Griffin said.
Fanny changed tack yet again. Her smile transformed. Had I not known we were dealing with a crazy lady, I would have believed it was genuine. Apparently our lie-rents weren’t the only one who could win Oscars around here.
She crossed her arms, the hand with the gun hanging loose.
Griffin warned us.
We so were. What I wouldn’t do to get a little advantage around here…
Fanny’s gaze bounced around each of us, her smile growing wider. When she pointed that smile at Bobo, his growling quieted to a wary whine before silencing.
“Great,” she said. “We’re friends, aren’t we?”
My true friends and I didn’t utter a word. If she believed she could wave a gun at us and tell us she wanted us dead, and thenwaltz in talking all buddy-buddy, she was nuttier than a rabid squirrel.
“Good,” Fanny continued, unfazed by reality. “I’ll make you a deal. We come to a satisfactory arrangement today, and I’ll let you leave and go about your day. Though you won’t be able to leave town no matter what. You just have to accept that.”
“And why is it that we can’t leave town?” Layla asked.
“You just can’t. Magnum needs you here.”
“So Uncle Magnum made it so we can’t leave town? But how?”
“Oh, I see. You still haven’t gotten even the basics. Magnum Chase isn’t from this world any more than you are. He can do things you would only dream of.”
“So then what’s he need us for?” Layla asked.
Fanny’s smile tightened in place. “Because for as magnificent as he is, he isn’t immortal. And you are.”
My mouth dropped—part performance, part shock that she was telling us this out in the open. If she was being this transparent, that didn’t bode well for us.
“I see you’re surprised, of course you are. Magnum is brilliant. You’d have no memory of your powers or where you come from.”
“Where do we come from?” Hunt asked.
Please, please tell us.
“Where do you think?” she said.
“Um, Ridgemore?” Layla said.
Fanny had a good laugh at our expense.
“You’re from another world. So is Magnum.”
My mouth fell open again before I whispered a strangled, “Say what, now?”
Another chuckle from Fanny; I wanted to reach into her throat and rip out her vocal cords.
“Do you really think you’d be immortal and fromhere? From Earth? Where humans are so puny?”
“We didn’t think we were immortal at all,” Griffin said. “Why do you think that?”
“Oh, because we’ve killed you three hundred sixty-nine times so far.”
My eyes bulged. My knees weakened for a few stunned moments.
Not even Layla had a ready quip for that fun fact.
