VooDoo Follies Read Online Free PDF Page B

wounded and crawled off.
Maybe, it's not as bad as it looks." Maybe, I would tell myself
three more lies, but before I could spit them out Stephen was gone
to scour his own area and I turned to do the same.
    Twenty minutes later we both met up by the rec
center, neither of us having found our zombie-bum. I was beyond
tired. It suddenly seemed like ages ago that I had performed the
ceremony that would send Adrianna back into her grave. It hit me
then that it had been mere hours since I had done so. I glanced up
to the sky regarding the moon and the few vague stars that managed
to shine through the city's light pollution. I missed home. I
missed the comfort of the stars shining on me at night, the sound
of bugs chirruping instead of car horns blaring, and most of all I
missed those warm southern nights with the dense, humid air that
captured the local scents of magnolia trees and sweet bays in bloom
allowing their fragrance to linger longer than it should have.
Beyond that, I missed having my Auntie Perrine there to help me
along when I screwed up. If we still lived in New Orleans none of
this would have happened.
    I was suddenly looking up into Stephen's eyes.
They were an odd mix of blue and gray, but I honestly wasn’t able
to see them enough to figure the coloring out, because that sandy
brown hair of his kept falling flat across his face, hiding his
eyes from my view. If I hadn't been here I never would have met
Stephen. I hadn't known him long, but he was definitely leaving a
lasting impression on me. In that moment, I wasn’t sure if I would
give Stephen up for all those things that I missed about New
Orleans. I did know that I had no time to sit here and think about
things I couldn’t change. I had to get some rest and I had to find
that zombie-bum before he wreaked havoc on the city.
    "Come on," I told Stephen while motioning
towards my car, "let's go to my house and try to come up with a
plan. I need some food and to just sit down for a minute." As soon
as I thought about how tired I was again my body decided it wasn't
enough and made me feel ten times worse. I slogged my way back to
my car, feeling Stephen’s eyes on me the entire way.
    “Are you okay?” He sounded genuinely worried
and yet there was no trace of the exhaustion that was so evident in
my own body in his. He seemed fresh and ready to go. That made me
feel just a little bit worse than before.
    “Yeah, just tired.” I sighed out loud,
“performing that ritual must have worn me out more than I thought
it would.” I opened the car door for him, since I was on that side
and my electronic locks had stopped working a few weeks ago. He got
in and I shut the door, heading for the driver’s side. Once I was
behind the wheel I had to fight myself to stay awake long enough to
get us back to my house.
    I wasn't sure how my mom and new step-dad
would react to me bringing a boy home, but I knew that Stephen and
I needed some time to come up with a plan. I figured that we would
just march right into the house and if nothing was said we would go
to my room and work out the details of how to find my zombie-bum.
We did just that. I walked in the door first with Stephen trailing
behind me. I hadn't seen my mom's car outside, but Roger was
sitting in the living room and looked up, waving at us as we walked
in. I whispered to Stephen, "this is easier than I thought. Be
thankful my mom wasn't here to see you walking in. Roger is
apparently still trying to get on my good side."
    Stephen gave me a knowing nod and said nothing
else until we got to my room. I watched as he looked around, the
surprise showing on his face. "What?" I asked him, suddenly
defensive of my bedroom.
    "Well," he started to say, then lowered his
eyes from me, "I just thought your room would be, I don’t know,
different some how."
    I looked around my room wondering what he
meant by that. I think he noticed my puzzled expression because he
started to explain himself further. "You know, there's a