“He’s a ticking time bomb.”
“Besides, the cops aren’t going to come after me over this. It was a hazy message delivered by a magical lunatic. Chances are they’ll probably ignore it like people have ignored most of my other warnings. But if they do manage to decipher it, and then actually find something… Well, I doubt they’ll want to seek me out and share the glory. It’s over. My job as a Ghost Whisperer is behind me. Onward to bigger and better things.”
“Now who’s talking gibberish? You’re just about to start working for a possessive Demigod with daddy issues.”
I hated losing arguments to hormonal teenagers who thought they knew everything. But she did have a point.
“Touché,” I ground out. “Now go get Mordecai up. Your training starts in an hour. If you guys eat too late, you’ll throw up your breakfast again.”
“I’m not his mother,” she replied, adding milk to her bowl.
“I’m his mother…ish. And yours…kinda. And I’m telling you to go get him up.”
“Ugh!” She gestured at her bowl. “Why didn’t you tell me to do that before I filled my bowl? Now it’s going to be soggy.”
“Then give him that bowl as a punishment for getting up late, and make yourself a new one.”
She cocked her head at my bad parenting. Then nodded with a determined expression. “He deserves it.” She stalked off down the hall.
“And someone throw away that empty ice cream carton,” I hollered.
I eyed the clock. I had a few hours before my first real business meeting. More time than I’d ever taken to get ready for anything. But it felt important to create an impression today—something to set the tone for my business relationship with Kieran. I needed to look business savvy and experienced, as well as competent and confident. Most of all, I needed to look independent and aloof.
I didn’t need him for anything. I could survive on my own. I’d been doing it since my mother had died six years ago. And I certainly wasn’t hung up on his core tightening appearance, his incredible charm, and his awe-inspiring strength and power. I would show him that none of those things fazed me, and I was in it for the job. End of story.
2
Alexis
A firm rap sounded at the door and butterflies exploded in my stomach.
“It’s that tough guy who won’t fight,” yelled Frank, my miserable excuse for security. He was great at watching and reporting what went on outside my door—even though he either didn’t know, or refused to use, names—but given that he was a ghost, and couldn’t do anything, physically, about trespassers, he wasn’t ideal for protection.
“He means Zorn,” I mumbled to myself. Zorn was one of Kieran’s Six, a group of guys who had given some sort of blood oath to protect Kieran.
I gave myself a once over in the mirror, straightening my second-hand suit top before sliding my palms down the badly ironed fabric over my thighs. With the pad of my middle finger, I corralled a loose strand of blonde hair back into the bun at the back of my head. I’d debated wearing my hair long, but for a professional and, dare I say, uptight look, a bun felt more appropriate.
I took a deep breath, checking my nearly nonexistent eye makeup and extremely light coat of pink lip gloss, when the front door burst open. I startled and stuck my head out of the bathroom.
Daisy trudged through the front door with a red face dripping with sweat. Mordecai followed, his dark skin shining and his expression pulled down with fatigue.
I grinned and strode down the hall. “Hard workout today?”
“Wuh—water,” Daisy managed.
Mordecai nodded grimly, tripping on nothing and staggering into the kitchen.
“Why is Zorn here already?” I heard Daisy ask Mordecai. Then: “Get off,” followed by a grunt. She’d likely elbowed him.
Zorn filled the doorway. Over six feet tall and with a solid frame, his grim face and muscular body would give pause even to the battle-hardened. Neither the perfectly tailored, pristine suit he wore nor the expensive watch wrapped around his wrist did anything to detract from the murder and violence that raged in his stare. One look made a person’s spine turn to jelly.
I hid it easily. I was used to being the least powerful person in the room, whether in the magical world or among non-magical Chesters, people who thought magical people should all be burned at the stake like in old days.
“Hey,” I said, stalling at the kitchen entrance. “Almost ready.”
Frank, the front yard poltergeist who stood behind Zorn with a puffed-out chest, nodded. Clearly he thought I was talking to him.
“They’ve got the girl fighting, did you know that?” Frank asked, stepping closer to Zorn as though they were buddies. A look of unease crossed Zorn’s face. He couldn’t see Frank, but he could feel his presence. It was a disconcerting feeling if you weren’t used to it. “Girls fighting! Imagine that.”
“I know,” I said, stepping into the kitchen to grab my water bottle out of the fridge. “She’s been training all week.”
“What?” Mordecai asked, sagged against the counter with both hands wrapped around a glass of water. He was one year older than Daisy, and used to be just as skinny. After a single week of training, the muscles in his arms were more defined and a spark of confidence burned brightly in his light hazel eyes. The training, given for free by members of the Six, was really improving him, both physically and mentally.
Just another way Kieran had wormed into my life, improving it for the better. He had a good game, I’d give him that.
The cunning bastard.
“Frank,” I said by way of explanation, rolling my eyes and heading back toward the door.
“You’ve got to put a stop to that nonsense,” Frank said, now edging around Zorn to get closer to the door.
I crossed the entryway to grab my chief prize, a Burberry medium buckle tote, in pink! It was the only piece of fashion I owned, given as payment for speaking to Kieran’s deceased mother, something the other Ghost Whisperers he’d hired hadn’t been able to do. I prized it above all other inanimate objects. It spoke of lavish lifestyles, classy people, and expensive vacations. And it was mine!
“Women shouldn’t be fighting like men! It’s unseemly,” Frank went on, shoving himself in front of Zorn.
“Women can do whatever they damn well please,” I told Frank, slipping the fantastic bag onto my shoulder, admiring its weight. A smile crept up my face, my annoyance at Frank drifting away.
I was wearing a Burberry. A Burberry! First-tier fashion rested on my arm. My mother was probably turning over in her grave with envy.
“A woman’s place is in the home, looking after the children,” Frank returned. Zorn glanced around him, and though he was a hardened man who seemed immune to danger…he took a giant step back.
“She doesn’t have any children,” I told Frank, filing Zorn’s weakness away.
“Then she should be seeing to her studies and helping you around the house.”
“Frank, may I remind you that your views of the world are out of date. You know, given that you’re dead.” His expression soured at my words. He thought pointing out his lack of an earthly body was a low blow. Luckily, I didn’t much care. “If Daisy wants to learn to fight, she can.”