But he’d come home almost two years agonow.
And look at them: inlove.
Hatter snapped his fingers. “Jean?” he said in that Texas accent that I thought he just put on so people would buy his long-and-lanky, easy-going cowboy vibe. “I think we brokeher.”
“Please.” I rolled my eyes. “Like anything about this job can break me. What is it, what do I have todo?”
“You do know what day today is?” Hatterasked.
“Septemberthirtieth?”
Shoe snorted a laugh, which was all the laugh that man could make. Shoe had been Hatter’s partner when they’d been on the force up in Tillamook before we’d stolen them for the force here. He was Hatter’s opposite in just about every way. Short, wide, reticent, suspicious, and seemingly humorless. Seemingly, but not actually without humor. Get a few drinks into that man, and he was ahoot.
“Try again,” Hatter suggested. He waggled his eyebrows and bit down on a juicygrin.
“It’s the first,” Delaney said, totally squashing his fun. “October first, Jean. Tonight, when the sun goes down in three hours, you’ll need to beready.”
I heard her, but the only words that registered were the date. October first. Already? Yes, of course, already. I’d just been admiring the autumn leaves and reminiscing aboutHalloween.
How had I forgotten the horror we had to deal with everyOctober?
“Jean?” Delaneysaid.
Hatter snapped his fingersagain.
I glanced up at him. At her. At all of them. Felt the fear crawl over my skin with prickly feet. “Thegnomes.”
It came out as a roughwhisper.
Shoe snortedagain.
“We hear it’s a problem,” Hatter drawled. “You folks have to deal with them every October? Thatright?”
I tried to talk, but my throat was too dry. So I swallowed and tried again. “It’s more thanthat.”
“It will be fine,” Delaney said. “I did it the year before last. No bigdeal.”
“If you call that slimy disaster no big deal,” Isaid.
“You’re beingdramatic.”
“We were scrubbing pixie puke off the highway forweeks.”
“Pixie puke?” Ryderasked.
Yes, he’d lived in Ordinary all his life, but he’d only recently found out about the secrets it held. He always jumped in and asked questions whenever we mentioned a new kind of creature that he didn’t know livedhere.
Delaney had made us swear not to clue him in to any of the supernaturals because she liked to make him figure it out on hisown.
Frankly, I thought she used that knowledge in exchange for kinky sex orsomething.
“The papers said it was a hag fish spill,” Myrasupplied.
Ryder frowned. “So pixies look like snoteels?”
“Not at all,” Delaney said. “But when gnomes make an entire swarm of pixies puke, it gets pretty slimy. All over the highway. All over half a dozen unfortunate cars. Smells like rotten fish. And takes days to clean up.” At the look on his face, she smiled. “Aren’t you glad you know that little factoid, Mr.Bailey?”
“Uh, notreally.”
