“Seriously?” I asked. “The smell of Donna and Karen’s paws has a name?”
“Indeed, it does,” Tim said. “Now, my cat’s paws smell more like digestive biscuits or fragrant rice. It’s quite pleasant.”
“Are we gonna yack about feet or are we gonna kick Daisy’s ass?” Candy griped. “It’s freaking cold out here.”
“Then put your coat back on,” I told her. “And no one is going to kick my ass. I have entirely too much to do. Am I clear?”
“As mud,” Candy grumbled. “No one wants to have fun anymore.”
Gideon pressed the bridge of his nose and sighed. “We are here to teach Daisy to defend herself. Not to kick her ass. And if anyone tries to purposely kick her ass, I will destroy you.”
“Harsh,” Tim said, nodding with approval.
“Fact,” Gideon replied sharply.
Charlie stood up and took my hand in his. Walking me out to the center of the field, he gently touched my cheek. “You will not be harmed. Some of what you will see today will be us going at each other so you can understand what you might be up against with Clarissa.”
“At least one of you is always with me,” I told Charlie, wiping some dirt from the shoulder of his bright blue jacket. “If Clarissa comes directly for me, I won’t be alone.”
I recognized the jacket. I’d been with June when she bought it for him last Christmas. She had been thrilled when she found a color that matched her husband’s eyes.
Charlie nodded. “Clarissa will try to separate all of us. It’s how she works.”
“We’ll stick together. Period.” I wasn’t a weak girlie girl at all, but I wasn’t a gazillion-year-old Immortal either. I was smart enough to know when to ask for help.
“Far easier said than done,” Charlie said.
Fine. He was right. Clarissa was a sneaky bitch who had nothing to lose at this point. The fact made her more dangerous than ever. She’d been reported to whomever Immortals got reported to for causing Steve’s death and trying to send him to the darkness when he was destined for the light. It was a crime that would strip her of her title, power and immortality. Anything in my arsenal that would help me end her or keep me from dying would be helpful.
However, ending her could be problematic. At the moment, she was still Immortal since she’d avoided getting caught. The only way to reverse what she had done to Gram by planting a false cause of my mother’s death in her head was the complete destruction of the Angel of Mercy.
Even though my mother seemed to have a plan in mind, it didn’t mean it would work. To be fair, my mother had spent over thirty years inside Missy. A lot had changed in that time. I had to look at the situation as if I were on my own.
“Teach me,” I said. “Now.”
“I have a thought,” Candy Vargo said, joining us in the middle of the field.
“That’s kind of scary,” I told her.
“Usually,” she agreed. “But I can’t shake it. It’s kind of like an itch on your back that you can’t reach, so you grab a steak knife to scratch it and ten minutes later you need twenty stitches.”
“Do you actually have a point?” I asked, thinking that if she wasn’t Immortal, she would have been six feet under centuries ago.
Candy pulled out a fresh toothpick and turned to Charlie. “Tell Daisy how you see footprints.”
Charlie looked at Candy blankly for a moment, then a small smile pulled at his lips. “I see shadows,” Charlie told me. “They flit away as quickly as they appear, but that’s how I detect a footprint.”
I wasn’t sure where this was going, but I was going with it. “What about you, Candy Vargo?”
“I get a tingle,” she replied.
“Tell her where you get this tingle,” Tim called out as he stood with Gideon over by the tree.
“Shut up, jackhole,” Candy yelled, lifting her middle finger to Tim.
I knew I shouldn’t ask, but as Gideon had pointed out, I was a glutton for punishment. “Where do you get a tingle? In your butt?”
“Nope,” Candy said, methodically picking the bottom row of her teeth. “My left knocker. It’s the bigger one.”
I closed my eyes for a brief moment and wondered if I was being punked. Deciding to go with it, I laughed. “Well, that’s certainly better than your butt.”
“Correct,” Candy agreed.
How had I ended up here and why did it seem normal?
“So… umm… I guess your knocker is tingling now because all of you are here and walking around?” I asked.
“Nah,” Candy said with a chuckle. “My knocker works on command. It would suck all kinds of ass if my boob buzzed all the time. I can make it vibrate. You wanna feel it?”
“Thanks, but that’s a hard no,” I said.
“Your loss,” Candy replied as she wandered farther out into the field.
In her wake, she left a trail of sparkling green dust… or I thought she did. Rubbing my eyes, then opening them again, I stared hard at her feet. It was there. Barely, but I saw it.
“Candy, stop,” I yelled as I squinted at the ground and wondered if I was imagining things. The mind was powerful and I was nuts already.
“What?” Candy asked, turning around. “You change your mind?”
“About what?” I asked, confused, as Charlie’s gaze bounced between us.
“You wanna touch my knocker?” she asked, pointing at her left breast with her toothpick.
“Nope. I don’t ever want to touch your knocker,” I told her, shaking my head. While my life might be spiraling into chaos, it was never dull. “Walk towards me, please.”
I watched the ground around her feet and sighed in frustration. The faded sparkling green light I thought I had seen was absent. Crap.
“What do you see?” Charlie asked, his eyes glued to mine.
“Nothing now,” I replied. “I thought I saw a trail of green glitter—for lack of a better description—following Candy. I think it’s officially time for all of us to agree I’ve lost it.”
Charlie’s sharp inhale and exhale of breath alarmed me. His normally blue eyes turned silver. He looked as scary as hell. “Green? You saw green?”
Gideon and Tim quickly crossed the field. Tim seemed thrilled. Gideon’s face was expressionless. Candy just picked her teeth and raised a brow.
“I think I imagined it,” I whispered, feeling unsettled and like I was about to fall off the edge of a cliff.
“Tim,” Charlie commanded, his eyes still silver. “Walk away. Do not stop until you are directed to do so.”
Tim gave Charlie a curt nod and did as asked. Without being told, I stared at the ground behind Tim’s feet as he leisurely walked away. Grabbing Gideon’s arm so I didn’t crumple like an accordion, I squeezed my eyes closed then opened them.
Tim left a faint gray trail—harder to see than the green trail Candy left, but I was certain I saw something. Deciding it was definitely time to stop second-guessing myself, I turned to the scary version of Charlie. “I see gray.”
Charlie’s eyes narrowed for a moment, then he smiled. It was a bit frightening, but the joyous laugh that accompanied it made me blow out a huge breath of relief.