October Girls: Crystal & Bone Read Online Free

forward and the silver cross in his left ear lobe caught the shine from the counter lights. “And that’s where
you
come in.”
    She didn’t know whether to be thrilled that he trusted her or annoyed that he was trying to use her. “I don’t get it.”
    “The movie biz is tough. Without word of mouth, you’re dead in the water. And you got a mouth that looks like it could work wonders.”
    Cosmo
never said anything about a line like that. “Thanks, I guess.”
    She glanced around the shop, wondering if she could count on help if Dempsey turned into a pervert or creep.
Or Lurken
, Momma silently warned.
Darkmeet could send its advance scouts any day now. Talk about a street team.
    The pimply-faced clerk was busy thumbing through a muscle magazine. Three other people occupied the shop: a middle-aged couple who hunched furtively over their cups as if not wanting spouses to find out, and a nerdy guy in wire-rimmed spectacles who held a thick book. None of them particularly looked like demonic denizens from beyond.
    “Dude,” she said. “I’m sure you know what you’re doing, but there’s no reason to come to Parson’s Ford to start a tech business. Shouldn’t you be in Hollywood or Toronto or something?”
    “It’s not a tech business, it’s a people business.”
    “Blah blah. That’s what Fatback Bob says. ‘It’s not a video business, it’s a people business.’ Or ‘It’s not a tanning business, it’s a people business.’”
    “Sounds like the guy’s got some smarts.”
    “Smart enough to pay me minimum wage plus a quarter.”
    The Kenny Chesney soundtrack finished and the counter clerk, making a predictable
uber
hip grope for eclecticism, punched up a Dandy Warhols disc that sounded like sex on a bed of cotton candy.
    “So, are you in?” Dempsey said, leaning forward and doing the eye-roll thing. She suspected not many women answered in the negative to anything once that lighthouse beacon swept their waters.
    But she also didn’t like to dive headfirst until she’d poked underwater for rocks. “Tell me more,” she said. “My coffee’s getting cold.”
    Dempsey wiped his latte soul patch. “Here’s the deal. You order six of my horror movies for the price of one, then you keep the one and send five to your friends. When they join, you get five more, and they get the same deal.”
    “But then I only end up with six, just like I started with. Why should I bother?”
    “That’s the beauty part. Every time one of your friends signs somebody up, you get an additional five.”
    “A pyramid scheme?”
    “’Viral marketing’ is the preferred nomenclature.”
    “Sure. But still, Parson’s Ford?”
    Dempsey tipped his Styrofoam cup to the corner. “See that?”
    She glanced, and if she hadn’t seen such things before, she would have chalked it up to imagination or maybe a contaminated bran muffin emitting hallucinogenic mold spores. The crack where the two walls and floor met expanded for a split second, showing a black fissure.
    The third gateway? So soon?
    Darkness seeped across the floor like spilled motor oil or boiled-down coffee sludge, a tendril of it rolling toward Crystal’s sensible shoes. Even though they’d been on sale at JC Penney for $19.95 and would be out of fashion by December, she lifted her feet up to avoid any stains.
    “I see it, but I didn’t think anyone else was supposed to,” she said.
    He flung his half-filled cup at the wall, and latte splashed into the crack. The clerk glanced at the corner, which had returned to its previous angles. “Hey,” the clerk yelled over the alt-rock music, “why you want to trash the place?”
    “Sorry,” Dempsey said. “Thought I saw a spider.”
    “Ease off on the caffeine, man.”
    Dempsey had the muscle mass to rearrange the clerk’s pointy chin and nose and stuff a drip-ground bag of flavor-of-the-day up the runt’s backside. But he relaxed and leaned back in his chair. “Like I said, sorry. Thought the lady