AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“You should put it on the grocery list. I’ll give you money for it.”
“Exactly how long does she plan to stay?” Nana Pratt asked. “A bottle of hot sauce can last a very long time.”
I wasn’t thrilled about our houseguest either, but I had qualms about sending someone to the slaughter. Given that Addison had tried to use me as a pawn to return to The Corporation’s fold, my house was the last place they’d think to look for her.
“Nana Pratt would like to know how long you intend to stay.”
“Dunno. I’d like to hide in your oversized Barbie dream house until The Corporation gets distracted by another crisis and temporarily abandons their quest.”
Instinctively, I opened my mouth to defend the Castle before her description landed. “You think this is a dream house?”
“Sure. What girl doesn’t wish to live next door to a cemetery?”
The cemetery hadn’t been on my wish list, but its presence was one of the reasons the property had sat abandoned for decades before I came along. Bluebeard’s Castle had been built with distinctive bluestone during the Gilded Age; its owner, Joseph Edgar Blue III, had a flare for the dramatic. In addition to the off-putting cemetery, there was a moat and a giant gate that screamed ‘this man is an island.’ Despite the Castle’s idyllic hilltop position overlooking downtown Fairhaven and the Delaware River beyond, it was five thousand square feet of a never-ending project. Too bad I didn’t have never-ending funds.
“You’re fond of cemeteries?” I asked. Aite didn’t share my connection to the dead, so there was no godly reason for it.
“Lost my virginity in one, so yeah. I guess I am.”
Nana Pratt groaned. “Oh, dear.”
“We’ve got ourselves a live one,” Ray chimed in.
I tried to steer us back to the important part of the conversation. “Do you think they’ll ever stop looking for you?”
“Never. Their egos won’t let them, and before your Caspers complain that I put you at risk by coming here, I’d like to remind them that you put yourself at risk by fighting in Magnarella’s ring.”
“That was a favor for a friend.” A friend who now hated me because I’d lied to him about my identity. Hopefully, a nice dinner and an abject apology would mend that particular fence. Which wine paired best with accountability?
“Still don’t trust her,” Ray murmured.
I polished off my eggs. “How do I know this isn’t some Trojan horse trick? I let you stay in my house, and bam! Betrayal.”
“No trick ponies here. I played my last card when I tried to use the intel I had about you as leverage, but it didn’t work.”
I clenched my hands into fists, prompting Addison to raise her hands. “Please don’t smite me. I can help you.”
“How? You can’t even help yourself. That’s why you’re here.”
“Fair point. You’ve managed to fly under The Corporation’s radar for forty years. What’s your secret?”
My gaze slid to the knife on the counter. “How old do you think I am?”
Addison swallowed. “Did I say forty? I meant less than that.”
“She doesn’t look a day over twenty-five,” Nana Pratt sniffed indignantly.
“Everybody looks twenty-five to you, Ingrid,” Ray told the elderly ghost.
“I’m thirty-five,” I ground out, “and I’ve managed to stay out of trouble by not insulting those who’ve tried to help me.”
Nana Pratt sucked in her cheeks. “I don’t know that I agree with that.”
“Me neither,” Ray said. “You hand out insults the way I used to hand out Halloween candy.”
I ignored their contrary remarks and directed my response to Addison. “I had a grandfather who taught me how to stick to the shadows, I lived in a big city where I was one among millions, and then I bought a house in a small town.” A town that wasn’t supposed to border a multirealm crossroads, and yet…
“A big house with a moat,” Addison pointed out. “You didn’t think that would draw attention?”
