I dropped my arm.Thewide, toothy mouthwasstill open, poised to eat me,butthe blob wouldn’t get a chance to dine on me because it had turned to stone. I sat up straighter from my scrunched-up position against the cabinet. A tall man with dark hair graying around the temples, dressed inallblackfrom his turtleneck to his boots, stared at me from behind the rock blob with a raised eyebrow.
“Oh hey, Phillip.” I pushed myself up and dusted my pants off. “Uh it’s good to see you. I totally had this under control,” I said,gesturing tothe now solidified monster. On the ground next tothefrozenmonster,lay a moonstone, a smooth pearlescent rock. Probably what Phillip had used to neutralize the blob.Any basic bitch could get their hands on a moonstone, but not everyone could use it to harness powers.
Phillip tilted his head ever so slightly. “I’m sure you did.” By his tone I could tell he didn’t believe me for a second.Phillip was tall and lean with aneven temper.If I didn’t know he wasapart ofan ancient secret Order meant to serve the Light by protecting our world from the crap the Stygian (the hell dimension) spat up, I would havepegged him asaphilosophyprofessor whothrew elegant dinner parties for other intellectuals in between cycling tournaments. The man did make a mean paella.
“Phillip,” Travis said, coming into the kitchen brushing his hands against his pants. His cheeks were flushedagain,and he spoke in a meek,everything-was-okay kind of tone. He looked as chagrined as I felt.
“Your grandmother said you were here on a job,” Phillip said,taking in the state of Mrs. Keen’s house. The living room was pretty much destroyed, and I’d managed to rip off several cabinet doors in the kitchen.
Great,gran sent him to check up on us. Fan-freakin-tastic.
“How did aGorbeckget inside the house?” Phillip asked, his brows furrowed.
I leaned against the kitchen counter. “Mrs. Keen tells me a it was a beautiful day to let in a nice breeze and kept the back door open all morning.”
Phillip’s mouth twisted in disapproval. I was on his side. It was fine and dandy to leave your windows and doors open before a hell dimension threw up a bunch of demons and evil spirits onto our plane. Mrs. Keenshould have knownbetter.
Shelooked like she would have an active social media platform of some kind to play the pretty pissing game all the other suburban moms did—My kid is going to college to be a doctor!#blessed,isn’t our new car nice?#blessed, another promotion for the husband!#blessed.She should have noticed at somefreakingpoint the world had gone to hell.
Eyeing the moonstone on the ground again, a wash of green envy overcame me. If I had beenallowedin a secret Order meant to defeat darkness, I probably would have a few more tricks too. When I’dasked Phillip if he could teach me some of his methods, he said he couldn’t teach me an entire lifetime of faith to the Light. If he weren’t such a nice guy and Calan’s father, I would have been pissed.
A pang zinged through my belly. Calan and my best friend, Emma, had died throwing themselves into theTearbetweenour dimension and the hell dimension known as the Stygian.They’d sacrificed themselves, closed the gate,and saved the world from complete hell on earth.Losing Emma left a hole in mychestI didn’t think would ever get filled again.I didn’t have a lot of friends. Scratch that. I’d lost my only friend.
I shoved that pathetic thought down as quickly as it had risen.
Travis opened the pantry and grabbed the box of baking soda. He walked over and poured some on the stone monster. As soon as the baking soda hit, the stone flesh began to sizzle like a fajita platter. Instead ofevoking scents ofdelicious Mexican food though, the stench of overcooked, rancid vegetables filled the kitchen.
Mrs. Keen chose that moment to stumble back in through the side door to the kitchen. “Oh my god, what have you done to my house?” Her voice reached decibels I’dthought reserved for whistling tea kettles. She covered her nose, as she looked about her house with wild eyes. Her coiffed blonde hair was now mussed, and she was missing a Chanel earring.
“I can see this isn’t a good time,”Phillipsaid,his eyesscrunchedwitha flash offear,giving a slight bow to Mrs. Keen before disappearing.
Coward.
I put on my best business voice. “Mrs. Keen, would now be a good time to discuss payment?”
Her wild eyes turned on me as if I’d set her house on fire.
At least, this time we could say we didn’t.
2
Ithrew the door open to mygran’s purple Victorian house, and it smacked against the wall. I didn’t even care if she came down on me for not treatingherhouse with respect.
Icertainly hadn’t been treated with respect.
Travis shut the door behind us. “At least she paid us.”
My teeth ground against each other as I shuffled my way to the kitchen. When Iwassure I could speak without turning around and smacking theholy hell out of my partner, I said, “She paid us athirdof the price we quoted.”
“I mean, she does have to put some money toward repairs now.”
I whipped around, coming face to face with Travis. “Are you saying that was my fault?”
He held his hands up in surrender. “I’m not saying that,Krystan.”
“Aren’t you tired of having everyone step on you? Because every time we go on these jobs, you seem hot to apologize for what’s happened to them, what’s happened to their house, and then you seem to slide right on into apologizing for your existence when we are there todothema service.”
He stepped in closer, afrown tugged at his mouth, and aflash of angershotthrough his green eyes.For some reason that sent uncomfortablezingsof heat through my belly. Annoyance took onthestrangestforms around Travis.
