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“I want to hear you say I won.” He licked his lips. “I want to hear you beg for mercy.”

“Can’t…” I clawed at his hands, trying to pry them off my throat. “…speak.”

“Oh, right,” Masher said with a stupid chuckle. His grip loosened. “Go ahead then, pumpkin. Tell me what I want to hear.”

I opened my mouth. A scratchy croak came out.

“I must have damaged your windpipe,” he laughed. “Oops.”

A strange, persistent ringing hummed in my ears.

“Say it, nice and quiet.” Masher leaned in closer to hear me better. “Now beg.”

I blinked.

He leaned in even closer. I watched him. My eyes could barely focus right now, so I kind of had to wing it as best I could. I waited until his ear was nearly pressed to my mouth…

Then I screamed as loudly as I could.

Masher stumbled back, disoriented, clutching his head with both hands. I sat up slowly, carefully, and slid off the garbage dumpster. I got a sudden, brutal blood-rush to the head as soon as my feet touched down. It was like the whole world had tipped over. I blinked a few times, but it only sort of helped. I still felt like I was caught in a whirlpool that just wouldn’t stop spinning.

Masher was already righting himself. He glared at me. “You crazy b?—”

I thrust out my hand, poking him hard in the eye.

He hunched forward, roaring in pain. While he was blindly fumbling around, I used the heels of my hands to pound himhard on the sides of his head. He dropped to the ground, unconscious.

“Nice going, genius.” I stared down at his limp body. “You obviously didn’t learn anything from your incarceration.” I massaged my sore throat with my hand. “All you did was level up from ‘assault’ to ‘attempted murder’.”

My head still swimming in dizziness, I staggered away from him. Masher, insane as he was, was only a mildly inconvenient symptom of a much larger problem. I had to figure out what was going on. What had happened to me. How I’d gotten here. And, most importantly, how to get back home.

But first of all, I needed to find Nero. The whole world had gone totally sideways, and I had to know that he was ok.

CHAPTER 4

BACK TO NEW YORK

Icalled Nero’s phone—repeatedly—but he didn’t pick up. I tried not to let that worry me, but, yeah, I was worried. Nothing was going right today. If only I’d had my magic, I could have reached out to him telepathically. But I didn’t. I didn’t have anything but my wits, an ever-deepening sense of dread, and a massive headache from when that lunatic Masher had smacked my head against the dumpster lid.

Oh, and five dollars. I also had five dollars in my pocket. That wasn’t enough to buy anything, so I snuck aboard the next train out of Purgatory headed for New York. Gods, it was great being poor again.

New York. That’s where I’d met Nero on this very day. He had to be there. He just had to be. I’d find him, we’d team up, and then we would find our way out of this mess and back to our daughter.

At least that was the plan. Unfortunately for me, the Legion’s killjoy soldiers had other ideas. They stopped me before I’d made it two steps into the lobby.

“Guests are required to check in at the front desk,” intoned a dour-faced corporal that I didn’t even remember.

Luckily, he didn’t remember me either—or, more like, he hadn’t met meyet. Thank goodness for small favors. If he’d already known me, he might have grabbed his sword—or, at the very least, a fire extinguisher. I didn’t exactly have the best reputation in this time. Actually, come to think of it, I didn’t have the best reputation in my time either. People thought chaos followed me wherever I went.

I couldn’t imagine what had given them that idea.

I offered the grumpy corporal a congenial smile, then walked up to the front desk. “I’d like to see Nero Windstriker,” I told the woman there.

She gave me a contemptuous, cursory glance. “So do a lot of girls.”

She saidgirls, but what she really meant wasfloozies.

I withheld a sigh. It was Alicia Henson. Of course I had to get my very least favorite receptionist. And she was keeping me away from Nero.