Page 6 of Dead Heat

I looked down to see a variety of thick puddles. “That’s special limited-edition goo, straight from the Egyptian underworld.” Forget the broom; I’d need a mop for this task.

“Do I even want to know?” Ray asked.

“Look up Apep next time you’re on the computer. He came looking for his buddy Anubis, who may or may not be under The Corporation’s thrall. I took care of the minions he left behind, and if we’re lucky, Apep will take care of The Corporation.” A girl could hope.

“I took care of the weeds,” Nana Pratt said with a note of pride.

“Thank you.”

“You need white vinegar next time you go to the store. I used your whole bottle to make the spray.”

I pulled out my phone and added ‘white vinegar’ to the grocery list in my Notes app.

“You’re going to need to wipe down that phone,” Nana Pratt said. “There’s goop on your fingers, too.”

There was probably goop in my teeth, too, but I tried very hard not to think about it.

“Why don’t you shower while Ingrid and I clean up this mess?” Ray suggested.

“You sure you don’t mind?”

“I wouldn’t have offered if I did.”

“Thanks, Ray. I appreciate it.” So much for my plan to pick up the slack. On the other hand, I did protect the crossroads from a Ghostbusters-style invasion of gunk.

I walked upstairs, careful not to leave a trail of sludge in my wake. I brushed my teeth, then cranked the shower to scorching hot and scrubbed myself clean. By the time I was dry and dressed, my stomach was rumbling at an alarming rate. Vanquishing monsters was hungry work.

I ventured into the kitchen and made myself a tuna sandwich. It was quick and simple; the kind of sandwich Pops and I would take on our expeditions into the woods. To this day, the smell of tuna reminded me of him. One whiff and I was a child again, seated on a log beside him, enjoying our packed lunches. It was difficult to think about those moments without feeling a sense of betrayal. I’d been closer to Pops than anyone in the world, yet I hadn’t known his biggest secret—that he’d known my identity from birth. That he’d known my parents had been avatars of Hades and Persephone, later murdered by The Corporation when they fled the organization to hide my mother’s pregnancy. That he’d been lying to me my entire life. It made me question whetherI’d ever known him at all, or only the version he’d wanted me to see.

The tuna formed a lump in my throat as I swallowed the last of my sandwich. The more I learned about myself, the more complicated my feelings for my loved ones became. I preferred it when I only missed them.

I felt a light tickle on the inside of my wrist. It was too rhythmic to be anything other than the ward. I drank a few gulps of water and hurried to the front door. I counted three heads at the gate; only one was familiar. Alicia, Ray’s teenaged granddaughter.

I intercepted them on the front porch. “Stop right there, truants.”

“We’re not skipping school. It’s teachers only today.” She inclined her head. “These are my friends, Scott and Caeden.”

“Are you here to introduce them to your grandfather?”

“Yes, and to see you.” She peered past me. “Is he here?”

“Hard for him to be anywhere else.” My resident ghosts were tethered to the Castle property unless I commanded them to go elsewhere. Sometimes I thought it would be worth ordering them to visit Wild Acres just to get a little privacy, especially now that I was in full relationship mode with Kane Sullivan, the local demon prince of hell. At least Kane had his own bachelor pad away from prying eyes, except to get there, I had to walk through his nightclub to the private entrance.

Alicia slouched. “I’m tired from that long-ass walk. Can we come in?”

“Language,” Nana Pratt scolded her. “It’s unbecoming of a young lady.”

“Please don’t say ‘ass,’” I said, omitting the last part.

“I can’t believe you live in Bluebeard’s Castle,” Scott said. “That’s so wild.”

Bluebeard’s Castle—also known as the Castle, the Ruins,or as I often referred to it, the Money Pit of Despair—was built during the Gilded Age by a tycoon named Joseph Edgar Blue III. Despite its prime hilltop location with sweeping views of Fairhaven and the river beyond, Blue bought the land for a song due to the adjacent cemetery. His builders used bluestone, which gave the facade its light blue sheen. The moat solidified his flair for the dramatic. He was also fond of hosting lavish parties, complete with seances that took advantage of the location. Years later, the house was abandoned when the son and heir, Joseph Edgar Blue IV, known as Quattro, gambled away his inherited fortune. By the time I bought the house online, sight unseen, the property had fallen into disrepair. Its only visitors were ghosts, squatters, and the underage drinking crowd.

Caeden pointed to the second floor. “Whoa. Can we sit on your balcony?”

“That depends. Neither one of you is stupid enough to try to jump from there into the moat, are you?”

Scott shrugged. “I’m not. I can’t swim.”

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