“That’s different. I once hid a joint under my boob and even made it past pat-down at the jail. Traded it to Deputy Franks for a turkey sandwich and a sugar cookie. I was so hungry.”

Marina stared. “There is so much wrong with that story, I’m not even sure where to start.”

Halcyon waved a hand in dismissal. “Later.”

“Here’s another sticking point—Alexios said the gods can’t see the ring, remember? So if I pull out basic jewelry and they can see it, won’t they know it’s a fake?”

“Maybe once you find it, the ring becomes visible again.”

Marina considered this. “I suppose that’s as plausible as everything else, isn’t it?”

“All you have to do is try not to give Stalker Boy the ring, and when he threatens violence, then cough it up but be all weepy and sad and shit.”

“And I am supposed to just whip up a batch of weepy and sad? I don’t have your abilities.”

“Think about Old Yeller.”

Marina stared at her sister in dismay. “That book sucked so hard. I had nightmares for weeks. Why on earth is it in the elementary school library?”

“Exactly my point. There’s no way you can keep from crying if you think about that poor dog.”

Marina sniffed. “Okay, maybe that will work.”

“Maybe?”

“Stop talking about it or I’m going to cry.”

Halcyon grinned. “I think I have the decoy thing covered. Give me a sec.”

She headed down the hall for her bedroom and Marina walked over to the kitchen window to look outside. The lady who lived across the street was out deadheading her flowers. Her husband was on the porch making fishing lures. Two houses over, a harried mother wrestled two young children into her car. That was it. All completely normal. But somewhere out there, Stalker Boy had to be lurking.

Or was he?

If Alexios had lost power, did that mean Stalker Boy was working without ties to their world as well? It would make sense. She assumed the use of power could attract attention. So if Stalker Boy was trying to fly below god radar, then he probably wasn’t zipping around Last Chance in an invisible condo. Which meant he was on foot unless he’d stolen something to get around. Or unless he could fly.

She sighed. These were things that it would have been nice to go over with Alexios. But with him on lockdown, all she had was supposition and her own creativity to go on. And at the moment, her creativity was in overdrive.

Halcyon hurried back into the room and handed her a ring. She lifted it to get a closer look. It was a single silver band with a large ruby framed by diamonds.

“This is nice!” Marina said. “I can’t let Stalker Boy steal this. It’s got to be worth some serious cash.”

“It’s fake. A good fake, but a fake, nonetheless. It was a prop for one of the plays we did last year. I have a bunch of stuff for the theater group stored under my stairs.”