Violet Grenade Read online

  Table of Contents

  Copyright

  Dedication

  Madam Karina's Rankings

  PART I

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  PART II

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  PART III

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Chapter Thirty

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  Chapter Thirty-Five

  Chapter Thirty-Six

  Chapter Thirty-Seven

  Chapter Thirty-Eight

  Chapter Thirty-Nine

  Chapter Forty

  Chapter Forty-One

  Chapter Forty-Two

  Chapter Forty-Three

  Chapter Forty-Four

  Chapter Forty-Five

  PART IV

  Chapter Forty-Six

  Chapter Forty-Seven

  Chapter Forty-Eight

  Chapter Forty-Nine

  Chapter Fifty

  Chapter Fifty-One

  Chapter Fifty-Two

  Chapter Fifty-Three

  Chapter Fifty-Four

  Chapter Fifty-Five

  Chapter Fifty-Six

  Chapter Fifty-Seven

  Chapter Fifty-Eight

  Chapter Fifty-Nine

  Chapter Sixty

  Chapter Sixty-One

  Chapter Sixty-Two

  Chapter Sixty-Three

  Chapter Sixty-Four

  Chapter Sixty-Five

  Chapter Sixty-Six

  Chapter Sixty-Seven

  Chapter Sixty-Eight

  Acknowledgments

  About the Author

  More from Entangled Teen

  Also by

  Victoria Scott

  The Collector

  The Liberator

  The Warrior

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.

  Copyright © 2017 by Victoria Scott. All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce, distribute, or transmit in any form or by any means. For information regarding subsidiary rights, please contact the Publisher.

  Entangled Publishing, LLC

  2614 South Timberline Road

  Suite 109

  Fort Collins, CO 80525

  Entangled Teen is an imprint of Entangled Publishing, LLC.

  Visit our website at www.entangledpublishing.com.

  Edited by Heather Howland

  Cover design by Anna Crosswell

  Interior design by Toni Kerr

  HC ISBN: 978-1-63375-687-8

  Ebook ISBN: 978-1-63375-688-5

  Manufactured in the United States of America

  First Edition May 2017

  10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

  For Jessica, my marvelous assistant—

  You loved this book first. You loved it best.

  Thank you.

  “If you cannot get rid of the family skeleton,

  you may as well make it dance.”

  —George Bernard Shaw

  MADAM KARINA’S HOME

  FOR BURGEONING ENTERTAINERS

  Entertainer Rankings

  Carnations (Pink) – Reside on the first floor.

  Retain 10% of their profits.

  Daisies (White) – Reside on the second floor.

  Retain 12% of their profits.

  Tulips (Yellow) – Reside on the third floor.

  Retain 15% of their profits.

  Lilies (Orange) – Reside in the west guesthouse.

  Retain 20% of their profits.

  Violets (Purple) – Reside in the east guesthouse.

  Retain 50% of their profits.

  Top Girl – Resides in the east guesthouse.

  Retains 100% of her profits.

  PART I

  DOMINO’S RULES

  FOR LIVING ON THE STREET

  Stick by people worth knowing.

  Take care of yourself first.

  Always wear armor.

  When in doubt, run.

  Roll the dice.

  Chapter One

  Prying Eyes

  People say blondes have more fun.

  Please.

  I snatch the wig off my head and toss it toward Greg. He catches it like a fly ball, his eyes never leaving my face. Leaning over in the chair, I dig through the pile of wigs he’s brought me.

  Brunette?

  Redhead?

  My fingers land on hot pink tresses that fall in long, sexy waves. Bingo, my friend, bingo. I slide the wig over my head, pull the straps until it’s snug, and flip my head up like I’m a starlet in a soft-core porn. “Well?”

  Greg claps his hands slowly, as if he’s got all the time in the world. Judging by the lines around his eyes, I’m not sure that’s true. “Fantastic.”

  “I’ll take it.” My thighs create a sucking sound against the leather chair as I stand. I like the sound, I decide. It makes it seem as if I have a little meat on my bones like a real woman. But a quick glance in the mirror tells me I’m still the shapeless girl I woke up as.

  Greg fidgets as I stare at myself. Finally, in an attempt to make me feel better, he says, “Looks like you’ve put on some weight.”

  I smile at the lie and click toward the checkout counter in my super-duper high heels, the ones that make me look a hand taller than the five feet I stand. The second I think about my height, I hear Dizzy’s taunting in my head: five feet, my ass.

  “I am five feet,” I grumble.

  “What?” the counter girl asks.

  I look up at her. She must be Greg’s new girl. “Nothing,” I answer. “How much?”

  She clicks a few buttons on the register with shiny purple nails. I’m pleased that she chose a fun shade instead of the typical pink or red or—dare I speak it—a French manicure.

  “Twenty-one dollars and forty-four cents,” she announces. I glance at Greg, who’s busy replacing the wigs onto creepy mannequin heads. I clear my throat. When he doesn’t hear me, or pretends not to hear me, I decide to pay the full amount. He usually hooks me up with a discount, which he should, considering I’m here every week. I dig into my pocket for the cash, knowing Dizzy would give me hell for paying at all.

