Devon Monk

“Hold up. I’m bait?”

“Greyson is gone.” A high-pitched ringing started in my ears. “Dead?” I asked, not at all ashamed at the tiny bit of hope that leaked into my voice. “No. Escaped. He’ll be hunting you.” With that as the option, I liked dead better.”

“magic was not a required course. He could have a degree in Wiffle ball for all I knew.”

“I don’t know how to explain it.” “Try words. If that doesn’t work, we’ll move on to interpretive dance.”

“You’re a good kid. If you’d work on your pain-in-the-ass tendencies, you’d be real nice.” “Too bad that isn’t going to happen anytime soon,” he muttered. “Real nice doesn’t get you very far.” “Real nice can keep you from getting beat up,” I said. He smiled. “Right. Maybe we should both work on it, then.”

“Sunny, whose demeanor was the exact opposite of her name;”

“The three women laughing over there? Dark wavy hair, coffee skin, and beautiful matching sets of big, lovely—” I slapped him on the arm. “Hey. Eyes. I was going to say eyes. What were you thinking?”

“Did you refuse to be tested to see if you and he were Soul Complements because you were afraid you might want sex with him?” Yes, I am tactful that way.”

“Rock, meet stubborn place.”

“Zay shrugged one shoulder. “I wouldn’t say it was entirely innocent. All that warm, wet water touching us everywhere. And the soap definitely had ulterior motives.” I wrapped the towel around me, tucking it tight at the top. “That career in comedy? Walk away now, Jones.”

“We’re a lot alike that way. You know I never back down from a challenge.” He reached over, brushed my hair back, and tucked it behind my ear. “Not the safest way to go through life.” “Maybe not. But it’s my way.”

“How does the Authority usually handle storms like this?” “Not well.”

“Zayvion and I had an agreement that we were going to give this relationship everything we could. And that included trust, faith, and honesty. Not a single one of which was among my strong points.”

“A corner of his mouth quirked up. “I play pool. Shoot hoops sometimes too. Any other sport you’re curious about?” “Hockey? Polo?” “Simultaneously. Trick is to keep the horses on their skates.”

“She had that motherly no-bullshit way of using her hands as a second communication device and I always fell for it.”

“I relaxed my grip. “Say I win.” “I win,” he managed.”

“He shifted, rolled. I ended up kneeling with him beneath me. Boo-ya! I was on top.”

“... he trotted down the hallway on all fours and started in on his second favorite pastime, conversations with plumbing. Just what I needed: Stone, the Toilet Whisperer.”

“My feet hurt, my back hurt, and I really needed to pee. Yeah, I was feeling really powerful.”

“Cody?” I said. “Why are you dead?” Tact. I got it.”

“The price for using dark magic is death, so that goes a long way toward deterring users.”

“Shamus shrugged. “It’s all about energy exchange. It could always go the other way, me feeding a plant instead of drawing the life out of it.” “Do that often?” Shamus looked at me over his shoulder. “No.” “Why not? Have something against plants?” “No, but I haven’t met a vegetable good enough to sacrifice a year of my life for.”

“Shamus ordered half a cup of house brew. Then he proceeded to fill the cup up the rest of the way with milk and sugar. Lots of sugar. “Sure you got enough milk in your sugar?” I asked as we strolled out of the shop and headed south. He flipped me off. “You drink your coffee your way, and I’ll drink my coffee the right way.”

“Should I take anything?” I asked, as Shamus slammed the trunk shut. “A healthy sense of self-preservation would be good,” he said.”

“Aspirin?” I asked. It came out sounding a lot like ass spoon, but Zayvion seemed fluent in mumbleze.”

“I opened the door as quickly as I could—speedy as a snail in glue. My fine-motor coordination was set on suck mode.”

“My voice rose up and up with each question, even though I didn’t want it to. It’s called panic. I’m good at it.”

“Violet, Kevin, the crowd, and my annoying father would all just have to wait while I ate half that torte and drank half that coffee. Violet, however, was a multitasker.”

“Maybe in the morning, sunlight would to turn him back into a statue; then I could take Stone out to the forest where he could frolic among the ferns, gurgle at streams, and make friends with the other interesting rocks.”

“... he was sunset against the mountains, strong, vibrant, dangerous, and yet somehow sheltering, protective. And married. Picnic, meet rain.”

“I dressed in my bedroom, tugging on a pair of jeans, T-shirt, and heavy brown sweater that I’d picked up at a thrift store and loved down to holes.”

“Don’t tell me there are more things like that on the streets.” “Okay,” he said.”

“Zayvion swore, and I mean he pulled out a raft of curses that made me rethink his upbringing.”

“Let go of the past, of the things I wanted, of the people I loved, and move forward.”

“But it was getting pretty hard to grieve someone who wouldn’t just get on with the dying.”

“I cupped my hands over my ears. “No, no, no. Get out. Get dead.”

“But there was something about Nola that negated my bullshit ability.”

“Portland’s good at wet. The best.”

“But even in the unglamorous warp of the peephole, she looked like a million sunny days to me.”

“The pink rose Zayvion had given me looked a little worse for the wear, but it wasn't dead yet. Tough flowers, roses.”

“So, the date was on. I’d tell Zayvion I had a chaperone. Maybe he could help me figure it out.”

“Since I didn't have a spork handy, I leaned over the sink and scooped up a palmful of cold water and pressed it against my face. There had to be a better option than a violent sporking. There had to be a way to get rid of my dad.”

“I resisted the urge to pour mouthwash in my brain.”

“We didn’t like each other when you were alive,” I muttered to my father. “You think living in my head is going to change that?”

“I doubted vampire stuff would work on my disembodied father. He might have been a soulless bastard, but he was not an actual vampire.”

“Listen,” I said, cool as a 911 operator talking someone down from a ledge, “you’re dead. I’m sorry about that, but I am not going to let you possess me. So follow the light, or go to the other side, or hang around your own house and haunt your accounting ledgers or something. You do not get to stay in my head.”

“It’s not a damn death wish. I just know how much my pain is worth.”

“You threw Shackle," Terric said. "At his head. With a hell of a lot of magic.""He was trying to kill you guys. He'd trapped Zay. What did you want me to do, challenge him to a game of dominos? I was supposed to ride to the rescue, right? I rode.”

“Shamus Flynn stood at the door halfway across the room, a bucket of ice tucked between his arm and chest, and a grin on his face."Thank God I got here in time." He tossed another volley our way. "You might have gone up in sex at any minute.”

“Is there a particular way you'd like to end up on the floor this time?" he asked as he shifted his stance and waited for me to attack. "Or do you just want me to surprise you?""Gee, if I get a choice, how about if I end up on top this time?”