Lair of Dreams (The Diviners #2) by Libba Bray Read Free Book Online Page B

Henry heard fiddle music. It was a song so familiar his body knew it before his brain—“Rivière Rouge,” an old Cajun song, Louis’s favorite. Whoever was playing the song played it exactly the same way Louis did, jazzed up, Delta style.
    “Louis,” Henry whispered. He whirled around, searching for the source of the music. It seemed to be coming from behind the facadeof an old limestone building with the words DEVLIN’S CLOTHING STORE whiskered across the front.
    “Louis!” Henry called, running for the building.
    “Wait!” the girl called, startling.
    A woman’s shriek pierced the dream: “Murder! Murder! Oh, murder!” Something was moving in the fog, coming closer.
    A church bell tolled, growing louder and louder. Suddenly, the distant roofs of Chinatown, the impressionistic streets of the old city, the limestone building—all of it curled up as if the dream been thrown into the fire.
    “No! Not yet!” Henry cried, but it was too late. The last thing he saw was the girl dream walker’s bright green eyes, and then he woke to the clang of his alarm clock as it tumbled from the windowsill and landed on the floor with a clatter. On the table, the metronome ticked away. His watch showed one minute till four. He’d been under for fifty-nine minutes.
    “Horsefeathers, Henry!” Theta marched into the room with her sleep mask pushed up over her short dark bangs and shut off the alarm.
    “S-sorry, Theta.”
    Sighing, Theta silenced the metronome. “You went looking again?”
    “Theta, I think I found him.”
    “You did? Oh, Hen!” Theta covered the shivering Henry with a blanket and pulled a chair for herself next to his. “Go on. Spill.”
    Henry told Theta about hearing Louis’s fiddle. “Maybe he’s trying to find me, too.”
    “Gee, that’s swell news. Hen,” Theta said, sounding worried, “can you move yet?”
    For at least five minutes after a dream walk, Henry remained paralyzed, as if his body were still in that other world. With effort, he lifted his arm a fraction, wincing as he worked movement back into the muscles. “See? Good as new.”
    “You know it scares me when you do this. What if one time you can’t move? What if you don’t come back?”
    “Don’t worry, darlin’. I don’t overdo it.”
    “Only one night a week,” Theta reminded him. “Only for an hour.”
    “Yes, ma’am,” Henry said. “I haven’t even told you the strangest part: I wasn’t the only one walking around tonight.”
    “There’s somebody else like you?”
    “Yes! A girl. When she showed up, I heard the song. Maybe she knows something about Louis. Maybe she can help me find him, Theta.”
    “Well, did you get anything from her? A name?”
    “No,” Henry said mournfully. “But it’s the first bit of luck I’ve had.”
    “We’d better get some sleep or we’ll be dragging through rehearsal tomorrow.”
    Henry rolled his eyes. “Florenz Ziegfeld presents:
Hocus-Pocus Hotcha!
An all-new Diviners revue filled with magic and mysticism in song and dance!”
    “So it’s a lousy show. We’ll make it better. It’s the one that’s gonna take us to the top, kid.”
    “Take
you
to the top, you mean. You’re the one Flo’s grooming to be a star.”
    “We’re a team. You take one, you gotta take the other.”
    “Who’s my best girl?” Henry asked.
    “I am. And don’t you forget it.”
    Theta let out a long sigh and snuggled next to her best friend, resting her head on his chest. Her sleek dark bob still smelled like cigarette smoke. “Maybe we’re all going crazy.”
    “Maybe.” Henry kissed the top of Theta’s head, and she put her arm across his stomach.
    “Hen?”
    “Yeah, darlin’?”
    “Can I sleep in your bed with you?”
    “If you can get me there.”
    Theta helped Henry to his feet and then to his room, where the two of them fell asleep side by side, arms entwined like two halves of the same whole.

In his dream, George Huang stood under the hazy sun at a late-afternoon