An amateur medium races against the brink of her own sanity to track down a serial killer who is already in possession of his next victim.
And she only has 23 days to solve the case or else.
***
Devyn Brooks has only ever had one fear: don't becom...
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"Heeey what's good, Li'l Wally?"
I find my cousin Kaycee in Uncle Maurio's living room, bringing spoonfuls of Cinnamon Toast Crunch into her mouth.
"I'm good," I say, sighing into a recliner. "Just taking things day by day. You?"
Kaycee shrugs, slurping up the last of her bowl. Her long pressed hair is as smooth as glass. She's wearing makeup today. And her favorite pair of Converse sneakers.
"Gabrielle is coming into the center today," she hums, standing up. "We want to organize a Black youth event with this local church."
"Oh yeah?" I give a slick grin.
Kaycee dumps the contents of her cereal into the kitchen sink and comes back around. "Today is the day I'm going for it. Lisa swears she's interested."
"Oh, I see how it goes. You listen to Lisa but not me—your favorite cousin." I pause for dramatic effect when Kaycee gurgles a laugh. "Well, shit. It's about time. I'm glad you're finally going for it."
Kaycee bites her lip. "But what if she says no?"
"And what if I don't get into the NBA?"
Kaycee sighs. "Then you'll try again next year."
"And you'll find the right girl to fall for."
"Yeah, but Ace I really like her. I don't want to fuck this up." Kaycee sucks in a breath. "I haven't liked someone this much since fuckin'..." she thinks for a moment. "Middle school."
"I hear you but if you never ask, you'll never know what could be."
"And that's on periodt!" says a young voice, trailing down the hall. Emerging with Unc and his very pregnant girlfriend Bethel, is my thirteen-year-old cousin Kaliya. She dives right into a hug the moment I open my arms.
"Wassup, nephew?" Unc asks.
"We didn't know y'all were here," Bethel says, slowly landing onto the couch while clutching her under belly.
"I snuck in like a bandit about ten minutes ago. I'm here for Ace," says Kaycee, giving Bethel a hard look. "And the free cereal."
My cousin hasn't liked her unofficial stepmom since Unc first started dating her. All because she's fifteen years younger than him. And now that Bethel is knocked up, Kaycee's stuck with her. But I happen to like Bethel. She was cool with letting me hide out in a vacant apartment from the police.
Bethel looks toward the kitchen, like she's contemplating if she wants to get back up. "...Want me to whip somethin' up for you, Ace?"
"Nah, we're just about to leave. Kayc is driving me to school today."
"Devyn not picking you up?" Bethel asks worryingly, readjusting her blue headscarf.
Devyn's been on my mind all morning and I didn't want her to take me to practice after what happened yesterday in the park. I've only seen her shaken like that a few times and it never sits well with me. She still hasn't told me all the details, but she saw something bad. Real bad.