  When I glance up at the cashier, she’s looking at the underside of my left forearm, at the crisscrossed scars that nestle there. I instinctually pull it against my side. The girl straightens, realizing I’ve caught her staring. I think we’re done with this awkward moment, but the girl isn’t going to let this slide.

  “What happened to your arm?” she whispers, as if that helps.

  I shake my head, hoping that’ll deter her from asking anything else. No such luck.

  “It looks like you got in an accident or something.”

  I meet her eyes, my blood boiling, w
anting so badly to shut her up. Instead, I slap the money on the counter and grab my pink wig. The bell chimes as I push open the glass door. “I’ll be by next week.”

  On the streets of Detroit, the heat comes in waves. The pink faux hair dampens from my sweaty palm, and I silently curse the sun. It’s so hot in the dead of summer that people are practically immobile. They sit on chairs outside their homes, and on benches near stores, and on the cracked sidewalks. And. They. Don’t. Move.

  Except, that is, to gawk as I pass by.

  They ogle the blue wig falling past my shoulders and down my back, the one I’ll replace tonight with the gem in my hand. They stare at my tattoo, the way it slithers down my exposed side. And they narrow their eyes at my pierced lip and wonder where else I may be pierced. What else I’m hiding.

  They come to a conclusion: I am a freak.

  And they are right.

  I head down the sidewalk toward our home, the place where Dizzy and I live. The house doesn’t really belong to us, but in this part of town it doesn’t matter. No one cares. Certainly not the police. They have bigger problems to worry about than teenage kids squatting in an abandoned house.

  Nearing our block, I notice a parked sedan. A guy leans against the side, smoking a cigarette. When he notices me, he nods. I put my head down and walk faster. If Dizzy were here, I’d lift my chin and lock eyes with the man. But he’s not, so I don’t.

  I hear a whistle, and my head jerks back in the man’s direction. He’s smiling at me. It’s not a terrible smile. He’s got a mouthful of teeth. That’s something. He turns so his body faces mine, and watches as I walk past. The man looks to be in his mid-twenties. He’s wearing dark jeans and a proud white shirt, and even from here I can tell his nose is too big for his face. His cigarette dangles between his fingertips as he raises his arm and waves.

  I wave back.

  His eyes narrow when he sees the underside of my arm. I rip my hand down and walk faster. I don’t want to see his reaction, but I can’t help looking up one last time.

  The lazy smile is gone from his face. A look of satisfaction has taken its place. He pulls a phone from his back pocket and makes a call, eyeing every step I take.

  If I didn’t know better, I’d think he just found something he’d been searching for.

  I rush toward the end of the street, glancing at a nonexistent watch on my wrist like I have somewhere important to be. Behind me, I can feel the guy watching. I don’t know why he looked at me the way he did, but I don’t like it. Dizzy and I work hard to ensure no one notices us. The tattoos, the piercings, the loud clothing—you’d think it’s to attract attention, but it has the opposite effect. It shows the world we’re abnormal, and the world looks away.

  Twice I look over my shoulder to check if I’m being followed. There’s no one there either time, and I begin to feel like an idiot.

  No one wants to follow you, Domino.

  No one except a particularly determined social worker who’s approached me more than once. This neighborhood is part of her territory, and underage strays are her passion.

  Just thinking about the woman sends shivers down my spine. Her frizzy blond hair, the way her arms seem too long for her body like she wants nothing more than to snare me in them. Twice now she’s followed me as I made my way home, speaking softly in her tweed business suit and scuffed black heels. I could hear what she was saying, but I didn’t want to hear it. She’s a paper pusher. Someone who pretends to care. In the end, I’d be another tick mark in her body count. Another dog off the streets, shoved into a kennel.

  That’s when they’d find out who I really am. What I am.

  And then the badness would come.

  Standing outside our house, I feel relief. Gray paint peels in frenzied curls, and the front light is broken. The grass is dead and half the windows are covered with boards. But the bones are strong. The house stands three stories tall and is an old Victorian build. This part of Detroit used to be glamorous, where all the rich people lived. But they built too close to the ghetto, hoping against hope that this section of the city would turn around. The opposite happened. The slums grew arms and legs and crawled toward their shiny homes and manicured lawns, and then swallowed them whole without remorse.

  And now Dizzy and I have a home that used to be beautiful.

  “What are you doing?” someone calls from the upstairs window.

  I raise a hand to shade my eyes from the sun. When I see Dizzy’s face, I have to stop myself from smiling. Instead, I shake my head as if I’m disappointed to be home and head toward the door.

  “It’s Friday, Buttercup, you know what that means.” Somewhere above me, I hear Dizzy howl long and energetic like a prideful wolf.

  I want to tell him not to call me Buttercup, that my name is Domino. But I don’t. I just curl my hands into tight fists. I open my mouth wide.

  And I howl right back.

