She had zero explanation as for how it had shown up on her kitchen table, but she made wide circles around it to avoid contact anyway.
None of her reasoning stuck, other than the idea maybe she’d eaten something that had given her hallucinations.That daggone cotton candy at the swap meet was always her undoing.
Then, she’d stopped trying to figure it out altogether and spent the next day continuing to ignore it.
But she couldn’t overlook her outburst at the CVS, when she cried the name Thor, nor could she stop the word from shooting out of her mouth.
By nightfall a couple days later?At first, Dom had cowered in the corner for a while, like a sniveling wimp, convinced she’d need phyciatric help.Only when she’d retrieved her wits and some of her dignity did she begin to Google paranormal happenings, and then she came across the OOPS website.
She’d dialed with trembling fingers and her heart in her throat.
So for the love of Swedish meatballs, how could she possibly explain this hammer had not only followed her home andtalked, but it also insisted that it belonged to her.
This hammer, this tool with the sultry voice, this intelligent but inanimate object, claimed it was herdestiny.
Onlyshecould have a destiny that involved a beat-up old hammer instead of a handsome white knight on his trusty steed.
ChapterTwo
The sudden pounding on her door from some very heavy fists made Dom cringe in abject fear, pressing the phone to her ear and tightening her grip on the knife she’d grabbed from her utility drawer.
“Dom?”Marty called her name.“What’s happening?What’s that banging?”
“Someone’s banging on my door and they don’t sound friendly!”she whispered into the phone.Maybe it was someone who wanted their magic hammer back?Maybe it was the guy from the swap meet?
If she owned a talking hammer, she’d sure want it back, too.
“Hello?”Someone banged again.“Miss?My name is Harvey Larsen, and I think you have something of mine.”
There was a raspy sigh, and then the hammer said, “Ah, Harvey’s here.I wondered when he’d show up.Fear not,kærr.Harvey’s harmless.I promise you.A little misguided, but harmless.”
Dom’s eyes flew open wide as she ran to the other side of her kitchen.“Stop talking to me!”she begged, gripping the handle of the knife until her hand hurt.
The gentle voice, silky in her ears, offered more reassurance.“If you would only listen to me, Dominique, I could help you understand what’s happening.”
Said the serial killer to its victim…
“I don’t want to understand!”she all but screamed, pressing herself against her countertop.“I want you to leave me alone!”
Father God, she was talking to a hammer.
“Hello?”the male voice, strong and deep, called out again.
“Go away!”she yelled at her front door, the one she’d recently painted a soft pink, when there’d been a time she’d done mundane chores likenot talking to a hammer.
“Listen, Miss, I can hear you’re frightened, and I promise you, I’m not here to hurt you.I understand why you’re afraid, and I can explain.But I think you have something of mine and that requires a conversation.Could wepleasetalk?”
Then, surprisingly, she heard a recently familiar voice ask, “Who the fuck are you, Big Bird, and what the fuck do you think you’re doing here?”
Nina!The woman sounded like Nina from OOPS.
But…how had she found her?How had she found her townhouse?
“Did you hear me?I said back the fuck off, Sasquatch!”
“Nina!”an unfamiliar, very feminine voice chastised.“How about we ask questions instead of throwing hands when the subject presents as non-threatening?”
Another knock on the door sounded, gentler, less intimidating.“Dom, it’s Marty, honey?—”
