“I’m here.” I was pacing the living room in a fury, my tail lashing, but I had no one to be furious at but myself, and it wouldn’t do Jen any good to tell her about it. Not now. “Are you serious? They sent an invitation?”

“Oh, I’m serious!” A gasp veering back toward hysteria escaped her. “Apparently it’s traditional. Nice heavy cream-colored stock, a deckled edge . . . you should see it!”

“Okay, girlfriend,” I said in my best calm, take-charge tone. “I’m sorry. I’m so fucking sorry.” Sorrier than she knew, that was for sure. “But we’ve talked about this. Bethany’s an addict, Jen. She didn’t want to be helped. You tried. We both did. We did our best, but we always knew this day might come.”

“I know. It’s just . . .” She sighed.

“I know.”

It might not sound like much, but when you’ve been friends for as long as Jen and I have, you develop your own shorthand.

Jen took another deep breath. “Beth wrote a note on the invitation. They must have had it printed . . . before. She wants me there.”

“For the rising?”

“Uh-huh.”

I sat down on the edge of my futon. Mogwai wound around my ankles, not purring, just pressing his reassuring bulk against me. I reached down to pet him with my free hand. “What do you think?”

Jen was silent for a long moment. “You’d come with me?”

“Duh.”

“Then I’ll go.” Her voice was grim. “And if anything goes wrong . . . I really, really hope there’ll be hell to pay.”

I shifted the phone to my other ear. “Oh, there will. I promise. And if it’s okay with you, I’d like to ask Cody Fairfax to come with us. Because if anything does go wrong, we’re talking about murder. And if that happens . . .” The words trailed away as it came home to me that I was talking about Jen’s sister being irrevocably dead. I cleared my throat. “As Hel’s liaison, I would say it becomes a matter for mundane authorities.”

“Good,” Jen said. “That’s fine. I’d be glad to have him there. Daise . . . ?”

I waited. “Yeah?”

“I don’t know which would be worse,” she whispered. “Even though it’s been awful, Bethany’s still my sister. If she didn’t rise, at least it would be over, you know? If she does . . . I don’t know if I could ever consider her family again.” She paused. “Am I a terrible person for thinking that way?”

My heart ached. “Not for an instant.”

Bethany’s rising was scheduled for midnight two days from now. Very clever of the House of Shadows to wait until someone was actually freaking dead to send out an invitation to the resurrection.