Perigee [bxb] | Bad Moon Book II

24; {Matt}: crane fly

All of the healed went home. Matt was led up to a room on the second floor, by Izzy and a man who belonged to the California patrols. He was tall—his skin a warm brown that set a deep canvas for every bright, colorful tattoo that decorated his fingers and his arms. He wiggled a key through the door and Matt was hit with the scent of dust and moth balls. The room inside was nothing but two beds and a few cardboard boxes tucked away in the corner.

"Hasn't been used in a while," the man said. "May want to open a window."

Matt took a gander at the old room, wrinkling his nose at the mildew on the window and the dust that caked the floors. He took a hesitant step inside and muttered a dubious, "Thanks."

"Yeah. Walls are thin, so try to keep things down. Our wounded need rest."

Then the man with those flashy tattoos was moving down the hall to ready another room for Sadie and Tisper.

Izzy pushed a hefty bag toward Matt. "I think this is everything you had at the hotel. Stay here tonight and tomorrow we'll find a way to get you guys home."

Home. It felt so strange to think about it. They'd go home and all of this would be over.

The bite wound on his shoulder twinged and Matt nearly dropped the bag in his arms.

Most of this would be over.

The old floorboards creaked as a second body hastened down the hall. Bailey barely paused for more than half a second to chuck the wrangler keys toward Matt. With his hands full, they hit him in the chest and fell to his feet.

"Found your lich," the hound said to Izzy.

"Well, where is he?" she asked. "Did you give him the mistletoe?"

"Felix and Leo are working on it."

"And you didn't bother to see if they needed help? He's a lichund, Bailey, not a stray cow."

"I'm a hound, Elizabeth. Not your personal bitch."

"My name's never been Elizabeth!" she shouted after him, but by the time she'd gotten the words out, Bailey had already turned into a room at the end of the hall. "God, he's such a—"

"What's wrong with Jay?" Matt asked. "He turn again?"

Izzy twisted her fingers through her long red hair and sighed. "I'm surprised he held it back for as long as he did. It'll be alright. Leo's good at this stuff."

"Yeah, no." Matt fell back into the edge of his bed. The mattress was hard and he could already feel the springs jabbing back at him. "I'm not worried about the lich. It's just—" He sighed and wiped his hands up his face, all sweat and tree sap. His throat ached from the hands that'd been around his neck at the Den—his spine bruised from all that contact with the wall. He needed a shower. A long one. "You think Bronx'll be okay?" he asked

That was his real fear. That soon enough, the lichund wouldn't be the only monster in Jaylin.

Izzy laid her head against the door frame, her shoulders rising and falling with a deep, exhausted sigh. "I dunno if you believe much in God, Matt. But I do." Her fingers traced the splits in the wood. "I guess I'm just saying it can't hurt to pray."

And all Matt could think was I don't know how.

He laid in bed after that, the light on and the window open, watching the texts from Jessica roll down his screen.

Miss u

Hows cali?

Bring me back a cool nicknack