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“Your family is a lot more interesting than mine.”

“I wouldn’t mind them being a little duller. You’re not going to work today, right?”

They nod.

“I thought about it, but after the snake bite and your Haunted Mansion ride, I think I’ll take it easy today. But you’re coming to the next excursion, right? Promise.”

“I can’t stand those people.”

“Promise?”

It’s clear Janet is going, and who’s going to protect them if I’m not there?

“I promise.”

My phone beeps. I check the screen. Abbot left me a message.

“Sorry. I have to go and talk to this guy.”

Janet kisses me and says, “I never kissed a killer before.”

“How do you know?”

“I never kissed anyone like you before.”

They limp inside their building, blowing me a kiss before they close the door.

I go back to the flying saucer house and drag the coffee table back to where it’s supposed to be. In the bedroom, I grab another one of Kasabian’s cast-off paperbacks—Personal Finance for the Power Entrepreneur—and shove it in the hole where it belongs.

A lot worries me these days, but what has me right this minute is the certainty that the ghost attack was nothing more than a feint. Someone or something was just testing the waters. The spooks will be back and next time it’s going to be worse.

I get some coffee, put my feet up on the wrecked coffee table, and call Abbot.

“How goes it with your assignment?” he says. Not even a hello. That’s not like him. I need to give him something.

“I know a lot more about the Stay Belows than I did before.”

“Stay Belows? Where did you learn a term like that?”

“You partner with people who can help. I do the same thing.”

“What more have you learned about them?”

“Chris Stein is the key to the whole thing. The rodeo clown that all the bulls come after. If I figure out Stein, all the cows will wander home.”

I hear Abbot take a breath.

“Whatever it is you’re learning, whatever it is you’re doing, do it faster. The spirits are cracking the wards. They won’t hold forever. I’ve had to post people there already to look out for breaches.”

“I’m going as fast as I can. I’m working a few angles.”

“What angles?”

“Forever yours. Forever mine.”

He doesn’t say anything for a minute.

“Stark? What the hell was that? A spell? A hex?”