Page 86

I thought about it. “Pretty much.”

“And you’ve promised your soul to him.”

“He’s not the devil. He’s a—”

“A shadow monster. I did some research. He’s dangerous, Rowan. You need to be extremely careful.”

I rolled my eyes. “I’m not taking advice from you.”

Tyler seemed to catch himself, deliberately taking a few slow breaths. “I just want my things. That’s not an unreasonable request.”

“It’s not,” I agreed. “The unreasonable part is turning up here and thinking I’m just going to stand aside and let you into my house. The same house you tried to lock me out of.”

“Five minutes,” Tyler pleaded.

“No. I’ll pack everything up.”

“When?”

I sighed. “Tomorrow. That’s the best I can do.”

“Tomorrow,” Tyler repeated.

I gave his foot another pointed look. As soon as he withdrew it, I slammed the door shut.

“Tomorrow,” Tyler shouted through the door.

“Yeah, yeah,” was the only reply I could muster.

I turned to find Laura standing in the kitchen doorway, her expression immediately telling me that something was wrong. “It followed you,” she said.

Chapter Thirty

Rowan

Shit! It had never occurred to me that Laura might have listened in on my conversation with Tyler. Then again, could I honestly claim that if the roles were reversed, and I heard raised voices while visiting someone, I wouldn’t feel tempted to eavesdrop? I quickly ran through ways to deal with the situation. The most obvious was to lie through my teeth and claim she’d misheard or misunderstood.

Not exactly a great way to start a friendship. Then there was Caligo to think about. Much like Laura, he was probably listening, and did I really want to deny his existence while he did? He’d saved my life. It wasn’t a great way to repay him.

“Not it,” I said as I walked back into the kitchen, “he.”

“So you’re not even going to deny it?”

“And he has a name.”

“Yeah?” Laura sounded surprised.

“Of course he does. Everyone has a name.”

Laura wrapped her arms around herself, rubbing her upper arms as if she were warding off a chill. “I thought I could feel him in here before, but I convinced myself I was just paranoid. He was here, though, wasn’t he?”

“I don’t know. I can’t feel him like that.” She gave me a sharp look. “Probably,” I conceded. “He’s in the house.”

Laura backed up against the wall, her face pale enough to make me feel guilty. “Listen,” I said. “You don’t need to fear him. He’s not going to hurt you.”

“You can’t promise that.”

“I can.”