Caged View Read Online Free PDF Page B

cords would cause misery and
bloodshed to the Santeria habitat.
    “I know you can’t take them off.” Ray pulled
out a black jacket. “But you can just as easily cover your arms.
You can’t just walk around the habitat all the time with no shirt
on. It’s not normal. Even Shapeshifters wear shirts.”
    Nona nodded in agreement.
    “My cords like the sun.” I snatched the
jacket from Ray. My arm cords glowed to bright blues, reds, and
purples before I slipped the rough jean material on.
    Aggravation flowed through me, almost
reaching to my boiling point.
    There better not be anything else, or I’m
going to roar.
    The fabric tore as I wrenched it over my
biceps.
    I grinned at Ray. “Oops. I ripped it. Maybe
I should take it off.”
    “This was the worst day to stop drinking.”
Ray rubbed his eyes with both hands.
    I snorted.
    Ray stopped drinking every Friday and
started right back on Monday.
    “Just keep the jacket on,” Ray said. “It’s a
temporary fix anyway. Besides, X-large was the biggest I could get.
I’ll get you something else later.”
    “Like a cape? Or a tight polyester suit with
a big Z sewn on my chest?” I gazed out of the window, focusing on
the corner across from the middle school where Tango was dealing
Hemo Drop to little kids.
    Oya District was named and themed after the
goddess Oya. Every building had bricks in some shade of purple, her
favorite color. It was why Tango was so easy to spot as he hung out
in front of the violet-bricked store.
    He wore an all-white linen short set that
matched his ivory-colored shoes and fedora. An auburn beard wrapped
around his chin and was so long, it hung all the way down to the
center of his chest. Every few seconds, he would twist the tip of
his beard.
    Watching the Were-wolf had been the most
boring thing that I’d ever done in my life.
    For the past five hours, he’d yapped away to
his entourage and chewed on a cherry root stick, which was typical
behavior for a Were-wolf since they loved to gnaw things. He’d
moved from the area only once, and that was to run next door to
Lightning Market for their specialty sausage-stuffed eggplant. Any
time he had to urinate, he would simply turn around, paint the
store’s violet bricks with his piss, and return to his
conversation.
    I exhaled loudly.
    “Relax, Zulu. We’ll get him.” Ray twisted
around in his seat. “Just wait till it gets a little darker. The
habitat police end their patrol of the school at dusk.”
    I can hardly wait.
    The habitat police officers, or habbies like
most people called them, didn’t patrol the school to keep the kids
safe. They were out there making sure that no other drug dealers
violated Tango’s territory. The Were-wolf had been paying the
habbies for over a year now. He thought he was untouchable.
    We’ll see about that, Tango.
    I’d already given him two warnings to stay
away from the kids. The first time, he’d left for a week and then
immediately returned. The second time, he only stayed away for a
day.
    You’ll regret that.
    Most dealers only got one warning before I
ended their existence.
    Tango and I had history. We’d done Green
Goblin together when we were teens. It had been a popular drug that
got most addicted with one spoonful of the lime-green gel. After we
tried that drug, we hung out together, putting any harmful thing we
could find into our bodies.
    I’d been clean for three years now.
    Tango remained in the drug game.
    “You just had to be so hardheaded.” I tapped
my fingers against the window over and over, getting Nona and Ray’s
attention.
    They both stared at me.
    “What? I’m ready to get this over with,” I
said. “I have things I want to do later.”
    “You’ll see your Mixie tonight. Don’t
worry,” Ray said.
    “She’s not mine yet,” I murmured.
    “By the way, does she know about this?” Ray
asked.
    “No.”
    Ray sniggered. “Well, then, you better
behave yourself.”
    * * *
    Dusk approached. The black and yellow