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M umbled words rushed in as I sucked in a sharp breath and jackknifed off the marble bench.

“Whoa there.” Rollo gripped my shoulders. “You’re safe.” He checked me over. “What happened?”

“Dis Pater almost walked in on me.” I blew out a slow breath. “He was talking to someone outside the house. I don’t know who. Their voices echoed, so I heard them loud and clear, but I couldn’t see anything.”

Seeming satisfied I was in one piece, he asked, “Did you get the address?”

“No.” I shook my head. “I might have a hint, though.” I thought back on my glimpse through the window, one detail sticking out in my mind that hadn’t gelled at the time. “There was a tall ship on the water.”

“A tall ship?” His usual judging look pinched his expression. “Like a pirate ship?”

“Sort of?” I considered the history of the area. “You can book those for harbor cruises, right?”

“How would I know?” His eyebrows shot higher. “I don’t go on the water.”

“You drive over Lake Pontchartrain every time you leave the city.”

At nearly twenty-four miles long, the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway in Louisiana was the longest continuous bridge over water in the US.

“Since never you mind, maringouin .” He snorted. “Besides, I said on it, not over it.”

“Boston has a lot of them. Cruises. I don’t know about tall ships.” I couldn’t remember why I knew that, which meant I probably learned it after watching a documentary with the other Marys after we used the old game spinner to choose a random show for us. “The view from the house is pure beach.”

“Google is your friend,” he said dryly.

“Yeah, yeah.” I got to my feet. “Thanks for the help.”

A negligent shrug pinched his shoulders. “Will you go back?”

“I’m not sure it will be safe. I don’t know if Dis Pater can sense me inside his wards or not. If I risk it, I’ll find out the hard way.” I broke the circle with the toe of my shoe. “I’ll do some research, see if I can shake anything loose. If I can’t, then I have to choose. I can’t give up on this angle.”

The second I exited the crypt, I bounced off Kierce’s chest and stumbled back a step into Rollo.

Bright, silver eyes bored into mine. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah.” I indicated Rollo. “We were just?—”

“You don’t have to tell me.” He cupped my face, tipping my head back. “I won’t force you to lie.”

Turning my face into his hand, I kissed his palm. “Okay.”

“I’ll help you however I can.” He made it a promise. “Don’t give up on me.”

Don’t give up on me.

The courage it took for him to ask me that threatened to break my heart. “I won’t.”

“Can y’all scoot aside?” Rollo shouldered past. “I have paperwork and virtual meetings I can’t miss.”

The longer Vi remained unconscious, the more her business would suffer. I knew the feeling. Intimately. I hated that finances were a consideration where health was concerned, but those were the realities of our lives. Bills didn’t stop piling up just because we couldn’t pay them.

Pedro waited until Rollo left to glide forward, a question in his eyes I could only answer with a nod.

I had done what I set out to do, but I hadn’t quite achieved my goal.

“Are Josie and Pascal still upstairs?” I gave myself a cheer injection. “What are they planning tonight?”

“They’re staying in.” Kierce tipped his chin. “They’re going to watch movies from a VHS stash Josie found in her guest room.”

That was the safest thing for the Suarezes to do, and her too, but I had other plans for them.

“What about Harrow?” I hated that, once again, he was an afterthought. “How is he?”

“He was heaving in the bathroom,” Kierce said, “when I went to check on him.”

“Still?” A bolt of guilt struck me. “Anunit really did a number on him. Even after she’s rode out the worst of it, he’ll still be sick and sore when we kick her out of him.”

“You should order in some broth,” Pedro suggested. “He needs to eat light the next day or two.”

“Good idea.” I could walk Kierce through the preferred local food app as an exercise. “Jean-Claude could swing it with enough notice, but good broth takes from twelve up to seventy-two hours. Harrow should get something in his stomach before then. Plus, Jean-Claude has his hands full caring for Vi and monitoring Rollo’s condition. I don’t want to heap more work on him.”

Except that was exactly what I did when I bumped into him upstairs and palmed Kierce off on him. I told myself it was better to let Jean-Claude walk Kierce through ordering. He knew the best restaurants, and he was familiar with technology. But Kierce knew I was buying a moment alone with the others away from him.

Away from Dis Pater, more like.

With the two of them set up in the kitchen, I summoned Josie and Pascal to her guest room at the back of the house.

