Chameleon (5 page)

I twisted to Rich
. “Do you know anything about the Bearded Dragon or—”

Rich yanked me down. I fell back a little and then he pulled me to him, shaking me by my arms. “Where did you hear that name from?”

“Calm down.” I struggled out of his arms, but Rich snatched me up again and pressed his chest into mine. His breath brushed against my forehead. A sweet candy scent drifted down to my nose. “Don’t ever say that name out loud. Are you insane? Where the hell is Wiz at?”

“He’s fine,” I mumbled. “Who’s this Bearded Dragon guy?”

“Motherpounder! I just said don’t say that,” he groaned. “I’m guarding you, tonight. Something is up and you’re too hard headed to say it.”

“You’re not guarding me.” I shoved at his chest but he didn’t budge. I f
licked my scales back and forth and hoped to disgust him enough to release me.

He
wagged his eyebrows. “Now, you’re just turning me on.”

“Yeah right.” I shifted my weight on one foot. “Wiz is okay. He’s just a little tired right now.”

Rich cursed under his breath. “He cast a spell?”

I nodded.

“How much did he use?”

“A good bit.” I thought of the birds and cringed. “A whole lot.”

“You can’t tell anybody. Not even my sister. There’s too much tension in Haven. The other tribes are getting tired of Wiz bossing everyone around.” Rich gestured at a little kid that looked like he was eight. “Let the rope ladder down, Lito.”

The kid sneezed, wiped the snot away with the back of his hand, and untied a long hoop of rope and chains to lower the ladder. Rich whistled down below. A long whistle returned. He threw my brick-climbers over the ledge. A clickety clack echoed back to us.

“Why are we taking the ladder? Where are your brick-climbers?” I asked.

Rich leaned in
. “I lost them.”

Wiz would trip. It was the third pair this month Rich had lost.
It would mean spending more money we didn’t have.

“I’ll buy you some new ones without
Wiz knowing if you tell me about the Bearded Dragon.”

“Stop saying that name
!”

“Fine.”

“Tell my sister I’ll be back in the morning,” Rich yelled back as I got on the ladder. “I’ll be with Cameo in her room all night.”

A few kids whispered on our side.

I raised my eyebrows. “Did you have to say it that way?”

“I don’t want her to be suspicious of Wiz.” Rich laughed.

“I’d rather you have said something like you’d be gone at the vamp arcade all night or something,” I insisted. “Or you’re going out on a date one of those bizarre chicks you tend to hang with.”

“T
ina got suspicious when you were teaching me how to read.”

“Why would she get suspicious?”

“I didn’t tell her you were teaching me.”

“Why?”
I groaned.

“Come on. I know T
ina. She’ll get weird about it.”

“Ridiculous,” I muttered under my breath. “What excuse did you use then?”

“She thought I was trying to date you or something. You know. ” Rich followed me as I climbed down. “So, I went with it and said you were cheating on Wiz with me.”

“Wiz and I aren’t together.” I smacked his foot. “And next time give her another excuse.”

“It’s hard to lie to Tina. It’s a twin thing,” he said. “The best way to lie to her is to let her come up with the suggestions and then I can just nod.”

“
Idiot.”

“
Let’s just take care of this problem and then you can call me all the names you want.”

We climbed down in silence. My vision blurred a little. I struggled to continue
my descent. Once I got to the ground, I almost yelled out thanks to the gods.

“Okay
, so where’s Wiz?” Rich lifted his head up to the sky and whistled. A small whistle sounded back down to us. The rope rose in the air.

“
Wiz is in my dumpster with a vamp.” I averted my eyes.

“A vamp?
The one thing Wiz is out of his mind afraid of?” He rubbed his eyes and we headed off toward Cinnamon’s Meat Shack. “You’re killing me.”

Chapter 5

Shango
High School Band marched down Oshun Boulevard for the Remembrance Day Parade. Crimson red pants and flaming orange shirts decorated the students as they blew their trumpets, saxophones, and horns, banged on drums, and tossed orange ribboned batons in the air. The music boomed in my ears at a fast-paced tempo and drove the crowd crazy. People danced on the sidewalk. Others tossed confetti in the air. Children climbed on their parents’ shoulders and waved flags with pictures of their gods. Teens hooted and hollered. The older crowd lounged in lawn chairs and held banners that said things like:

“We’ll always remember!”

“You fought for us!”

“You’re bloodshed was not for nothing!”

“Were-bull crap!” Rich seized my hand and guided me by the partying onlookers.

“
Don’t be so disrespectful.” I nudged his side with my elbow.

“Come on, Cameo. They did die for nothing. We’re all living in cages.”

Supernaturals celebrated Remembrance Day in caged cities all over the world. The day honored fallen soldiers of the Supe-Human Wars.

