She took out her burner and texted Adam, giving things another try:
Can we meet up? Somewhere private. I don’t want us to be spotted together.
This was the tricky bit, getting him to bite. Once he told her where he was, he was screwed.
Then Doreen could go scream at him and drag him home.
If only it could be that easy for Charlie to fix things for Posey. But there was no con or heist, no scam she could think of that would help.
Tomorrow?
With her car out of commission, that was going to be tight. Sure, Charlie typed. I can come over in the morning, before class.
No mornings.
She ground her teeth in frustration. If she didn’t know when he was going to be there, then she’d have to stake out the place. And since she was pretending to be Amber the gloamist, it made no sense for her to even have some other job. Charlie decided to go for vague. I have a thing until midnight. I can meet you after.
He sent her a thumbs-up and a winking emoji. When he followed up with the number of his hotel room at the MGM in Springfield, she felt a little guilty, as though she was scheduling a rendezvous.
You’re not doing anything wrong, she told herself.
Okay, she was doing something wrong, just not what it looked like.
“Have you been paying attention to what I said at all?” Posey demanded.
“Definitely,” Charlie lied.
Posey rolled her eyes and kicked the leg of Charlie’s chair with a slippered foot. “There’s this video where people take ayahuasca and are guided through waking their shadows. Everyone on the message boards are flipping out over it. I know someone with a lake house over by Lake Quinsigamond, and he wants a bunch of us to re-create it—if someone can get the DMT.”
Charlie raised her eyebrows. “That’s the stuff that makes you vomit all night. And grosser stuff.”
Posey shrugged. “Can you get it?”
“DMT?” Charlie said, trying to decide how bad an idea it really was. “I don’t know. Ask around Hampshire College. If someone is dealing it locally, they’re dealing it there. Or maybe when you start at UMass you can see if someone can synthesize you some in the bio lab.”
Charlie’s sister had spent the last few years bingeing Reddit threads, watching videos, and chatting with other gloamist hopefuls until dawn. But lately things had gotten worse. Posey had started staying up for days at a stretch and not leaving the house for weeks. Despair seemed to be chasing her heels as her shadow refused to quicken. She’d gone so deep down the rabbit hole that Charlie worried it had become an oubliette.
That was why it was so important for Posey to go to school. At UMass, she could study umbral science with actual professors instead of yutzes from the internet. Maybe she’d even discover some other interest.
The only problem was the number of forms and fees and surprise charges. While Charlie had gotten together most of the money for this last bill, she didn’t have it all. But she could get it once Doreen’s brother came through and bought them a little more time.
So Charlie fell back on the family tradition of mostly ignoring the situation and occasionally, guiltily, suggesting that her sister try to go to bed earlier. Acting like her problem was insomnia.
Like they didn’t both know Posey was drinking buckets of coffee and soda and maybe popping Adderall to stave off exhaustion. At least that would serve her well in undergrad.
Charlie had a sinking feeling that her sister already had an idea about where she was going to get DMT, and that it’d involve boosting something. Most likely, Charlie boosting something.
Posey’s cell pinged, and as she checked it, Charlie devoted herself to the drinking of her coffee. She was going to need it.
“Mom pulled the Seven of Cups today,” Posey muttered, holding up her phone so Charlie could see the photo of their mother holding a tarot card.
The card of a daydreamer, a searcher. Their mother was living in a long-stay motel with a new guy, but there was always a new guy. She liked to have Posey weigh in on her fortunes, since divinations were free for family.
Charlie ignored a familiar stab of guilt, dulled by time but never totally gone. “What are you going to tell her?”
Posey scowled. “What do you care? It’s not like you believe I know what I’m talking about.” At her tone, Lucipurrr looked up from the sink and hissed.
“That’s not fair,” Charlie said. “And you’re upsetting the cat. She hates it when people fight.”
Posey ignored her. “There’s a reason they cut shadows off people and sell them. Everyone wants magic. It’s not just me.”