  Chapter Two

  See Dizzy Fly

  Dizzy throws open the door and rushes toward me.

  “Stop,” I yell, holding my arms out.

  “I won’t!”

  The street-lamp-of-a-guy flips me over his shoulder and barrels into the house. I laugh when he tosses me onto a couch that may or may not harbor the Ebola virus. He places one long, skinny finger on my nose. “Where have we wanted to go for the last two months?”

  I slap his hand away. “I don’t know. Where?”

  He taps his temple and bobs his head, dark curls bouncing against brown skin. “Think, Buttercup. Think.”

  So I do. My brain goes tick, tick, tick. And then my face pulls together and I crane my neck to the side. “Are you saying what I think you’re saying?”

  Dizzy jumps onto the makeshift coffee table we constructed and pretends to pound the surface with a king’s staff. “Here ye, hear ye. I pronounce tonight the night we wreak Havoc.”

  “Havoc?” I say quietly. “No one gets in that club.”

  He nods and his curls kiss his long lashes. “I met someone who knows someone who said he could do something for someone like me.”

  “We’re going to Havoc,” I say again, because saying it again makes it real.

  Dizzy raises his arms into the air, and I know that’s my cue to react. I stand up and spring onto the couch. Then I jump up and down and he grabs my hands. He leaps onto the crusty couch beside me and we go up and down screaming that we’re going to Havoc. That we’re going to party like beasts, because we are beasts. I throw my arms around him before I remember that we don’t do that. I hate being close to people and he hates being confined and this isn’t okay.

  “Gross. Get off me,” he yells. “I can’t breathe. I can’t breathe!”

  I let go, gladly, and Dizzy leaps back onto the floor. He looks like a spider doing it, all arms and legs. He’s certainly as thin as one.

  His brown eyes spark beneath thick, caterpillar eyebrows. “Get ready,” he orders. Then he dashes up the stairs, each step burping from the weight.

  I step down from the couch. Going to Havoc isn’t that big of a deal for most people. I get that. But this is my life now, has been for the last year. Sometimes going somewhere new—somewhere that’ll let people like Dizzy and me in—is everything. It’s a shiny penny fresh off the press, a black swan among white. It’s nothing groundbreaking. But it is.

  I wash my hair and body as best I can using the bottles of water and bar of soap Dizzy stole from the gas station. The drain slurps it down and sighs as I massage my scalp. Next to me on a rusted towel hook, my pink wig waves hello. She’s ready to go, she tells me. She can’t wait to be worn like the crown she is.

  I tell her to hold her damn horses because I’m washing my hair in a sink.

  Wrapping a towel that’s seen better days around my head, I step out of the bathroom and into what’s been my room for the last ten months. Ten months. I’ve lived with Dizzy for nearly a year, and I could count the things I know about him on my pencil-thin fingers.

  When he was
sixteen, his mom put him and his older brother on a plane from Iran bound for America. The pair landed in Philadelphia, and eventually Dizzy ended up here. He never talks about his brother, and I don’t ask. I know he enjoys Twizzlers and blue ballpoint pens and crisp, white shoelaces. I know because he steals those things most often.

  I’ve never seen anyone steal something the way Dizzy does. Once before, when I was at a department store, I spotted a pair of kids working together to pinch a yellow Nike hoodie. One kid distracted the associate, asking for help to get something down off the wall, while the other slipped the hoodie inside his leather jacket. They got away with it. I remember wanting to follow them. See what they did next.

  Dizzy doesn’t work that way. He doesn’t distract or scheme. He just slips by what he wants like a ghost, and it’s gone. Anything he wants, gone. Dizzy never takes more than he needs, but he needs a lot.

  I met him at an arcade. I was playing Pac-Man when I saw him across the room. He was almost as thin as I was, and his nails told me everything I needed to know. He was like me—homeless. I’ve met homeless people who try to scrub away the streets. It never works. The human body has too many crevices, too many places for grime to settle. You can see it in the small lines of their faces and in their palms and elbows. And you can see it in their nails.

  Dizzy’s nails were atrocious. He didn’t try to scrub away the street. He embraced it. I needed someone like that. As I watched, the long-legged, dark-skinned man-boy swiped a red can of soda from the bar. The soda was there. The soda was gone. If I hadn’t been watching closely, I might have believed he was made of magic—Dracula strikes Detroit.

  That day in the arcade, Dizzy met my stare with a boldness I admired. I eyed the place where the soda had been, and he smiled. Then he turned and swept out the door. With the rang-tanging of arcade games behind me, I followed him. I followed him then, and I follow him now. He’s my person. Not that I need one.

  I startle when I spot my person standing in the bedroom doorway.

  His eyes widen as if he just remembered I’m a girl. Tugging the towel around my body tighter, I avert my gaze. “What are you looking at?”

  “I forget sometimes,” he says softly. “What you look like.”

  He means without my makeup. Without my rainbow wigs and chains and piercings. He means me as I am right now: Domino, in the nude. “Stop staring at me, perv.”