Fifty years ago, during the 1970s, magical species secretly lived among humans. The government accidently discovered their existence, from intelligence observations o
f the Black Panther Party. The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) labeled the group as terrorists and monitored them daily. Instead of catching the party plotting against the government, CIA operatives witnessed the members shifting into various were-cats. The agents shot down most of them and captured the rest. Nevertheless, this incident proved to the humans that they weren’t the only species on earth.

Secret probes began. The
president of that time announced that the Centers for Disease Control would be testing the entire population for a new illness called Y-Positive. He claimed the tests were preventive to catch the illness before there was an outbreak. The only problem was, there wasn’t any such thing as Y-Positive. It was all a cover-up mission to find supes.

The probes started with government employees and school children. No one knew how they figured out who was human and who was supe, but by the time the test’s true intentions were revealed, tens of thousands of supe adults and children were discovered and caged.

After the population probes, countries discovered thousands of supes and slung them in research facilities. Witches united with shifters and attacked Washington, D.C. The strike triggered the Supe-Human Wars. A conflict that lasted five years, resulted in many deaths for all species, and spread from America to all regions of the world. Regimes everywhere combined their militaries together and battled against any being with an ounce of paranormal power. Fairies and trolls joined the wars. Vampires and weaker supes fled to third world countries for refuge, only to be captured years later.

The first year of the wars, the supes won battles. Witches manipulated earth’s elements to fight. Shifters used their strength and rapid healing ability. Fairies possessed an assortment of helpful powers that included glamour to hide most of the supes’ bases.

But the humans owned weapons and had conducted tests on the probed supes they’d caught earlier. They discovered each species’ weakness. Steel bullets destroyed shifter and fairy military units. Battlefields were covered in liquid silver to prevent earth witches from controlling the land. Monkweed, an herb deadly to all witches, was processed into liquid and gas forms. Human soldiers drank monkweed to stop water witches from controlling their bloodstream. They sprayed the herbal gas in the air to instantly kill fire and air witches in the same instance.

In no time, the humans won.

Supes surrendered to concentration camps with no running water, electricity, or medical services. The camps produced disease. Outraged, the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) conducted an international campaign against the countries. They demanded a nonviolent solution that would treat supes humanely.

As a compromise, the governments developed the Habitat System, a network of caged supe cities all over the world. Each caged city was categorized by a religion. Supes were given a choice of cities they wanted to live in. Most picked the one representing their faith. Others picked cities based on religions that were most accepting of their species. It was why the Santeria habitat had the highest concentration of demons and vampires—because th
at religion didn’t perceive them as evil creatures from hell. It saw them as just another group.

Humans lived on the outside of the caged cities. Supes remained behind the barred ceiling and high walls. Meanwhile, all those that fought and died for supe independence were honored with a cemetery in Washington D.C.

A cemetery
full of nameless black headstones and one day out of the year called Remembrance Day.

“Cowrie shell necklaces for twenty dollars.” A toothless old woman held a pole diagonally. Colorful necklaces hung from it. “Honor your god or goddess! Candles start at five dollars each.”

The band’s music faded away as they advanced. The yummy aroma of honey cakes saturated the air. Further down the street, smoke rose from a grill, piled with different cuts of meat. My stomach grumbled. Tons of food vendors bordered the other sidewalks ahead.

Most food sellers displayed si
gns that announced, “Please no mixbreed customers.”

But some looked like they
served mixbreeds. I wish I had some money on me. Rich would buy me food, of course, but I didn’t want to push my luck with his kindness.

A truck towed along a gigantic float decorated in green strips of paper. Four pageant queens dressed in their district colors gathered around Miss Santeria Habitat. A white sequined gown draped her slim body. A diamond crown rested on her head. I didn’t follow pageants so I had no idea what species she was and couldn’t see her brand from the street.

“Let’s go this way, where there are less people.” Rich tugged me onto a path between vendors and parked cars. “I hate crowds. It’s always stupid people walking slowly.”

“So who’s the Bearded Dragon?” I squeezed Rich’s hand. “Keep in mind that I’ll buy you new brick climbers and give you anything else as long as it’s reasonable.”

“Tell me why you’re asking.”

“
Only after you explain who he is.”

We maneuvered through a pack of teenage shifters. They searched the area with their eyes and then passed
around a can of beer.

“Wiz ever tell you how my sister and
I know him, or what Wiz did before he lived on the streets?” Rich asked.

“No.”
Wiz never tells me anything.

“Then I’ll just be careful of what I say.”

“Are you scared of Wiz?” I flashed him a mocking grin.

“Yeah and I’m not ashamed to admit i
t. What do you want to know first?”

“Why does this guy call himself the Bearded Dragon?”

“He thinks he’s a descendant from actual dragons and that fairies stole him when he was a baby and took them back to their realm.”

“Come again. How do you and Wiz even know this crazy guy?”

“I can’t tell you why or how, but he took us when my sister and I were young. Wiz barely remembers either.”

“He kidnapped all of you?”

