Page 79 of Bent Out of Shade
The curtains were drawn tight. Pushing my snarled hair out of my face, I pressed my ear to the door, but didn’t hear footsteps.
Harry had decided to break it down when the door opened a crack and Nora peered out.
I raised a hand in greeting. “Can I come in?”
Her eyes didn’t blaze red or slither with shadows, but their fervent gleam was far more unsettling. She held up a red permanent marker. “He can’t have one.”
I exchanged a baffled look with Harry.
“I wouldn’t dream of it, luv,” he said.
“Wait out here?” I asked.
He nodded, making himself comfortable on the patchy grass.
Nora led me into her kitchen, which smelled of pine and lavender from the dozens of candles placed on the counters and table. They gave off a lovely warm glow, but I shivered at how out of place they were in the middle of the day.
Had I brought whatever weirdness was back at that Vegas wedding place into Nora’s kitchen by giving her the amulet?
She sat across from me, popped off the marker cap, and began coloring something on the table. I couldn’t see what it was because my sightline was blocked by a wall of unwashed coffee mugs, but this wasn’t normal host behavior. Also, Harry had said Nora was in a state when he spoke to her, but she was so chill right now, engaged in her coloring like a happy child.
Or someone under a compulsion.
“You’ve got some intel for me?” I kept my posture relaxed and a friendly smile on my face, but I let my magic dance under my skin. “Did you learn anything about the amulet?”
She looked up. “Yes. I need the pink.”
Grabbing the marker, I stood up to lean over the table and hand it to her, and gasped.
The edges of the amulet had been scorched and the three figures defaced in felt pen with devil horns, mustaches, and giant penises.
“Nora, what are you doing?” I touched the amulet and she smacked my hand. “Sorry.” I rubbed soot off my finger. It was a miracle she hadn’t hurt herself or burned down the house, because it must have taken multiple attempts to blacken the artifact that thoroughly.
And what was with the crazy graffiti? I could almost understand a creepy summons from an unknown supernatural being, but this made no sense.
Delilah twined around my feet. “Why did you vandalize those figures?” I said.
“They’re evil asshats,” Nora said matter-of-factly. “Steer clear of them.”
I narrowed my eyes at the crude engravings. “Who are?”
“You know who.” She drew slitted snake eyes on one of them. “After darkness comes the light.”
The hunters’ motto? What did that have to do with anything? I clenched my fists against the urge to punch a wall. “I don’t understand.”
“Follow the whispers.” Her words were so quiet they barely carried above the hum of the old yellow fridge.
I froze, goosebumps breaking out over my body. Learsdon said he’d found me by following whispers, but there’d been no mention of them in any of his papers. I’d have remembered something like that. Still, my neck prickled, my researcher sense screaming at me that the amulet was tied to the Ascendant, but otherwise, I was so lost.
Nora hummed under her breath, happily defacing away.
“What are the whispers saying?”
“I can’t understand them, silly. That’s your job.”
Could I get a training manual? I exhaled. Okay, whoever was behind this wasn’t directing Nora to do anything specific. That was good, wasn’t it? Now, were these whispers separate from the evil figures, who were either demons, hunters, or something else entirely, and oh my God, my head was going to explode.
I crouched down beside her. “Who’s whispering?” When she ignored me, I placed my hand over the amulet. “Nora. This is important.”
