Page 7 of Ashes of Sin and Stardust

I practically jumped out of the recliner and hurried out of the game room and back down the stairs before I did something really, really stupid. Like get involved.

Chapter 2

Earlier that week...

“Welp, third time’s the charm,” I said, trying to sound more cheerful than I felt. Third move to a new state. Third clean slate. Third time running away from my problems. Who knew, maybe this time it would stick?

Who am I kidding? Nothing ever sticks.

I stared up at the building in front of me. The old historic hotel had been rebuilt and revitalized into a clubhouse and dormitory. The hotel sat in the middle of a massive valley, the surrounding landscape covered in green grass. A thick forest of trees rose along the perimeter of the valley, hiding the church away from the outside world. Several small cottages and cabins sat around the main building. There was a large playground on one end, and a beautiful pool behind the hotel. From what I knew of the place, the woods behind the compound went on for several miles, and there were tons of wild animals back there.

It was beautiful, and exciting, and I was scared out of my mind. Could I really do this again? Start another life? Another job? Another set of friends to disappoint?

Alex’s voice invaded my thoughts. {“Everything will be okay. You’re supposed to be here. I know you are.”}

I looked over to my weird psychic friend. “Has anyone ever told you that’s really annoying?”

{“What?”}

“Talking to me in my head instead of with your voice. You have a mouth, put it to good use.”

The words were out of my mouth before I even realized what I’d said. I’d heard that phrase so many times over the past few years that it just popped out.

Alex’s face didn’t change. Even though she could see the onslaught of thoughts and memories invading my mind right now, and the explicit and graphic details that went along with them, her face remained blank and stoic as ever.

“God, that must have taken so much practice,” I murmured as I studied her complete lack of response. I reached out and poked her in the cheek, just to confirm she wasn’t a computer-generated hologram. “Will you teach me how to do that?”

“No.” She opened the trunk of my car, grabbed three of my suitcases, and made her way to the front door.

“If I didn’t know you liked me, I’d think you hated me!” I shouted after her.

{“Stop being dramatic. Get your stuff. Come on. Everyone is excited to meet you.”}

“Damn clairvoyants, with their weird mind-reading and mind-talking and not having facial expressions,” I muttered to myself, but I did as she asked, grabbing my few remaining things and following her.

Alex Victor, spy for the CIA and savior of my dignity, had rescued me from homelessness. I thought she was dead after being kidnapped by the Russian mob. But no, she wasAlexandrovna Victorova,and was too cool to be assassinated. So of course, she’d lived, escaped from the Mafia, came back to DC to debrief with my boss, and tracked me down when she found out I’d been fired.

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