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“You say mages.”
She cut me a quick glance. “You say magi?”
I shrugged. “I’m open to either one.” I’d never heard of their society. “You don’t use yours as weapons?”
“I didn’t say that.” She fanned the cards in an arc across the table. “I also channel the cards the more traditional way.”
“For information.”
Keeping her gaze on the cards, she nodded. “Mr. Sullivan thought my skills might be of use to you.”
“Does everybody in this town work for him?”
“Nobody except the staff at the lounge. I owed him a favor, which he called in for you.” Her eyes flicked to me briefly, almost accusatory, before returning to the cards.
“I’m not sure how reading my cards will help us find Ashley. I don’t even know her.”
“I’m not going to read your cards.” She straightened in the chair. “I understand she has a blood relative here.”
“Steven isn’t…” I stopped abruptly. “You mean Nana Pratt.”
Camryn tossed another Nerd into her mouth. “Steven told a friend that his grandmother’s ghost persuaded you to help him.” She shrugged. “Word gets around.”
Fairhaven was worse than a college sorority.
On cue, the older woman materialized. “Did you summon me?”
I gave her a sidelong look. “You were listening, weren’t you?”
“From outside the house, I swear. I wasn’t breaking the rules.”
Camryn watched me with a curious gleam in her eye. “You’re speaking to them now.”
“Ashley’s grandmother is here, Nana Pratt.”
Camryn dumped another batch of Nerds into her mouth. “I always wanted the ability to commune with spirits.”
“It can be intrusive.”
Camryn fanned the cards across the table. Her fingernails were embellished with fake diamonds, at least I assumed they were fake. “Choose a card, Mrs. Pratt,” she said.
The older ghost studied the backsides of the cards as though she could see through them. For all I knew she could. Finally, she tapped one in the middle.
My finger cut through her wispy one. “She said this one.”
“Two more, please.”
Nana Pratt selected two more, which I communicated, and Camryn dutifully turned them over.
I took the opportunity to clean the dirty dishes in the sink while Camryn scrutinized the three cards. I scrubbed away, wondering what had prompted Kane Sullivan to send the mage. A demon like him had to have an ulterior motive.
“She’s alive,” Camryn said. Her tone suggested she was vaguely surprised by the revelation.
Nana Pratt’s breathing hitched, not that she actually breathed, but she could replicate the sound. “Are you sure?”
Camryn couldn’t hear her and continued studying the cards. “Huh, that’s interesting.”
“What is?” I set the last dish on the drying rack and turned to face her.
