Page 69 of Demon and the Raven

“Maybe make Uncle Lorne some sourdough,” JJ told me. “That’s his favorite.”

JJ knew that because they noticed everything.

I leaned into the car, kissed Amanda’s forehead, and she put her hand on my cheek. “You’ll call me after you speak to Father Dennis.”

“I will.”

“Let Uncle Xan go, Mom,” Toby said, laughing. “You’ll see him tomorrow.”

I really hoped she would.

TEN

Once we went back inside, Lorne called Father Dennis while I took a seat on the couch next to Argos.

“You didn’t get hurt last night, did you?” I asked him.

Argos lifted his head, regarded me, narrowed his eyes, and then finally gave me a short chirp before curling up into a ball and going to sleep.

Looking over my shoulder, I saw that Lorne was having one of the muffins Amanda left.

“You should put butter on that.”

He grunted.

“What did Father Dennis say?”

“That we could join him at the Osprey Cemetery tonight at nine. He’s meeting with some paranormal investigators who said they had detected a presence there last night.”

I stared at him.

He stared back.

It took me longer than it should have, but really, having paranormal investigators in town when all this is happening… “Are you kidding?”

“Why on earth would I kid about something like that,” he deadpanned.

I smiled.

“Stop.”

“Oh, come on,” I said, chuckling. “That’s hysterical.”

“You have a sick sense of humor.”

“Which is lucky because I think you and my sick sense of humor are what’s gonna get me through this.”

He groaned loudly.

“Paranormal investigators,” I emphasized. “Seriously, what are the chances?”

“More importantly, why would Father Dennis think we’d want to do that?”

“I assume because he needs us. Didn’t he tell you?”

“Yeah. The rabbi and the abbot are both engaged elsewhere, and as he needs backup, he felt that because you believe in the unseen world⁠—”

“Unseen world?”