Something Deadly This Way Comes

one that set the fire!”

My mouth dropped open, and I froze as Demus pulled away. Tammy was in a clear spot with a cop and a fireman. Johnny was with her, pressed into a scared-looking woman holding their dog. Their mom, maybe? Behind them trying to stay out of sight was Barnabas. There was a ting of divinity, and I saw Nakita, facing down the light reaper.

A strong thump came from my heart, then stopped. She’s blaming me for the fire? I’m the one that warned her to get out!

“Puppy presents,” I whispered, feeling Demus drop back and vanish into the crowd. I turned to make my own escape, but the cops were faster, and I found myself yanked around and staring up at a stern, smoke-marked face. God, he was big, and he had a gun.

“She broke into my house this afternoon!” Tammy was yelling, currently being held back by a second cop. “I called and it took you three hours to help me! I told you! I told you and you laughed at me!”

“I did not break into your house!” I said indignantly. “Your brother let us in.”

It looked like the fire was almost out, but they weren’t allowing anyone in yet. The parking lot was full of angry people, and they were all starting to look at me.

“She was talking about a fire,” Tammy said, and the cop holding me tightened his grip. “She told me not to be here tonight. Mom!” she exclaimed. “It’s her! I’m telling you it’s her fault! She said there was going to be a fire. How would she know unless she set it!”

“You . . .” the woman said, her fear finding an easy outlet. The dog in her arms squirmed, and she held him tighter. “You burned down my apartment? Why?”

Her shrill voice carried over the roar of the fire trucks, and I backed up to bump into a third cop. Crap, I was surrounded. Barnabas couldn’t help. The cop looming over me grew even more grim. “What’s your name, miss?”

“I want her in jail!” Tammy’s mother yelled, attracting even more attention. “She set fire to my apartment! I lost everything. Everything!”

I touched the bump of my cell phone in my pocket, thinking of my dad. Oh, God, I didn’t want him to get a call about me being two time zones away. “Uh, I have to go,” I whispered, scared out of my mind.

I jumped when the cop gripping my arm pulled me to him. “I’m sorry, miss. Will you come with me?”

“She burned my apartment!” Tammy’s mother said, starting to cry. “I’ve got nothing!”

You still have your children, I thought, but I couldn’t say it. They wouldn’t understand that Tammy’s and Johnny’s lives had nearly been lost.

“Hey!” I yelped when the cop pinched my arm and started leading me away. “I didn’t set the fire! I just had a feeling.”

“Yeah, well you and your feeling are in deep trouble,” the cop said. “How old are you?” he asked. They couldn’t question me without an adult present if I was a minor.

“Seventeen,” I whispered, thinking of the disappointment in my dad’s eyes. “Look, I shouldn’t even be here.”

The cop opened the door of one of the cop cars. It was quieter at the curb, the entire six lanes of traffic diverted somewhere else. People were everywhere. “What’s your name? How can we reach your folks?” he asked.

I looked at the inside of the car and got in. My mouth was shut, and it was going to stay that way. I was so scared, but I was almost laughing. I was the dark timekeeper, able to stop time, stand down dark reapers, and fly with angels, and I was scared. Better to just go along with it until Barnabas showed up and changed their memories, but the less there was to change, the better. So I said nothing, looking up at him and knowing there would be no mercy.

He made a soft grunt. “Wrong answer,” he said, then shut the door. It made a firm thump, cutting through the noise and confusion. Warm silence took me, comforting almost, though the seat was hard and the space tiny. Outside, the fire trucks thundered and people cried, but inside here, it was quiet.

The cop tapped the glass, and I jerked back. “You’d better remember your phone number by the time I get back, missy,” he said, his voice muffled. Turning, he walked away with a swagger.

“Big strong man put the little girl in her place,” I muttered, crossing my arms over my chest and slumping back in the seat. I had a bad feeling I was going to miss my curfew. I could see Tammy talking to both the fireman and another cop, pointing at me. Her mother was in tears, and Johnny looked lost, patting his mom’s knee as she sat on the ground and rocked their dog. Barnabas was lurking at the edge of the crowd, and Nakita. I didn’t see Demus or the light reaper Barnabas had called Arariel. Maybe they were gone. Maybe all of this had changed Tammy’s future.

Yeah, and maybe I’ve got ice-cream cones coming out of my ears. If the seraphs had sent a dark reaper, then Tammy’s soul was still fated to be lost, and I’d accomplished nothing.

Chapter Six

I watched the wall clock as I sat in the swivel chair, tapping my foot in time with its ticks to irritate the cop sitting behind the desk. But mostly I just sulked. Either luck or Grace had landed me here instead of the juvenile detention area, which was apparently full up at the moment. It could have been the fire, but I think it was Grace. My guardian-angel-turned-messenger had shown up halfway to the station, almost getting me into the psych ward when I started talking to her. Luck had stayed with me, so instead of a cell, I was stuck in some cop’s office while they figured out what to do with me. It stank like stale cigarette smoke, and he had dried Diet Coke rings on his scratched desk. Nasty.

The somewhat overweight, stocky man looked up at me, and I gave him an insincere smile. Irritated, he set his pen down on his steel-and-laminate desk and crossed his arms over his chest, staring back at me. My cell phone was next to his oversize, ugly monitor. Grace had drained the batteries. She drained every single thing they tried to plug into it. They hadn’t been able to contact my parents yet, and I hoped I’d be out of here before they managed it. Grace was good, but these guys were determined.

“You ready to tell me who that redheaded kid was with you?” he asked, and I shook my head. “How about how to call your folks?” he tried, and I looked at the ceiling.

“Punk-ass kids,” he muttered, standing up and pocketing my cell phone. “We used to be able to put you gangbangers behind bars where you belonged and be done with it. You’re only making it harder on yourself. We’ll find out who you are. And that redhead, too.”

“I didn’t set the fire,” I said, and he pressed his lips together, which made his mustache stick out.

“Stay there,” he demanded, pointing a stubby, fat finger at me. “Don’t touch anything.”

I stuck my tongue out at him as he left, but he missed it, more intent on getting a sugar-induced coffee high. The frosted-glass door shut with a bang, and I jumped.

Exhaling a breath I’d taken who knew how long ago, I slumped back in my chair and swung my foot, looking over the cluttered shelves, the high, narrow window with the metal netting on it, and finally the scuffed green and white tiles. I didn’t think my treatment was standard procedure, but I wasn’t making things easy on them, either.

Head thrown back, I looked at the stained ceiling. I’d totally missed my curfew, and I was going to be so-o- o-o grounded when I got home, even if my dad never found out about this. But what really had me worried was Tammy. I didn’t like that the seraphs had sent a reaper out to take her early. They knew I was handling this. Grace had told me that Barnabas was watching Tammy and that both Arariel and Demus were gone, so maybe my actions tonight in stopping Demus had caused them to reconsider. I just didn’t know.

I’d feel a lot better if I could change Tammy’s resonance to help hide her while I cooled my heels in juvie. Ron had changed mine several times, but he had done it by modifying my amulet, seeing as it was the source of my aura now that I was dead. Tammy didn’t have an amulet to give her the illusion of an aura, so I’d have to change it some other way. Logic said I’d have to be with her to do it, but maybe all I needed to do was find her in the time line and just sort of . . . tweak it. It was worth trying.

Bringing my head down, I looked at the ticking clock. It was after ten, past midnight at home. My dad was