BooksBarbecue
Back The Salt in Our Blood Save as PDF
Chapters (41)
  1. Cover
  2. Dedication
  3. I.
  4. II.
  5. III.
  6. IV.
  7. V.
  8. VI.
  9. VII.
  10. VIII.
  11. IX.
  12. X.
  13. XI.
  14. XII.
  15. XIII.
  16. XIV.
  17. XV.
  18. XVI.
  19. XVII.
  20. XVIII.
  21. XIX.
  22. XX.
  23. XXI.
  24. XXII.
  25. XXIII.
  26. XXIV.
  27. XXV.
  28. XXVI.
  29. XXVII.
  30. XXVIII.
  31. XXIX.
  32. XXX.
  33. XXXI.
  34. XXXII.
  35. XXXIII.
  36. XXXIV.
  37. XXXV.
  38. EPILOGUE
  39. AUTHOR’S NOTE
  40. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
  41. About the Author

Wanting to help, I bolt after him. We reach the car in time to run the kids off before any real harm can be done, but not in time to catch them. Daniel chucks a piece of loose asphalt after them. “Don’t even think about coming back, fools!” But they’re long gone.

I put a hand on his arm. “That was close, huh?”

“That’s New Orleans for you,” he gripes, giving me a relieved smile.

I smile and turn back to Fortune’s Gate, but the black-and-white awning, the moon decal, and the cascade of bells are all gone. Little Will’s bumps right up against the Shop Stop as if nothing else was ever there.

I grip Daniel’s arm, my nails creasing his flesh.

“Cat?”

I turn back to him. “Time to go.”

“Am I missing something?”

“The strip is missing something,” I respond.

“What?” he says, but climbs into the driver’s seat and pops the lock for me.

“Nothing,” I tell him, refusing to look back so Daniel won’t. The strip is missing something. It’s missing the store we were just in.

XVII.

THE DRIVE BACK TO THE QUARTER FEELS TWICE AS long as the one to Mid-City. I shuffle restlessly through Daniel’s playlist and then finally turn the speakers off. We ride in disquieting silence for another few minutes before Daniel speaks up.

“So, do you want to talk about it?”

“What?”

Daniel sighs. “Whatever is bothering you.”

“Is it that obvious?” I bite my lip.

“It’s pretty obvious.”

“Sorry.” I twist my fingers together in my lap, then shake them out. I don’t know how to tell Daniel what I saw. I don’t know what I saw. It seems like an entire store showed up out of nowhere after some old motorcycle lady told us it would and then vanished again when we weren’t looking. It seems like Fortune’s Gate is not governed by the laws of physics. It seems like this city is getting under my skin and causing me to lose it.

It seems like today only provided more questions, rather than answers.

“I think I’m just processing,” I say. Which is both true and not.

“They recognized your deck,” he comes back brightly. “And you got some answers about that Halloween card you found. I don’t know how much closer this brings you to understanding everything going on with your family, but it’s more than you had yesterday.”