“At least I had a plan,” I snapped.
“I’ll be making a scene,” Bach said.
I met his stare. “Yes.”
“You’d rather I do it in the street. In front of everyone.”
“Right on the money.”
“Someone will get video—” Artemis began.
“Lots of people will get video, I bet,” I said.
Bach smiled a bit, flipped his sunglasses out, and put them on. “Well played, Novak.”
“So you’ll do it?”
“It was better than my idea. I should be able to subdue him without causing more damage to the town. Ludwig’s not smart, but he’s always been strong, even if he doesn’t have as many dead as I do.”
I looked around at the others. “The rest of you don’t haveto do anything. Stay home. It’ll be safer there.”
“Stay home while you screw over the asshole who blew up my float?” Hal scoffed. “No way. I’m coming with you.”
“And obviously I can’t let all of you go without me,” Mads said. “You need someone to make rational decisions.”
“And I can help you get into the junkyard to get the car,” said Lorelei, face flushed with color. “You have to take me with you.”
“You’re jerks,” I said.
“Meet back here tonight?” Artemis said.
A round of nods.
Grim, as usual, looked like he was somewhere faraway, occasionally glancing northward, along the line of the trees. Now, as everyone went quiet, he turned to Bach. Despite having known both of them for years, the spheres they occupied had never touched, at least in my mind. Bach was always of the mysterious, even when he seemed like only a person. Grim was always only a person, even when he said or did something mysterious.
Now, Bach’s shadows couldn’t stand up against Grim’s druidic concern.
“What about Tad Thompson?” Grim said.
Bach shook his head. “Tad Thompson is gone. When we possess a body, we destroy the person who once owned it. There’s only Ludwig now.”
Grim stared him down like he had some divine truth-sensing ability, and for a second I believed he did. He could see straight through the most mysterious of creatures, and his own strangeness kept them from harming him, as if he lived halfway between this plane of existence and another.
Finally he looked to the north again. Bach had told the truth. I felt a little twinge of regret: Tad Thompson hadn’t been my favorite person, but possession seemed like a nasty way to die.
“Who was yours?” I asked Bach. “I mean, that body isn’t yours, right? Was it someone from Addamsville?”
Bach dipped his head. Ran a hand over his stomach. “Ah. Yeah. A while back. So we’re on for tonight?” He glanced around at everyone, then moved past the headstones that hid us. “Zora can check with Masrell first and text where Ludwig is. I’ll go south. The rest of you head north. And stay out of his path once he gets going.”
He shoved his hands into his pockets and made his way toward his car.
“Guilt gets the best of us,” I said, then called to him, “Hey! What was his name?”
“Everyone in Addamsville knew his name!” Bach yelled over his shoulder.
“Dude is cryptic as hell,” Hal said. The Mustang pulled out of the graveyard.
“What if Ludwig killshim?” said Mads.
