She pushed fast food trash from the passenger seat. Sitting, she gave up on the jammed seatbelt after a few useless tugs.
"B, how do you do it?" Kyle asked.
"Do what?"
"The healing thing."
She rolled her eyes, irritated that her brother hadn't taken his promise to her seriously. Of course, if he was on drugs and running around with a vampire chick at parties instead of going to Indiana like he was supposed to, she shouldn't be surprised he'd spilled the beans.
"I don't know. It's just something I do," she replied.
"Have you ever told anyone? Like a doctor or scientist or something?"
"It's not your normal conversation starter," she said with a small laugh. "Hi, I'm Bianca. I have magic voodoo healing powers."
He smiled, and she gazed at him, wondering when he and her brother had grown from youths into handsome young men. His features were no longer soft and his body had filled out. She was so used to her brother that she didn't notice him grow up, but she saw it in Kyle. Just as she saw the adult in him, she saw his tension. His knuckles were white as he clenched the steering wheel, and his tall form hunched forward.
Her unease grew as they reached a seedy neighborhood outside of Little Havana. It wasn't somewhere she'd ever venture, even in daylight. There were thugs in the streets, bars on the windows of sagging houses, and cars on blocks.
He continued through the streets and slowed when he reached a dilapidated, boarded-up church on a corner. Light strobed through cracks in the boards, and the sidewalks teemed with shady-looking characters dressed all in black.
She heard the blaring trance music before she opened the car door and smelled the unmistakable scent of marijuana mixed with incense and body odor.
"Stay here, Kyle," she said, looking uncertainly at the intimidating scene before her. "I'll go get him. Do you know where he is exactly?"
He shook his head and squeezed the steering wheel until one of his fingers popped.
"Here's my phone. If I'm not back in twenty minutes, go someplace safe and call the police, okay?" she said, placing it on the dashboard. "And I'm leaving my purse."
"You'll lose it if you don't," he said wisely, accustomed to helping Jonny help her search the house for keys, purses, and anything else she lost.
"Yep," she agreed. "Wish me luck!"
"Wait!"
"What's up, kid?"
"Nothing." He looked at once panicked and guilty. He hesitated, then shook his head.
She gave his teenage temper the benefit of the doubt and patted him on the shoulder as she left the car. Her heart quickening, she started towards the entrance of the church. Several of the men in black eyed her.