Kindling the Moon (Arcadia Bell #1)(20)

I shook my head. I had no idea who she was talking about. “Where have you been living, Arcadia? Under a rock? She used to be a supermodel.”

“Doesn’t ring a bell.”

“Back when I was a teenager, she was always in the gossip columns because she partied with tons of celebrities. I heard that’s why they split up. His son goes to junior high with my cousin, Rosy. You remember her, right? I brought her by here a couple of months ago on my day off, that morning when you and Kar Yee were doing inventory?”

“Uh-huh, I remember.” I didn’t, but whatever.

“Well, she said the rumor going around school is that Yvonne is only allowed supervised visits with the son a couple of times a year.”

I grabbed the box cutter off the bar counter and broke down the empty boxes that were accumulating at my feet. “That’s a little weird. He mentioned that he had custody.”

“Yeah, and you don’t see a father getting that very often, do you? I think it’s fishy. Anyway, how did you meet him?”

Kar Yee walked up to the bar and took a seat. “Who did you meet?”

“Lon Butler.”

Kar Yee squinched up her face. “Who?”

“The famous photographer from La Sirena,” Amanda said in exasperation. I should have known she’d be a wealth of gossipy tidbits; if you listened to her weekly reports from the home front, you’d think that La Sirena was populated with nothing but soap opera characters with elaborate backstories.

“Aren’t there like a billion photographers in La Sirena?” Kar Yee stuck her hand inside the box of rice crackers that I’d just opened and scooped out a handful.

“That’s not sanitary,” I chastised. She shrugged and began munching.

Amanda made a frustrated noise, then proceeded to tell her about the model/ex-wife; Kar Yee hadn’t heard of her either. “He’s a local celebrity,” she finished.

Kar Yee gave me a sidelong glance as Amanda’s back was turned. “Whatever you say.” She swiveled her chair around to face me. “Did you call Lisa?”

“Yeah, she’s subbing for me tonight and tomorrow. I also called Heidi and asked if she’d help Amanda for a few hours tonight during peak hours since that concert will be letting out around midnight.”

“Well, I guess you’re off the hook, then.”

I glared at her. “I’m half owner, you know. I don’t need your permission.”

Kar Yee formed her hand into the shape of a yapping mouth repeatedly opening and closing.

I picked up the stack of flattened boxes and set them down on the bar in front of her. “Get your hands dirty, why don’t you?” I motioned toward the back door with my head. She grumbled and begrudgingly peeled herself off the bar stool to haul them out to the alley.

“Speaking of tips,” Amanda said, “we had a party of six last night and guess how much they gave me for a two-hundred-dollar tab?”

I put my hands on my hips and blew a stray hair off my forehead while checking the bar area to make sure I hadn’t missed anything. “How much?”

“Sixty dollars, baby!”

Half the patrons didn’t tip even twenty percent. “Good job,” I praised, then partially tuned her out as she continued to tell me how one of them had invited her to some party across town.

A flutter went through my stomach as she talked, then a familiar voice filled my head.

May I show myself?

My guardian, Priya. It almost never came to me uninvited.

“No!” I whispered. “Hold on!”

Amanda stopped talking and gave me a strange look. “No? You don’t think I should go?”

“Huh? What—I didn’t mean that. Sure, you should go. Why not.”

She relaxed and continued filling up the toothpick bin. “Yeah, I think I will. Like you said, why not. Have you ever dated a customer?”

“Excuse me, I’ll be right back.” I tried not to bolt from behind the bar. I headed toward Kar Yee’s office, heard her on the phone, and switched directions toward the restroom. Once inside, I locked myself inside one of two stalls.

“Okay,” I whispered. “You can appear now.”

Priya emerged from the air, its image so transparent, I could barely see it.

We are being sought, it said plainly in my head.

“You and me? By whom?”

Searchers have been cast into the Æthyr. I am having difficulty hiding from them.

“What kind of searchers? You mean servitors?” Sometimes Priya’s communication skills aren’t the best.

No. Litchen, Priya insisted. Small insect Æthyr beings. They are commanded by demon host in the Æthyr.

Shit. My heart sped up.

“Are these searcher insects on earth too?”

No, only on my plane. They cannot be summoned to earth.

“It’s got to be the Luxe Order. Can you avoid the insects? They can’t injure you, right?”

I am doing my best to avoid them. If they kill me, I will be reborn in a new form and seek out a renewed link with you again, if you will wait for me.

Priya was nothing if not loyal. “Thank you, Priya. Is there any way I can help you? A spell I can do to fortify or hide you better?”

The spirit shook its birdlike head. The air undulated. I merely wanted to warn you.