Total pages in book: 130
Estimated words: 129571 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 648(@200wpm)___ 518(@250wpm)___ 432(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 129571 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 648(@200wpm)___ 518(@250wpm)___ 432(@300wpm)
“So very sexual with no depth?” Vivian asked.
My mouth parted. “We talk about deep things.”
“It’s like you two are in heat for a continuous span of time. Is there ever a moment when you both just sit and talk, and it doesn’t deal with sex?”
I scanned my mind. “We’ve discussed the Beatles and politics.”
“I bet you two were butt naked at the time.” Vivian picked up the flashlight and placed it under the sink.
“Fine. We talk about food,” I offered.
“Again, probably butt naked or minutes later, butt naked.”
Troy raised his hand like a good little student. “I would rather we not talk about Chase or Jazz being butt naked.”
I raised my hand, too. “I second that vote.”
He dropped his hand. “So ... your walk.”
“Yes, my walk was interesting.” I headed to my room.
They followed behind.
“I didn’t see a lot. Most of the house is damaged, but what reminded me of Chase and our old conversations was the vermin.” I opened the door and flicked the light on.
Vivian’s beautiful murals glowed around us. Chase’s version of Hades’s pale face brightened in front of my Persephone-brown one. Bright red pomegranate juice dripped from my image’s lips. The liquid sparkled, almost rippling a little bit right in front of my eyes.
Or was it that magic flowed through me due to Chase’s deep voice inside of my ear earlier?
Troy touched the wall, placing the tip of his finger right on the pomegranate. “Why are they looking all sexy at each other and eating fruit?”
“It’s Hades and Persephone.” Vivian got on my bed and lay on her stomach.
“Jasmine is in love with the God of Death.” Troy bobbed his head in agreement. “That sounds depressing.”
“Are you going to listen to my story about rats or not?”
“Go ahead.” Vivian stepped inside. “I’m listening.”
“So, yeah. There were a whole lot of rats all over the house. And all of the rats are making sounds and talking to each other.”
Mom and Sherman are definitely involved. This shit is nastier than we thought.
“Right.” Troy shrugged. “That’s nothing new. We knew there were rats all around us. Big mother rats stealing people’s food.”
“Well, now it’s confirmed.” I hopped on the bed.
Troy followed and targeted me with a hard gaze. “Sherman was real good at catching rats. I wish he was here. You know what, Jazz, when’s the last time you talked to him?”
Sorry, Troy. Sherman was in another plane, and even if he wasn’t, Chase wouldn’t have given him the phone.
I frowned. “I haven’t gotten a chance to talk to Sherman in a long, long time.”
“Wow!” Troy’s voice raised higher than before. “That absolutely sucks. You haven’t been able to talk to Sherman in a long time? That really, really sucks.”
“Yes, I agree,” I groaned. “I thought about all of that on my walk.”
“A lot of good a long walk can do, if in the end, you don’t keep up with your brother,” Troy grumbled.
“Maybe we should just focus on the rats,” Vivian suggested.
Troy muttered, “Yeah, let’s talk about the freaky ass rats.”
“None of these rats are freaky,” I argued.
“Well, next time you won’t be taking these walks by yourself, just in case the rats get too freaky.”
Vivian whispered, “Now, I’m lost.”
Troy glared at me.
“Can I get a hug, Bro?” I extended one arm and put my free hand in my pocket.
He raised his eyebrows, yet leaned in anyway. “Sure, Sis.”
I embraced him with the one arm and slipped the phone to him with the next. Thankfully, he figured it out, swiped it from me with no problem, and snuck it in his pocket. “So anything else that was interesting as you strolled around this house? Anything else about rats?”
“Well, the rats are definitely in London.”
Troy’s annoyed expression faltered.
“I ended up seeing a big rat, too.” I picked up my pillow and hugged it. “I think she was a mother, but I’m not sure.”
Vivian ran her fingers through her blonde hair. “Mother rats are the worst.”
“In my mind, I pretended that I called an exterminator to get rid of all of the rats. It was the craziest daydream ever. It was just like putting the phone to my hand and saying the address.”
I basically told Chase that we were on Bishop’s Avenue.
A nervous laugh left Troy. “What a stupid, stupid daydream. First of all, you don’t even know the address.”
“True. I just know that we’re in an abandoned house on Bishop’s Avenue. That’s not much information.”
“That’s enough,” Vivian whispered. “An exterminator would find us based on that. The only question is, if the exterminator can actually get rid of the problem.”
Troy frowned. “And will it bring more rat problems? Will the exterminator bring more rats to us?”
“Or cats and dogs,” Vivian added.
Troy and I stared at her in confusion.
“What? Does that not make sense?” She checked both of our blank expressions.