Page 106 of Jinxes and Drumsticks

We’re going to have to call 911. It’s going to make the night kind of a mess.

The van’s gone, which means I’m going to have to tell Oren, Roxie and Fletcher about Lillith and Wren. Even if I didn’t, I wouldn’t trust Satoshi to keep his stupid mouth shut.

Fuck. This whole plan just got so much more complicated.

Not to mention the matter of having to tell Lillith about her mother. How do I even start to handle that? How do I bring it up? Do I wait until we’re back in Del Lune? Do I tell her over the phone? Do I let Wren handle it?

Just when I’m about to spiral into panic about it, Wren returns. Her brow shines with sweat and she wets her mouth, clearing the taste of bile, I figure.

“I can handle this, Wren. You don’t have to deal with it,” I say.

“No—I need—I need to touch her,” Wren says. “I prefer premonitions to this. I’m a huge necrophobe, but before I came into the world as a chickenshit, this was actually what my ancestors were good at. Necromancy—entrail reading, shit like that.”

“What is touching her going to do?” I ask.

“You’re not going to bring her back to life, are you?” Satoshi asks nervously.

“No, but if she died within the last few days, I can see the last moments of her life,” Wren says. “I just... really, really hate dead things. So I need to get this over with.”

“Wren—seriously, if it’s too creepy for you—”

“I’m not going back to my best friend empty-handed, Damien,” she snaps. “I’m not going to go back to Del Lune with nothing but terrible news, a dead end and no answers for Lillith. I can do this. I can do this for her.”

I press my lips into a firm line and nod. “Alright,” I say. “What do you need from me?”

“Could you just... help me get to the skin over her heart?” She asks, swallowing loudly.

I nod and get to work on the task. I adjust her body so that it’s lying down instead of slumping sideways against the couch. While I unbutton her flannel, Satoshi makes himself scarce, citing the need for a light switch.

“You’re handling this really well,” Wren says quietly.

“Used to get a lot of calls to nursing homes,” I say. “Sometimes after someone had just died, or when they were on the way out and they didn’t have a DNR.”

“What is this?” Wren conceals a gag. “This bruising here?”

Livor mortis has settled in across the left side of Lillith’s mother’s body. The deep purple hue tells me she’s been dead for a couple days. I don’t mention to Wren that the timing lines up for the day we left Del Lune. The last thing I want is for that information to get back to Lillith and make her feel responsible for her own mother’s death.

“It’s called livor mortis,” I say, then hesitate. “Do you want me to tell you what that is? It’s kind of gross.”

“No,” she says a little too quickly. “I’ll just... Google it later, or something. But I assume it means she wasn’t fucked up before her death?”

“No signs of trauma, really. Her ribcage and everything looks intact,” I tell her.

She nods, her sallow complexion almost concerning.

“Do you need me to remove her bra?” I ask delicately.

“No,” Wren says, “I can work with that. Thank you for helping me.”

“I’m going to step away, alright? I don’t feel right sitting here while she’s half-naked.”

“Yeah,” Wren says. “And, uh... When I’m done, maybe we can call someone? I know this woman sucks, but... it feels wrong to just leave her here.”

I nod. “Yeah, I already planned to,” I say as I stand up. “We’ll get her squared away.”

“Good, good,” Wren says with a shaky exhale.

I leave her and follow the steps I saw Satoshi take into the next room. A faint orange glow emanates from the doorway, and when I step through it I find him standing in the kitchen, looking down at a charred tea kettle. Stagnant air fills the room, too hot when compared to the dank air of the rest of the cabin. The kitchen’s walls are papered in an off-white floral design, and the wooden cabinets hem in an enameled green stove that must have been installed in the seventies.