“Where the hell is my psychopomp, King? Maybe it would know what to do.”
A yelp drew my attention, and next to my knees was a puppy. A puppy that looked like a patch quilt pattern—blocks that comprised the rainbow. It was adorable and cute and yippy and?—
“How the hell is that gonna help us?” King demanded.
I picked up my new psychopomp, wishing I had enough time to love on it—also not any more confident than King was that my new—I lifted it higher—boy would be of any assistance.
“Okay, okay, okay. What did your gran say? Not to worry about my magic, or lack thereof, because whatever I needed, my psychopomp would provide.”
King looked down at me. “If we make it out of here alive, we’ll have to see if she can be a little more specific. I’m going to distract them, Sky. You run.”
My attention had been so riveted on my new…familiar? that I hadn’t noticed all three of the spookiest of the spooky were upon us. The bent-head dude was crawling over the chaise while the other two came around one side. That was dumb. As King launched himself completely over the top of the end of the lounge, I tucked the puppy against my chest and sprinted out the other side, toward the bed, and jumped on top.
If all this wasn’t odd enough, seeing my cousin calmly and peacefully strumming his guitar and crooning some song of longing was like the cherry on top of the bizzarro sundae.
I needed to help King, but I didn’t know how. He ran around the room, throwing whatever he could get his hands on at the spookies while also yelling and jumping. Was he trying to scare them away like they were wild animals? A hysterical giggle worked its way up from deep down. We were so screwed. I had no idea what to do.
A sound from behind me drew my attention, so I whirled back around to check on my cousin, to find the teethy dude nibbling on my cousin’s bare toes.
“Nooo!” I screamed, kicking at his face. “Puppy, help me,” I said.
Immediately, in the arm not cradling him, a sword appeared. “What the hell?” I looked at my patchy puppy, and helolled his tongue out in a big, happy doggy grin. “Is that from you? Thank you.” I hugged him under one arm.
“Sky, where the heck did this sword come from?”
I assumed my little helper had given him one too, but I didn’t have time to check. I raised the sword—and promptly dropped it straight down.Fuck. This was heavy. Maybe I should put the psychopomp down. But then what if one of them got him?
“Sky!” King shrieked, and I jerked my head up to see the bent guy looming in front of me. Where had he come from?
Jumping off the bed, I saw bits and parts of black tar-like goop, dark-blood red, andew…was that an arm? A quick glance at King and Lady Spooky assured me it was. He was hacking her to bits, piece by piece, but she was still going strong, tracking his every move.
Spinning around to check my own situation, I tripped over something, falling backward right as I saw bent dude had managed to follow me. Holding the psycho-pup close in one arm, I tried not to drop my sword as I fell flat on my back.
Bent dude grinned—off to the side, which was so freaking weird—then came for me.I pushed the puppy off to the side, out of danger, grabbed the sword with both hands, and thrust. A little too hard.I gave it too much momentum. It went over my head, and…stabbed him in the heart. Oh shit. Thank the goddess I didn’t stab myself.
I waited for blood and gore or something to fall on me. Or even the feel of his hands, since obviously hacking at pieces of the one-eyed lady hadn’t done King any good, but instead, he exploded in a burst of bright light, and dust-like particles littered the room.
“King,” I rose on my knees, scooping the pup into my arms. “Did you see that?”
He gave me a big grin, then, with renewed effort he raised his sword, it was on. He had the spookiest lady ever blownup in a mist of black confetti in the blink of an eye. Obviously enjoying his snack, otherwise known as my cousin, toothy dude paid the rest of us no attention, so King stabbed him right through the back. The spooky stiffened, then he went up in little sparks before his ashes fell to the ground.
And then…and then it was done. Just like that. Over.
“Holy crap, did we do it?” I asked.
King swung me into his arms, kissing me so hard my toes curled. He even gave our new little companion some love. Because hello…this little baby saved the day.
“Wow. Okay, what’s next?” I asked King after he set me down.
He stared at my cousin with an odd expression on his face. “He doesn’t look like he does in the videos.”
I snorted. “He wears a ton of that costume makeup for the public. He thinks it makes him vibe.”
King shook his head. “I can’t believe he’s your cousin. All this time…” He trailed off.
I’d gotten the impression he hadn’t been interested in meeting Ego, but it wasn’t until now that I realized why. “You were jealous,” I teased. “You were totally freaking out about me spending time with a famous singer.”
King shrugged bashfully. “What can I say? I didn’t think I stood a chance against that.” He pointed at Ego.