“This is weird.” Josie clung to Pascal’s arm. “Why are we the only ones in here?”

“What did we do wrong?” He worried his bottom lip with his teeth, and I smacked his arm so that Matty wouldn’t come back to a sore mouth. “Are we in trouble?”

“No.” I poured a salt circle and then raised it to give us privacy. “Why would you think that?”

“You ditched Kierce. You never ditch Kierce. He’s always part of the Marys’ inner circle.” Josie patted Pascal’s hand. “Suarezes are honorary Marys, so you don’t count.” She frowned. “Or you do count.” She flipped her wrist. “You know what I mean.”

“I might have sneaked into Dis Pater’s house tonight. Astrally speaking, I mean.” I cringed as Josie’s left eye started twitching. I definitely had that effect on people. “If I can find his home address, I can pop in physically. Then I can steal the saint bone, pop out, destroy it, and free everyone caught in the parade.” I flopped onto her bed. “Probably.”

“Let’s put a pin in how you’re not sure this pop idea will work. I assume you couldn’t find his address?”

As one of two people present for my one and only time successfully teleporting, Josie had earned the right to doubt I could pull off this heist alone with that power as the linchpin in my plan.

“I didn’t have much time.” I omitted the precious moments I lost being a fraidy cat. “He was talking to someone outside, so I couldn’t see who. I think about Kierce and me. None of what he said made sense, though.”

“Tell us.” Foot tapping, Josie anchored her hands on her hips. “All of it.”

Happy to unburden myself to someone who wasn’t Rollo, I spilled every single detail I could recall.

“That doesn’t sound good, Francita.” Pascal rubbed his jaw. “Kierce could be sitting on something big.”

“Dis Pater shakes his brain like an Etch A Sketch.” I defended him, knowing how much he hated the gaps in his long, long life. “He isn’t concealing what he knows on purpose.”

“I’m not blaming him.” Josie held up her hands in a peacekeeping gesture. “I get it. Really. I do.” She took one step closer to me. “But you’re my sister, and it’s my job to protect you. Even from him.”

As much as I wanted to argue the point, I would have done the same thing for her.

“How can we help?” Pascal gentled his tone. “What do you have in mind?”

“I saw a tall ship in the water outside Dis Pater’s window. I was hoping you guys could help me check out the companies running cruises on them out of Massachusetts. There’s nothing but open water from that angle, so maybe we could track the routes? Narrow down the possible areas?”

This task was finding a needle in a haystack, and we all knew it, but I had to try something.

As the scope of the task sank in, Pascal winced at the work ahead of them. “Can’t you ask Kierce?”

“I’m not sure he could tell me,” I admitted. “I’m more worried if he can, if he does, that Dis Pater has already given him instructions to report it back to him. Since I can slip past his wards, he could ditch that location and go somewhere else. Then I would never figure out where he’s keeping the bone. And if that happens, I can’t destroy the relic.”

“Wait.” Josie snapped her fingers. “You said he’s got a cat?”

“Yes.”

“Did it have a collar?”

“Yes?”

“With an ID tag?”

“Maybe?”

“Could it have had, say, its home address etched on its ID tag?”

“Crap.” The urge to smack my forehead itched in my palm. “I didn’t think about that. I’ll check.”

The vet angle had crossed my mind, but we hadn’t had pets growing up, so that was as far as I got.

“Can you go back so soon?” Pascal shared a concerned glance with Josie. “It’s not dangerous?”

Danger was a matter of perspective these days.

“You’re not taking grave-dirt uppers to get over the hump,” Josie warned me. “If that’s what you’re thinking, you can forget about it.”

Good grief. She made it sound like I walked around with pockets full of dirt to snort when her back was turned.

“I’ve seen Kierce do the popping thing,” Pascal said, sitting next to me, “but he can’t take anything with him or bring anything back, right?”

“Nothing else alive.” I thought about Badb visiting Abaddon with him, but she was no ordinary crow. “I think that’s how it works.”

The only thing I knew for certain was teleportation was possible for me. I didn’t know how I had done it, or if I could do it again, but I had transported myself from the Alcheyvāhā burial ground to the commune in the blink of an eye. No time like the present to discover if it was a fluke or a new skill I had unlocked.

