Magda tossed herself down onto the red velvet bench across from me, pulling her long wavy hair over her shoulder and combing it with her fingers before starting to braid it.

  “What the heck did you think you were doing?” I started. “Why did you blow off my summoning like that?” The questions kind of burst out without me completely intending for them to. But the subject had been bugging me ever since that day in the office. I hadn’t even known ghosts could do that. Why hadn’t anyone warned me?

  “Oh. That.” Magda shrugged, looking bored. “Look, I don’t know what you wanted, but I knew it was going to be boring, or tiresome, and probably both. And then you’d just pack me off back to the great beyond when you got whatever it was you needed, and where’s the fun in that?”

  I wasn’t sure where the fun was in that, so I just didn’t answer.

  “So, when you were distracted, I just… slipped out.”

  “Slipped out?” I goggled at her. “What the heck for?”

  Magda finally stopped fiddling with her hair and looked me square in the face. Her eyes were the same rich green as her granddaughter’s, and the weight in that gaze was enough to punch the air out of my lungs. The stodgy, serious, fierce matriarch I’d first seen was still in there, apparently.

  “Listen to me,” Magda said, her voice firm but quiet. “All my life, I did the right thing for my family. I took care of them. Everything I did was for the security and benefit of my clan.”

  Her hands dug into the table, and for a second, I thought she’d scratch long white scars into the black lacquer surface. “I married the ‘right’ man. I raised my children and my grandchildren. I took care of our business and kept everyone safe. I lived my entire life for them.”

  “Oh.” I gave her a hesitant smile.

  That heavy green gaze turned fierce and demanding. “So, now that I’m dead, I want a chance to actually live a little, for as strange as that sounds. To do things for myself, and have some fun while I can. Then, I’ll go wherever it is I’m supposed to.”

  The uncomfortable thing was, I couldn’t really blame her. I hadn’t exactly gotten a lot out of my first life, and twenty-five years goes by in a blink. Then you find yourself dead. So, yeah, I got it.

  Magda might have lived four times my lifespan, maybe more, it was hard to tell with supernatural types. But somehow, I doubted she’d squeezed in even half the life I’d had. She was just trying to live it up a little now that she was dead and her responsibilities were over.

  “Okay, I hear you.” I placed both my hands on the table, and Cain’s ring winked in the light of the chandeliers. “But did it never occur to you that maybe Sophia just wanted your help with something?”

  Magda snorted, flopping back into the richly upholstered back of the booth. “I assumed they were all whining after me to fix their problems and take care of things for them. That was the only reason they had for coming to me in life, after all.” She sighed. “But as to Sophia: was Manos being mean to her again? Did one of the cousins have a brush with the law?”

  I took a deep breath. “Not quite. Sophia needed to know where the idol is.”

  That got Magda’s attention in a big way, and she sat up so abruptly, it looked like she’d been shocked with lightning. “What do you mean, ‘where it is’? It’s always in the niche in my bedroom wall.

  Yeah, I was pretty sure I would have noticed a gold snake lady statue when I visited her bedroom. Plus, I had Dimitri’s confession, which I didn’t think he would have spilled unless it was true.

  Oh, boy, Cain muttered from the back of my head.

  The dark plait of hair tossed over Magda’s shoulder actually moved, writhing across the bodice of her shirt as she glared, her nails pressed against the table, each one looking like a dangerous point.

  “Did they lose our clan’s idol?”

  Holy smokes, I did not want to be sitting across a table from Magda Erepto if she was going to go poltergeist. And from the way things were looking, it was becoming more and more likely. Her eyes burned, like the green was back lit. Her teeth looked a little too sharp to be human, and when she spoke, I could have sworn I saw the flicker of a forked tongue behind her lips.

  “Um, well, no, not exactly.”

  Oh yeah, that was smooth, Darla. It was hard to keep a straight face, though, in the face of her fury. Sweat beaded along my hairline at the back of my neck, and goosebumps chased themselves up and down my arms. Even Cain had gone still and quiet, the way he did when he thought he’d have to move us in a hurry.

