Page 39 of Cheater Slicks

“You’re stronger now. You’ll have more control.”

Demigoddesshood hadn’t come with an instruction manual any more than necromancy had when I was a kid with powers I hadn’t understood until Vi stepped in to coach me much like Kierce was doing now.

“Yeah. One day I will. Maybe. If I start practicing. Rollo doesn’t have that kind of time.”

Gently, he reinforced a truth I didn’t want to acknowledge. “He doesn’t have time either way, Frankie.”

Hearing it out loud hurt worse than I expected when Rollo and I had been at each other’s throats for years.

“You’ll have to anchor me.” I shook out my hands. “What I do requires me to leave my body.”

Astral projection? Maybe. I wasn’t sure. I hoped this never became routine enough for me to be certain.

“If you’re lost…” he hooked a finger under my chin, “…I will find you.”

Fear had always triggered the out-of-body experience that allowed me to affect other souls. I might have worried I lacked the necessary adrenaline dump to kickstart the process had I not been terrified of what losing Rollo would do to Vi.

With a cold stone lodged in my gut, I placed my palm over Rollo’s wound, where the residue of his soul was congealing.

I could do this. I could be careful. I could use my powers for good.

I just had to focus.

Closing my eyes, I sank deep within myself, lowering the barriers that inched up whenever it hit me how much I had changed. I wasn’t the same girl who defended Josie from the ravenous claws of the vile creature hunting her.

I was an adult. I was a demigoddess. I was…

…spiraling back into the abyss of those bottomless memories.

“I hear you, little one,” a honeyed voice coaxed. “Come out. All will be well. Your sin is already forgiven.”

From where I stood in the hall, peering around the corner into the kitchen, I figured Josie was in one of the lower cabinets. That meant I had to lure the sister away. If she caught Josie sneaking food again…

“Sister?” I used my most polite voice and avoided eye contact. “Is something the matter?”

“No, darling child.” The sister, dressed in a full nun habit, laced her spindly fingers at the level of her belt. “All is well.”

“Do you need help cleaning the chapel?” I kept my head low. “I can get the broom.”

“Helpful, aren’t you, Mary Frances?” Her hem made no sound against the stone as she approached me. “You are close to Mary Josephine. I have heard you call her sister. Do you know where I might find her?”

“I haven’t seen her since lunch.”

“I do not enjoy punishing those in my charge.” Her shadow grew taller, leaner. “I am but a caretaker.”

“Yes, Sister.” A tremor shook my voice. “You are merciful.”

Fingers lengthened to needlelike tips. The sister grew until she hunched to avoid a hanging pot rack. Her breath, which had been sweet a minute ago, blew sour across the space between us. Her bones creaked when she moved closer, and her sinew popped as muscle protested the change in her nature.

“Where is Mary Josephine?” She loomed over me, dark and hungry. “I will be lenient if you tell me.”

“I—I—I haven’t seen her s-s-since lunch.”

Hooking a finger under my chin, she wrenched my head up until my nose pointed at the ceiling, forcing me to stare into the empty sockets of her eyes. “You’re lying to me, Mary Frances, and lying is a sin.”

I was screaming before her smile revealed rows of serrated teeth with rotting meat stuck between them.

Terror burned hot in my gut while icy cold spread down my arms into my hands.

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