Page 63 of Cheater Slicks

Thank God, Dis Pater wasn’t hunched over his laptop for a change. That didn’t mean he wasn’t in the house. I couldn’t let my guard down yet. He might sense me inside his wards, even if he couldn’t prevent me from crossing them. I had to snoop fast.

Using all I had learned during my frequent trips to the Alcheyvaha burial ground, where I first met Anunit, I drifted lower until my insubstantial feet touched the floor. That step was unnecessary, but it did help me feel grounded in the space.

After checking behind me, I rushed to the desk and skimmed the papers littering the surface. Most of those pages were notes on the plot of his next book. Even the frequent sticky notes were nothing but character descriptions and underlined reminders on the colors of everyone’s eyes.

Useless.

The laptop was asleep, but it wasn’t like I could wake it to ferret out his online accounts anyway. None of the drawers had been left cracked open. The one letter that might have been a bill was flipped over, and the torn flap didn’t tell me anything.

A pit stop at the window showed me waves, sand, and a killer sunset. No handy landmarks there.

This was getting me nowhere fast.

Right.

Time to brave the rest of the house.

Slowly sticking my head around the corner, I checked for signs of life. I strained my ears, but the crash of the sea was the only noise. The house was empty. Probably. I hoped so.

As I sneaked into a short hall, I spied the living room and the kitchen to my right. A closed door sat at the end of the hall on my left. I figured my chances were better in the kitchen, where the detritus of life tended to pile high on the counters.

Especially if, like in this house, there was a back door with a small table and a bowl for keys and change. There must be a garage or carport out there.

“Meow.”

Squeaking, certain I had been caught, that Dis Pater was going to barbecue me again, I shot into the attic with a burst of supernatural speed.

“Meow.”

The plaintive cry was muffled through the ceiling, but it yanked me out of my panic.

A few gulps and a pep talk later, I sank into the kitchen to stand before Buttons.

“You scared ten years off my life.” I crouched down and smiled at him. “Do you know your address?”

“Mrrppfft.”

“Yeah.” I rose with a sigh. “That’s what I figured.”

A car door slammed as I ventured into the living room, and I scrunched up my face, concentrating on the feel of Rollo’s hand covering mine. I needed to get out of here before Dis Pater walked through the door and caught me creeping around his house.

“I want her dead.”

Then again, maybe I would stick around long enough to figure out if Dis Pater—and that was definitely his voice—meant little ol’ me.

“He will end you if you harm her,” a smoky voice answered, and chills broke down my arms.

“He doesn’t know who he is, let alone who she is. Neither of them have a clue. It’s fine.”

Heas inKierce? Did that meansheas inme?

“Anunit claimed her,” the smoky voice countered, his tone hardening. “She must suspect.”

Thatshewas definitely Anunit. Me? I suspected nothing.

“Anunit is smart enough to know none of her kind survived. Whether she wants to admit it to herself or not, there’s no blood between them.”

That should come as a relief, right? That she and I weren’t relatives. But she had looked so hopeful…

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