He listened to the rest of the message, then handed the phone to me. It was already replaying, Max's voice sounding better than it ever had as he assured us of the Oracle's death and informed us of his plan to go into hiding with Bella.

"I can't go into details. You guys just have to trust me that this is for the best. And I really hope you're okay. If you need someplace to hide, use the penthouse. It has great security, and Carrie is still cleared with the doorman.

"Something else went down up here. I have no idea how to tell you this, but here's the deal—" A loud burst of static cut off his words, and the message ended.

"I wonder what that was about?" I looked up at Nathan for some kind of enlightenment.

He shrugged. "I have no clue."

We fell silent for a minute. My voice shook a little as I said, "So, I guess that's the last of him."

"Sounds like." Nathan moved to the bottom of the stairs and reached up to open the trapdoor. "We're all clear. No one has been back for days."

I followed him up the stairs. It felt good to get out of the hole. To stretch and get my feet under me.

It was less good to see what they'd done to trie shop. The door was torn from the hinges. Tables were overturned, merchandise crushed underfoot.

"Jesus," Nathan whispered beside me, and his horror at the scene pierced my heart.

"Most of this stuff… I mean, it's not like we could have been hiding in a box of tarot cards. Most of this they did just for the hell of it." I covered my face.

"Weil, it's a good thing we're going to Chicago, then," Nathan said in that manful, stiff-upper-lip way only guys have perfected.

I bent and scooped up a few tumbled stones—amethyst, if I remembered the inventory right—and juggled them from one hand to another. "Are you going to be okay?"

"It hurts my customer base to close down without warning. There are special orders waiting to be called, things like that. But since I'm obviously not coming back, I don't think it will be an issue." Nathan paused. "I'd rather lose my money than my life. Or your life, especially. But it's the memories that really hurt when I think about leaving. Ziggy was a child here. Some days I wake up and swear I can hear him running down the hall."

"We don't have to leave forever," I said hopefully. I certainly couldn't foresee spending the rest of my unlife camped out in Marcus's condo.

"I know." Nathan drummed his fingers on the thin strip of metal that used to surround the glass of the counter. "But who knows what they'll do to this place while I'm gone."