Things that I had possibly imagined?

Listening to the Quarter ghosts tonight, I couldn’t believe that the real demons would have disappeared so quickly—would have let me go so easily. Maybe I really had hallucinated the confrontation at the club, just as I’d dreamed the prairie where my father spoke to me. That scenario seemed far more likely than a terrifying but otherwise harmless encounter with a huge crowd of demons.

This conclusion—that I was going a little crazy—also gave me a weak excuse to do something I desperately wanted to do before I joined the Quarter ghosts for all eternity.

So for at least one more night, I closed my eyes and wished my way to Joshua’s side.

Chapter

THIRTEEN

When I opened my eyes, I found myself standing in front of the only familiar town house in the Quarter. Although its gas lamps still shined brightly, the windows were dark and shuttered for the night. Obviously, the place didn’t look empty like the neighboring buildings. But it certainly didn’t look as warm and welcoming as it had earlier tonight.

Since I’d only been gone for an hour or two, I doubted that the younger Mayhews had made it back from the club yet. But the materialization had brought me here, which had to mean that at least Joshua had returned early.

“Only one way to find out,” I said aloud, and then cringed. Call it paranoia, but I suddenly felt like any noise I made might attract unwanted attention.

Tiptoeing gave me some foolish comfort, so I moved quickly and quietly to the left of the town house. There, in between the house and its neighbor, a heavy black gate lay open by several inches. I brushed past it, holding my breath as I crept down the narrow alley running alongside the house. Though the rational part of my mind knew I couldn’t rattle them—not without some effort anyway—I dodged a group of metal trash cans before stepping into what looked like the courtyard behind the town house.

As I’d suspected, the space was gorgeous. A twisted live oak tree hung heavy over the flagstone patio, where a marble fountain bubbled next to some expensive-looking teak chairs. The thing I noticed most about the chairs, however, wasn’t their quality; it was the fact that they were unoccupied.

Unoccupied, as in no Joshua.

Without thinking, I let out a loud, frustrated sigh and then clasped my hand to my mouth. For a second I waited for something creepy to swoop into the courtyard and demand that I go with it. When it didn’t, I released my hand as well as the breath I’d inadvertently held.

You’re being ridiculous, I told myself. No one’s tried to get you here.

Then my brain added a snarky little Yet.

I stifled a groan, walked over to one of the patio chairs, and dropped myself into it.

Why had the materialization brought me here when I’d willed myself to wherever Joshua was? For some reason, today’s materializations kept going awry, landing me in all the wrong places at the wrong times.

Discouraged, I tucked my hands beneath my chin and propped my elbows on my knees, preparing to wait until someone else arrived. Then I remembered that Jillian had stayed home tonight. It was a long shot, but perhaps I could call out just loudly enough to get her attention so she’d let me inside. I looked up at the house, trying to figure out which window was hers.

That’s when I noticed the back door.

In the darkness, I’d almost missed it. But now I could see that it stood ajar by nearly a foot, leading into the pitch-black of the house.

I stood and walked over to the door, again trying to move as quietly as possible. From the looks of it, as long as I could squeeze through the opening I could get inside and wait for Joshua in relative safety. It might be an equally lonely wait; but, if nothing else, I could make noise inside without fear of demonic abduction. Probably.

At this point “probably” was good enough for me. So I lifted one foot to take a step inside the town house.

Except … I didn’t.

Despite the attempted step, I found myself right where I started: standing in the courtyard, just outside the back entrance.

I tried again, pushing across the threshold with more effort. But like before, I met with the pressure of an invisible barrier. On impulse I looked down at the flagstones. There, just at the edge of my toes, was a familiar line of chalky gray powder sprinkled across the doorstep.

This time I didn’t try to hide my sigh of frustration.

Ruth.

She’d pulled this trick on me in Wilburton, barring me from Joshua’s house with some kind of magic Seer dust. Looking down at tonight’s handiwork, I snorted softly. For such a devoutly religious woman, Ruth sure did like her witchcraft.

Staring down at the dust, I tried to summon the power within me—something that would help me counteract Ruth’s spell. After all, if I could rend a bridge in two and make myself shine like a bonfire, couldn’t I move a little dirt? But no matter how hard I concentrated, no matter how strongly the breeze rushed through the courtyard at my whim, that stupid dust stayed put.

With a frustrated little growl, I raised my head. Then I shrieked in surprise.

There, smiling out at me from the darkness of the hallway, was another ghostly pale face. My muscles tensed, ready to sprint, but they relaxed when the owner of the face moved forward, bringing himself into better view.

“Long night, huh?”

Alex kept his voice low as he stepped easily over the gray dust and stopped just short of bumping into me. Instinctively, I took one step backward, putting a few more inches between us. Alex’s eyes caught the movement before they connected with mine.

“You okay?” he asked. “You left so soon tonight, I was worried.”

He sounded genuinely concerned, but I still hesitated in answering him. Finally, after an awkward pause, I gave him a slow nod.

“I’m … fine. I just got a little dizzy, that’s all.”

Alex lifted his hand as if to give me a reassuring touch, then thought better of it and dropped the arm to his side. With an embarrassed little cough, he tucked both hands into the pockets of his slacks. When he noticed me staring at his outfit—still the gray suit, although it had to be well past midnight—he gave me a sheepish grin.

“I wanted to make sure I didn’t miss you, so I waited to change.”

I frowned. Why on earth didn’t he want to miss me? The suggestion of familiarity made me inexplicably defensive, so I crossed my arms and smirked.

“What, are you saying you don’t have a two a.m. shareholders’ meeting?”

Alex laughed loudly and then snapped his mouth shut, looking back at the darkened windows behind him. After he made sure no one inside had heard him, he turned back to me. Still smiling, he whispered, “Hey, can I help it if I like to look stylish all hours of the night?”

My own smile twitched involuntarily. “I guess I really don’t have room to judge anyone else’s fashion sense, do I?”

We both laughed then; and, despite everything, I actually felt myself relax a little. Not much, but enough to continue the conversation without my arms folded protectively across my ribs.

“So,” I said, circling around him until I was the closest to the door. “I don’t suppose you know how to undo the mojo from Seer dirt?”

“Voodoo dust,” he corrected automatically.

I shook my head, blinking. “Voodoo dust? Honestly?”

Alex gave me that sheepish grin again. “Honestly. You can buy the fake stuff on practically every street in the Quarter. What you have right there, though, is the real deal. Classic banishing dust, good for warding off evil spirits.”