It occurred to me that I was the butt of the joke in an ongoing sketch.

I spent the next hour listening to Aubri sing my praises while she compiled a lengthy list of clothing that would suit me better. All my makeup was scrubbed off, but only to give her a “blank canvas” for the entire store of new products she’d brought. Finally, I was given the green light to leave the house.

“But what about my hair?” I asked, looking in the mirror at the same old face but with way too much makeup. I looked like Bobo’s wife, about to head into the circus. “And I’m not feeling all this makeup. It makes me tired. Like, physically. It physically makes my eyes tired.”

“It makes you tired?” Aubri looked down on me, trying to make sense of my nonsense.

“Never mind. But what about my hair?”

“Oh no.” She waved it away, packing up a little bag that she then strung over her shoulder. “We’re going with a shabby chic style for you. Your hair, a little wild, really sets off the whole look.”

“Shabby?” I asked, following her down the stairs to the front door. A new handbag awaited me. I didn’t recognize the symbol on the side, let alone the name stamped on it, but you’d think it was made of gold from the way Aubri gingerly handed it to me.

She laughed as everyone else filed in the doorway, including the cat, who clearly had been taken hostage and was desperate to escape. “I just mean…we’re doing a play on a half-tamed wild thing. You have this raw…like”—she looked like she was grabbing and manipulating something in the air—“violent exuberance about you, but then you’re so pretty and graceful. It’s a really fun mashup. It’ll be the next big thing, just you wait. After this season, we’re going to see a lot of people trying to duplicate this look. But there is only one you.”

Bria checked her watch. “See?” She headed out the door first, followed by Red. “Didn’t I tell you that one time? You got that look down pat.”

“The makeup is way overkill,” Daisy said. “You look like a crack whore who tried too hard, one rock away from waking up in the gutter.”

I opened my mouth to chastise her, but honestly, I was still working through what she’d even said.

“Good notes.” Aubri nodded at my other side, also analyzing my face. “You know her best. Comfort is a real concern. I can already see this tightening her up. Yes, I’ll think about that.”

“I think you look pretty,” Mordecai said, following us out.

“Why is everyone going with me?” I asked as the sunshine and Frank greeted me.

Frank let out a long, low whistle. “Look what the cat dragged in. I knew you had it in you. Your mother, in her heyday, would be hard-pressed to outdo you. I wish she could see you now—she’d be so proud you finally cleaned yourself up. Now this is the way to keep the boy from straying, Alexis. You’ve got the right idea.”

“Frank, I will throw you over the Line, don’t think I won’t,” I said.

He put up his hands. “You look very nice. Like a lady. That’s all I’m saying. Oh, and there was some riffraff around here not that long ago.” He pointed off to the right as I slowed.

The others fanned around, Aubri somewhere between slightly confused and incredibly wary. She knew what I was, but not many people knew how it worked. I hoped she wasn’t afraid of spirits.

Frank turned and pointed in the opposite direction. “It was very strange. I thought I saw someone over there, walking along the side of your— Scat, you vile thing.” He kicked at the cat, whose tail flicked as it sauntered by. It clearly was not susceptible to spirits. “That thing came from the other side of the wall.” He meant the dual-society zone. “You better be careful with those things around. They’ll lie on a baby’s face and suffocate it.”

“I don’t have a baby, Frank,” I said dryly.

“Well, someday you will. Demigods don’t shoot blanks. They’ve got real strong stuff, I hear. Like shooting it out of a cannon.”

I sighed. “About the riffraff?”

“Yeah, I thought I saw someone walking on the side of the house last night. The house was dark and everyone was asleep except for that prowling girl you got. You’re really going wrong with her.” The move from my old house—which I really needed to fix up and get rented out—to this one had made Frank much surlier. I kept hoping he’d simmer down, but he’d just doubled down on the worst parts of his personality. “But when I went to check it out, he was gone.”

“You’re sure it was a he?” I asked as Bria drifted closer.

He thought for a moment. “No, as a matter of fact. It was all shadows. I couldn’t make out any distinct features.”

Cold dribbled down my spine. I’d checked my repellent magic this morning. It was still there, so nothing had gotten in—they would’ve had to tear it down for that. Nothing from the spirit world, anyway. But I didn’t have repellent magic on the grounds. Nothing had gotten in, but that didn’t mean something hadn’t been scoping me out from a distance.

“How big was the shape? Enormous?”

His brow pinched. “No, it was just…” He put his hand up, gauging height, then lowered it about level to his own head. “Normal height. Then, when I was coming back this way, I thought I saw him again, on the other side.” His eyebrows lowered. “Whoever it was just wasn’t right. They were standing there, staring at me. Still in the shadows, mind you, keeping hidden, but I knew they were checking me out. So I yelled, ran after them. I’m no coward. That scared ’em off.”