Ryan sat down in Homeroom tiredly and Shantel left a note on his desk. He read it:
Ryan,
I can help you find
Alex Peter Phillips at
my house. Bring, The
Proprietaries with you.
Shantel
"Okay," said Ryan.
---
In the school cafeteria, Ryan ate a red apple aggressively, chewing it fast. Troy sat with Shantel, talking and eating. He turned and looked at Ryan agitatedly.
"Haven't kissed her yet, huh?" said Pablo. "Let it out, bro."
"You sit on her bed alone in her room," said Sloan. "Plant one on her already."
"When I'm ready," said Ryan.
"You're too young to be frigid," said Pablo. "Do it soon before Troy sticks his tongue down her throat."
"She might not want to kiss yet," said Ryan.
"Girls develop faster than boys," said Jamal. "If she wrote that song about you, she wants it."
"Shantel's very conservative," said Ryan.
"Yeah, she is - not!" said Sloan, eating a small, vanilla, pudding pack.
"She likes your red cock and you know it," said Pablo.
"She sticks up for it too," said Jamal.
"Stop talking about it. I don't want to be aggressive," said Ryan. "She hasn't told me what she does on Friday, Saturday and Sunday night. I want her to trust me."
"Maybe she's got Troy on the side," said Jamal. "He acts like her beau."
"No," said Ryan. "It might be something else."
---
Shantel answered the door, wearing the blue blouse and jeans she wore to school.
"Hi, Ryan. Good, you brought the book. Sigourney and Skyler are upstairs. Let's go."
Shantel hurried up the staircase and went up the next set of stairs.
"Where are we going?" asked Ryan.
"The attic."
"What's going on?"
"You'll see."
Two large windows lined with stained glass that opened in the center covered the back wall of the attic under a pitched roof.
Old, wooden chairs and small chests cluttered the room. Teapots and cups covered a card table. Dated dolls and hardcover books filled a tall, wooden bookcase against the wall.
Shantel turned on a red, Tiffany lamp on a table nearby.
Sigourney and Skyler stood over a map of Illinois on a podium and Skyler held a black cord tied to a clear, crystal quartz above it.
"Hi, Ryan," said Skyler. "Shantel told us about Alex and we want to help you. He bought your book?"
"Yes," said Ryan.
"And you believe he planted it?" asked Sigourney.
"He must've."
"If this is true, I can use his property to find him if he lives in Illinois," said Skyler.
"Give me it." Shantel took, The Proprietaries out of Ryan's grip and gave it to Sigourney. "Skyler will scry him on the map."
Sigourney slipped the book underneath the map and Skyler placed the crystal on it.
YOU ARE READING
Sing Today Die Tomorrow
Mystery / ThrillerSomething wants him to die. Something else wants him to misbehave and another something wants him to hear lies. And he just turned thirteen. Ryan Ross doesn't understand what on earth is haunting him until a mysterious stranger leads him to a secret...
