“Can I go with you?” I ask.
“Sure,” she says and smiles. “But I’m not staying the night tonight.”
“Can I ask you a question, Jessica?”
“OK.”
“Is there really a being looking out for all of us?”
“I’d like to think so,” she says slumly, chapping on some gum. “I enjoy going to your mother’s church even though I wouldn’t say I’m really a Christian.”
“Are you a telepath?”
“Excuse me?”
I lower my voice. “Someone is reading my thoughts and it scares me.”
She frowns. “You’re joking, right?”
“Do you really think I’d ever hurt anybody?”
***
“We have to feed your mother,” Applebaum said. “She’s delirious for blood. I would just let her wither, but I want to keep her as my mistress for a little while longer. I see things in you. You have potential.”
I stood in my bedroom doorway. He touch
