It’s as if Naz regresses and goes back in time. For the next two and a half weeks, he retreats to his original triangle: the cemetery, the Excelsior, and Leopold’s. To make matters worse, it’s February, the coldest month of the year. And for the last three days, it’s been below zero. It doesn’t seem to bother Naz as he spends an hour or two at a time at the cemetery. I thought hearing Juba would have lifted his spirits even higher than they were. But I didn’t count on the junior Supremes bringing back memories of Meri.

I receive a text from Naz right after school. He wants to meet at the Excelsior. I wonder if he’s being considerate to school hours or is it just a coincidence. I head over. He sits in the back row of the theater, so he’s easy to find. Enter The Dragon is playing, and I know whatever he wants to talk about, I’m going to be distracted. Bruce Lee is my favorite martial artist, and Enter the Dragon is my all-time favorite movie.

“Boards … don’t hit back,” I say along with Bruce.

“Are you listening?” Naz regains my attention.

“Sorry.”

“In two weeks we’re meeting with the AG Killers.”

“AG?”

“Aquinas Grove.”

“How’d you manage to set that up, and what exactly are we meeting about?”

“What we talked about earlier … getting a piece of a bigger pie.”

“You mean the Incubus Apostles?”

He nods.

“I’m not understanding you. What does that have to do with…” Meri? “Where will this meeting take place? And I thought the Incubus—”

“Major General in Aquinas Grove.”

“Major General? Where the riot started last year? I thought that placed burned down.”

“No, just burned. It’s the Killers lair now, their home turf.”

“That giant superstore you can see from the Helix?”

“Parking lot and all.”

“Doesn’t it have a barbed wire fence around it?”

He nods. “And if something happens there, the police won’t come. It’s considered condemned.”

“Excellent,” I say, hoping my sarcasm seeps through.

“The good news is we’re meeting with no weapons.”

“Not that it matters.” I get distracted as Bruce finally takes out one of the main bad guys on the screen in slow motion. “Bruce is cold,” I say. When I look at Naz, he’s staring at me expressionless. “And the bad news?”

“They’re more than a hundred strong.”

I blink. “Sooo … what do they want with the Incubus Apostles? You’ve all but decimated their ranks. I hear they’re running scared of some demon called the Invincible Assassin.” I laugh, but he doesn’t. “I get it. You’re going to the meeting to see what they know about this … boss.”

He nods and looks back at the screen. No doubt about it now, he’s reaching, grasping at straws. But I don’t discourage him. He’s running out of options, and it’s best to let this thing play out.

“Last question: How are we going to round up the last Apostles and get them to come to that meeting?”

“Leave that to me.”

We watch the rest of the movie, and for one moment in time, I feel like we’re eighth graders again, without a care in the world.