I tapped Bathin on the shoulder and swung onto the empty bar stool next to him. “You here because of Patrick?”
“Isn’t everyone?”
“Probably.” Bathin and I had been tied together long enough that I had a sense of his moods. His current mood was calm, like the sky right before a thunderstorm tears it apart.
“Do you know him?” I asked.
“No.”
“He recognized you. Yeeted out of here as soon as he saw you.”
Bathin squinted at the exit, then picked up his beer and drank. “Interesting. He’s definitely been around demons lately.”
“Really? How do you know?”
“Leprechauns are hard to pin down because luck always goes their way. I think a demon’s pinned him down.”
“But how do you know?”
“I smelled the soured luck.”
“Your mom mentioned something about that. Leprechauns have a scent?”
“You can’t tell?”
“He smells a little like Sunset Riot, or one of those high-priced Tom Ford colognes.”
“No, he smells like soured luck.”
“Now you’re going to explain what soured luck is, and what it has to do with a leprechaun coming into our town and wanting to watch my wedding rehearsal.”
“If his luck has soured, then he’s either lost a very large and very terrible bet, or someone has pinned him to a contract he can’t get out of. Soured luck means things may not always go his way.”
“Think he’s on the run?”
“I don’t know. If so, he’s not hiding with all those films.”
“Do you think it’s your dad? Can he use the leprechaun against us?”
“I…” He frowned. “My father wouldn’t rely on someone so weak. Any leprechaun that can be caught by a demon wouldn’t be strong enough to carry out a demon’s orders.
“Besides, luck is luck. Even soured, it’s gonna go the way of the leprechaun eventually. No demon’s dumb enough to think using a leprechaun won’t blow up in their face. Especially an angry leprechaun.”
“How dangerous are angry leprechauns?”
“You ever met a werewolf with a toothache?”
A faint memory from my childhood—Dad looking grim and buckling on all his tactical gear—flashed behind my eyes. “Kind of?”
“That.” He tipped his head considering. “More than that.”
“Terrific. Just what we need right now, an angry leprechaun.”
“Oh, he’s not angry yet. You’ll know when he’s angry. Right now he’s just trying to decide whose side I’m on. His or the demon’s who trapped him.”
“Maybe you’re on our side. Ordinary’s side.”
“He wouldn’t believe that if I swore to it under a truth spell.”
