before. Both of you or either of you. The Raven’s not being clear.”
Jade waved a hand in dismissal. “We’ve been through this already. There’s absolutely no reason for me to be a target.”
Scrubb snorted. “Why not? Because of your charming personality?”
“Something like that.” Jade put her hands to her hips.
“If you’re in the clear, then who would want to hurt your sister instead of you?” Titus asked, doing his utmost to remain neutral.
Jade gave Scrubb one last scowl before facing Titus. “As a tattoo artist, there’s always a disgruntled client or client’s family member. I just make sweets.”
“And pierce people,” I added. “Someone could be angry about that.”
Jade shook her head. “Not likely. Sure, at first, but piercings aren’t forever. Not like tattoos.”
“What was the man downstairs mad about?” Titus asked.
“He said he was looking for his girlfriend, but we didn’t know who he was talking about,” I answered.
Scrubb interjected. “That’s not what I heard him tell the cop. He’s looking for his runaway sister and thought she was hiding at Twisted Sisters.”
Jade flinched and then pondered the news. “No one’s hiding with us.”
“No one but Penny,” Scrubb mumbled.
“No one’s looking for me,” I said before realizing my mistake.
Titus didn’t remark back, but offered me a sad, reaffirming smile. Like he was telling me he would always look for me. Then again, I wasn’t above reading between lines that weren’t even there. I often accredited thoughts and feelings to people that were opposite of their actual perceptions.
“Let’s turn on the radio,” Jade said as she shoved her chair back.
“She knows a lot about the Raven.” Scrubb jabbed a thumb behind him toward the retreating Jade.
“I had to tell her,” I said.
“You don’t have to tell anyone anything. It’s not like she could tell if you fibbed.”
An exhausted chuckle spurted from my lips. Titus and Scrubb cast worried looks between each other.
“I’m glad Penny has a friend to help,” Titus said, smoothing the air.
“Too bad her friends always end up dead,” Scrubb stabbed at me with the words he knew I feared the most. Instantly, he sunk back in his seat. His victory roast wasn’t satisfying him as well as he thought it would if his expression was any tell. “Sorry,” he whispered.
I rubbed my eyes before responding. That’s when I remembered I looked horrid. No makeup, quick braids, and red-rimmed eyes made up my Raven aesthetic. I tried not to care. Worrying over my looks while the black bird bore down upon us was beyond selfish. It was dumb, but I couldn’t shake the self conscientious off completely.
“No,” I answered as calmly as possible. “You’re right. That’s why I left.”
“Now’s not the time,” Titus said. “Seriously. Let’s focus on the Raven. When we get everyone through this, we’ll talk. Just us.”
“Just us,” I repeated, a hesitant grin reaching my face. Titus nodded with a smile of his own.
Jade returned to the table. “I set the stations on random. I figure that gives us a broader reach.”
“Good idea,” Titus said, breaking his eye contact with me. “Out of curiosity, what made you need to call Scrubb and me? Penny’s good at getting these things settled on her own. How did you think we could help?”
Mark’s face judged me first, in my mind’s eye, followed by Pierce’s and the other's. No, I didn’t do well on my own. How could I have been so dumb as to think I could handle the bird on my own?
He’d been with me for nineteen years. My success rate tripled with Titus and Scrubb helping me along. Sure, it may be safer for them if I branched off on solo missions. Everyone else was doomed. I couldn’t win, but I could save more people with help than without it.
The facts side-swiped me across the face. Once again, Penny Nicols doomed everyone she came in contact with. Except now she was a lone wolf, and everyone else was carrion for the Raven.
“I think we should show them the wall,” Jade said. “It’s easier to explain from there.”
I was about to explain when Morrissey’s voice cracked through the Morris’s surround sound. Tingles ricocheted up my arms and made their hair stand on end. I rubbed at them, trying to shake the feeling.
“A clue?” Jade asked.
I nodded.
“What does that have to do with her arms?” Scrubb asked.
Jade cocked her eyebrow and put a know-it-all hand on her hip. “I thought you knew everything about Penny.”
Scrubb sneered at Jade once he noticed the playful poke behind her stance. “Penny doesn’t share with just anybody.”
“I’m not just anybody.”
“I can see that,” Scrubb said seconds before a blush crept up his neck. I rolled my eyes. Angry flirting could wait. Nell could not. I was about to say so when I noticed that Jade returned the flushed expression.
Titus cleared his throat. He turned to me. “Clues hurt you now?”
I shook my head. “No,” I said. “I get shivers. Back in Billington, I noticed. I think they probably always have given me shivers. I just hadn’t dialed into the feeling yet.”
“And now?”
“Exploring my feelings hasn’t been all bad,” I said.
Titus replied with a tender half-smile before standing. “Show us this wall.”
“Not yet.” Jade held up her finger. She paused, listening to the tune. “That seals it!” She clapped her hands, startling me out of my skin.
“Seals what?” I asked.
“Nell is the victim.”
Scrubb frowned. “How does “Bigmouth Strikes Again” target your sister? Wasn’t she already marked?”
“Their shadows collided,” I explained.
Jade waved off that crucial intel. “Yeah, but her name is in the song.”
“I’ve never heard Nell in a Smith’s song,” Scrubb said, skeptical.
“Not Nell. Nell is her nickname. Joanelle is her name. Nell for short.”
“Joan of Arc,” Titus added, his hands in their fingers to glasses frame thinking position.
“She died by fire,” Scrubb said.
My knees shook. Fire claimed the last friends of mine. I couldn’t do fire again. Bile rose up my throat at the thought. The remembered scent of gasoline stung my eyes and nose. I wasn’t aware I was whimpering until Titus rested his hand on my shoulder.
“It doesn’t mean it will happen again. Not like that.”
I leaned closer to him. “Mark died saving his sister. What if Nell is the mark, but Jade tries to save her? And they both die. Just like—”
Titus shook his head. “We’re together, and we will not let that happen. Not if I can do anything to stop it.”
“That’s just it. No one can stop it,” I whispered. Titus dropped his hand to the table. The tips of his fingers brushed mine. He really would not let me attack the Raven alone. “What if you try—” I started.
“Shhh,” he whispered. “What ifs aren’t psychic. Let’s take things as they come. Together.”
I resisted the urge to hide my face in his jacket and listen to his heartbeat until I drifted away from the present. I really did not want to lose anyone in the room. They were all precious to me, and the Raven knew it.