“Kind of. The stuff I do know I can’t say.”

“Why can’t you tell me?”

“Ask Wiz.”

I paused near an alley opening. “So
, this guy believes his grandfather was some sort of dragon shifter and that he lived in the fairy realm, but later somehow he winds up back on earth, snatching children from their parents?”

“Basically.” Rich tightened his grip on my hand and pulled me forward.

“So, he’s insane?”

“Ye
s.”

I hated anything dealing with fairies. They were a weird bunch that held onto many secrets. The little bit I knew about them was that they believed that when a fairy died, they returned to the fairy realm in full form. No one had ever proved it, since no fairy had ever
died and returned from the fairy realm.

Rich continued,
“Regardless, he would be a clown that everybody laughs at, if it wasn’t for the fact that he kills people weekly and no one has enough balls to challenge him.”

“What’s up with the red, scaly beard on his face?”

“I don’t know.”

“When was the last time you saw him?”

“Years ago.” Rich looked away.

“Can you be any vaguer?”

“You’re lucky I’m answering your questions at all.”

We turned a corner. The delicious fragrance of roasted peppers and meat greeted my nostrils. A line of shapeshifters started from the counter of Cinnamon’s Meat Shack, went out the door, and ended around the corner. Cinnamon, herself, flipped ostrich legs over a massive grill that took up half of the restaurant. Her red hair clung to her crescent moon forehead brand and the sides of her face. She wiped sweat away with her arm and turned over another leg.
Pink smoke rose up into a large vent above her head. Although, her place was packed wall to wall, she somehow spotted Rich and me walking outside and waved at us. I gave her a thumbs up as we passed the glass window and entered the alley next to her diner.

Cinnamon was a
shifter who’d lived on the streets for most of her childhood. She never told us how she got the money to own her own business, but she was an inspiration to all us street kids. She also provided a fifty percent discount to mixbreed customers, so I ate there all of the time.

“Any other questions?”

“What’s a shadow?” I asked.

“It’s the thing that happens when light hits your body—”

“I know what a regular shadow is. This Bearded Dragon guy asked about a shadow. What was he talking about?”

He bit his bottom lip. “I don’t know what he was talking about.”

“You’re lying.”

“Ask Wiz when he wakes up what a shadow is. There is no way I’m getting into all of that with you.”

“Why not?”

“He told us not to talk about it with you.”

“Wiz?”

“Yes.”

“But why not?” I stopped walking, forcing him to pause with me.

“Cameo, just leave it alone. There are things and obligations that involve Wiz that happened before you. It’s his business to tell.”

“Well who knows when Wiz will freaking wake up. This Bearded Dragon guy seems dangerous. I’ll just figure out this shadow thing myself. Granted it would be great if you told me anything you knew about it. In fact as far as I’m concerned you didn’t earn your brick climbers.”

Rich stiffened and released my hand. “
Look. After B.D.—

“B.D.?”

“We call the Bearded Dragon, B.D. for short. Either way, after B.D. took us, we lived with him for a very long time.”

“Why did he take you all?”

“Ask Wiz?” He shrugged as I frowned. “We lived with him for years. He started getting crazier and obsessed by then Wiz was...older and more in control—”

“More in control of what?”
I asked as he began walking.

“Stop interrupting me.
I was only nine when Wiz, my sister, and I escaped, but when B.D. caught us Wiz made some deal with him that involved a shadow.”

“What was the deal?”

“I don’t know. I was scared. I just remember them going back and forth and then the next thing I know B.D. left.”

“That’s it?”

“That’s all I’m going to say.”

At least that’s better than nothing.

I’d known Rich and his sister were taken from their parents long ago. I’d offered to help them find their mom and dad, which for some reason pissed off his sister each time I suggested it. Wiz told me to leave it alone and never break it up again. What I hadn’t known was that Wiz had been kidnapped with them.

“Here we go. Let’s get Wiz away from this vamp.” Rich rounded the corner into the alley behind Cinnamon’s Meat Shack.

My dumpster rested at the back of the alley in a blanket of darkness. In the daylight a person could see the white spray painted W marked on the front of the dumpster, which told people Wiz owned it and to stay away. Before he found me, I used the place to hide from the rain. Now, I only kept it for an emergency place to hide and put things inside of it just in case the day came when I couldn’t pay for the room I rented. Wiz thought my dumpster was ridiculous and constantly said that I could stay with him when I needed, but I wanted to make sure I could provide for myself. Who knew how long he would be around or if his motivations for having me with him would change? He kept too many secrets, and at times I didn’t know my place in his life.

“
Is the vamp in there with Wiz?” Rich knocked on the metal surface.

“How wou
ld I know? I’ve been with you. But I asked her to stay with him so I would hope she’s still in there.”

“You’re just so smart aren’t you?” Rich pulled a lighter out of one of his many pockets and clicked it. A
three-inch flame shot up from the lighter’s top. The whole area glowed.