I thought maybe I could sublease it to another business or something, but I just hadn’t gotten around to doing anything about it.
“Okay, if we keep it quiet, I think there’s enough brick and plaster between us and the ears.” I strolled over to the curtained window and leaned my hip against the sill. Davy walked with me, and Shame, bless his little black heart, stayed over by the door, giving us some privacy.
Davy stopped in front of me, still not looking at me.
“You’re making me worry. What’s wrong?”
He shrugged. “I think I’m losing it.”
“Losing what?”
“My mind, you know?” He looked up. His eyes were bloodshot and he was so pale I wondered if he’d been sleeping at all. I resisted the urge to tell him to sit down.
“What makes you think so?”
Mental breaks weren’t all that uncommon among Hounds. It was another reason why I was setting up some kind of insurance coverage for the group. Hounds used magic a lot, and they had a tendency of never hiring a Proxy to bear their price of pain. Therefore, they were lousy at pain management, and usually ended up taking their own lives in a bad combination of sheer agony and stupidity.
“You know how I can feel it when Hounds are hurt?”
I nodded. What Davy didn’t know was the reason he could feel pain inflicted on us was because of how Greyson had made Tomi, Davy’s ex-girlfriend, use magic on him. Blood magic and Death magic. I kept hoping it would wear off, but just like Davy carried a thin scar down his left temple, he still carried that Blood magic awareness too.
“I felt you. Hurt. I couldn’t find you. I mean it was like you had died or something. You were more than gone. I even checked the morgues, followed police reports. And now, here you are.” He swallowed. Waited for me to come up with an explanation.
Then he reached over with one finger and poked my arm.
That was weird.
“I was hurt—you weren’t wrong about that,” I said. “I’m okay now, though. So is that it? You felt my pain—and got worried?”
I was trying to keep it light, but I was responsible for the state he was in. If he could sense Hounds in magical distress, I could imagine what it must have been like for him when I stepped through a magical gate into death.
“That’s not it,” he said. “Not all of it. I’ve been seeing stuff. Hallucinating. Hearing voices.”
“What are the voices saying?”
“He—I mean, they told me to find you.”
“He?”
Davy stared at me, as if all the air had left him and emptied him of words.
“Who, Davy? Who are you hearing? What are you seeing?”
“Pike,” he said. “I’ve been seeing Pike.”
Chapter Eleven
“Pike’s dead,” I said. Mouth in gear, brain stuck in neutral.
“I know. I know.” Davy pressed his hands over his face, fingers pulling at his forehead. “I know he’s dead. I . . . I saw him die. But, I swear, it’s so real. He—” His laugh had a manic edge to it. “He talks to me. Not things he used to say, but full conversations. He keeps telling me I need to find you. He keeps telling me he needs to talk to you. He keeps telling me I have to tell you.” He dragged his hands down his face and stared at the curtained window behind me. “God, this is crazy. It’s crazy. I’m crazy.”
It wasn’t crazy to think Pike might be trying to contact him. Shame had just sucked the life out of a Veiled. I was possessed by my dad. There was a flying statue loose in the city. Weird stuff happened around here. But Davy didn’t know about any of those things.
And if I told him, I risked him getting Closed, just like Stotts.
Davy needed to know something, or he’d check himself into the psych ward. Or do something worse.
“It’s not crazy. Do you remember at the first Hound meeting I asked if anyone had ever seen ghosts? And then I made up some story about Hounding for someone who had seen ghosts? It wasn’t a client. It was me. I saw ghosts. Still do.”
He stared at me like I’d just turned into a hallucination.
“Pike talked to me about it. Said he’d seen a lot of weird things in this city. Plus, you know, there are paranormal investigators downstairs. They treat this kind of thing as scientifically as possible. We could talk to them about it. Is there a place or time that he, uh, that Pike shows up?”
“No. Well, the first couple times it was when I was looking for you—using magic searching for you.”
“What did he say to you?”
