Phantom of the Library - Lidiya Foxglove Page 0,32

guess we might as well get to work on this house while we wait for shit to go down.”

“Not much else to do,” Jake said. “We’re not bringing the fight to them, that’s for sure.”

The familiars all scattered outside, perching themselves in hidden spots around the yard so they could alert us if they saw anyone approach or teleport in.

“Demo day,” Jake said, rubbing his hands together.

“Can’t wait,” Billie said. “Helena, you want to help me bring in my tools?” She winked at me.

I wasn’t sure I wanted a private chat to talk about boys, but I guess it was part of the deal. I couldn’t put it off, could I? I followed her to her truck. “I’m still sorting things out, really,” I said.

“Sorting out…last night?” Billie took my hand. “That’s okay! I just thought we should get our minds off of it all for a moment and go take a look at the run-down house down the street.”

“Ohhh.” I laughed. “I thought you were going to rope me into dishing.”

“I guess I will at some point, but we have other priorities, right?” Billie grinned back and then her face fell a little. “Honest to god, Hel, I don’t know what I’m doing either. I had a good night with Gaston but being reminded that my familiar died for me just…puts a real damper on everything. It’s worse and worse the more I think about it. Like he don’t even got a choice…” She added hastily, “Doesn’t. Doesn’t have.”

“Don’t worry. I’m not the grammar police,” I said.

“I don’t want you to think I didn’t learn anything at our school,” Billie said.

“If you did learn anything between the bullying and the drama, good for you. I’m not sure I did.”

“Yeah, right. You were one of the best in the class.”

“But I wasn’t the best,” I sighed. “So…my mother was terribly disappointed in me.”

“And here we are now,” Billie said. “Giving all of it a big eff you and doing our own thing.”

“That’s right. And look at this place! Aw, man. I know the guys don’t want to get involved, but…”

The other house for sale in the neighborhood was close to the beginning of the street, so it wouldn’t have as much of a view, and it needed a lot of work. Just at a glance I saw roof damage, so probably water damage inside—hopefully not too tragic, but that was all the more reason someone needed to snap this baby up, because the bones were great. The front had a walled courtyard with a little Japanese style rock garden. The door had three rectangular panels while two long rectangular front windows looked out over the rock garden. I peered in. The house was cleared out, the hardwood floor in rough shape, but I saw a long living room with a cool wide fireplace made from stacked rock. It didn’t have the lumpy “faux rock” look of Bel Tramonto but was more like sleek rock strata.

“Ooh! She’s nice,” Billie said. “Wonder how much they want.”

“We really don’t have time.”

“What if the asking price was under three hundred?”

“In California? I’m sure it’s not.” I paused. “And we better not find out.”

We reluctantly pulled ourselves away from the house and channeled our nerves into demo.

The first thing to go was the orange carpet. It was just skanky and no one had a single word of mourning as we pulled it up. Billie started dragging all the furniture out to the yard.

“It’s not like it’ll rain out here,” Billie said. “So we can just leave it out overnight and if someone steals it they’re doing us a favor.”

“Good point.” The surrounding hills were covered in desert scrub, and the sky was blue and cloudless. “We can get someone to haul it away later.”

“I do like that green wallpaper,” Billie said. “It’s so psychedelic.”

“This whole room looks like a drug trip,” Graham said.

“Well, you could save a piece and frame it,” Jake said.

“That’s not a bad idea,” Billie said. “But I don’t trust myself to get it down without ripping it up.”

“I’ll do it,” I said. “I am the queen of delicacy.”

“Not last night you weren’t,” Jake said under his breath, and I made as if to hit him with a hammer. I was having a blast, though. This space was so huge that we were all working together, Billie and Gaston using their vampire strength to move out the remaining furniture, the Sullivans ripping up carpet, and Graham and Byron pulling out the kitchen