“Sorry.” I held up my hand, then pointed at the snarling man to her right. “I was talking to the guy hovering around you. He’s a spirit. I can see spirits.”

“Me?” the guy said, peering harder at my face. “But you’re not a Demigod.”

“You know about my ward, but you don’t know who brought her?” I asked the man. “You don’t do a good job picking up information.”

He started before turning around and looking behind him.

I sighed. “Yes, I can see you.” I gave the woman a smile. “I apologize. He was saying some…rude things. I’m a Spirit Walker.”

The woman stared at me for a moment longer. “Yes, I gathered.”

The guy sucked in a breath. “No one mentioned a Spirit Walker. A Spirit Walker bringing a Chester?” His eyes narrowed. “What sort of trick is that? What games are you playing, girl?”

“Do you know the man?” I asked as the woman’s fingernails clacked against the keys. “Would you miss him if his presence left the office?”

“I’m pretty sure I know who it is, and I haven’t noticed his presence since he died a few years ago in a mysterious accident,” she drawled, talking and typing at the same time. “No one knows what happened.”

“I know what happened!” the man said indignantly. “You killed me with a sledgehammer, that’s what happened!”

She paused and pointed at the tablet on the counter, which suddenly glowed to life. I suppressed a smile as Daisy looked down at her photo.

“Is that you?” the woman asked.

“Yes,” Daisy answered in a steady tone. If she was nervous, she didn’t let it show.

The woman nodded and went back to her computer screen.

“You snuck up on me when we were doing the year-end filing and clubbed me in the head,” the man went on, shouting at her now. To me he said, “One minute I was double-checking her report, and the next I was looking down at my collapsed body. What a mess she’d made, too! All over the clean floor. She didn’t even do a good job cleaning it up—there’s still a stain. And the old shoe they got to replace me! Well—”

“I can get rid of him if you want,” I said to the woman. “He seems like a negative presence.”

“No, that’s quite all right.” The woman reached under the counter and came back with what looked like an identity card. Daisy’s picture showed at the top in a little square, her name and affiliation printed beneath it. Emblazoned in the corner was a red crest. “He used to get such joy out of micromanaging me and telling me what a bad job I was doing. Now, he can yell to his heart’s content, and when he realizes I can’t hear him, he’ll be in his own little hell. The office has been downright pleasant since he was mysteriously killed.”

“As soon as someone gets around to investigating, they’ll have you killed,” the man yelled. “You put as little effort into covering up the crime as you do your day-to-day work. Mark my words, your days are numbered.”

The woman focused on Daisy. “Keep that with you at all times. You have been granted access to all public areas of this island. Your presence here is official. Next?”

Mordecai stepped up, and they went through the same drill, the spirit grumbling all the while. After Mordecai received the same pass, we were sent on our way.

“I thought I’d get shade from the staff here,” Daisy said as we filed back into the limo.

I had a feeling the woman had intentionally acted nonchalant in order to upset her spirit boss, hovering over her in frustration.

Daisy’s knuckles turned white as she clutched the ID tightly. “That woman didn’t even show surprise,” she said.

“She seems like she has a tedious job,” Mordecai responded, and tucked his ID into his wallet. He wouldn’t need it like Daisy would. “She’s probably numb with boredom.”

“Or still pleased with herself for killing her old boss and getting away with it.” I looked out the window as another limo pulled up behind us. “Is that how things go here? Even if the staff is murdered, no one cares?”

Before the occupant of the limo stepped out, we were back on the small road leading to our quarters.

“Depends on the person who died and their value,” Kieran answered. “Clearly her boss wasn’t valuable enough to worry about. Given he was probably not well liked or respected, and couldn’t have had any family since no one raised a fuss…” He shrugged. “He’s out of her hair.”

“This magical world doesn’t seem so bad.” Daisy finally tucked away her ID.

“One trip to a seldom-used office should not color your view of the establishment,” Zorn growled. “You haven’t seen anything yet.”

“Why are we leaving Red behind?” I asked as everyone readied for our first public stroll.

Kieran was showing off the best of his wares, me included. He’d parade us around, letting the other leaders size him up while their staffs sized us up. Daisy and Mordecai would be going as my wards. Kieran wanted to show we were a family.

“She doesn’t have a blood oath,” Bria said as she checked the contents of her backpack. “She doesn’t belong.”

The guys in the crew waited outside by the small fleet of golf carts and four-wheelers, our chief mode of transportation now that the last limo had been sent back. There went our chance for a limo chase, not that I’d been looking forward to it.