October Girls: Crystal & Bone Read Online Free Page A

here might be afraid of spiders.”
    “I’m not afraid of spiders,” Crystal said.
    “What about ghosts?”
    “Depends.”
    “Maybe you got potential.” He grinned, and she was a wreck.
    Luckily, he gave her a break.
    “I’ll get some paper towels.” He went to the bathroom, and the clerk returned to scrubbing the espresso machine, a petulant glower giving him premature wrinkles.
    So Dempsey sees down the rabbit hole
.
And we thought Darkmeet was a secret.
Curiouser and curiouser.
    Sure, Momma knew about it, because the main gateway was in her mobile home. Bone knew, because she sneaked back and forth like it was the skipping trail at high school.
    And now a stranger–a guy making a horror movie–came into town and into Crystal’s life just when things couldn’t get any more complicated.
    And then they got worse, because
she
appeared.
    “He thinks you’re cute,” Bone said, voice carrying over the dandy music.
    “How come you show up every time things get weird?”
    “That’s what friends are for.”
    Crystal squinted into the corner. “Where are you?”
    “It was a tiny crack,” Bone said. “I had to hitch a ride.”
    “Don’t see you.”
    “Look higher.”
    The cobwebs shook, and a single silver line descended toward the table. Swinging from the end was a black spider with red eyes. “
Hola, chiquita
.”
    “What is this, a Tim Burton version of ‘Charlotte’s Web’?”
    “Cute pop-culture references will get you nowhere. Did you already drive Chain Boy away? I told you to start using breath mints.”
    “Go find your own toys. Oh, yeah, I forgot, you’re dead.”
    “Don’t be mean. I’m on your side here.”
    “My side. The living side. For now. But you’re not reliable.”
    The spider’s eyes glistened and an obscene clear gel oozed from the rear of its abdomen. “Not my fault. I’d trade places in a heartbeat.”
    “You wish me dead, too?”
    The Bone-spider sighed. “I live through you.”
    “I know, I know. I’m your vicarious pleasure. I do what you can only dream about. That’s a lot of pressure, you know?”
    “You’re failing to grasp the significance here. See, you can still
get guys
.”
    “There’s more to life than sex. And besides—”
    “No more blasphemy. You try being a permanent virgin and see how
you
like it. I mean, I’ve seen Emily Dickinson, and, hoo boy, does she have regrets.”
    “You said nobody judged sins over there. That everybody starts over.”
    “Like I know anything? Look at me. I’m a talking spider.”
    Dempsey ended the conversation by emerging from the bathroom with a stack of wet paper towels. Bone gave a wink, or maybe winked with half of her eight eyes, and scuttled up the silk thread into the dusty nest.
    So Crystal would have an audience. As if things weren’t awkward enough already.
    She was going to offer to help wipe up the light-brown spatters on the walls, but Dempsey bent over in his jeans and his buns strained against the denim.
    Pettigrew, Pettigrew, Pettigrew
.
    She wasn’t sure whether using her boyfriend’s name as a distraction was a good idea, but she decided any port in a storm. And now the whole encounter seemed kind of sneaky, no matter how much she told herself it was “just coffee.”
    She had to get out of there while she was still thinking PG-13.
    But first—
    “How long have you been seeing the gateways?”
    “I heard about them,” Dempsey said. “That’s why I came to Parson’s Ford.”
    “Heard about them? So other people can see them, too?”
    “I didn’t say ‘people,’ did I?”
    Was Dempsey connected to someone on the other side in the same way that Crystal was linked with Bone? Did Dempsey have his own spiritual advisor?
    “I need you,” he said, touching her arm, and she could have sworn a spark jumped off her skin.
    “I… I don’t know anything about making movies.”
    “It’s not about making movies. It’s about saving the world. And getting the girl. Happy endings.”
    He