Page 70 of Midnight Auto Parts

Used to making the drive solo, I grinned at him. “Vi would be thrilled to meet you.”

Focus drifting to his hands, he asked, “What about you?”

“I’ve already met you.” I poked his shoulder, teasing him. “But I would love for you to come with me.”

I regaled him with stories of my time in New Orleans as I drove with an eye on the time, most of them—like my first Mardi Gras—wereslightlyedited versions of actual events. Had I told him the full truth, the reason why I didn’t drink even when visiting Vi, I might come off less as responsible and more as a lesson learned the hard way.

After I parked the wagon, Kierce and I took the stairs up to my apartment at a jog. The allotted time ran out as my butt hit the couch, Kierce right beside me. Stuffing down my guilt, I prepared to pitch my idea.

Phone held in a death grip, I dialed Jean-Claude with my fingers crossed. “Hello?”

“Rollo will start patting down my visitors if he figures out what you’ve done.”

“I’m so sorry, Vi.” I couldn’t stem the tide of words given the opportunity to speak them to her. “I should have told you sooner. It’s my fault you got hurt. I should have sent you away the second you?—”

“I’m grown, and grown folks do what they do.” She scoffed at me. “What happened out there?”

Afraid of the consequences of involving her further, but aware she was already neck-deep in trouble of my making, I tested a hunch. “Do you know anyone who can wipe memories?”

“I know all sorts of folks.”

“Do you have a more specific answer for me?”

“Depends on if you’ve got a more specific question for me.”

“Let’s say a whole lot of people have been exposed to a whole lot of information they shouldn’t know.” I figured, with Vi, the blunt approach would work best. “Let’s also say there’s a higher power who has plans to erase those people, permanently, rather than risk that information leaking.”

“I would say you’re gonna need two things: a technomancer and a powerful witch.”

Carter had volunteered witches from the 514, but using them created a new set of problems with erasing memories. Namely theirs. Same with the technomancer. A big guy. Built like a tank. Bald. Wore a nice black suit with a lifelike white moth broach. We had been expecting a woman, but he did a bang-up job of identifying and removing the cameras and microphones Armie had hidden all over our homes and the shop, so I trusted him for this gig too. Not that he would thank me for that faith in his talent if he left with money in his pocket but holes in his memory.

Still. Needs must. “I can swing that.”

“Then you’re set. Get the witch to soften the memories into a blur. It’s easier on the mind if they can’t recall specifics than if a block of time outright disappears from their recollections. It’ll get you in less trouble too, if you get caught. You, for whatever damn fool reason, are tempting fate with your antics. For someone who’s kept clear of the public eye, you’re stripping naked and dancing in the spotlight these days.”

The smell of ozone filled my nose, and I noticed Kierce’s fingers crackling with energy.

Lacing my fingers with his, thrilled I could touch him this way, I told him, “She didn’t mean it literally.”

“Your young man’s there? Hello, young man.”

“I’m not young.” He watched his powers dance across our skin. “And, perhaps, not wholly a man.”

“Such is the way of gods, yes?” She gentled her tone. “Nothing and everything all at once. Unique even amongst yourselves. I’m not surprised to learn Death done sunk his hooks in my Frankie, but I warn you. I’ve seen what the love of gods does to mortals. They don’t survive it. Frankie might be more like you than me these days, but her heart’s soft. She’s a good girl. She’s my girl. Hurt her, andyouwon’t surviveme.”

Solemn in the face of her threat, he paid her the respect she was due. “Yes, ma’am.”

“Now,cher, you know Papa Legba and I go way back. Loas protect me, and I am not afraid.”

The subtle reminder she had gods and spirits on her side too eased my worries a smidgen, and the prod for me to get to the point of the call wasn’t lost on me either. Not when we had so little time before her grandson came to check on her. Then we would both get in trouble with Rollo, and I had caused enough of that for her to last a lifetime.

Swinging my gaze to Kierce, I asked for permission he granted with a nod that promised we would figure out how to protect those already exposed to the knowledge of the burial ground’s existence. I should’ve stuck to my guns when it came to keeping my divine experiences to myself, but I needed help, and it was Vi who had always saved me from myself. Magically speaking.

Thirty minutes later, Vi was cursing me in Creole I couldn’t translate. I spoke fluent Vi, though, so it was safe to assume she was calling me an idiot, questioning whether I had a brain in my head, or demanding if I wanted to die from stupidity. Those werethe top three her apprentices got hit with most often. Or maybe that was just me.

Another twenty minutes later, she had run out of steam and promised to call me the next morning.

As much as I hated to end the call without an actionable plan, I refused to push while she was recovering from the ordeal I had put her through. That left me with a free night and a few possibilities on how to spend it.

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