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I signed the tax return and left a check before heading out It figured: I owed Self-employed people always owe It was a credit to Lara that she’d h that the a her run off withrelationship didn’t include performance reviews

She’d also left me a jam-packed day, which turned out to be beneficial A busy schedule keptin the Otherworld I fought with ferocity, as though each ghost or monster I battled was Katrice herself It was the drives in between that were the roughest on hts

My last job of the day was the most difficult, undoubtedly scheduled that way on purpose so that I didn’t walk into the little ones tired and injured True, I was feeling weary, but concern for Dorian kept a spike of adrenaline burning through h this last job Yet, walking up to the client’s house, I couldn’t stop asking the same questions in my mind Why hasn’t Volusian reported to ht over?

A nervous-looking young wo herself as Jenna She was the one who had h it wasn’t exactly on her own behalf

"She’s in the living roo me inside the foyer Her eyes ith fear "Just sitting there Staring"

"Does she speak?" I asked "Does she answer your questions?"

"Yesbutit’s not her I know that doesn’t make sense, but it’s not The people at work think she’s just gone crazy I’m pretty much the only one who still talks to her She’s about to lose her job, but " Jenna shook her head "I swear, it’s just not her"

"You’re right" I held ht

"Is she " Jenna’s voice dropped even lower "Is she possessed?"

"Not exactly" Lara had warned me about this one It had initially sounded like possession, but further data suggested otherwise, unfortunately A possession would have been easier "It’s a fetch It’s likeI don’t know Her double Kind of"

"Thenwhat happened to Regan?"

I hesitated "I don’t know" I didn’t want to tell Jenna there was a strong possibility that Regan was dead That was the usual fate for a fetch’s victim Of course, fetches usually left once they’d sucked all the energy and goodness from soan still being alive were her "Ifer, e find her, she may be in bad shape"

I stared off down the hallhere I could hear the sound of a TV in the living roorip on my weapons and prepared myself

"What should I do?" asked Jenna

"Wait outside Don’t come back inside until I tell you to - no matter what"

Once she was safely away, I set off down the hall There, in the living rooht on the couch, her hands folded neatly upon her lap as she stared at the TV There was a blankness in her brown eyes that toldShe didn’t even acknowledgerooht I also noticed a couple pictures on the wall, group shots with Jenna and a s brunette who looked exactly like the wo between thean

"Where’s Regan?" I asked

The fetch didn’t look at an?" I repeated harshly "What have you done with her?" Please, please let her be alive

This ti an"

I had athe fetch without learning Regan’s location would make the next part of this job evenat nized what I was and what threat I represented I had to take her out now, banking on the fact that fetches usually kept their victi the words that would drive this creature back to the Otherworld It here fetches cah to deter theet the Underworld involved if she decided to -

She attacked

The fetch didn’t transfor atin the reen hue Her eyes were bigger and darker and looked like they’d been stretched out Her hands and feet were bigger too - and clawed

She ca me into a wall mercifully free of furniture I kneed her in the sto to rake h to giveout with the silver blade, and she recoiled Iron could inflict lethal blows on the gentry, but silver was the metal of choice for alan is," I said, advancing forward "Tell me, and I’ll simply banish you back to the Otherworld Make this difficult, and you die" I wasthat balance I always did: weapon ready to attack while part of my mind focused on a connection to the Otherworld Hecate’s tattoo, a snake on le

The fetch decided I wasn’t a full threat yet and rushedher ht be able to replicate so style was ht her ars that dripped with green saliva It hurt her but didn’t slow her down as she lunged back at ain but overlooked as behind ainst a cabinet

I winced, and she pressed her advantage, swinging those claws atto squir, I decided I’d just keepI just needed a couplewords to send her from this world, words that didn’t have to follow any ancient for aswhat I was doing, and seemed to consider her options

A circle I should have put a circle of protection around the house There was a very real possibility sheme were pretty much her only options The foran But I didn’t want this fetch freely walking the world I needed to send her on

Power surged in h me, out to the wand and toward her This was her last chance to run - or, as it turned out, throw a coffee table at- literally or figuratively I should have, though Furniture, props, whateverthey were all fair gaht The fetch had no reason to rely siood reason to attack from a distance The coffee table was a sis A wood-framed one would have been better The fralass This table had nothing to stop it, excepth ahen it hit the wall and shattered, though Stinging, burning pain went through lass scraped and - no doubt - embedded itself in my flesh

My sense of self-preservation kept h the pain, but lass The fetch knew this and leaped forward, risking the athalass to stop her

I wasn’t I had never let go ofwhen she caain Over the years, as I’d grown in power and spent so s had become easier Not easy, but easier There was a time when I couldn’t have held a fetch off with

But now, the power flowed through me as the fetch pulled herself off ic seized her, and she disappeared beforeI didn’t know the extent of the athaht have just sent her back to die Or, she ht survive and come after me in the Otherworld as some creatures tried I wasn’t worried My abilities stayed consistent in both worlds, but er over there - especially in the Thorn Land

I took a deep breath of relief and stuck the weapons back inon the lawn, face pale orry She sprang up when she saw me

"What happened? Is she okay?"

"I’ sweat off my brow My hand came away red with blood "We have to find her Does she have a basement?"

"No" Jenna followed me inside and then halted "OhI’ll deal with it later"

"At least - " She reached toward a spot betweenas she did I yelped in pain and watched as she pulled away a huge piece of jagged glass "That’s bleedingreally bad "

"I’nore both pain and the sight of my blood all over the shard she’d taken "No basement Closets? Attic?"

"Both"

We checked the closets with no luck, and Jenna stuck her head in the attic’s tiny space Still nothing

"Shit," I said I shouldn’t have let the fetch go without getting Regan’s location What if Regan wasn’t nearby? What if the fetch had broken habit and hidden her victim far from home?

Jenna looked as defeated as I felt, then her head shot up "The shed There’s a shed out back"

We were out the back door in a flash, jerking open the door to a little garden shed that was round in a fetal position, was Regan Jenna let out a strangled cry, and we both dropped to the ground Jenna propped Regan up while I gently shook her

"Regan, Regan Wake up Please wake up"

For a few an’s eyes fluttered open, her expression frightened and confused Her breathing came in short rasps, and she futilely tried to sit up on her own Her failure didn’t surprise me When a fetch took over soic co behind a silent and ian’s ability to wake up verified that the fetch was gone, but the wo herRegan’s state, I knew this was beyond a few glasses of water "Let’s get her to the hospital"

Jenna drove, with Regan laid out carefully across the backseat She said little, only er seat, I attelass bits out of my back The blood on my face was cleaned off e reached the ER, as was most from my body, but I didn’t want to answer questions about what had happened tothe few scratches on h to attract attention

We told the staff that Regan had been depressed and starving herself We went on about hoe hadn’t seen her for days and had only just found her tonight Since there was no ostensible bruising or signs of binding, they took us at our word and hurried to hook her up to fluids We’d also probably landed her in therapy, but that was of little concern now

I waited with Jenna just outside Regan’s roo the appropriate tubes and a doctor performed further exao in and that Regan would recover once her body had sustenance again I had no intention of going with Jenna Now that Regan was safe, o home to clean up before an Otherworldly jump Lara could bill these women later

"Wait," said Jenna, as the doctor and nurse were about to leave "My friend’s hurt She broke ato get in Regan’s house and got cut"

I shook my head "No, really, I’m fine - "

I shut aze Even I could see that the left sleeve of the jacket was soaked with blood There was little arguan, and I was ushered off to a cubicle in the ER The nurse shut the curtain, and I took off my shirt The doctor’s eyebrows rose