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“For the moment.”

They give me a sly smile.

“What if I give you an incentive?”

They move around so they’re straddling my lap.

“Nice try, but those funny pills are hitting me. I can barely keep my eyes open. Besides, I’m still kind of mad.”

They lean over and whisper, “Angry sex is the best.” Then they kiss my neck.

With my good arm, I move Janet back.

“There is no way this is happening tonight.”

They lean their forehead against mine.

“You sure?”

“Ninety-nine percent.”

Janet says, “I’ll take those odds.”

They kiss me and the room tilts.

I pass out with them still on top of me.

I don’t know what time it is when I wake up, but it feels late. My neck is stiff from sleeping all night with my head against the back of the sofa. Janet is curled up next to me, their head on a pillow and one hand draped across my knee. I slide out from under them and go into the bathroom. When I flex the fingers of my right arm, they ache, but the pain is manageable. Using the black blade, I cut off my bandages. The arm doesn’t look too bad. The skin over the wound has knit back together. It’s pink and puckered and ugly as hell but in another day it will be just one more scar and the tiger just one more stupid story.

“Holy shit.”

Janet is behind me in the bathroom doorway. They grab my arm and look at it.

“How is that possible? Half of your arm was gone.”

“You’re exaggerating,” I tell them. “And I’m a fast healer.”

“You said that in the clinic. This is more magic, isn’t it?”

I push her out of the bathroom.

“I have to brush my teeth and things. We’ll talk about it later.”

Just before I get the door closed they say, “Are you still mad at me?”

“I’ll decide after I’ve had some coffee.”

“You take your time. I’ll make it.”

With them gone and my head clear, I finally have a chance to think about things. Or really, wonder about them. I never took Janet for the crazy type, but here we are. The Zero Lodge and people getting run over by cars and eaten by tigers. I’m going to have to keep an eye on her—them. I have enough crazy in my life. If Janet is too much, I might have to find a new donut place after all.

They hand me a mug of coffee when I walk into the kitchen. Then I remember something.

“Fuck. My coat.”

“What happened to it?” says Janet.

“I lost it in Little Cairo. I feel weird without it.”