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The best way that I could help Nova was by listening to her, so I nodded and went inside the house. I came in the front door just as Kimber was coming down the stairs, and she scowled at me as she went over to the sink to pour herself a glass of water.
“How is Harlow?” I asked, since Kimber was alone.
“She’s taking a bath. She got some zombie blood on her.” Kimber took a long drink of her water, and then she leaned against the counter and continued to glare at me. “Now will you tell me what the hell is going on with Nova? How did she know so much about the Loths? Was she trading with them? Did you buy a domestic zombie from the fucking Loths?”
“No, no!” I answered quickly. “Nothing like that. Sage was her sister. When she became infected, Nova tried to take care of her, the same way she took care of the sick animals.”
She relaxed a little, but she was still clearly dismayed when she asked, “Why didn’t you tell us about her?”
“Because of everything you’d been through at the ranch,” I rationalized. “Sage is usually locked up, out of sight, so I didn’t think you’d even see her at all. I didn’t want to freak you both out over something that I stupidly believed wouldn’t hurt you.”
“You can’t have secrets like that.” Kimber shook her head vigorously. “Not in the world we live in. It’s too much to try and protect us from everything.”
“I could say that to you,” I countered gently.
Her stance turned defensive, and she lifted her chin slightly. “What do you mean?”
“I see the way you look after Harlow, and honestly, I’ve been wanting to thank you for that,” I said. “I don’t know if she could’ve survived without you. But I am under the impression you’re trying to be strong for her. You both went through hell. It’s okay that neither of you are fully okay right now. I guess all I am trying to say is that I appreciate all that you do for Harlow, and I hope that someday you can trust me to help you the way you help others.”
Kimber lowered her eyes and considered my words. “I can work on that, if you promise you’ll be honest with us from now on.”
“I will,” I promised. “I don’t think I have any more secrets, but I’ll be more open with you both about dangers when they arise.”
“That’s all I really ask.”
“Do you think that Harlow will ever forgive me for not finding you both sooner?”
Kimber smiled sadly at me. “She already has. How were you supposed to know we were kidnapped by a sadistic family and their domestic zombies? That is luckily not a common occurrence, even in our fucked-up world.”
45
Lazlo
For Sage, there was no fire. Nova buried her under a big oak tree in the front yard. I’d offered to lend a hand on the digging, but she insisted on doing it alone, so it wasn’t until the sun set that she finished.
When she came in, she went straight to the sink to wash her hands, and I was sitting in the living room, pretending to read a book but really waiting for her.
“How are you doing?” I asked.
“Exhausted.” She finally turned around to face me, and her eyes were red rimmed from tears. “Where are the girls?”
“Harlow and Kimber are up in their room.”
“Hmm.” Nova frowned and glanced up at the stairs. “Do you want to go somewhere and have a drink?”
“Is there a bar down the street that I don’t know about?” I asked.
“No.” She grabbed the jug of blackberry moonshine from on top of the fridge. “Come on. I’ll show you.”
I didn’t really want to deny her, but I was definitely surprised when she headed up the stairs instead of out the door. At the landing at the top, Nova paused to knock on the door of the bedroom now occupied by Harlow and Kimber.
“Yeah?” Kimber said without opening the door.
“Just wanted to let you know that Lazlo and I will be up in the attic,” Nova told her. “So you don’t freak out if you hear us moving around. We’re not zombies or anything.”
After that, she pulled down the attic ladder from the ceiling, and she climbed up ahead of me. It was a small space in the shape of an a-frame, and it was dusty from disuse. There was a mattress leaning against one wall, and some boxes of holiday decorations in the corner.
The one very cool thing about the attic was a giant round stained-glass window, depicting shooting stars across the night sky.