  Magda snarled, actually snarled. The sound rattled deep in her chest like the warning it was.

  “I have to do everything around here.” She hissed, furious, and flew through the wall before I had a chance to stop her.

  Of course, even if I’d had a chance, I wasn’t sure I would have tried. I didn’t like the idea of her loose in Haven Hollow, but I liked the idea of her loose inside the hotel with me even less.

  That went well, Cain said finally.

  I groaned, clutching one of the wine glasses on the table, and wishing like heck I had something to fill it with.

  This day was just the pits.

  ***

  We’re being followed, Cain said once we were in the car and heading back to his house.

  I almost swerved off the road. What? Who? Where?

  There was a beat of silence, and a flare of cold from the ring on my hand, and Cain appeared in the passenger’s seat.

  “I don’t know, but there’s a car that’s been behind us for about five minutes now. They aren’t trying to pass, and that’s odd, given that you’re driving like you’re trying to imitate a ninety-year-old woman.” I gave him a glare, which he didn’t seem to notice. “And they continue to fall back a little every time there isn’t another vehicle between them and us.”

  I kept glancing in the rear-view mirror, but all the cars kind of looked the same in the dark. It was nothing but headlights for me. I probably could have craned around, but getting into an accident seemed like a bad idea. I mean, I wasn’t like a cat with nine lives. I had this second life and that was it.

  “Why would someone be following us?” My eyes were watering from staring too hard into the reflection of headlights, and I had to blink a few times to clear them.

  Cain gave me an impatient look. “I don’t know. I’m operating under the same amount of information you are.”

  My hands tightened on the wheel, elbows feeling a little watery. This wasn’t the kind of thing I was used to, and I had to fight to keep my breathing steady. “Well, maybe they’re just going the same way we are.”

  Cain grunted. “It’s possible. Not likely, but possible. Turn left here.”

  I almost drove straight past the street Cain told me to turn onto, too surprised to hear him properly. “Wait, what? Why?”

  “So we can tell if they are actually following us. Now turn right.”

  I got what he was laying down. Make a bunch of erratic turns, do things no one who has a clue where they’re going would do, and see if the car stayed on our tail.

  I was definitely starting to feel like a real gumshoe. It wasn’t as fun as I’d thought it would be.

  After the second time I almost drove into the back of another car, I had to trust Cain to watch out the back window while I focused on the driving. My palms were a little damp, and I had to keep wiping them on my skirt to keep my grip from getting slippery.

  With every turn, my stomach got heavier and heavier, because I could tell from Cain’s grim expression that the other car was still behind us. Okay, so almost definitely not innocently going in the same direction as we were.

  Applesauce. They wanted to tail Darla Rowe? Well, they could darn well try.

  See, when I learned to drive, things like road laws and traffic acts didn’t exist yet. Neither did seatbelts, for that matter. True, it was a bit different since an automobile couldn’t go half as fast as a modern car, and there were also way fewer cars on the roads back then.

  Mostly, you just had to not spook the carriage horses, and not run people over in the streets who didn’t know that the chugging, grinding engine noise meant that a car was bearing down on them, and the ones who did, didn’t know why it was their problem.

  I’d learned a few tricks since then, and I’d watched just about every episode of the Dukes of Hazard and Knight Rider that I’d managed to rest my peepers on. Throw in the fact that my sweetie Henner was a wiz with all things electronic, and my car could do things that would leave people staring with their jaws on the ground.

  “Follow this, you big dumb Palooka,” I muttered, and pushed the gas pedal to the floor.

  Cain frowned, turning towards me. “What was–”

  That was all he got out before the car leapt forward like a race horse out of the starting gate. Cain had to vanish back into the ring, or risk blowing right out through the trunk and getting left behind as we rocketed forward.

  “Wahoo!” I yelled! “That’s what I call ‘turbo’!”

