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“Shit,Ambrosius!” Gwen shouted, springing to her heels.
She nearly tripped again, narrowly hopping over a tiny spider making its way back into the bathroom. Ambrosius had been resting his eyes, but the moment Gwen fell to his side, his gaze was on her.
“What—”
Gwen dropped the book and tossed the bracelet at the demon, which he caught with a single claw. Despite his weakened state, he was still alert. It would have been comforting if Gwen’s mind wasn’t racing at a dangerous speed.
“Before my neighbor attacked me, my coworker stopped by. She wanted to apologize for spreading rumors about me at work. I didn’t think much of it at the time. I was upset about you breaking up with me—”
“I never—”
“—but I didn’t feel anything from her! She was blank, like a wall! And I noticed she leftthatin my apartment! The reason that dead asshole got into my apartment is because I heard a knock on my door! I thought she was coming back for this bracelet, but what if that’s not what happened at all?!” Gwen exclaimed in a rush.
“Gwen, what are you—”
Before Ambrosius could say another word, Gwen reached for the bead that had clicked everything together. Carved into the back of it was a familiar symbol. One that mirrored the intricate design on the demon’s precious cards. Ambrosius’ eyes widened, black bleeding to cyan.
“Who had this?”Ambrosius growled.
“My coworker,” Gwen explained. “Look, I don’t believe in coincidences—not after meeting you. This has to mean something, right?”
“You said the body—yourneighbor—attacked you after she left?”
“Yes.”
“We need to know everything. Starting with your neighbor,” Ambrosius said. “Who he is, how he came back from the dead.”
“Okay, okay,” Gwen pushed back onto her heels, reaching into the hidden pocket for her cell phone. “Wait, fuck,shit!I don’t know his name! Goddamn it, I never even thought to ask!”
“Give me a moment,” Ambrosius said, closing his eyes.
The snake heads at his neck began to slither, coiling up his skin. It traveled along his jaw and reared back, poised to strike his eye.
“James Howard,” he said.
Gwen dropped the name into a search engine and cursed when she got multiple hits. She searched again, this time using Everett, Washington to refine her results. Still too many. Gwen refused to give up, pulling up social media. If there was one place that somehow connected people by location, it would be—
“Found him!”
James Howard, the man she had killed and who killed her in return, was a thirty-seven-year-old man who worked at an industrial equipment supplier. Gwen had no idea what the fuck that meant, but it didn’t matter. What she needed was details about who he was in connection to Sierra. His family tree boasted no familial connections, and James had no dating history.
“This isn’t going to cut it. I think I need to go deeper—fuck it, I need to get inside his apartment,” Gwen dropped her phone.
“You—”
“—are doing it with or without your approval,” Gwen said. “And fucking relax. I’m not going without preparing first.”
“You stubborn,wretched—”
“What do I do with this?” she asked, lifting the book from the bed. “You said I take this into myself, right? Intuition or something? Do I have to eat this thing?”
“For fuck’s sake, Gwen, I swear when I come out of this, I’m going to—”
“Punish me later,Daddy,” Gwen scolded, pulling the book close to her chest. “I’m trying to read—ow, goddamn it!”
For all of Gwen’s bravado, she was completely unprepared for the weight against her frame. It felt like the book was being pressed into her chest, like someone was trying to crush her lungs with it. Her fingers curled around the corners of the book, felt the leather sink deeper through the fabric of her dress. Searing pain tore through her chest, like a thousand paper cuts. Gwen gasped as the book continued to sink into skin, into muscle, into boneuntil the book disappeared completely. It left Gwen panting, a small sheen of sweat on her skin as she shakily tried to maintain her balance.
“What I was trying to tell you was that it was going tohurt,” Ambrosius said smartly.