“I feel like you’re ignoring me. Bria, he kills trespassers.”

“Don’t worry about that.” She waved the thought away. “We won’t get caught.”

“But…we might.”

“Nah.” She shook her head. “We won’t. We’re good. Come on. It’ll be a quick little peek, and out we go. He’s not even there. Neither is Kieran. I checked, and they’re both in a budget meeting. Those things go forever. We’re good.”

Nervous tremors raced through my body. Adrenaline pumped into my blood stream. I’d guessed I might have to enter the den of the beast, maybe even a likelihood, but I’d half hoped I’d crack the case before the need arose. I’d more than hoped Kieran would be with me.

Valens was ruthless. No, beyond ruthless, he was possibly unhinged. If he found us, even without figuring out what we were doing, or what I was, no one would be able to save us.

“You’re out of your mind,” I said, sticking the plug into the wall. “We should wait for Kieran. He’ll flip if we go without him.”

“Kieran is watched whenever he’s in the magical area. Valens doesn’t trust him, and for good reason. Having him along would bring even more heat down on us.” She shook her head. “No. That’s a terrible idea. Trust me, I’m a master at breaking and entering. I’ve even got a cadaver in my trunk for distraction. Worst case, I load up that cadaver with the soul of a madman, set him loose, and we run like hell. Crazy souls in an unfamiliar body wreak havoc. They really steal the show. This’ll be a piece of cake.”

I put my hands out to the sides. “Breaking into a Demigod’s house is suicide, Bria—”

“Only if you get caught.”

“—and don’t even get me started on carrying dead people around in your trunk.”

“He’s dead. He doesn’t care. That body is just bone and tissue at this point. It’s fine.”

I could only stare at her with my mouth hanging open. How could she possibly be this blasé about something like this.

“I’ll guard the front,” Mordecai said, his patchy head suddenly stuck in the doorway of the bathroom. The hair that had fallen out in his illness was just starting to grow back.

“There.” Bria shoved her finger through the air in triumph. “He’ll guard the front. Case closed.”

“No.” I pointed at him. Then her. “No! Mordecai, you’re supposed to be the voice of reason. This is madness.”

“Despite your theory about the water, it makes sense that the you-know-what would be in his house,” Mordecai replied. “Valens would probably want to guard it. And Bria said Demigod Kieran is watched at all times. If you have to go, better to do it now, at the beginning of the investigation, when there is no suspicion and both of them are engaged elsewhere.”

Bria’s eyebrows lifted and her lips pulled down at the corners. “Wow. You’re really level-headed.”

“Thank you,” he said.

“It wasn’t a compliment. This is probably the only situation where you’ll be any fun.”

Mordecai frowned at her.

I looked between the two of them. The gravity of the situation weighed on my shoulders. Mordecai’s serious expression flipped my stomach.

Fucking hell, I was going to do it. I was going to go along with this outrageously stupid plan.

18

Alexis

“Okay, here’s the situation.” Bria slouched in the driver’s seat of her Mercedes with the visor down, parked against the curb, looking ahead at the ritzy, quiet street. Huge houses backed up to nothingness, high on a cliff overlooking the sparkling blue, seemingly limitless ocean. Sun showered down on the perfectly kept lawns and artfully cut shrubs lining the sidewalk. Off in the distance, the majestic orange of the Golden Gate Bridge spanned the inlet into the bay.

“This is paradise,” I said in Bria’s pause. “Deep blue sky, gorgeous houses, and that view!” I sighed, in rapture. “What must it be like to live in a house like that?”

“Considering you’d have to live with a batshit crazy Demigod who has more power than sense? Terrible. Now…” Bria rested her elbow on the edge of the window and covered half her face with her hand. “…we’re going to grab those Bibles in the back seat and make the short walk to Valens’s house. His is the big one at the point there.” She fluttered her eyebrows instead of pointing. “We’ll go up to his door, holding our Bibles out so people can see them, and pretend like we’re trying to get money for charity. Dressed like you two are, that’s totally plausible. Then we’ll slip off to the side and go around back. Valens thinks just being Valens protects his house (gotta love huge egos), so we won’t have any wards to worry about, and I can pick a lock, no problem. We’ll be inside in a jiffy. Mordecai can hide in a bush at the edge of the property and text us if someone is coming.”

