Yet the more I stared at them, the more I thought Yes, I recognize that. Like seeing a photo of myself shot at an odd angle.
"Oooh, nice," said a voice at my shoulder. "I like the one in the corner there."
I wheeled to see a woman a few years younger than me, with straight black hair almost to her waist. Six feet tall with the remote, slightly exotic look of a fashion model. That illusion of aloofness vanished the moment she glanced up from the page, her eyes dancing in predatory amusement, like a cat always on the lookout for something worth pouncing on.
"Eve!" I spun to Jeremy. "It's Eve."
I knew I looked ridiculous, gesturing at empty air, but he only smiled and said, "Hello, Eve. Glad you could join us."
"Glad to be here." She looked at me. "Am I interrupting? If you guys were just getting to the naked-portrait stage, I can come back."
"Ha-ha.
We were just finishing some stuff. I was contacting--" I looked around. "They're gone. Or being quiet."
"Probably trying to figure out what I am."
"Jaime?" Jeremy said, rising. "I'll go inside and get you a cold drink. If anyone's looking for you, I'll stall them."
"Thanks."
"What a sweetie," Eve said as he left. "And visiting you all the way from New York. No family in tow. Sitting in the garden sketching you while you fondle corpse bits. Positively domestic. So does this mean you guys are--"
"No," I cut in, then smiled. "I can't believe you're here. Kristof was certain it was a no-go."
She perched on the edge of a retaining wall. "Well, it wasn't easy getting out of there, let me tell you. First there were the chains, tying me to my rock. And that big vulture that keeps picking at my flesh. Then the fires of hell, and that three-headed demon dog guarding the exit..." She reached out to smack my arm, though her fingers passed through. "You're looking at me like I'm serious. How evil do you think I am? Sheesh."
"Speaking of evil, I met one of your old friends the other day. I just popped by to talk to her and ended up knocked unconscious, thrown in her car and driven to a body-dump site."
"What?"
I left out the part about Savannah coming to my rescue and taking on Molly. Good call, because as soon as I mentioned that Molly had been in contact with Savannah, Eve's face twisted with a cold fury that chilled my blood no matter how many times I saw it.
"That two-faced smarmy bitch. You tell Savannah she is not to--"
Eve stopped and turned away, her lips curling in a snarl scarier than any of Jeremy's. She stood with her back to me. I waited. After a moment, she relaxed and turned around, smiling again.
"Okay, let's take that back a step. Ahem. Would you please convey a message to Savannah that Molly Crane is not to be trusted? As a contact, I only used her for what she could do for me because that's exactly how she treats everyone else. With Savannah, she only wants--"
"To see whether Savannah can be useful. Savannah already figured that out."
"She did? That's my girl." She planted herself on the retaining wall. "Back to business, then."
"First, about you being here. It's...okay? With everyone?"
"I didn't go AWOL if that's what you mean. The Fates investigated Kristof's story and, well, they're a little freaked."
"Freaked?"
"Yeah. Kind of discomfiting in a higher power. I mean, they're deities, right? They should just calmly survey the problem and say 'Yes, we're aware of that.' But if they were aware of it, that would be even scarier. No excuse for letting it continue."
"So they had no idea this had happened?"
"Zip. It's an isolated incident. So seeing that they have a problem involving dark magic, they realized there was only one--" she faded, then came back, "--for the job."
"You were bleeped."
"Damn. I hate it when that happens. What did I say?" She frowned, searching for the word the higher powers had censored--some topic she wasn't allowed to discuss with mortals. "Let me rephrase: they realized there was only one ghost for the job. That being me. So I've been reassigned. Now bring me up-to-date."