“Same thing. He wants you. Wants to talk to you.”
“I see.” I glanced over at Shame, who was pretending not to hear us.
“Don’t try to tell me this is normal.”
“It’s not. Not normal. But weird shit happens, you know? When was the last time you ate or got any sleep?”
He shrugged a shoulder and chewed on his thumbnail. “I don’t know. Yesterday maybe.”
I looked at Shame again. He tapped his wrist, like there was a watch there.
“Here’s what I think you should do. One, get some sleep. Eat something. Then make an appointment with the investigators downstairs. And call me if you see Pike again. Maybe tell him to come find me. I’ll be in town.”
“I’ve told him to find you. He said it’s damn hard to navigate in the living world. Maybe I should use magic right now and see if he shows up.”
“No,” I said, clenching my left hand around the mark there. “I don’t think using magic is a good idea.”
“Listen, if it would get him out of my space, back at rest or whatever, then I’ll do anything. He won’t leave me alone, and every time I see him, it just reminds me that he’s gone.
“And if Pike wants to talk to you about something he thinks is so important that he rose from the grave, then I think you should give me a damn minute to try to call him.” Davy wasn’t quite yelling. He was freaked out by this, yes. But he was also angry.
I tucked my hair back behind my ears. I wasn’t sure I wanted Davy around if Pike did show up and start talking. I did not want to get Davy Closed.
I’d deal with that if it came to it.
“All right. See if you can get him to show.” I held my hands to either side, ready to block, or cast, or hell, catch Davy if he passed out from the effort.
For the first time since we’d come up here, he looked over at Shame. “I know you heard us.”
Shame held his hands palm up. “Hey, man. It’s none of my business.”
Davy gave me a do-you-trust-him look. I nodded.
He took a step away from me and cast a Light spell. A strange choice, or maybe not. If the idea was to illuminate himself so that Pike could find him, then the big flaming ball of white fire that reached from floor to ceiling ought to do it. I was glad the curtains were closed.
“Pike?” Davy said quietly. “I found her. Found Allie. She’s here. Now’s your chance to talk to her.”
Nothing.
After a minute or so, I said, “Is he here?”
“Do you see him?” Davy snapped. “No, he’s not here.”
Touchy. Tired. I knew how he felt. I didn’t like talking to dead guys either.
“I’m going to cast Sight,” I told Davy. “If he shows up, you tell me.”
I cleared my mind with a jingle, took a couple deep breaths, because, really, just the idea of pulling on magic right now made my skin hurt. Sight hadn’t seemed to make my left hand go up in flames, but I was not going to rule out the possibility. I set a Disbursement and worked on not setting myself or the nice kid on fire.
I traced the glyph, pressed my lips together so I wouldn’t embarrass myself and groan or something, then pulled magic up through the networked pipes and conduits that caged the building.
Magic hesitated, seemed to pull away from me, and I had to grab for it mentally before it slipped my fingers. I almost lost my concentration, then magic flooded up the underground conduits and into me, filling me, following the marks and tr
ails that magic had carved through me, and then sliding out of me and into the glyph.
Tired. Maybe too tired to be using magic.
Sight caught hold and my vision sharpened. There wasn’t much magic in the room. Except Shame, who smoldered like a shadow in moonlight, and Davy, who glowed like a neon sign.
And Pike, who was striding across the floor toward me, his footsteps making no sound.
“He’s here,” Davy said.
“I see him,” I said.
“So do I,” Shame said.
I didn’t drop Sight, but I hadn’t felt Shame draw on any magic. Which meant Pike could be seen without Sight.
“Hi, Pike,” I said. “It’s good to see you.”
Pike didn’t look happy. Of course, he never looked all that happy in life either. He nodded. “You can stop casting,” he said. “You too, Davy.”
Davy and I let go of magic at the same time. Pike did not disappear.
I released the breath I’d caught, and felt the headache I’d hoped would hold off until tonight creep up the back of my skull. Great. With how much magic I’d been using, it was going to be a doozie.
