Chapters (48)
- Title Page
- Dedication
- Epigraph
- ONE
- TWO
- THREE
- FOUR
- FIVE
- SIX
- SEVEN
- EIGHT
- NINE
- TEN
- ELEVEN
- TWELVE
- THIRTEEN
- FOURTEEN
- FIFTEEN
- SIXTEEN
- SEVENTEEN
- EIGHTEEN
- NINETEEN
- TWENTY
- TWENTY-ONE
- TWENTY-TWO
- TWENTY-THREE
- TWENTY-FOUR
- TWENTY-FIVE
- TWENTY-SIX
- TWENTY-SEVEN
- TWENTY-EIGHT
- TWENTY-NINE
- THIRTY
- THIRTY-ONE
- THIRTY-TWO
- THIRTY-THREE
- THIRTY-FOUR
- THIRTY-FIVE
- THIRTY-SIX
- THIRTY-SEVEN
- THIRTY-EIGHT
- THIRTY-NINE
- The Undead Pool: An Excerpt
- Chapter 2
- About the Author
- Also by Kim Harrison
- Credits
- About the Publisher
I stiffened when she rose and walked out. Jenks hovered uncertainly, then buzzed out after her. The smell of the coffee pulled at me, and I went to pour myself a mug, filling two more for Ford and Edden. The first gulp hit me like a balm, doing as much as the soft breeze coming in the window to soothe me. Maybe there was something to this up-at-dawn stuff.
“What do I do?” I said as I put the coffee before the two men and sat.
Ford’s smile was brief but sincere. “If you would put this on?”
The amulet settled into my hand, and I felt the hum of ever-after running through it, tugging on me as if trying to pull it from my fingertips. “What does it do?”
He hadn’t let go of the charm yet, and feeling his fingers slide against mine, I looked up in almost shocked surprise. His lips quirked in a smile when the amulet in my hand turned to a delicate lavender. I was starting to see a pattern here.
“Your friend was correct. It’s a visual show of your emotions,” he said, and I cringed. I could guess what lavender meant, and I forced my thoughts to remain puritan pure as I looped it over my head. Unlike an earth-charm amulet, this one only had to be within my aura to work, not touching skin.
“But you said it was responding to you, not me.”
A brief look of pain passed over his features. “It is.”
My eyes widened. “You mean you can feel other people’s emotions? Naturally? I’ve never heard of that before. What are you? You don’t smell like a witch.”
Chuckling, Edden took his coffee and retreated to the corner of the kitchen, pretending to watch Jenks’s kids in order to give us some privacy.
Ford shrugged. “Human, I guess. My mother was the same way. She died from it. I’ve never heard of anyone else like me. I’m trying to find a way to make it work for me instead of against me. The amulet is for you, not me, so you know exactly what I’m feeling from you. The intensity of emotion is shown by brightness and the type of emotion by color.”
I started to get a sick feeling. “But you can feel my emotions whether I’m wearing the amulet or not?” I asked, and when he nodded, I added, “Then why am I wearing it?”
Edden shifted nervously at the window. I knew he wanted us to get on with it.
“So that when we’re done and you take it off, you have the illusion that I’m not listening anymore.”