Poison Ink by Christopher Golden Read Free Book Online

Why?”
    “They didn’t want me to go. I didn’t give them much choice, but I’m sure they were looking for a reason to change their minds.”
    Sammi’s mom put the car in reverse. “Then we should get the heck out of here.”
    Katsuko beamed. But if her mother had known what had Katsuko so excited, she wouldn’t have been so sympathetic. Sammi looked at her mother and saw how pleased she was to have scored points with her daughter’s friend, and a fresh wave of guilt crashed over her.
    Throughout the ride to Letty’s house, Katsuko and Mrs. Holland made small talk about school and swimming and college and what it felt like to be a junior. Sammi barely said a word, gazing out the window, watching as they went back over the bridge and drove through the city, passing through neighborhoods in descending order of income. When she started seeing graffiti on the sides of brick buildings, and rusted chain-link fence, she knew that they were almost there. Over the years, Covington had become a true melting pot, and it had a sizable Latino population. There were Latinos in every part of the city, but Vespucci Square had been the beating, immigrant heart of Covington for a century and a half. Italians and Germans had come first, and then the Irish. Later, there had come Cubans, Puerto Ricans, Dominicans, and now a wave of Brazilians. The condition of many of the duplexes and row houses spoke of poverty, not of culture.
    Which hadn’t stopped Sammi’s father from hesitating when she asked if she could sleep over Letty’s, or her mother from telling her to be careful, not to wander off. Sammi could not even blame them. The neighborhood could be rough, especially for people who didn’t live there.
    All those thoughts filled her head as her mother pulled past the dingy Citgo station beside the two-family Letty and her parents shared with Teresa, her older sister, and Teresa’s two babies. The walls were so thin—Letty had warned them—that she could hear the babies crying in the night. The house itself was well kept, with a fresh coat of paint and a small, immaculate yard.
    But even though she knew better, Sammi couldn’t help holding her breath as she got out of the car. She would not let her mother see her nervousness. Could not let anyone see it. No matter how much she knew about the origins of Vespucci Square, the reality of the local paper was inescapable. When trouble went down in Covington, whether it was drugs or prostitution or murder, it nearly always happened within half a mile of this spot.
    As Katsuko said goodbye and expressed her thanks, climbing out of the car, Sammi had to take a steadying breath. What they were planning for tonight was bad enough—trouble enough—but walking the streets of Vespucci Square after dark added to the danger in a way that sent a shiver of fear through her. This whole thing is stupid. What the hell is wrong with me? she thought.
    By then, her mother had said goodbye and begun to pull away.
    Standing on the cracked and pitted sidewalk in front of Letty’s duplex, she and Katsuko looked at one another.
    “Are you nervous?”
    A shudder of relief went through Sammi, and she uttered a nervous laugh. “Oh my God, completely. Aren’t you?”
    Katsuko nodded. “Oh yeah. But it feels kind of good, you know?”
    Sammi smiled as though she did know, but her smile was a lie.
    She picked up her overnight bag and followed Katsuko up the concrete steps to 46A, Letty’s half of the duplex. Sammi rang the doorbell, and they heard voices and footsteps inside, then the sound of two locks being drawn back. The door swung open and Letty opened her arms to them, giddy with excitement. She wore artfully torn jeans, low around her hipbones, and a tank with spaghetti straps.
    Caryn and T.Q. were behind her in the hallway. Letty ushered Sammi and Katsuko in, and the girls all started talking at once. Caryn had dressed fairly sexy, in a ribbed top and a short skirt. Katsuko and T.Q. were