“You needed to talk to me?” It came out little more than a whisper. Yes, my dad’s ghost was in my head. And I’d recently tussled with some dead chick in a bathroom, and I’d taken a tour of death and seen lots of dead people.
But this wasn’t a stranger’s ghost. And though I was related to my dad, he was a more a stranger to me than Pike. Pike had been my friend. And now I was looking at my dead friend’s ghost.
Now I understood why Davy was practically crazy about this. It hurt to see Pike standing there, frowning, his hair still military short, his eyes still sharp, just like in life. Except he was translucent. If I focused too hard, I’d be able to see the other side of the room through him.
I worked on not focusing too hard.
“I know I’m dead,” Pike said, “but I don’t feel dead. I sleep, get hungry, hell, even my feet itch. But I remember dying.”
“You’re pretty much dead,” I said.
“I’m a ghost?”
“I think so.”
“Doesn’t that beat all? Then I’ll make this fast. I’ve been called, Allie. I’m going to war.”
He paused, like maybe he expected me to understand what he was saying. I was having a hard time not asking him if he was all right, if he was hurting, if I could help him.
“Who called you?” Shamus asked, which was good because I still couldn’t get past wanting to tell him how sorry I was that I hadn’t gotten to him in time, hadn’t saved him in time, hadn’t killed Trager in time.
“Allie,” Shame said, “ask him who called him. Ask him what war.”
Oh, maybe Pike couldn’t hear him.
“Who called you, Pike? What war?”
“I don’t know. Don’t know who, but I can’t fight it any longer. Seems like I’ve been trying not to answer that call for a lifetime. As for the war, all I know is there are more, more like me, alive through magic, who are answering the call. There’s a hunger gnawing at my gut, and that call promises I’m not going to be hungry anymore.
“I don’t trust it. Ain’t no free lunch in life. Don’t figure there’s one in death either.”
“Do you know where you’re going? What you’re going to do?”
“For Christsakes, Beckstrom, I’m a ghost. You figure out the details, I can barely remember how to find Davy. The whole damn world is nothing but streams and lines, and rivers of damn magic, with sucking black holes catching at me every time I turn around. If I didn’t know this city—and I mean really know this city—I’d be lost for good. It’s no wonder most people only haunt their homes. Life’s messy.”
“I’m sorry,” I said. “I’m sorry I didn’t get there faster to save you, Pike. I’m sorry I didn’t keep you from going alone to kill Trager. I’m so sorry you died.”
He took a step toward me, lifted his hand as if he could touch me, then let it drop. “Listen. It’s fine, just fine. I don’t regret where I am, what I am. We all die. I just thought there’d be a little more rest in my eternal rest.
“I remember the end. You were there, on your knees, pouring magic and your own blood into me to try to heal me. Death came easy. That magic you used on me made some difference, I think. Maybe even helped me come back here and find you, find Davy.”
“I wish I could have saved you.”
He shook his head and looked annoyed again. “Move on, Beckstrom. The past is the past. It’s today that’s gonna kill you. I don’t know what the war’s about, but I’ll try to get inside, find out what I can and get back to you, though I don’t think Silvers likes me around much.”
“That’s not it,” Davy said. “I thought I was going crazy. You can stay. As long as you like.” It sounded like he really wanted Pike to never leave him.
Pike nodded at Davy. “You,” he said to me, “used to have a shine of magic to you, Beckstrom. All those marks and colors. Thought you’d be easy to see. You look different now.”
“I’ve had a hard day.”
He grunted. “Show me your hand.”
I lifted my right hand.
“The other one.”
I lifted my left hand. And swore. My palm glowed green. Just like the green from the Veiled. Just like the slight green hue around Pike.
“That I can see. Very clearly. I just didn’t think it was you. It’s . . . it’s a piece of death, isn’t it?”
“Yes.”
