His thugs took their place behind him, and folded their arms, taking on a posture of invulnerability and arrogance. There was also someone else present—a girl who lurked in a corner, looking on with mild interest. She had waves of unkempt blond hair filled with nettles and thorns, skin so tan it was difficult to determine her race, and a gaudy pendant with a sky-blue gem hanging around her neck. Mary found the girl’s cool gaze more disconcerting than Pugsy’s bug-eyed glare.

“I’m willing to listen to your pleas of mercy,” Pugsy said in a voice that would forever crack between octaves, having not finished changing while he was alive.

“I’m sorry to disappoint you,” said Mary, “but you’ll be hearing no pleas of mercy from me.”

Pugsy shifted uncomfortably in his big armchair.

“What have you done with my children?” Mary asked.

The thug in the gray suit spoke up. “Who said you could ask questions?”

But Pugsy put up his hand to silence him. “I’ve put them in storage until I decide what to do with them. As for you, I was thinking it might be fun to chain you to the center of the Ferris wheel and watch you go round and round. What do you think?”

Mary fought back her urge to scold him for being such a thoroughly vile little urchin, and instead offered him her kindest smile.

“Come now,” she said, “surely the Death Boss of Chicago is above such pettiness. You must realize I’m far more useful as an ally than an ornament.”

That gave him pause for thought. If he hadn’t realized it before, he was ready to consider it now. Here was the chance Mary had hoped for!

“You’ve built quite a civilization here in Chicago,” Mary told him. “You are to be congratulated.”

“Flattery from the Sky Witch! You really must want something from me!” He chuckled softly, and his henchmen took it as their cue to chuckle loudly.

“Do not call me that,” she said, forcefully but respectfully. “My name is Mary Hightower, and it is the only name I answer to,”

“I know your name,” said Pugsy, with an air of disgust in his voice. “So are you gonna tell me why you trespassed on my property?”

“I believe it’s best if we discuss matters of importance alone,” Mary said. His thugs looked ready to stand their ground, and Mary noticed the girl in the corner smile, perhaps impressed with Mary’s boldness.

Pugsy looked to his thugs. “Send us up to the top, and wait for me on the ground,” he told them.

“Yes, boss,” they said, ever obedient.

Then he turned to the girl. “Why don’t you go skinjack someone, and get today’s sports scores.”

It was the first thing that Pugsy said that really caught Mary by surprise.