It stopped suddenly and I commented, “I don’t know who would be trying—”
A message began to flash across the screen.
Rourke leaned over.
“What the hell does it say?” Ray asked.
When Rourke frowned, Marcy plucked it up using only her fingernails. She turned it toward herself first and her eyebrows shot to her forehead as she read the message. Then she slowly turned the phone around so I could see it.
The screen was flashing the words PICK THIS UP, CHICA! PICK THIS UP, CHICA! PICK THIS UP, CHICA!
The message scrolled across the screen like a ticker tape.
There was only one person in the entire universe who called me Chica.
I snatched the phone out of Marcy’s grasp, punching it on, and put it to my ear. “Juanita?”
“Oh, Chica, I’m so glad you finally picked up! I was getting worried you would keep ignoring me.” Her voice sounded exactly the same as it always had, even though I knew now there was no way Juanita could possibly be human. The magic signature coming through the phone, now that we’d made a connection, was crazy intense. It was so powerful it prickled at my face as I held the phone to my ear. “You are in a dire emergency. I had no other choice but to contact you. I am breaking all the rules, but I will gladly pay the price to help you.”
“The price for what, Juanita?” I asked, trying to keep the worry out of my voice. “I don’t understand. What’s going on?”
“Your life es in danger, Chica. That’s what’s goin’ on.”