“Don’t listen to her,” Dunham advised him.

“Why not?” Johnny cradled his shotgun. “She’s telling the truth. I reckon I’ll deal with it when the time comes.”

“What’s that s’posed to mean?” Ray asked suspiciously.

“It means I’ll deal with it.” A note of impatience crept into Johnny’s tone. “Don’t worry about it, man.”

“It means he’ll get rid of you when this is over,” I informed Ray. “You and Mary. Lock you in solitary confinement for months on end until you starve and devour your own essence. Isn’t that how it works? Maybe it won’t take as long with both of you trying to feed on each other. Or maybe he’ll separate you to make it last longer. Do you plan on separating them?” I asked Johnny.

He strolled over, leaned down, and slapped me across the face, wrenching my head sideways. “All right, now, you shut your mouth, ma’am.”

I tasted blood.

Daughter . . .

A spiral of anger rose in me. The pump attached to the mermaid’s tank made an alarming sound, hoses bulging. “Or maybe he’ll have Dunham use dauda-dagr,” I said. “Make it quick and clean. Is that the plan?”

Johnny reversed the shotgun. “Do you want me to use this here stock to smash your pretty little face in?” He was breathing hard, his pupils wavering. “Or do you want me to turn every ghoul in this room loose on you?”

I held my tongue, anger dwindling back to fear. The pump stopped whining and the hoses stopped bulging.

“Ignore her.” Jerry Dunham sounded bored. “She’s just trying to turn us against each other. Don’t fall for it.”

“Easy for you to say,” I managed to whisper. “You’re mortal. You’re not subject to Hel’s authority.”

“She has a point,” one of the unknown ghouls muttered.

“It’s not too late for you to call this off,” I said to Johnny. “You haven’t done anything you can’t walk away from.”

He laughed mirthlessly. “Other than kidnap Hel’s liaison? No.” He shook his head. “Sorry, ma’am. There’s only one way that gets forgiven, and that’s to prove you’re a miserable failure at the job.”

Al the Walrus scratched his head. “Don’t that put it back on you once you’re in charge, Johnny? Hel’s justice and all?”

Johnny gestured impatiently with his shotgun. “I’m telling you, I will deal with it when the time comes!”

“You’d better not try it!” Mary Sudbury called out in an ominous singsong voice, swaying in Ray’s arms, her pupils as black as night. “I won’t let you hurt my Raymond. Never, never, never.” She shook her finger at Johnny. “Naughty little boys get eaten up by the bad monsters.”