  Alright, yes, it was scary that some stranger was following me. But feeling the car shoot forward, with all that power and speed, it had a grin stretching my face until my cheeks hurt. Part of me wished I had a convertible, so I could feel the evening wind in my hair.

  “Are you out of your mind?” Cain shouted inside my head, which was rude.

  I must have caught the bozos napping, because the headlights behind us dwindled into pinpricks, and I took the first right I could, narrowly avoiding bumping the curb.

  I took a left then, screeching through a subdivision to reach one of the more major roads in Haven Hollow. If I could get to Main Street, the pedestrian traffic would mean I had to slow down, but it might also scare off anyone trying to follow me. Assuming I hadn’t lost them already with my little stunt.

  The growing glare of headlights in my rear-view mirror told me that wasn’t a real likely hope.

  “Ah, baloney,” I muttered, taking another turn. The blare of a horn sounded from behind me as my tail cut off another car in order to keep up. “What’s it gonna take?”

  Haven Hollow wasn’t exactly a huge place. Almost anything that was worthwhile was right on Main Street. There was the Half-Moon Bar and Grill, where Henner and I had our last date. Poppy’s potions store was there, right across the street from Wanda’s Witchery. There was Sweeter Haunts, the candy store where it was Halloween all year round, and Stompers Creamery, which sold the best ice cream I ever tasted, and was also run by centaurs. And there was Sandman Syd’s mattress store—a place I hadn’t ventured into yet because I wasn’t in the market for a mattress, but I knew where to go, soon as I was.

  The point was, it wasn’t a huge city with lots of cars and traffic. But it did still have a few traffic lights. Like the one I was barreling down on at just under twice the posted speed limit. The red light glared down on me like an evil eye.

  “Darla.” I’d never heard Cain’s voice so tight.

  What to do, what to do. Stop, and they’d catch up to us. Blow the light, and risk causing an accident. I’d never forgive myself if I actually hurt someone.

  “Horsefeathers.” I moved my foot, ready to slam down on the brakes.

  The light turned green.

  “Yes!” If I could have pried my hands off the steering wheel, I would have pumped a fist in the air.

  Cain swore, and it felt like he was tucking up as tight as he could. He was kind of jumpy, considering he was a ghost, and it wasn’t like he was gonna die in no traffic accident.

  There was a bit of a long stretch as we approached Main, and the other car kept gaining on us steadily. I could have punched it, I knew Henner’s modifications meant my car could go scary fast all while purring like a little kitten, but in the dark, on roads that were far from empty, it just wouldn’t be safe to open up the throttle, or whatever the kids called it these days.

  The whoop-whoop of a siren almost made me jerk the wheel into the opposite lane, and I had to fight to keep it straight. Ending up in the ditch would be a topper to my night, but I’d just as soon avoid it. Blue and red lights flared up behind me, the new car cutting smoothly in just behind my bumper.

  I almost laughed. Sure, I was looking at one heck of a ticket, but I was willing to bet double or nothing that my friends in the car following me weren’t going to be willing to stick around with the coppers pulling in.

  Sure enough, even as I pulled over and heard a car door behind me close, the dark car pulled past us and sped away down the road and disappeared around the corner.

  With a sigh, I rolled down my window and prepared to be read the riot act.

  “Do you have any idea how fast you were going—Darla?”

  I ducked my head and looked up into a very familiar face. A relieved grin curled my lips.

  “Hiya, Taliyah.”

  Chapter Ten

  “Okay, let me see if I have all this straight,” Taliyah said, pinching the bridge of her nose like she was trying to ward off a headache.

  It was a pretty common sight for me.

  “Yes?” I asked, wincing all the while because I really didn’t like being on the receiving end of Taliyah’s foul temper.

  “You’re on a case to find something for somebody, and you won’t disclose either due to ‘client and gumshoe privilege’,” she paused to glare at me harder, “which isn’t a thing, by the way. Other people also want said mysterious item, and now that you’ve got a lead on it, people are following you in their car. Is that about it?”

  “I think that just about wraps it up.”