Speaking of flukes, I didn’t want to vanish myself into the belly of a whale if I got it wrong on my first try, but I vaguely recalled the sisters at St. Mary’s telling us a bedtime story about a guy named Jonah who…

No.

Wait.

He was in there in the first place for disobeying his elders, and now that I thought about it, I was pretty sure the sisters also mentioned the whale swallowing a shark to eat him for his sins, which the whale then spat out.

Maybe?

The sisters had a way of always reducing anything remotely biblical to do as we say or get eaten .

Sharks were optional.

Hrm. I should practice. See if I could manage even a small hop before taking a bigger plunge.

The Atlantic would be freezing this time of year if I miscalculated on the beach house and hit the water.

“This doesn’t sound like a great plan.” Josie’s gaze tagged the door. “You’re sure Kierce can’t help?”

“Are you willing to trust Matty’s wellbeing to Dis Pater?” That was what it amounted to, now that I had gotten the god’s temper raging. “He did murder me for funsies.”

With the toe of my shoe, I broke the circle, unable to drive Josie’s idea about the cat ID tag out of my head.

Leaving her with Pascal, I sought out Rollo, who was about as happy to see me as expected after our earlier excursion.

“No,” he said sharply. “You’re not going out twice in one night.”

The flat refusal stumped me. “But?—”

“Mamaw would whoop me if I let you get hurt. Don’t like it? Ask your boyfriend to stand in for me.”

“That’s not fair.”

“Life’s not fair.”

“Leave the boy alone,” Jean-Claude said from the doorway. “He’s only doing what Vi would do.”

When I tried to argue but found I couldn’t, I had to remind myself Rollo was the next best thing to a professional anchor. He was the most experienced one in this area and had the benefit of a lifetime of absorbing crumbs of information Vi dropped throughout her daily life. Jean-Claude had made his point. I should trust Rollo with my best interests, in this case.

The ticking clock was making me reckless if I was willing to storm Dis Pater’s house in search of his cat who, knowing my luck, would have a QR code engraved on his tag instead of his details. Which I couldn’t scan because phones and astral travel didn’t go together.

“You’re right.” I surprised both of them with my easy acquiescence. “I shouldn’t push my luck.”

“I don’t trust that look on your face.” Rollo rapped his knuckles on his desk. “What are you thinking?”

“Come on.” Jean-Claude gripped my arm. “I’ll make sure she doesn’t get into trouble.”

“That’s a bold claim, but you’re the one fool enough to make it.” He sighed. “Good luck, mon ami .”

To keep the tentative peace, I let Jean-Claude drag me into the hall so Rollo could get back to work.

Leaning down, he guaranteed he held my full attention. “Have you considered all your options?”

“You’ll have to be more specific.”

“Kierce is in the basement, helping me with a project that will keep him occupied for a good hour.”

“Okay, well, you just shut down my sales pitch to Rollo, so…?”

“There’s more than one way to skin a cat, cher . Or, in your case, a cop.” He released me, pivoting on his heel. “One hour.”

I was embarrassed to admit I stood there for a full minute before his meaning sank in.

Anunit.

She could help me. Maybe. I had to brave Harrow to find out.

Nervous about the state I would find him in, I walked up to his door and knocked twice.

A pained groan answered me, but I couldn’t tell if it was him or Anunit without seeing for myself.

“I’m coming in,” I announced, just in case, then let myself in and approached the bed. “You look rough.”

Golden eyes accused me from Harrow’s familiar face, and I almost felt bad for Anunit.

Almost.

“How did you find your way to Dis Pater’s house?” I sat at the foot of the bed. “You didn’t come with me the way I’m swept along when Kierce is summoned, I don’t think, or you would have been there sooner. So, how does it work for you? Can you go anywhere? Only places you’ve been? Places I’ve been?”

Curled on her side, cuddling a heating pad shaped like a crawfish, she tucked in her chin.

“You did this to yourself.” I had no sympathy for the pain she had inflicted on Harrow. “Are you going to help me or not?”

“Help how?” She shut her eyes. “This body is too frail.”

“The body has a name, and it’s Harrow. And he’s not frail. He’s just suffering the consequences of your actions. Human bodies aren’t meant to eat pounds of meat at one sitting.” We didn’t know how many meals she had borrowed him for. “You’re lucky you didn’t end up in the hospital getting your stomach pumped.”

