A knock erupts at the back door just off the kitchen, and I freeze solid. Nobody uses that door. We haven’t used that door but once or twice after we moved in, and since then it’s been barricaded with stacks of cereal boxes sitting on a firm foundation of soda cans. The knocking picks up, and a chill runs up my spine.
Come to think of it, the very last time I looked out the door’s window I saw Ezrina pretending to hang herself that first year we moved to Paragon.
The knocking ensues a bit more violently. I glance back at Drake and Ethan in the next room, and a sense of false security hits me. I guess it wouldn’t hurt to see who it was. I mean, it’s not like I’m going to let them in.
My feet speed in that direction, and I won’t lie, the urge to waddle is real. Not only is this sweat pea in my tummy keeping me up at night with my bladder, and a hangry stomach, but my body wants to swing into full preggo mode in every sense of the word.
My fingers latch over the homemade curtain and I pull it to the side to see a pale face and a shock of frazzled red hair. I let out a little yelp of terror as I quickly jump back. My adrenaline hits its zenith and my heart pounds against my chest with the strength of a wrecking ball.
“It’s me”—a female voice snips—“your sister,Rory.”
“Rory?” I hiss to myself as I pull the curtain back once more, and sure enough, there she is wearing Melody Winters’ face like a Halloween mask. She has mischievous eyes, a tiny button nose, and lips that look as if they’ve been artificially inflated.
I frown over at her as I open the door as far as those pallets of soda cans will allow.
“What do you want?” I ask with an edge to my voice. “If you came to slaughter me in my sleep, you’re out of luck. There’s no sleep in sight. I’m about to wolf down a couple of donuts for the heck of it.” There’s no way I’m breathing a word of Operation Dark Horse to her. Rory is sort of a dark horse herself. Ironic since she rode in on one many, many moons ago—although that steed was rather pale.
Her brows lift. “Mind if I join you?”
“Only if you promise not to burn the house down when you leave.”
She rolls her eyes as she widens the door. “How the heck am I supposed to get in there with all that junk blocking the entry?”
“It’s not an entry. And if we had any kind of relationship at all, you’d know that.”
“Fine.” She grabs onto my hand and I do my best to help her climb over the debris as an avalanche of cereal boxes and a stack of paper plates go tumbling to the floor. I shut the door behind her and choose to leave the mess we just made right where it is.
She gives an amused look around. “I’m surprised you let me in.”
“Yes, well, the baby has me doing all sorts of ridiculous things. I think it’s eating my brain cells for breakfast. Do you want a donut?”
“I thought you’d never ask. Would you believe Dominique Winters has a no junk food policy in that twisted mansion she lives in?”
“Dominique Winters is batshit crazy. I’m surprised you haven’t gotten lost for good in that maze of a house.” It’s true. Somewhere along the line, Dominique Winters decided to give that Winchester chick a run for her psychotic money. Dominique took a page out of that quirky woman’s playbook and has been adding onto her home for years now. And word on the schizophrenic street is that a lot of those doors lead to nowhere. “Did she give you a road map when you moved into your new body? I don’t believe for a minute Dom hasn’t noticed Cassandra Graham has left the haunted building.”
Rory waves me off as I gather a couple of glasses and motion for her to pick up the box of donuts.
“Cassandra Graham is still very much here. She’s not happy about it either.”
“I take it you didn’t get her permission before taking over?” We take a seat at the table and I pour us each a glass of almond milk.
“I didn’t need it,” she says, plucking a donut out of the box. “The body wasn’t hers to begin with.” She cocks her head while toasting me with a donut.
Neither was Chloe’s body but I’m not up for debating the rules of a proper possession.
“So what you’re saying is I could come back as Melody Winters and save myself from infiltrating hostile Bishop territory. Not that Chloe was all that hostile—all things considering. Why are you here? Is Gage waiting for you to lure me outside so the two of you could finish me off?”
She rolls her eyes. “I would never hurt you now that you’re with child.”
“You can always wait until I have the baby.” I wolf down half a donut and moan through each delicious bite.
“I could, but I won’t.” Her upper lip twitches. “My time is at hand.”
“What time? You’re dead, Rory. You don’t belong in this place or time at all. You are in effect a time bandit.”
“It’s true,” she muses as she takes another bite. “But Mother has factored me into this game of hers. You see, I may have been dead, but this, too, has been my destiny.”
“You died in utero,” I remind her.
