A Snake in the Grass Read Online Free Page B

this one. I knew he knew
it.
    “Righteousness, courage, benevolence,
respect, honesty, honor, and loyalty.” Not one movement faltered,
each one punctuated by a correct answer.
    “Are you packed?” I abruptly changed
subjects, to see if I could throw him off.
    “Yes.”
    “Did you get your posters?”
    “They’re rolled. Miss Mira is going to mail
them to me later.”
    “You get emails and phone numbers for all
your friends?”
    “They’re all in my notebook.”
    “You got your phone charger?”
    “Yes.”
    He was leaving, you see. Tomorrow, we were
getting on a plane to Mexico, and I was taking Estéban back to his
mother and the rest of his demon-slaying family. There was a ton
more I could teach him, sure, but now, with things like they were…
I had a target on my back in the most literal sense, and the kid
was just collateral damage waiting to happen. It was time for him
to go home, back where it was safe.
    I should have taken him home earlier, but
some pleading on his part (and Mira’s) had convinced me that the
kid should at least be allowed to finish out his senior year of
high school in peace. “Give him a few months to be normal, Jess.
Please. Once he goes home, you know that’s gone for him.” What
could I say? When she was right, she was right. So here we were,
end of May, and we were packing the kid up to go home for the first
time in over a year.
    Between you and me? I was gonna miss him.
    The secondary part of the mission, of course,
was to see if Estéban’s mother, a powerful bruja , could
figure out how to rid me of these extra souls without harming me,
or them. Someone, somewhere, had to know how, and while Carlotta
had never heard of such a thing before, she was willing to see if
she could figure it out. I was hoping between she and Terrence,
they could solve this little problem of mine and I could get back
to my normal life. For some loose definition of the word
“normal.”
    “Jesse?” Estéban stopped in the middle of his
kata, but I finished the last move before I turned to look at him.
“Do you think I’m ready? Tell the truth.”
    A year ago, he’d believed with the absolute
certainty of bull-headed youth that he was ready. A year ago, he’d
arrived in Kansas City in pursuit of the demon who had murdered his
older brother. He was guided by fury and bravado, and together,
we’d taken the thing down. Now… Now he asked if he was ready. I was
so damn proud of this kid it hurt.
    “I think… I think that it is my strongest
wish that you never have to fight another demon battle in
your life, kid.” I watched him wilt on the inside, and kept going.
“But I also know that you will, and I am ninety percent sure that
you’ll live through it. I can’t make you any more ready than you
are, k-…Estéban. Whatever’s left to do has to come from you.”
    A ghost of a smile flickered across his face,
and I snaked an arm out to yank him into a quick noogie. “Just
remember I’m older, and faster, and meaner. ’Kay?”
    “’Kay.” He shrugged me off with a small
chuckle. “Whose turn is it to come with you to It today?”
    “Sveta.” We both made a face. Taking Sveta
out in public was like walking around with a rabid honey badger on
a dental floss leash. But taking Terrence into the mall where I
worked was little more appetizing. The last time I’d worked, I’d
caught him out in front of the store where I worked, berating a
group of kids with fluorescent hair and skinny jeans, informing
them just why they were what’s wrong with the world. Considering
that those kids were my store’s target demographic, you can see how
this wasn’t helpful.
    I think the only reason Mira wasn’t
protesting this Mexico trip more was that she was relieved I was
taking my two “bodyguards” with me. To say things had been
unsettled in the Dawson household was putting it mildly.
    And it wasn’t just Mira. I was reminded of
that as Estéban and I came back inside to find my