“I don’t have a phone,” Mordecai said, passing up one of the Bibles. “And this isn’t a Bible.”

I took the proffered book, an old volume with Bible written on the cover in sparkly gray Sharpie.

“This isn’t right,” I mumbled. “Or believable.”

“What’d you think I was going to do, bring actual Bibles?” She scoffed at me. “I don’t need God pissed at me. I got enough problems.” She turned back to stare at Mordecai, sitting in the middle seat and staring down at the other two books. One was a light red, faded with time. The “e” in bible bumped up against the end of the cover. “What do you mean, you don’t have a phone?” she demanded. “How old are you?”

“Fifteen,” he replied.

She glared at me. “Fifteen is plenty old enough to have a phone, Alexis. I know you’re not a real mother, but surely that has occurred to you…”

“This is my first well-paying job,” I said in between deep breaths. The beauty of my surroundings slowly eroded as I considered everything that could go wrong with our non-plan. “I haven’t gotten my first check yet. Funds are low.”

Her expression crumbled into anger. “He fawns all over you, suffocates you, helps you in and out of cars like you’re broken, and he won’t give you an advance to cover the staples of life?” She shook her head and blew out an aggressive breath. “If he wasn’t a Demigod, I’d punch him right in the dick.”

“A phone isn’t really a staple,” Mordecai said. “Demigod Kieran is supplying all the food we could ask for. That’s—”

“No.” She held up her hand. “This is depressing me.” She huffed and fitted her hands into black gloves. “One thing at a time. First, we need to get into that house and have a look around. Then I can sort out this phone issue.” She shook her head. “Now. If the house staff finds us out, pretend like you were trying to steal something and run like hell. If the worst happens, and Valens comes home, then we need to sneak out. He can feel magical power.” She tapped my arm, looking at the brick red house standing proudly at the turn in the street. “Give the kid your phone.”

I did as she said.

“Now. Kid.” She vaguely waved her finger in the air. “You text us the moment you see his car. He’s driving a lime green Lambo today. You see that, you text us. Then you need to head back to this car pronto, got it? You’ll open the trunk, haul out the cadaver, and run back to the house—”

“No.” I pushed her hand out of the air before glancing at a slack-faced Mordecai. “No. You won’t be carrying a dead body down the street. We’ve parked too far away to make that look in any way believable.”

“It’s fine.” Bria waved her hand this time. “I dressed the cadaver up. This area is home to some serious alcoholics. Throw him over your shoulder and people will think a son or young helper is carrying some rich drunkard home. It happens.”

I shook my head. “I think you’re making things up at this point—”

“Only mostly.”

“—but it doesn’t matter. We need to get moving. This car might fit into the neighborhood, but three people sitting in it surely won’t.”

“Okay. Then only grab the body if I say to.” Bria put her hands up to stall my reaction. “It’ll be our fail-safe if things go totally wrong. Trust me, you’ll be glad for a dead guy running rampant through the house.”

We climbed out of the car and set a quick pace down the street. As we walked between the houses, my jaw dropped at their sheer size. The majority were three stories tall and wider than three of my houses put together. Two large families could probably coexist in one of them without ever seeing one another.

“I got the impression you were into frugal living for some reason,” I said conversationally, fighting my tight vocal cords and rampaging heart.

“I am,” Bria said, her voice even and calm. She strolled along, seemingly not a care in the world even though she was on her way to break into a ruthless Demigod’s house. “I’m saving everything I can. My studio apartment is tiny. Not tiny like your house, but nearly.”

“Then what’s the deal with the Mercedes?”

“Oh, that’s not mine”—she snapped—“I forgot to mention. If we have to run for it, don’t run back to the Mercedes. Especially if you grabbed the cadaver, Mordecai. That car is hot. My car is parked four blocks away next to—”

“It’s hot…meaning you stole it?” I asked her incredulously.

“Yeah.” She gave me a look that said I was dense. “I’m not going to bring a five-year-old Mazda into this neighborhood. It’d be noticed. Not to mention someone might write down the plate number. That’d lead them straight back to me.” She huffed. “Madness. No, I grabbed that Mercedes from a sleepy little retirement community on the other side of town.”