“He sent them because I told him to.” She flicked off the coffee pot. “Kieran gone already?”

“Wait, what? You told him to? Have you lost your mind?”

She shrugged. “Didn’t Harding say you should bring them? That guy has not steered you wrong so far. I figured I’d help push the envelope.”

“You’re fired, number one—”

“Don’t work for you.”

“—and he hasn’t steered me at all. He’s done a good job training me, sure, but he has a weird thing about those cats. It’s madness. Sending them here like this is crazy. I mean…it’s crazy!”

“Yeah, sure. What about Kieran?”

I stared at her, wanting more than an offhanded assent. After a moment, it was clear I wouldn’t get it.

“Where did I go wrong with my life? He left at nine.” I checked my watch. Ten o’clock. If nothing happened today, it would still be a long day. I was not looking forward to it. “We’re going to go spirit hunting.”

“Awesome.”

The door to the suite opened, revealing Dylan and Red.

“No Jerry today?” I asked, heading for the door. I shouted for the kids to hurry up and finish getting ready.

“He’s mostly useless here, so they sent the trainee.” Bria followed me. “How do you feel about skulls, Dylan? I hear the skull room is open now. I got a special invite from her ladyship, who likes you so much. I had to trade you, though. I hope you don’t mind. She requested you wear leopard print. Any time is good—she will be up all night.”

“Pick on the new guy? Is that the hazing style around here?” Dylan asked as the kids came into the living room. We all left the suite in single file.

“It’s a new tradition.” She evened up with me and held out her banana peel, still chewing. “Why didn’t I throw this away when I had the chance?”

“Anyone bring the map?” I asked, continuing the same way we’d gone yesterday.

“Yup.” Red pulled it out. “Are we really bothering with the skull room? Because yesterday that looked like a regular, nondescript room, and all the other stuff was in halls and had big to-dos.”

“It is where we’re going, yes,” Bria said, “and I was just kidding. I didn’t get a special invite. We’re going rogue. We’ll trade Dylan if we get caught.”

“What is your fascination with the skull room?” Mordecai said.

“You need to turn here…” Red pointed.

I ignored Red, heading straight instead, wanting to wander a bit to see if I could find another soul or two. I didn’t remember seeing any on the way to the skull room.

“This leads toward the lower-status servants’ quarters,” Red said. “The ones that cook and clean and stuff. They aren’t used to dealing with guests or important magical staff.”

“Good.” The hallway reduced down and lost much of its glitter. After a while, the walls weren’t even lined with gold anymore. Staff members startled when they saw us, offering awkward bows or curtsies, then looking down and hurrying by. Their movements held none of the flourish from yesterday, none of the pompous, forced offerings of respect. These were true working people, paid less than they were probably worth and trying to make the best of it. I’d spent my life working around these types of people. I was this type of person. This area made me feel more comfortable than any other place in the house.

As I expected, there were also spirits here, sometimes reaching out to rake their hands across one of the workers. They were stealing energy from the people who needed it most.

I stopped in front of one of the spirits, a sad sack like all the others. I was sick of seeing them this way. Their suffering was just so unnecessary.

“Hey,” I said.

His dazed eyes roamed the wall to my right.

“Hey!” I prodded him with my magic.

His gaze swung my way, but it drifted on by, like he was in a drug coma and couldn’t focus.

I called the Line, pulling power from it, and reached out to the spirit.

“It’s okay, she’s crazy. Ignore her,” Bria said to a staff member who had slowed to watch me.

Laden with magic, I pushed my hand through the spirit’s middle and sent a pulse of magic into him. Nothing happened. A ribbon waved at me, attached to the spirit’s soul, and I rolled my eyes at myself. With my magic, I grabbed the soul ribbon, but instead of pulling it to me, I pumped magic into it.

The spirit inflated like a child’s plastic swimming raft.

His eyes shifted back to me, passed me, and then returned, like a blind person trying to gauge what lay in the path ahead with a walking stick.

I gave him another shock of magic.

His image changed, from middle-aged and stooped, standing listlessly, to young and broad-chested, his head held high and his magical power throbbing around him. He felt like a level four now, but back in the day, I suspected he’d been a weaker level five.

His focus snapped to mine. His eyebrows lowered.

“What’d you do?” Bria sidled closer. “I can feel that soul. Was that there this whole time?”

“What’s your deal?” I asked the guy as he brought up his hands, probably to do magic.

I sapped power from him. I giveth, and I taketh away.

“I’m not your enemy,” I said. “I’m just a girl, standing in front of a spirit, wondering what the fuck?”

“Yeah, good people skills,” Bria said, and she was serious.

The man looked around, blinking, like he didn’t know where he was.

“How come you haven’t crossed the Line?” I felt it throbbing beside me, its tug uncomfortable, even for me.

He turned his head, looking at it with longing, and touched his chest. “I…can’t. I…” His expression turned panicked. “I can’t.”

“Are you trapped here? Do you remember why you’re here?” I fed him more energy.

Staff members slowed, watching.

“Red, move them along,” I said distractedly, watching the man’s face. The more power he had, the more his eyes hardened. The more defiance crept into him. “And pass out business cards. Maybe they want a better Demigod to work for.”

“She holds me,” the man said. “I failed her. She holds me here. Keeps me. I can’t…leave…this place.”

“I’ll set you free,” I whispered, closing my eyes. “Can you give me a second to figure out how she’s keeping you from passing over?”

He said something, but I’d already fallen into the trance of spirit so I could better judge how Lydia was holding the spirits. It could require a lot of conscious concentration, given the number of spirits in this place.

Deeper into the trance I went, barely noticing Bria’s attempt to get my attention. My soul felt light, like it wanted to rise out of my body, but I kept it rooted, barely slipping into the beyond so I could see. I just needed a peek, and then I’d be right back.

A person-sized shape materialized almost immediately, as though it had been waiting. Actually, it wasn’t a person so much as a shadow—the shadow, the one I’d encountered with Will Green and his shifters, and again when I’d needed help with Valens. The grumpy guy who pushed me out of this plane more often than he helped me navigate it. It wasn’t Harding, though, I could feel that right off. It—he?—didn’t have the same presence. The same easy glide through this abstract place.