Shapeshifted (Edie Spence 3)

I stood there watching her, all my memories struggling to get free. We’d been friends, good friends. I’d helped her out a lot—we’d trusted each other. And now … she didn’t remember me. At all.

I wished I’d thought to check if there was a ring on her ring finger now, if her were-bear boyfriend had finally proposed. I hoped she was happy, without me.

“Miss—would you like a table? The next one down’s already been cleaned. ” A waiter stopped in front of me and gestured to the next booth over.

“Sure. ” I stood by the booth meant for me. If I sat there alone after seeing Gina, that’d be no good for me. I reached out to tap the waiter’s shoulder as he walked away. “Actually—I’ll just get some coffee to go. ”

* * *

I made it to the Divisadero station early. The fact that it was a weekend hadn’t stopped the marketplace at all; in fact, there were more people here, buying and selling goods.

Waiting seemed dumb, and two blocks wasn’t that far. I angled around people, feeling much more at home among them in normal clothing instead of scrubs, and heard a familiar voice at the end of the aisle.

“Who among you has not felt the evil eye? How long can you take the risk that someone has cast bad luck upon you?”

I walked over to Olympio, and he waved low with his hand in acknowledgment that he saw me. So this was what he did to drum up business on weekends when the clinic was closed. He pointed at me. “You, woman—you look like you’ve seen a ghost!”

Because I had? The ghost of my former life. I made a face at him. “I couldn’t sleep last night. ”

“The curandero can give you a candle to burn to make you sleep like a contented child. He can chase the ghosts away from you. ”

“Can he prescribe me Ambien?” I asked.

Olympio groaned and walked away. Something smelled like garlic over here—there was a grill running. I inhaled deeply and looked around. The rest of the people were ignoring Olympio. Either none of them needed ghost relief, or all of them had heard Olympio go on like this before. He sighed and dropped his act and came over to talk to me. “Man, I hope all these people meet the Donkey Lady. I wouldn’t feel bad if she ate all these disbelievers,” he said, louder at the end. The other people still ignored him. He rolled his eyes at them.

I was close enough to him to smell garlic. “Olympio—what did you eat for breakfast?”

“Nothing. I just slept with a head of garlic last night. And ate five raw pieces this morning. ”

It was his breath. Definitely his breath. I leaned away from him. “Did it occur to you that that’s why people are ignoring you?”

He frowned. “You’re the one who told me there were vampires down here. ”

I held up my forefinger. “I never s

aid anything about down here. I just meant in town. ”

“Same difference. ”

I hated that phrase—and I hated the fact that Olympio remembered our conversation about vampires. I’d been hoping that the Shadows would erase his memory of our conversation, but apparently they were too busy wiping minds of people whom I wanted to remember me. “And anyway, garlic doesn’t work on vampires. ”

“But silver and crosses do?” He raised his eyebrows, ready to throw anything he could back at me.

“I’ve created a monster,” I said flatly.

“You said you’d tell me more today. ”

“Here?” I looked around at the people surrounding us.

He followed my gaze and grunted. “Later. But today, okay?”

“Okay,” I agreed.

Olympio jerked his chin up. “Hey—don’t you want to ask if I know anything about your clinic? Your doctor was here earlier, asking. ”

“He’s not my doctor,” I shushed him, feeling my cheeks turning red.

“When will you all be done? By Monday?” Olympio obliviously went on, luckily for me.

“I don’t know. Maybe?”

“I like it better when all the sick people come to the same place. It sucks bad enough on weekends here—I don’t want to have to do the market on weekdays too. The owner of the pharmacy won’t let me stand in front of it. Says ‘no solicitors,’” Olympio said, obviously making fun of the other man’s Indian accent.

“Yeah, well. We’re repainting today. If Dr. Tovar hasn’t done it all by the time I get there. ” I could see him doing just that—coming in at five A. M. and doing everything before any volunteers arrived.

Olympio nodded. “Let me know if you need an extra hand. Para el pago, of course. ” I stared at him blankly. “For pay,” he said, for my sake.

“Hell, I don’t think I’m getting paid for this. I must have been high on paint fumes when I agreed to come in extra. ”