Page 60 of Cheater Slicks

One of her bones could have wound up in someone’s pocket while her husband’s final resting place was secured, but it was all speculation.

“I don’t suppose it matters which Tremé was violated beyond it explaining where the parade is held and why the enchantment manifests as a parade at all. The important part is, I know who has the bone and where he lives.”

“And just who is that?”

“Dis Pater.”

“Dis…Pater…” His eyes grew impossibly round. “Thedeathgod?”

“Um. Yes?” I plucked at my bottom lip. “I’ve been to his house via astral projection, so I think I can find that pathway again.”

“What good will that do?” He tapped his pen on his desk. “You can’t bring it back with you, and you can’t destroy it there, since you can’t touch it.”

There were no guarantees the bone wasn’t in Dis Pater’s pocket, given its diminutive size. But, petty as he was, I got the sense he would have flashed it at me if he had been carrying it on him. That left his home as the most likely location to store it. His house was protected from everyone but me. And, as Rollo pointed out, I wasn’t a threat to the relic if I couldn’t put hands on it.

“The plan is to sneak in, get the physical address, and thenpoofmyself there in the flesh. Then I can either steal the relic or destroy it. Depends on what I walk in on.”

That was a beat of rogue optimism talking. More than likely, a plane ticket would be involved.

“Do you make sense to other people, or do you save your crazy for me?”

“I managed to…I don’t know…teleport? Only once, and I was out of my mind at the time, but still.”

“So, what I’m hearing is, you really are crazy.”

“It was a stressful few minutes, okay? I had just seen Josie’s throat slit. I lost track of time for a beat.”

“Josie?” The color drained from his face, and he glanced toward the door. “I…”

“I was able to heal her, with Anunit’s help.” More or less. “She’s fine. Fully recovered. Not even a scar.”

“Then what…?” Slapping his hands on his thighs, he planted both feet on the floor. “Can we start again?”

Poor guy. It was a lot. I understood his confusion. Really. My life was a dumpster fire lately, and random gods were holding the matches. Except for the ones donating the gasoline. Normal people didn’t have these problems. I was just lucky, I guess.

“I need you to anchor me.” I broke it down for him. “I want to trace my path back to Dis Pater’s house.”

“Have you lost your damn mind?”

“The jury is still out.” I narrowed my eyes on him. “I askedyoufor help, didn’t I?”

“This bone…” He rallied himself. “You think destroying it will end the parade?”

“I do.” I hesitated, but he caught me at it. “But, in the interest of full transparency, it might also end the people in the parade.”

That was why I would prefer to steal it then bring it here until we decided how to dismantle it properly.

“The souls who have been trapped the longest.” He followed my train of thought. “They might be too weak to survive the trip back to their bodies.”

“If they aren’t trained in astral projection, they won’t have any clue how to navigate if they’re simply cut free. We have to hope they’ll be sent back to their bodies the same way their souls were snatched out of them.”

“But you’re not reversing the enchantment,” he pointed out. “You’re ending it.”

Meaning, potentially, that the souls would be cut loose, and it would turn into a free-for-all.

“If we leave them, they’ll die. Some of them will no matter what we do.” Including my brother, and Vi. “We have to do something, and we have to do it fast. We’ve wasted enough time tracking down leads that go nowhere.”

“Okay.” He slid his sharp gaze past my shoulder. “Why isn’t your boyfriend helping you?”

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