“Not at all. As a partner, the Nix was splendid. I would have traded Eric for her, if I could have.”

“So she’s straight-up, then. I can trust her not to betray me.”

Simmons laughed, a tinkling, girlish laugh. “Oh, of course she’ll betray you. Or she’ll try to. She betrays us all.”

I looked over at her. “You don’t seem to hold a grudge about it.”

“I don’t blame her for trying. I knew she would. As soon as I started spreading my wings, wanting to do things my way, I knew she’d turn on me. I saw it coming and avoided it. Not that it did any good in my case. That idiot, Eric, loused it up for us. As for the Nix, she delivered what she promised. I reaped the rewards…” She smiled at me. “And I still reap them.”

“Through the visions.”

Her smile broadened. “She takes good care of us. Special little treats that make the torment almost sweet.”

Something to the left caught her attention. I turned to see a child crouched on the ground, poking a finger at something. A little girl with short, wild red hair and bright blue eyes, her jeans and sneakers filthy the way only a five-year-old can make them. She poked again and a toad jumped. With a gap-toothed grin, she shuffled forward, still crouching, finger outstretched.

A figure moved behind her and I glanced up to see Simmons there, having slid over while I’d been watching the child. Simmons bent and stroked her hand over the girl’s head, as if smoothing down her hair. When she looked up at me, her eyes glistened with the same ecstasy I’d seen in my vision, when she’d watched Eric bury the boy.

“Do you like children?” she asked, smiling.

I swallowed hard. I tried to smile back, but it took every bit of acting ability I possessed just to stand there, watch her stroke the girl’s hair, and do nothing.

“So the—” I sucked in air, choking back my rage. “So the Nix betrays all her partners.”

Simmons gave the girl one last lingering look, then straightened. “All of them. As I said, it’s not personal. Look how she speaks so highly of me. She even betrayed Dachev, and he was her favorite.”

“He?” I frowned. “The Nix told me she only takes women as partners.”

A tiny, secret smile. “True, she can only inhabit women. But Dachev…he was special. They were truly a team. Kindred spirits, so to speak.”

“Dachev was a ghost.”

A momentary pause, as if surprised that I’d figured out her meaning so quickly. Then she fluttered her fingers, gaze traveling across the cemetery. “Ask her about him. If she wants to tell you, she will.”