“That’s me,” Shitty Ritchie called out, giving his hiding place up.
The man really had only two brain cells, and they were definitely not connected.
I closed my eyes for a brief moment. I’d told Gideon, the love of my life—my other half, that I would leave him if he didn’t protect Alana Catherine. I was willing to die for her. Was I willing to sacrifice Shitty Ritchie for the safety of my daughter? I knew, and clearly the Higher Power knew, that there needed to be three—a Trinity—to remove It from power. If It eliminated one of the three, the transfer would never happen, and It could go on terrorizing the Immortal and human world forever.
Gideon glanced over at me. I looked back at him and shook my head no. I would not let Shitty Ritchie die. That wasn’t mine or anyone else’s call to make.
And then Richard Smith aka Shitty Ritchie chimed in.
“Let fake Tom Hanks take me,” he whispered. “I’m tired. That shart sperm won’t ever stop. I’ll be running until the end of time. I’m a lucky guy who finally knows what it means to have friends. I can die a complete person due to that. I’m sad that I never got to put my peepee in the love cavity, but, alas, some things are not meant to be. Let me die for my friends. It would make me proud. However, you have to promise me if you ever have a son that you’ll name him Shitty Ritchie in my honor.”
I couldn’t believe that I could laugh in the face of what was going down. But I could. So, I did. Shitty Ritchie was a piece of work, and he was going nowhere fast.
“No deal,” I said. “Richard Smith stays and you will leave. The third of the Trinity that you fear will take centuries to arrive. You have nothing to fear.”
“Yet,” Candy Vargo muttered.
Fake Tom Hanks began to laugh. He laughed so hard he fell to the ground in hysterics. It was unsettling to watch. There was no joy in the laughter—no humor. It sounded unhinged. Crawling back to his feet, he eyed me with furious disdain.
I had to admit, it was off-putting to be sneered at by Tom Hanks, fake or not.
“The third exists, Angel of Mercy,” It snarled. “You’ve hidden her in a safehouse.”
Shit. It had to be Tory. Why didn’t we think of that? She was at Candy Vargo’s when the zombies had paid a visit. She was old. She didn’t look it, but that was beside the point. The only piece of the puzzle that didn’t fit was the human-ish part. The positive amidst all the horrible was that June and Jennifer were safe.
“Tory,” Gideon murmured under his breath.
“Bingo.”
“Oh my gosh y’all,” Jennifer yelled from the front porch, holding her laptop high. She was smiling, but also seemed shaky and pale. “I found out. I know who my pappy is!”
Fake Tom Hanks’ eyes narrowed to slits and he zoned in on Jennifer. I wasn’t the only one who noticed. Was the Higher Power about to start making good on the threat of destroying everything and everyone we loved?
Candy Vargo, made a run for Jennifer to shove her back into the house.
She was too late.
In a screaming fit of rage, Fake Tom Hanks sent a bolt of electricity straight at Jennifer’s chest. The expression of shock and then agony on my dear friend’s face made me scream.
As she fell to the ground, blood gushed from the wound. “Did Tom Hanks just murder me? That’s just awful,” she choked out right before she passed out.
Tim’s scream sounded inhuman. He was next to Jennifer so fast I didn’t see him move. He held his dying friend in his arms and sobbed uncontrollably. Tim was a healer and was sending magic through her body as fast as he could. It wasn’t working. Gram and Mr. Jackson hovered above and wailed. Candy held the laptop in her hands as June and Heather attempted to stop the bleeding to no avail. Everyone was crying.
Fake Tom Hanks had a few parting words. “My work here is done,” he shouted gleefully. “The third has been destroyed. There will be no Trinity now.”
I felt like a predator. Fake Tom Hanks was my prey. I wanted It dead, and I wanted to be the one to kill It. Being rash would probably end in my own demise. I knew, and I didn’t care. I wasn’t thinking straight. Quickly reminding myself that murder was off the table, I wondered if maybe I could beat the living hell out of It. Would that satisfy my rage? Probably not, but I was willing to test the theory.
I took off at a sprint that rendered me invisible. That bitch was going down. The Higher Power had just killed a human—an innocent human. Even worse. She was my friend. One of the best. And for no good reason. Jennifer? Part of the Trinity? Ridiculous. It wasn’t possible. How in the hell could a human be a part of an Immortal Trinity?”
Only a few feet away, I pounced at the High Power, but in a blink, the all-powerful bane of my existence disappeared in a blast of rainbow glitter. The abrupt empty space did not give mea soft landing, and I landed face-down in the dirt where Fake Tom Hanks had stood only a split second earlier.
A scream of frustration tore from my throat. I’d failed.
Gideon picked me up and held me tight. I felt another set of arms go around me and a curly-haired head rested on my shoulder. The arms were female. Heather, Catriona and June were across the yard with Jennifer. Who was hugging me?
“Hi, mom,” Alana Catherine said when I turned my head to figure the mystery out.
She wasn’t a baby. She was the twenty-year-old version, who I’d met on the Higher Power’s plane.
