Page 31 of Half Dead

“Involved how?”

“The chief asked if I’d driven Richard Horton mad as some form of punishment.”

Kane’s mouth dropped open. “Lorelei, you did not inflict madness on an entire nightclub without noticing. You weren’t even upstairs when it happened.”

“But I was here. What if I passed Richard Horton in the store and accidentally brushed against him? Triggered something?” It was one of my worst fears, the kind of problem Pops had warned me about.

“I highly doubt you had anything to do with either incident. Your presence last night was a coincidence. Besides, this is the Devil’s Playground. This was hardly the first outbreak of reckless behavior we’ve experienced.”

“But Josie,” I said.

“Yes, there is the strange matter of Josephine. I’ll speak to her later.” He reached across the table and brushed his fingers against mine. “Whatever this is, it isn’t you. I know it.”

“If it’s a rogue god on the loose, I can’t even blame Aite this time,” I joked.

Kane smiled. “I’m glad you can finally say her name without those tiny lines forming between your eyebrows.”

Aite was the reason I’d had to find and remove seven deities in their animal forms from Fairhaven streets. It was only when I released the creatures from The Corporation’scollars and set them free that the town returned to normal. Despite her initial troublesome behavior, Aite took an arrow intended for me; it was a debt I could never repay.

“Promise me you’ll beef up your security, if only to make me feel better.”

Kane ran his thumb across my cheek. “Anything for you.”

“Thank you.” I brought Kane’s hand to my lips and grazed his knuckles.

“Careful,” he said with a lazy grin, “or we might end up needing to get dressed again.”

He was right. I forced myself to rise to my feet. “Try not to miss me while I’m gone.”

“You’re never truly apart from me.” He tapped his chest, the spot directly over his heart. “I carry you with me wherever I go.”

CHAPTER FIVE

I spentthe day at the Castle, helping Ray and Claude with the new library. Ray was in a chipper mood, still excited by the prospect of Alicia’s parents reuniting. I’d told the ghosts about the crazy behavior I’d witnessed at the Devil’s Playground, but neither one of them seemed convinced it had anything to do with me.

“You’re not the center of the universe, you know,” Nana Pratt pointed out.

“She’s the center of ours,” Ray shot back. “Without her, we have no orbit.”

“Without her, our orbit is the same as it was before she arrived.” Nana Pratt spread her arms wide. “The boundary of the Castle and cemetery. That’s it.”

“You can’t deny we have a beautiful view,” Ray said.

He was right. The Castle’s hilltop location afforded a sweeping view of the town below, no doubt one of the qualities that appealed to the original owner.

“What did Kane say about the cufflink?” Nana Pratt asked.

“He acted unconcerned, just as Birdie suspected.”

“What about you?” Ray asked.

“I’m concerned. I asked him to beef up security. In the meantime, I texted Phaedra and asked her if she’d be willing to use a locator spell on the cufflink.”

“What did she say?” Nana Pratt asked.

“She was game until I told her the potential owner. Then she had to think about it.”

“Some friend,” Nana Pratt sniffed, indignant.

---