TANTRIC (Book 3 of the Soundcrush Series)

Chapter 55: Hippie Chics Meet Their Destiny

Okay, this is a VERY Important Chapter, in which karma and destiny and the Universe smacks both Leed and Ashlynn around and the consequences will be both swift and horrible and long-term and fateful. If you think we've had drama up til this point...well it's cresting here and we'll be riding the wave through the rest of the book!

Song is Bambina by Vampire Weekend. I know, I know, that's Italian, not Spanish, but I think the lyrics are Prophetic for Ashlynn and Leed and Luis..."My Christian heart cannot withstand/the thundering arena/I'll see you when the violence ends/for now, ciao ciao bambina " (or bambino as the case may be)

Who's Luis, you ask? Well, read on...

Ashlynn

Before I can even regain my footing from being jerked backwards, I feel the weight around my shoulder gone, and a boy is running away behind me. I look down and realize that he slashed the strap of my crossbody bag and he's making off with it.

"Hey!" I yell, and automatically take off after him, narrowly avoiding crashing into a moving moped. Our passports are in that bag!

Leed overtakes me in a second and is dead after the kid, dodging cafe tables, market stalls and pedestrians. By the time I catch up with them, a block later, Leed has the kid by the shoulders, bent over him, breathless, trying to hold on while the kid struggles to get away.

He can't be more than ten years old. He's clean, but his clothes are worn, his hair is longish and shaggy. His defiant expression makes him look older and savvier than a ten year old should.

Leed is trying to speak to the kid in low tones—again in a few phrases of broken Spanish.

"Your legs work good, but not your Spanish," the kid mutters in English. He looks up into Leed's face—defiant, dark eyes glittering. "Let me go."

Leed does not let go. "Lucky for me your English is better than your quarter mile. Listen up: give my girlfriend her bag back."

The kid sighs and hands it over. I bite my lip, because it's on the tip of my tongue to say "thanks" to the little thief. He's a cute little fella, or he would be if his brows weren't furrowed and he weren't scowling at us.

"Why did you take it?" I ask.

The kid shrugs. "For money."

Most people are ignoring the little scene we are causing but a couple of people have come out of a shop across the street are pointing at us. "Let me go, that old guy hates me."

Leed gives the shopkeeper a brief glance. "You steal from him too?"

"When I have to. Let me go before the Paco comes."

"Are you hungry?" I ask, offering him the bag of fruit and nuts I just bought.

He shakes his head. "They feed us at Hogarcito."

"Hogarcito?" Leed asks.

"Where I live. I eat there. I go to school. I learn English, there. They say we will need it. But I don't need it," he sneers.

I'm looking up the word Hogarcito on my phone. It means "little house" but in this boy's case, I think it means a specific little house.

"Leed..."I murmur, and show him the picture of the brightly painted dwelling on my phone with the word Hogarcito spelled neatly on a handpainted sign out front. Beneath the picture, my phone helpfully tells me that Hogarcito is a home for children without families.

The little old man across the street is calling to us in rapid Spanish. Leed flashes him a smile. "No pasa nada," he calls to the shopkeeper with a wave of his hand. Still gripping the kid by the collar, he takes me by the other hand and walks us in the opposite direction of the shop.