Sin & Spirit (Demigod of San Francisco #4)(76)

“What?”

She turned at him, annoyed. “What do you mean wh…”

His eyebrows were raised. His shoulders twitched upward.

“What do we call Daisy?” she asked him, butterflies swarming her stomach.

Everyone else froze, a terribly obvious reaction to what was happening.

Donovan wiggled his finger in his ear and then stopped moving. He blinked, took his hand down, and stared blankly at his finger.

“Donovan, what do we call Daisy?” Bria repeated, then held up her hand as an oh shit expression crossed his face. “Wait, never mind. I remember now…”

Thane jerked and then reached for the bar next to him to stabilize himself.

Thane liked challenging his balance. Always. He was no longer himself. The Possessor was moving through heads, looking for someone. Probably Lexi.

Would Lexi be able to resist him? Was that possible with her magic?

“I heard a joke the other day.” Bria walked over and picked up the can.

“Filthy witch,” the homeless man shouted at her.

Thane swung his head around to look at the homeless man, clearly confused.

She resumed her position, holding the can in her outstretched hand.

“Knock, knock,” Bria said. “Boman, knock, knock.”

Boman was staring at the back of Thane’s head. He started buttoning his pockets. He was preparing in case he was next. He wanted to make it harder for the Possessor to get to his weapons, easier for the others to take him down. He was prepared to die to keep someone from using him to kill one of the others.

“Who’s there?” Boman replied.

Thane leaned back, shaking his head, then stepped away from the pole. Bria thought she heard him swear—not usual for him.

“Banana.”

“Banana who?” Boman asked, backing up into the corner and putting his hands on the walls. Donovan tucked his hands into his pockets.

“Knock, knock,” Bria said, starting over, still holding that can, wondering who would be next. If they would be in the train.

The train jerked on the track, then curved right. Henry staggered backward and fell between the threadbare cushioned seats.

“Uh-oh.” Thane turned to help him.

“Who’s there?” Boman asked, his palms still on the walls.

“You okay, buddy?” Thane was standing in Henry’s way, making it awkward for him to climb out of the seats to standing.

“Banana.”

“Banana…” Boman took his hands away from the walls before he jerkily put them back on. “Uhm…”

“He’s not being subtle,” Red murmured, ignoring the shouting from the homeless man and looking out through the window. “He’s not after someone in this train.”

“I know.”

“He thinks the job will be done by the time we reach the others.”

“I know.”

“What’s the job?”

“Whatever it is, we have”—she checked her phone—“ten minutes to save the day.”





30





Alexis





The peeling wood door of the small office building felt warm under my hand. One soul pulsed inside, big and bright. Tears clouded my vision and I wondered if I’d ever stop crying.

“Just her.” I tried the handle. It was locked. “It’s just Daisy in there.”

Jack slipped through the door, and Kieran nearly took a step back. Jack, thankfully, didn’t notice. A moment later, he was back.

“Daisy took that chick out.” Jack said it so exuberantly that he would have sprayed spit had he been alive. “She took her out! How the hell…”

Zorn gently moved me to the side and proceeded to ram his shoulder into the door. Wood on the frame broke. The door swung inward.

“Where?” Zorn asked, stopping in a sort of seventies lobby area.

I jogged down the hall, pointing toward the small office on the left. The black letters on the door were peeling off and illegible, but there was a plaque bearing the number 101 beside it. Zorn busted into that room, too, the door breaking free from one of the hinges and swinging.

The sparse area I’d seen in the spirit world greeted us. To the side, the door leading to the supply closet in which Daisy had been held captive stood open. Daisy’s soul gleamed in there, and I jogged to the door quickly, gasping when I stood at the mouth of it.

The woman I’d seen earlier lay on her stomach with her face to the side, blood pooling around her on the floor. Her spirit had already taken off.

Daisy stood against the wall, a bloody knife in her left hand, and her badly bruised right wrist tucked up against her middle. Her face was paler than I’d ever seen it.

Zorn stepped in front of her and turned so the carnage was at his back. So he was blocking it. He lowered his head to her. “You okay?”

Her luminous eyes had been dulled, and I couldn’t tell if it was because of the pain or what she’d done. She blinked a few times and her pupils constricted. Tears filled her eyes when she saw me.

“You came.”

“Of course we came.” I rushed to her, hugging her tightly. Her cry made me step back and look down at her hurt wrist. “Sorry! I’m sorry.” I smoothed her hair, tears dripping down my face. Guilt consumed me. We wouldn’t have been in time. She’d had to save herself. “I’m so sorry,” I said again, and not because of her wrist this time.