“Mordechai?” Owen’s imaginary friend? His brother had told him some crazy stories, only half of which he believed, and only then because he’d seen giant monsters and been teleported himself. When Owen had talked about ghosts and time travel, he’d wondered if his older brother had started licking toads. What was it Earl Harbinger had told him when he’d tried to cheer Mosh up, flexible minds? Like that helps when your whole life has just been ruined. “What do you want from me?”

“I am messenger, appointed by one side in big war to help Hunters. You are only person I can reach in time to warn.”

“You’ve got to be kidding me. So you’re really Mordechai Byreika?” He was supposedly the dead guy that had guided Owen through his first brush with cosmic weirdness. “I’ve got to be tripping.”

“You are not going anywhere right now. Yes. Is I. Now hurry.”

Mosh found the remote control and turned the TV on. It was still on one of the adult movie channels. “Damn, boy. Times have changed. In my day you had to work to see nekkid ladies,” said the southerner.

“Easy, Bubba,” the old man’s voice took on a cautionary tone. “Is strange world now, but still worth saving. Sometimes.”

Embarrassed, Mosh quickly flipped through the channels until he found a cable news show. There was a special bulletin with the Las Vegas Strip in the background. The announcer was rattling off information about fires, the CDC, Ebola, a chemical spill, and an evacuation, but he’d jumped in midstream and Mosh’s aching brain was having a real hard time catching up. The live video showed a line of fire trucks, police cars, and military vehicles, and behind them was a wall of whirling gray smoke.

“You are only one we can reach. Much magical energy spilling out of vortex. I use it to talk to you. You are close. You are blood of champion, so we can talk. Surprised I am, how good your mind works for this. Is more easy than your brother’s even. He has to be close to death for me to even say hi anymore. Remarkable how good you are at listening to the dead.”

That was a whole lot to take in on short notice while suffering from a hangover. As far as Mosh was aware, he’d never talked to any dead people before. So either more of his brother’s nonsense was intruding into his life again, or somebody had slipped him something last night. Either one was equally possible.

“We need your help.”