Thicker Than Water by Carla Jablonski Page A

sighed. Or two. Or ...
    A door opened and closed. She heard footsteps.
    Kia blinked. Before she could decide what to do, her door opened.
    â€œKia, what are you doing home;” Her dad stood in the doorway, startled.
    â€œI thought you were in Washington,” Kia mumbled. He was talking too loudly and having to form words to answer him took a tremendous effort.
    â€œI was. We finished early and I dropped by to get some files before heading over to the office.” He stepped into the room. “Are you all right? You don’t look so hot.”
    Kia shut her eyes. “Sick,” she murmured. “I feel sick.”
    â€œSick like you need a doctor?” her dad asked.
    â€œSick like I just want to sleep and not throw up.”
    â€œSounds like the flu,” her dad said. His brow furrowed. “Do you want me to ...” He jiggled some coins in his pockets. “Should I stick around? Stay home?”
    â€œNo,” Kia said. “I just want to sleep.”
    Her dad nodded. “Okay. Well, if you need anything, just call me at work.”
    Why didn’t he stop talking? She wanted to be left alone to go back to thinking about Damon—and not throwing up.
    â€œCan I get you anything?”
    â€œWater,” Kia croaked. “A big bottle of water.”
    â€œThat’s right. Fluids. That will be good for you. There’s leftover wonton soup in the fridge. That might be good too. But you should order anything you want.”
    â€œJust water.”
    Kia shut her eyes and listened to her dad rummaging around in the kitchen. He came back into her room with a tall plastic bottle of chilled water. “Here you go, sweetheart. Take it easy.” He sat on her bed. “Uh, I might be late again, but if you need anything, call.”
    Kia sat up carefully. The spinning was beginning to dissipate. She took the cold bottle of water from her dad and thought about ice.
    He left, and she drank some water, then fell back asleep.
    When she woke up a few hours later, she felt much better—even more after a long, hot shower. She came out of the bathroom and saw her dress from the previous night lying in a heap on the floor. As she hung it up, she stroked the velvet and decided she really needed to re-think her entire wardrobe.
    The best way to do that would be to get that job at NightTimes. Employee discount and plenty of trying-on time—what more could a girl ask for?
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    The little bells jangled as she pushed through the door of the store. Even in daylight the place was dim. Hecate was marking price tags at the counter. She looked up, her almond eyes a little more raccoonish with dark circles under them.
    â€œHi,” she greeted. “How’s your hangover?”
    â€œAlive and well,” Kia said. “And yours?”
    â€œI think I’m winning, but it’s a close race.”
    â€œThat was fun last night,” Kia said.
    Hecate nodded. “Yeah, that music rocked.” She grinned at Kia. “But I think you were more impressed by the person spinning the sounds.”
    Kia covered her blush by rifling through some dresses on a nearby rack. Hecate stayed silent until Kia felt she had to turn around. “Okay,” she admitted, encouraged by Hecate’s warm smile. “So I like him.”
    â€œHow could you not?” Hecate said. “He’s hard-core yum. But Kia, watch out. There’s more going on there.”
    â€œWhat do you mean?”
    â€œHe and Kali ... I don’t know what their deal is, but either way, the rumors are that they’re into some heavy stuff.”
    â€œLike what?”
    Hecate shrugged. “No one knows for sure. It’s all inner-circle-type stuff. Only a select few are part of that scene, and none of them are talking.”
    â€œHmm. So, were you serious about the job here?” Kia asked, wanting to get off the subject. She liked Damon, liked thinking about Damon, and wasn’t