Actually, I wasn’t sure that was a thing for overeating. It might be reserved for overdoses and other medically necessary needtopukenow situations. Having stuffed myself to the bursting point once or twice during street festivals here in New Orleans, I could say with authority there were times I would have paid good money to correct my deliciously greasy mistakes.

“I followed your scent.” She snuggled the crawfish. “I have an excellent nose.”

“You can smell my soul?” I glanced down like I might find a scented candle glowing in my chest. “Seriously?”

Exasperation crossed her features. “Yes.”

“You can track everyone,” I realized, filing away that information. “Now that’s a neat trick.”

“It is not a trick. It is who I am.”

“I apologize.” I bit the inside of my cheek. “I didn’t mean that how it sounded. I only meant it’s an incredible talent. I didn’t know such a thing was possible.”

“You could learn.” She watched me. “You have it in you to do the same.”

“You said we’re not related.”

The conversation between Dis Pater and the smoky-voiced man bobbed to the forefront of my mind.

“We are not, and yet…” Her expression softened on me. “I feel a kinship with you.”

The temptation to tell her what I had overheard, to get her opinion, almost got the better of me. But the smoky-voiced man wasn’t my priority. “Do you think you could find your way back to Dis Pater’s house?”

“Yes.” She set aside the heating pad. “Have you lost your way?”

“I can project my soul there, but I need to go in the flesh.” I picked at the comforter. “So far I’ve only managed to teleport myself once, and I have no memory of how I managed it.” I considered her. “I’m not sure if what you did falls under astral projection, since you’re all soul and no body, or if it counts as physical teleportation, since you’re…well…all soul and no body.”

Normal rules didn’t apply to gods, so what I knew to be accurate for spirits wasn’t always true for her.

“What difference does it make?” She lifted her head. “I wished to go somewhere, and I went.”

“It can’t be that simple.”

“I am a goddess. I can do whatever I wish.”

Definitely more cat than fox.

“I’m not sure that applies to me. Can I click my heels and appear in his living room?”

“We will find out.” She sat up, hand on her stomach. “I will show you the way.”

This must be what Jean-Claude had in mind for me, but Lord. I was terrified of materializing in a room with Dis Pater, giving him access to my physical body. I didn’t want to find myself locked in a cage in Abaddon next to Kierce. But I couldn’t live with myself if my inaction cost Matty or Vi their lives.

“Okay.” I rolled the tension from my shoulders. “How does this work?”

“I will go, and I will take you with me, and then you will know.”

“That sounds vague, dangerous, and generally unwise, but I don’t have any better options.”

“I will need this body.” She got to her feet. “I must have substance for you to grasp the process.”

“Harrow isn’t a rental car. You can’t just drive him around when the mood strikes.”

“He would agree.” She swung her legs over the side of the bed. “You know this.”

The bad thing was, I did know. He would agree out of guilt. He would let me run him into the ground to make us square. Even after calling a truce, he would sacrifice himself to atone.

As flattering as it would be to claim it had to do with our past, I was certain the present held sway over him. Lyle had done a lot of bad there at the end, and knowing Harrow, he would spend the rest of his life making up for it.

And that was before he kidnapped Matty, which he could have only seen as proof he was as twisted as his uncle. It would only spur him on to greater risks, like allowing Anunit to have her way, if he felt he was repairing the damage they had both done.

“Why did you kidnap him really? The truth this time.”

“You know this body, so you were unlikely to kill him before questioning him when I arrived here.”

“True,” I allowed, “but there’s got to be more to it than that for you to be a repeat offender.”

“I am not long for your world,” she said earnestly, convincing me she wasn’t trying to guilt-trip me. “I wished to savor its tastes and textures one last time before I go. I have lived a half-life for so long, and it has been its own kind of torture to never savor my food or truly experience sensation. This body was the ideal candidate for such an excursion.”

With her ability to manifest in the flesh, I hadn’t considered she lacked full use of her senses. But I could pity her while also holding her accountable. I couldn’t decide if I would trust the answer I got, but I had to ask. “Can I speak to him?”

“Yes.” Her eyes cut to the right. “I will give you five minutes.”

“You’ll give Harrow as long as he wants, and you’ll vacate his body if those are his terms.”

Her huff of annoyance was expected, but she allowed him to surface, her eyes rolling back.