“What’s the fourth kind of magic?” asks Candy.

Vidocq says, “Theoretical magic.”

“What’s theoretical?”

“God,” I say. “The angels. The stuff that holds the universe together and makes it run. It might not even be magic the way we understand it. That’s why it’s theoretical.”

Candy punches me lightly on the arm.

“Why don’t you tell me these things?”

“I don’t think about them. Why should I bug you? If you want to know more, talk to the Frenchman or borrow one of his books.”

Vidocq makes a small bow, his mouth full of chicken. He swallows and says, “I’d be honored to loan you one or two.”

“Just history. Nothing practical,” I say.

Allegra laughs like she just got something over on her little sister.

“You can learn some magic after you learn to shoot,” I say.

“Thanks, Daddy. You going to get me that two-wheeler for my birthday?”

“For that, I thought I’d teach you how to steal cars.”

“I’m glad to see that this relationship is keeping you both out of trouble,” says Allegra.

Candy puts her hand on Allegra’s arm.

“Did he tell you where he’s crashing?”

“Later. I’ll tell her about it myself.”

“Lucifer’s private suite in the Chateau Marmont,” Candy says.

Allegra looks at her food, moving it around the container with her chopsticks.

“You two must still be tight if he’s loaning you his apartment.”

Allegra had a tsunami-size freak-out when I was Samael’s bodyguard while he was in town working on a movie. We barely spoke for a while. I didn’t even say good-bye when I went back to Hell.

“I don’t know how they’d be tighter,” says Candy. She laughs.

“Shut up.”

Candy looks at me, then at Allegra.

“Oh. Shit. I’m sorry.”

She puts down her food.

“That’s why I wanted to tell her,” I say.

“Tell me what?” Allegra says.

I sit there like an idiot. My mouth won’t open. I know what will happen when it does.

Vidocq says, “Darling, things have changed a great deal while Stark was in Hell.”

Allegra’s hand moves halfway to her mouth. A gesture of fear or concern or maybe she’s just stifling a burp.

“My God. You didn’t sell him your soul to get out, did you?”

“No,” I say.

I keep looking across the street at Cairo’s place.

“I am Lucifer.”

I turn and Allegra is looking at me like I answered her in Urdu.

I say, “I didn’t ask for it and I don’t want it. Lucifer, the one you know about, dumped the job on me. I had to protect Alice and the other souls down there. I didn’t have a choice.”

She sets down her chopsticks.

“So now you take souls and lead people into sin.”

“Mostly I just handle paperwork.”

She looks at Vidocq.

“You knew about this?”

He nods.

“It wasn’t my place. He wanted to tell you himself.”

She looks at Candy.

“You know too. So I’m the only ignorant one here. Why is that?”

“Because of how you’re acting now,” I say. “You said that all that stuff that happened between us before was over and forgotten, but it’s not. You liked it when I showed you how there was real magic in the world. But you couldn’t handle it when it got down to the hard stuff. Magic and Lurkers were fun and sexy, but Heaven and Hell? You never even tried to deal with them and they’re part of everything that’s happening.”

Allegra is quiet for a minute. She looks out the van’s window at the sky.

“Is that why the sky keeps changing colors? Or the sinkholes?”

“I hadn’t heard about sinkholes. And I don’t know anything about the sky. I was talking about my current employment situation. I’m half a person with half the universe on my back, and if you think that makes me a monster, then you can go to Hell yourself, princess. The door handle’s there and there’s a bus stop at the corner.”

She sits for a minute looking at the floor, then slides the van’s side door open hard enough that it almost comes back on her. She gets out and walks away.

Vidocq gives me a look he’s never given me before. Like he actually wants to hit me.

“Well handled, boy. As graceful as always.”

“You better hurry. Make sure she doesn’t fall and crack her halo.”

Vidocq gets out and slams the door closed.

Candy and I sit in silence for a minute.

“Well, that just happened,” she says. “I have a big mouth. I’m sorry I said anything.”

“Forget it. It was going to happen sooner or later. Wait here.”

Lula Hawks, tattoos and scarred face, is walking our way. I get out and go around to her.

“Are you stalking me? You could have just asked for an autograph.”

She takes a startled step back.

“What are you doing here?” she says.

“I asked first.”

She nods toward Cairo’s place.

“You know King lives over there, right?”

“Yeah. When he comes back, I’m going to kill him.”

She pushes her hands deep into the pockets of her leather jacket. Takes a breath. That wasn’t what she wanted to hear.

“How is it you know him and want to sell him out to a bad person like me?”

“We went out for a while,” she says. Shakes her head. “I don’t like what he’s become since Aelita arrived. He’s out of control.”

“He’s always been out of control.”

“Not like nowadays.”

“Why did you send me to that stiff, Manimal Mike? He was pretty much useless.”

“What does ‘pretty much’ mean?”

“It means I have important questions and he didn’t know shit.”

“What did he say?”

“He said the girl tried to cut Saint James and that he ran off somewhere called Blue Heaven but he didn’t know where it was.”

“Anything else?”

“Nothing. I had to twist his greasy arm to do some Tick Tock work for a guy I know. That’s all.”

She nods like she’s deep in thought. “So, he told you where this Saint James is and his motives for going there. And that the ghost girl attacked him specifically, not randomly. He also agreed to do tens of thousands of dollars of Tick Tock work for, I’m guessing, free. You call that nothing?”

“When you put it like that, it sounds like something, but I’m telling you, the way it came out of his whiskey hole, it sure seemed like a lot of nothing.”

“I’m glad I could help you take a second look. Now I’d like to go before anybody sees me talking to you.”

“What happened to your face? Did Cairo do that to you?”

“That’s none of your business.”

“I know but I’m uncouth, so I thought I’d ask.”

“And I answered.”

There’s something about her.

“Have we met before? I mean before Blackburn’s.”

“Why did I even bother talking to you? You’re as bad as King. Leave me alone.”

She takes a couple of steps back and detours around me, heading the way she’d been walking when I stopped her.

I’m making all kinds of friends today.

When I get back to the van, Candy says, “Who was that? Another one of your porn stars?”

“Someone who tried to help me but then I asked a dickheaded question.”

“She’s the one who told you about Cairo?”

“Yeah.”

“Looks like she told you the truth. There he is. Who’s that with him?”

“No idea.”

Cairo is walking on the other side of the street screaming and waving his arm like a windup gorilla. A few feet in front of him is a pretty dark-haired girl in a long sweater and boots over a tiger-print dress. He gets up right behind her, shouting loud enough that people turn to look. He curses at them too. Tiger Stripe Girl keeps walking, trying hard to ignore him. The leather bag on her shoulder slips and slides down her arm. Cairo puts a hand out and grabs the strap. Tiger Girl turns and shoves him hard with both hands. He grabs her arms and shouts in her face. Tiger Girl’s face switches from disgust to fear. She bends back at the waist to keep some distance between her and Cairo.

I get out of the van and start across the street.

Horns honk. Growling engines pass behind me. Most cars stop. I squeeze between them and wave on the rest.