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My cell rang just as I drove intolot It was Jerry

"Hey, where are you?"

"I just got back from Miami Where are you?"

"I&039;m about to head into the shop Can you ie had already headed inside She&039;d co I think there was a pint of ice cream with her name on it upstairs I didn&039;t need a diet book or a psychology degree to know she was stuffing her stress

"What about your apartment? We&039;d have ie will be there Why do we need privacy?" Not that I didn&039;t like to be alone with hi in his voice made my stomach clench What was this about?

"We need to talk I&039;ve been thinking about the e left things before I took off for Mia I do is your concern I&039;m ready to come clean Can you come over here, to my house? Lily&039;s not here" He sounded really serious What kind of secret had he been keeping? Murder? Another woman? My mind raced

"Letis okay, I&039;ll be there in thirty minutes Lily is here, by the way I hope you don&039;t ie had left the back door into the apartments wide open; I shut and locked it then dealt with the one into the shop&039;s back rooet onto her about security

"No, she needed to face reality I don&039;t ood for her Lets her see how ordinary people earn a living"

"Yes, that was the idea" I just hoped Lily was through stealing from those ordinary people "Look, I&039;ll hurry See you soon" I hung up and headed into the store

Lily was there, helping a custoe clothes; she actually liked theh quality I still had to work on her snob factor since so, especially the sixties and seventies stuff, originally ca for the job and apparently still had soht she wore a great sixties Goth outfit in black leather and lace that I&039;d h boots had spike heels and she&039;d worn her dark hair in aadvertise, Lily?" I stopped next to her at the cash register

"Fine You know you should really put all of this on a co track of inventory easier" She handed a custoe "Hey, Laurie, come by and show me how that works out on Halloween I&039;d love to see you"

"You bet, Lily Maybe the boss lady here will let you off early and you can coirl glanced at ht her nah Halloween is a big night for us" I glanced at the sales total It was a sizeable cash sale Nice "Thanks for coirl left and I turned to Lily

"Don&039;t say it I know she&039;s mortal" Lily held up a hand "But I can be around theo all bloodthirsty" She kept her voice low so none of the other custo to be friendly I don&039;t have any buds here"

"I wasn&039;t going to say anything about that I&039; friends And she&039;s nice I know she&039;s a student at UT As long as you don&039;t put her on the lanced around and saw everything was under control, the other night clerk helping another customer "Your dad is back in town and I&039; didn&039;t go well When you get off, you ive her your syhed "No surprise I didn&039;t want to say it, but the deck was stacked against Aggie all the way"

"Right Look around the apartment while you&039;re there I heard there&039;s a vacancy on the third floor in this building Could you stand to live so close to me?" My place was on the second

"On Sixth Street?" She actually huggedlove it Thanks, Glory That&039;s exactly what I need - a place of et your inventory online here, then transfer the files to yours You get the apartment for lanced around "You know retail isn&039;t a bad career option I&039;ve enjoyed this I have lots of ideas for i this place"

"Slon, Donald Truh the inventory thing sounds great" I couldn&039;t believe this so You&039;d think after hundreds of years she&039;d have figured out a purpose for her life It was too bad she&039;d been allowed to drift so long "Thanks, Lily I&039;d love to hear your ideas Soon" I hugged her back "And I love the outfit You lanced down "Hey, I was just trying to fit in I could have sold it six ti" She winked "Work your ic here I waved and set off I lost my smile fast What did Jerry have to telland see him there, so I could find out the truth

When I drove up to his house, I saw that he&039;d turned the porch light on for et out of the car, er seat

"Whoa You startled "

"Of course I waited Wouldn&039;t want you to have a wreck, darling" She glanced at ave you That pleases ether, hter night in afor ainst the door She was still in her toga "Did you coht fro Especially since I was keeping tabs on you while having to dole out pardons and listen to the endless bickering that goes on up there" She put a hand to her forehead "It&039;s enough to give et one of those?"

"You&039;re the only headache I have at the moment Speed this up, please I have a dawn tihed "Sorry, but Jerry says he&039;s going to cluesecret I&039;" She reached out and stroked my cheek "If he disappoints you, Mars told me he would be happy to punish him for you" She smiled "Now as to why I&039;m hereI heard what happened with that fallen Siren And you have her in your apart your ht Can you help me out? She owes Ian a ton of money" I leaned forward "Do you carry cash with you?"

"Don&039;t be silly I&039;d never bail out that bitch" She brushed off her toga like the very idea had soiled her "But I have a way that you can do it yourself" Her smile was crafty

I didn&039;t like this She was definitely up to so "Okay, what do you have in mind?"

"Well, the Siren treasure is there in Oly I can talk ie" - she shuddered - "such an ugly nicknaram, you left involuntarily Achelous definitely owes a debt for that I can make sure you are paid your fair share"

"Seriously? I don&039;t want part of anything Siren, but Aggie really needs a small fortune To pay Ian and to support herself so she can et her a piece of this treasure?"

"You can choose to give her your portion, of course If you truly don&039;t want it for yourself" There was that secret sain "If you are that desperate to be rid of her, it will require just a small sacrifice on your part, Gloriana You must cohed and touched my hand "I kno reluctant you&039;ve been to do that very thing You&039;ve et this treasure forin with her wishes just a little too neatly?

"Oh, no Only a for attention to the news, you know that gold is very, very valuable right now Your portion, if you give it to Aggie, would set her up for life, whether she reerated shudder - "vaie fiasco?" I squeezed her hand

"Darling, you&039;re hurting , aren&039;t they?" And that wasn&039;t an ansas it?

"Maybe I can live with her after all" I tried not to picture Aggie as I&039;d last seen her when I&039;d run upstairs to check She&039;d fallen asleep ona puddle on my new coffee table Her spoon was stuck on the front of her robe, her snoring so loud it drowned out Judge Judy awardingwoht with her boyfriend My cat, Boogie, had braved the noise to lick up the ht in the aparterator door was ajar

"Fine I&039;m sure after a few years you&039;ll be just like real sisters" She pulled down the visor to check her hair, acting like she hadn&039;t just described randfather at least once"

Years Wait Had that been a confession? "Mother"

"I&039; you a way out Be logical, Gloriana I&039;m sure Zeus will be putty in your hands if you tell hiet that former Siren out of your apartment" She shut the mirror then leaned back in the bucket seat to stare at me "Are you? That desperate?"

Well No one could ever accuse et what she wanted I rested ie inIan&039;s house Two thousand days of Aggie eating like she needed a drop cloth, watching reality TV endlessly and using up all the hot water And after that? Would she have the money to move out? No

"Think you&039;re brilliant, don&039;t you, Mother?" I sat up and grabbed my purse

"I think I have a way to solve your problerin

"I&039;ll let you know Give me some time to work up my nerve From what I hear, Olyup there" I opened the car door and the inside light ca how hard her ot when she was disappointed "What? Did you think I&039;d just grab your hand and hop on the fast track to Olyhed "I can protect you up there"

"Forget it So with Jerry I&039;ll be in touch"

"So difficult Go I&039; home to bed Alone I hope that makes you happy" She frowned and rubbed her teh day I said I&039;ll think about it Good night" I got out and slas there because when I looked back she was gone I started up the walk

Suddenly I couldn&039;t go any farther The air reeked of evil with a sar I knew that smell way too well and almost expected some familiar demons to pop out of the bushes I looked around,and my fists clenched Yes, I had new skills, but usually found they were useless when I was fighting the kind of powers that crackled and surged around me now