stuck with her the longest, until everyone hated me for staying friends with her, and then she'd finally tossed me too.
That meant Moz had been right: the crazy woman had been getting rid of her own stuff, throwing her whole life out the window. I wondered how he'd known.
I thought about the mirrors upstairs, all covered with velvet. Min didn't want to see her own face, to hear her own name - suddenly it all made sense.
Luz touched my shoulder. "That is why it is good you are here. I think maybe now, Pearl, you can do more than I."
I felt the music player in my pocket, loaded up with Big Riff. I couldn't do anything myself - I wasn't some kind of skull-wielding esoterica - but maybe this fexcellent music...
Luz started up the stairs, waving for me to follow.
"One more thing: I think I saw angels."
She stopped and turned, crossing herself again. "Angeles de la lucha? They were fast? On the rooftops?"
I nodded. "Like you told me to watch for around here." "And they took this woman?"
I shrugged. "I don't know. I got the hell out of there."
"Good." She reached out and stroked my face, her fingers rough and smelling of herbs. "It is not for you, the struggle that is coming."
"So where do the angels take you?" I whispered.
Luz closed her eyes. "To somewhere far away."
"What, like heaven?"
She shook her head. "No. On an airplane. To a place where they make the change firm in you. So you can fight for them in the struggle." She took my hand. "But that is not for you - not for Minerva. Come."
The rest of the way up, there were lots of new decorations to check out. The stairway walls were covered with wooden crosses, a thousand little stamped-metal figures nailed into each one. The figures were nonweird shapes - shoes, dresses, trees, dogs, musical instruments - but the wild jumble of them made me wonder if someone had put normality into a blender, then set it on disintegrate.
And of course there were the skulls. Their painted black eyes stared down at us from the shadows, every floor a little darker as we climbed. The windows up here were blacked out, the mirrors draped with red velvet. Street noises faded as we climbed, the air growing as still as a sunken ship.
Outside Minerva's room, Luz bent to pick up a towel from the floor, sighing apologetically. "It is only me tonight. The family are more tired every day."
"Anything I can do to help?" I whispered.
Luz smiled. "You are here. That is help."
She pulled a few leaves from her pocket, crushing them together in her hands. They smelled like fresh-cut grass, or mint. She knelt and rubbed her palms on my sneakers and the legs of my jeans.
I'd always kind of rolled my eyes at her spells before, but tonight I felt in need of protection.
"Maybe you will sing to her."
I swallowed, wondering if Luz had somehow divined what I'd been planning. "Sing? But you always said - "
"S铆." Her eyes sparked in the darkness. "But she is better now. However, to keep you safe..."
She pressed a familiar little doll into my hands, stroking its tattered red yarn hair into place. It stared up at me, smiling maniacally, one button eye dangling from two black threads, setting my stomach fluttering again.
The doll was the creepiest of Luz's rituals of protection. But suddenly it made sense. It had always been Min's favorite back when we were little, the only object she'd ever really been attached to, besides the ring she'd thrown at Mark in front of the whole System. I was glad to have the doll tonight, even if Minerva hadn't been violent since her family had given up on drugs and doctors and had switched to Luz.
I wondered how they'd found her. Were esotericas listed in the phone book? Was Esoterica a cool band name, or too lateral? Was the Big Riff in my pocket really a kind of magic -
"Don't be afraid," Luz whispered. Then she opened the door with one strong hand, the other pushing me into the darkness. "Go and sing."
6. MADNESS
- MINERVA-
Pearl was glowing. Her face shimmered as the door swung closed, setting the candle flickering jaggedly.
"You're shiny," I murmured, squinting.
She swallowed, licking her upper lip. I could smell her nervous saltiness.
"It's hot out."
"It's summer, right?"
"Yeah, middle of August." Pearl frowned, even though I'd been right.
I closed my eyes, remembering April, May... all the way up to