Dylan waited just beyond the foyer, between me and a surlier-than-usual Sodge.

“Might our guest want anything to drink while he is here?” Sodge asked. “Tea, perhaps?”

I looked at Dylan, whose brow had furrowed as he surveyed Sodge. “I’m good.”

“Tea is fine, Sodge, thank you,” I said, taking the lead toward the living room at the back of the house. When Sodge trudged off toward the kitchen, I said over my shoulder, “That’s his thing. Serving tea. You can ask for coffee, but you’ll still get tea. It’s best just to let him do his thing.”

When we reached the living room, I gestured to the seats and waited for him to pick one. Instead, he walked slowly to the large bay window overlooking the sparkling blue ocean. In the distance, a storm brewed, gobbling up the horizon.

“That you?” I pointed as a bolt of lightning broke from the tumultuous gray. It separated into three prongs, the side bolts bending before all of them streaked toward the water, like a huge trident. A homage to Kieran.

“Yeah. I figured that was as good of a message to Demigod Kieran as any. Unless it pisses him off, in which case I should probably leave. Quickly. He’s got all the water around him he needs.”

I sat on the massive couch, the central piece of furniture in the room around which the other pieces were arranged. Sodge entered a moment later carrying the gleaming silver tray. He set it on the coffee table in front of me and straightened, not looking at Dylan but looking at Dylan.

“Go ahead and pour, Sodge. He’ll sit when he’s ready,” I said. Dylan glanced back, appearing unsettled. “Oh, Sodge, I didn’t mention. This is the guy whose life you messed up. He’s the one we went to see in West Virginia.”

“Charmed, I’m sure,” Sodge said. It was clear he was not charmed, and also that he didn’t much care about his impact on Dylan’s life.

“So, to what do we owe the pleasure?” I asked as Sodge finished up, halfheartedly bowed, and trudged out of the room.

Dylan waggled his finger around. “You don’t have any guards or anything? It’s really just you here?”

“Unless you count Sodge as a guard. Which you should. His dickface would scare away even the burliest of enemies.”

Putting his back to the ocean, Dylan glanced around the room, then through the doorway to the den and up the stairs. “Kind of small for a primary residence. This was Valens’s?”

I smiled. “Poseidon is cheap, yes. I’ve heard the jokes.”

Dylan chuckled, looking back up the stairs. “Where do Demigod Kieran’s people stay?”

“They all have their own places in the magical zone. Usually one of them stays here with us, since the Demigods of Hades like to spy on us from time to time in their spirit form, but they don’t have permanent rooms here. I mean, except for Jack.”

“Jack is…” He grimaced. “You keep a room for the deceased?”

“His spirit. It’s just a private place for his spirit to hang out if he wants. He’s gotten pretty used to his new form, though. He usually patrols the grounds or swims in the ocean when we’re sleeping. We’ll probably use his room as a proper guest room soon, and just not tell anyone a ghost lives in it.”

Dylan grimaced again. “A ghost, yeah. You were talking to a spirit at the front door, right?”

“Yeah, but not Jack. That was Frank, an old neighbor. It’s weird, I know.”

“And you did that when you lived in the dual-society zone? Talked to ghosts?”

“Not so obviously, no. I had to hide it. Frank hung out there, but I couldn’t, like, openly talk to him. People sometimes got run off by their neighbors if they were too open about what they could do. It didn’t happen very often, but I was careful to keep my weirdness under wraps.”

“Can I see it?”

“What?”

“The neighborhood you used to live in. Can I see it?”

I hesitated, realizing I hardly knew this guy, and he was powerful. If he’d come for revenge, he could fry me before I knew to react.

He must’ve seen the indecision on my face. He put up his hands. “You’re safe from me. You’ll…” He took a deep breath. “You will always be safe from me. I’ve thought a lot about what you said. About what your ward said.”

I nodded, remembering Mordecai had asked Dylan why he watched the magical world.

He paused. “She told you?”

“She…” I furrowed my brow, trying to remember what Daisy had said. Nothing came to mind. “Which ward said what?”

His eyes lit up, and he smirked at the ground for a moment. He shook his head slightly before shifting his gaze back to me and furrowing his perfectly arched eyebrows.

“It’s only a matter of time before I’m found again,” he said. “Mags, the woman that owned the café?” I nodded. “Turns out she knew about me. A few people in the town had guessed. And then you guys found me… I’m done running. It’s time for me to carve out a new path. The problem is, my magic isn’t the kind that allows me to be a free agent. Not forever, anyway. You saw what happened with Demigod Flora.”

“I’m in the same boat. I get it.”

He pointed at me, his hands large and rough-looking. A working man’s hands. “Yes, exactly. But I just…” He looked around the house again. “I’ve only known… I haven’t had a good experience with blood oaths, you know?”

“I’ve heard, yes. Not the particulars, but…”

“I came here to go through with it, but…I’m still not sure. So much doesn’t add up with Demigod Kieran. I thought that things might…fall in to place if I could learn a little more about your story. See your world. I don’t want to make another mistake.” He ran his fingers through his hair. “I don’t know why I’m telling you all of this. Nothing like telling a potential enemy your plans, but…you were true to your word before. You seem legit. Your kids seem legit. They tried to help me.”

“They did? When?”

He turned back, checking my face again. A smile showed off his straight white teeth, and he shook his head again. “It’s madness, all of it. All of this. It just feels like there is no order to your life at all.”

I leaned forward and braced my elbows on my knees. “There isn’t, kinda. There never was. It’s hard to have order when you’re taking life day by day. You want to see where I grew up? Sure, why not. Try to kill me and I’ll take you with me. If we both survive, we’ll grab a beer. Kieran just got done fixing up this pub I used to go to. I haven’t been back since it was revamped. May as well see what it looks like now.” I reduced my voice to a mutter as I stood. “I might need a shoulder to cry on if he messed it up.”

“You are leaving with this man, I take it?” Sodge said as I led the way to the garage.

“Yes. I’m running away with him. You’ll just have to find someone else to figure out immortality, give it to Kieran, and then somehow put it in a blood bond and pass it on to you. Good luck with that!”

“I called Demigod Kieran and told him your…friend was here,” Sodge said. “I called some of his staff, as well, in case Demigod Kieran was detained.”