She sighed. “Many women come to Boss. Many want to hump him because he is handsome, but more seek him out so they can use him. He has many talents. You obviously don’t want to hump him. You didn’t even fix your hair.”

I put a hand to my hair, feeling the ponytail and every strand that had been pulled out of it in my match with the demon. My jaw dropped. “I killed a demon, didn’t I?”

Feish smiled, which was frankly a horrible look, like she was a fish struggling to breathe on land. “You did. My friend killed a demon. And you make the boss a little bit crazy. That’s good. Keeps him from getting overconfident.”

And then she blushed, which was a strange shade of orange on her yellowish-green skin.

I grinned back and pointed at her while I tried to wink. Maybe the kava kava hadn’t worn off as much as I had thought. “Hey, I am your friend.” I wobbled across the boat and she held out her hand. I took it and then I was on solid ground. Or kind of solid ground as my feet sunk into the shoreline.

Feish got back in the boat, paused, and then held out her hand to me. I reached back, my boots sinking deeper in the water and muck, well over my ankles. She turned my hand palm up and placed in it a small, smooth blue stone. “When you need me to come get you, put this in water. I find you.”

She gave me her version of a smile and I grinned back. “You got it. And you know, Feish, it goes both ways. If you need help, or just want to complain about your job, you can talk to me.”

For just a moment, I thought she was going to cry. Her big yellow-green eyes seemed to wobble full of liquid, but she blinked it away. “I go now. Be safe, new friend.”

She backed up the boat and I waved as she pulled away, disappearing down the river on the first bend. I turned and sloshed my way out of the sloppy water and muck and onto a well-worn path that was likely maintained by the city. The nature reserve was a popular tourist destination with lots of walking paths.

I wondered why the big guy was out here. At the gates of the cemetery, where we’d first met, he hadn’t seemed like the kind to live in the bush. He’d had on very nice shoes, far too clean for tromping around in the muck, those tailored pants, a clean dress shirt, and a bow tie, for goodness’ sake. I’d taken him for a lawyer, or maybe a doctor, or a professor. I looked down at my very nice new boots and grimaced at the layer of thick mud on them. They were going to need a solid cleaning after this.