  I’d parked the car and opened the door so I could swing my legs out. My hands and feet were still a bit tingly from the chase, and I was glad for the rest before trying to finish the drive home. I’d look like a real palooka if I got away from whoever was tailing me, only to drive off the road trying to get home.

  Taliyah shifted, her boots crunching on the gravel shoulder of the road. She’d kept her police lights on, probably to keep anyone coming down the road from hitting us, and in the strobe of scarlet and blue lights, she looked worried.

  It was a pretty subtle look on Taliyah, but I’d seen it enough to recognize it.

  “Darla, if you’re in some kind of trouble, you can tell me. You know I’ll help you.”

  Taliyah was a good dame. She was smart, driven, and she really cared about people. Only she was quiet about it, so some people took it as her being cold, which wasn’t the deal at all. She’d been through a lot, and yet, there she was, asking after me.

  Taliyah had blown into Haven Hollow in the wake of her only brother’s murder, and had taken over as Chief of Police, thinking to settle herself and her two sons into a small town and recover from her nasty divorce from some dime store cowboy.

  And then she’d found out that she wasn’t a human, and that she was, in fact, Olwen, Princess of the Winter faeries. Furthermore, she was prophesized to regain her power, get married to some fella she’d never met before but had been betrothed to for fifty years, and take her throne as Queen. Nobody asked her, they just dumped it all on her and expected her to just go along with it like some little lamb.

  Let me tell you, not one of them had ever met Taliyah, or they would have known from the get-go that such a plan didn’t have a snowball’s chance in you know where.

  She’d told them all exactly where they could stuff it, and continued being the Chief of Police instead of running off to Faerie Land, and I say, more power to her.

  Standing there on the side of the road, she looked pretty much like she had when we’d first met; shoulder length sandy hair streaked with gray, gray-blue eyes, a few lines on her face. But these days, she only looked like that when she was wearing something called a ‘glamour’. And I don’t mean the kind of things that starlets were said to have when they batted their lashes at the cameras. It was real magic, not the movie kind.

  Lately, when she was tired, or there were just no people around who’d known her from before, Taliyah didn’t bother with that glamour, but let her inner faerie show. Then she’d have moonlight pale hair all the way down to her hips. And no matter how many times she tried to cut it, it would always grow back in a few seconds. As Olwen, her eyes were ice-colored, and her face was flawless: all cheekbones and big eyes, without a single wrinkle or line. She had it all, a real Sheba of a dame. If she could have bottled it, she’d have celebrities beating her door down.

  But all in all, she was still Taliyah. No amount of abracadabra could change that.

  “I’m okay,” I assured her. “I do appreciate you scaring off whatever torpedo was following us, but it’s just part of the job of being a gumshoe.”

  “Darla,” she said, in that overly patient tone that meant she was trying not to yell at me, but having a hard time of it. “You aren’t a private investigator. You’re a medium.”

  “I can do both! And anyways, it’s not like I ain’t got backup.”

  At the reminder of Cain’s presence, Taliyah’s face did the complicated thing it always did. There was grief, but also relief, and something else I didn’t even think I knew the name of. Whatever it was, it was there and gone in a blink as Taliyah strapped on the blank face she wore like a mask while she was being a copper.

  I gave Cain a mental nudge, trying to convince him to say something to his sister. But he just clammed up, the big dope. He’d really struggled with talking to people he was close to when he was alive, and finding out that he and Taliyah weren’t actually blood related had thrown him for a while. These days, it was mostly that he was just bad at talking to people, unless he had a case to discuss. And Taliyah was almost as bad, for Pete’s sake. Fingers crossed there was never a doomsday clock that could only be disarmed by the two of them talking about an emotion, cause we’d all be dead.

  Case in point, Taliyah shifted awkwardly, put off her game by the mention of a feelings kind of situation.

  She cleared her throat. “Well. You should both come to dinner.”

  I blinked at her, feeling like I’d been reading lines from the wrong script. “Beg pardon?”

  “I said, come to dinner.” Taliyah scowled. “The boys have been asking after you.”