“I’ll be able to see that. Can’t miss it, if I need to find you. You still stand out, Beckstrom, just not in the same way you used to. Davy too. When he works magic, there’s a taint of death in it. Your half-dead friend over there is pretty clear to me too. But that mark on your hand is a goddamn lighthouse beacon. You can’t hide from me. I’ll always be able to find you.”
“That’s good?” I said.
“That’s bad. If I can see you that well, so can anyone and anything else like me. Ghosts,” he added in case I hadn’t been paying attention. I had.
He looked over his shoulder, not at Shame or Davy, or anything I could see. I closed my hand and stuck it in my pocket, hoping that something else like Pike wasn’t headed our way.
“That’s the call,” he said. “Hear it?”
I held my breath, listened. “No.”
Pike smiled. “Good. I’m guessing that means you’re not dead enough to hear it. See that you keep it that way.”
“I will.”
He started fading. “Beckstrom?”
“Yes?”
“Nice place you put together.”
And then he was gone.
I exhaled. My ears were ringing. I felt dizzy, a little nauseous. The headache had crawled behind my eyes and was stabbing at my forehead.
Nobody said anything. I rubbed at my eyes with my right hand, which only made my headache worse.
“Did any of that make sense to you?” Davy asked.
“Kind of. There are people better at this whole ghost thing than I am. I’ll go talk to them. See if they think what he said made sense.”
“He could be crazy.”
“What?”
“He just sounds, I don’t know, like he’s reliving his war days, in a warped kind of way.”
That was a good explanation. I could agree and then Davy would stop asking me questions that would lead to him losing his memory. But ignorance, if Pike was right, might just kill the kid. I liked Davy. I didn’t want to see him get mixed up in this and be bleeding and half-dead again.
Once was more than enough for me.
“Davy, there’s some crazy magic shit going on around town right now.”
Shame huffed, then stared at the ceiling.
“The storm?”
“More than just the storm, but yes, that’s part of it. You being attacked by Tomi in the park is part of it too, and me disappearing for a few days. I don’t think Pike is crazy. I think he’s trying to warn us that there might be a lot of trou
ble. So I need you to take care of a few things.”
He tucked his hands back under his arms again. “What?”
“Contact all the Hounds on the list and tell them to stay sharp. Remind them not to go into any dicey situation alone. I trust Pike too much to ignore his warning. If they hear anything, see anything, weird—weirder than usual—tell them to report it to you. Keep a record, okay?”
“So basically, you want me to do your job for you.” He sighed, shook his head. “Too bad you’re not paying me enough for that.”
That was the kid I knew and hadn’t killed yet.
“Think of it as on-the-job training. I pay you, if you keep it together for the next couple weeks at least, and do my job. That means sleep, food, and no booze.”
“It’s cute how you think you’re my mother.” Some of the sparkle was back in his eyes. “Where are you going, and why haven’t you answered your phone? I called you. A lot.”
“I’m going to track down anything about the ghost and magic stuff. And my phone broke—yes, again. I should have a new one this afternoon. Call me if you need me.”
“Will do, boss.”
I wanted to pat him on the shoulder, or something. Tell him he had held up pretty good considering he thought he was going insane and had been haunted by a ghost. But intimacy between Hounds, even just casual friendships, was rarely acknowledged.
“You did good,” I said.
“Mm.” He shrugged.
“Have you heard from Tomi?” I asked. Tomi was an ex-Hound. She’d had the bad luck of getting mixed up in Greyson’s attempt to tear the world apart.
Davy didn’t know Greyson was behind what had happened. The Authority had Closed Tomi before I could fight for her to keep the memories. But with how badly she’d been used by Greyson, I wondered now if maybe taking those memories away had been a kindness.
“No. Her grandma called me once, just to see how I was doing. It was . . . I don’t know. Okay.”
“Let me know if you need anything.”
“No offense, but I’d rather you stayed far far away from my relationships.”
I shook my head and the whole room spun. Hells, I needed some painkillers. And a bed. “Tell the Hounds.” I started across the room.