Knowing it would be easier to just accept the fish than argue, I took him. A sneeze ripped through me, and I almost spilled the bowl. “I’m coming!” I shouted, knowing Al was trying to hurry me up. Like the weather wasn’t enough of a goad?

Jenks was tight by my ear as I waved one finger at the empty-seeming garden. I couldn’t see Al without bringing up my second sight, but he could probably see me. “So you want me to make an appointment for you with Ford?” Jenks asked uncertainly.

Oh, yeah. I squinted, considering it. I wanted to know who’d killed Kisten and tried to bind me, but it was as scary as all hell. Reading on the damp night that the pain was still too fresh, Ivy shook her head and spoke. “Let me see what I can find out my way first. Someone must know something.”

A twinge of fear for her joined the fear for myself. “No, I can do this,” I said. “Whoever did it is an undead, and it’s a lot safer for me to spend a couple of hours on the couch with Ford than for you to poke around in the affairs of the undead.”

Ivy’s perfect face scrunched up in protest, but before she could say anything, I sneezed again. Damn it, I’m coming!

On Ivy’s shoulder, Jenks harrumphed. “Like Ivy has ever had a problem poking around underground? We’ll be fine. Kisten didn’t have me watching his back.”

Together they made a determined picture, and I sighed. “Okay,” I said, giving in, then sneezed once more. “I gotta go.” Impatient bastard. This was as bad as your date sitting in the drive and beeping a horn. I hated that, too.

I adjusted my grip on Mr. Fish and started down the stairs in the rain. The smell of the dying garden was strong, and my ankles went damp. Behind me, I heard Jenks ask something and Ivy mutter a soft, “I’ll tell you later.”

“Sorry about leaving you with a mess, guys!” I shouted over my shoulder. God, I felt like I was going off to camp.

“Don’t worry about it.”

Ahead of me was the line, and as I approached, I let my second sight come into play. Sure enough, Al was standing in it, his coattails shifting as he fidgeted impatiently. The rain wasn’t touching him, and he made an inquiring face when I stopped just shy of the line and turned for one last look at the church. It wasn’t fear that pulled me around, it was satisfaction.