“Demons are never good.”
“I thought they were on our list of allies?”
“You remember Crow?”
“Hard to forget him.”
“Trickster god. At any given moment, he was lying, teasing, scheming, cheating. Just, seriously a pain in the butt twenty-four seven. If there was no trouble, he’d make trouble. For the gods, the creatures, the humans. He lived for chaos.”
“Sure. But you handled him.”
“I handled him because he’s a god and that gives me some say over his behavior in town. Also, he’s…nice. He’s always been a sort of uncle to us. And even though I know he’s a trickster, I trust him, trust who he’s proven to be when things get bad, you know?”
Ryder nodded.
“I’ve never met a demon. None of us have. Dad talked about them. Warned us to never speak to one, to never summon one without the proper back up and protocols in place. Demons make deals with dangerous consequences and the price is almost always worse than the service you get from them. They like to possess people for kicks. We’ve never had a demon in Ordinary since before my dad was a bridge.”
“And you think a demon was with your father’s ghost?”
“Yes.”
“So what’s our move?”
“On what?”
“Your dad’s ghost. Do we need to do something to help him? Put his spirit to rest? Do an exorcism?”
“I don’t know. Ghosts don’t stay in Ordinary unless they want to. The way the town is set up, it can’t be used as a trap for spirits. It’s against Ordinary’s laws.”
He waited, letting me try to wrap my brain around seeing Dad, seeing him distressed. Dad hadn’t said anything, but I was sure it wasn’t his hand that had punched me. That had to have been the demon, or ghost of a demon, or whatever that creature was behind him.
“We can talk to Jacques,” I said. “He might know.”
“Jacques Formton? Let me guess, ghost hunter?”
“Medium.”
“He runs the bowling alley, Delaney.”
“So?”
“Kind of hard to hear ghosts over all that racket.”
“Why do you think he runs the bowling alley? He doesn’t want to hear the ghosts all the time.”
Ryder just shook his head. “This town…it’s like I’ve been living with a blindfold over my eyes.”
“Don’t be hard on yourself. It’s our job to keep it a secret. We’re really good at it. Well, most of the time.”
He closed the distance between us, his boots heavy on the painted wooden floor. His hands slipped up to my arms again, soothing. I’d wrapped my arms over my chest as if I were trying to protect myself.
“Shhh,” he said before I could tell him I was fine. “Come here. Just for a second.”
He tugged me gently toward him and I went. Pressed my face against his shoulder, let him hold me with my arms still wrapped around myself.
His wide, warm palms rubbed a slow circle in the center of my back. Comforting, soothing as he held me tight.
“I’m fine,” I mumbled into his chest.
