Part 10 (1/2)
I shook my head. ”I don't know. It's just...have you ever had a feeling like something important was said, but you missed it?”
”No.”
”Then you're lucky. Somehow, I feel like she said something that I wanted to think about, but I was distracted, and now it's gone.”
”It'll come back to you.” He watched Savannah at the door for a moment.
”Will you come with me when I try to talk to your husband?”
”Sure, although I doubt it will do any good. He seldom listens to me in the best of circ.u.mstances.”
He gave me a long look with his icy blue eyes.
”Spider is extremely stubborn; I'm just warning you of that.”
”I intend to make him see reason.”
”Well, we can but try. Pixie, what on earth are you doing?”
”It's Obsidian Angel! Deus, you have the memory of an ice cube!”
”Fine, Obsidian Angel, what are you doing with that bar of soap?”
”Drawing a circle, obviously.” The look she gave me said in no uncertain terms what she thought of my IQ. ”So we can summon a ghoul. I'd give anything to be able to talk to a real ghoul.”
”You wouldn't get much talking done before it tried to strip the flesh off your bones,” Adam said under his breath. ”Stop rubbing soap on my floor.”
She threw down the bar of soap with a muttered oath. ”You people are n.a.z.is! First you question me; now you're telling me what to do! What's next, the rack? Hot irons? Bamboo under my fingernails?”
”That's tempting...,” Adam said, giving her a gimlet eye.
She threw herself into a chair, arms crossed, her expression hostile.
”Honestly, men! And they say women take forever. Shall I go over the procedures while we wait for Meredith and Mr. Marx?” Savannah asked, coming back to the table. I stopped fidgeting and tried to put a pleasant expression on my face, but judging by the sympathetic looks my father was sending my way, I was afraid my reluctance was all too apparent.
Savannah chatted for a few moments about the seance, what she would be doing, along with our role in the proceedings.
”It sounds pretty straightforward. Does your group do many seances?” A thought struck me. I glanced at my watch.
”Only when we have a truly promising location, like this wonderful house.”
”Ah. Um...what happened to your group?”
She blinked at me. ”I beg your pardon?”
”Your group, the PMSers. You said they were due here at eleven, yes? It's a quarter to midnight. They must have discovered by now that they can't get into the house, and are probably worried sick about your safety.”
”Oh!” She beamed a happy smile at me. ”You're sweet to worry, but there's absolutely no need. I called Mac-he's the vice president-a little bit ago and told him the event was canceled.”
”Ah. You must have a cell phone?”
She made a little face. ”G.o.ddess, no! I am a complete technophobe. No cell phone or computer for me. I prefer to do things the old-fas.h.i.+oned way. I used Adam's phone to call Mac.” She leaned toward me, lowering her voice. ”I didn't think it was wise to tell them everything that's happened here.”
”I'm sure that's for the best. Things are confusing enough.” I met Adam's gaze. He raised both eyebrows, indicating he'd caught Savannah's lie. The sealing he had enacted affected the structure of the house-including the landline. A cell phone could get out, but not a phone with lines physically inside the house.
She clearly didn't know that, but her ignorance highlighted the question of why on earth she had lied about phoning someone. Evidently Adam didn't think it was a big deal. I wondered if her group could be quite as enthusiastic as she was. Perhaps no one had shown up, and she decided to cover up that fact by making it seem she'd sent them away.
Then again, maybe she had an ulterior motive for making us think she was a member of a psychic group when she wasn't. ... I shook my head at such unfounded suspicions. I'd been around my father too long and was obviously seeing mysteries where there were none.
8.
After a desultory bit of conversation dropped off entirely, Savannah tsked at her watch and frowned at the door. ”Where can they be? You said they couldn't get out?”
”No. The house is sealed,” Adam said. ”No one will get in or out until Spider agrees to go to a mediator about the house.”
”I hope you have plenty of food stocked up, because that could be a very long time,” I warned.
”I'm working on it. I've got a call in to my lawyer.”
”Well, just so long as this sealing is finished by morning, I'm fine with it,”
Savannah said, blithely unaware of the glances Adam and I were exchanging.
Clearly she had no concept of just what Adam had done.
”Do you want to tell her, or should I?” I asked him.
”Tell me what?” she asked, looking from me to Adam.
”This ought to be good,” Pixie told my father as he returned from the bathroom. He just smiled happily at her.
Adam cleared his throat. ”You'll probably do it better than me. I'm not good with explanations.”
”That's a cop-out if I ever heard one,” my father said.
Unable to sit next to Savannah while I worked out a way to tell her what was going on, I got out of the chair and went over to the fireplace, then fiddled with the porcelain figurines on the mantelpiece.
”What are you talking about?” Savannah asked. ”What do you need to tell me? Why is Karma so nervous?”
”I'm not nervous, I'm just...oh, never mind. The sealing that Adam has conducted won't be over in a few hours,” I said, moving on to the window.
”Adam is a member of a powerful group of people in the Otherworld.”
”Otherworld?” She frowned.
I tidied up a collection of postcards in a bowl on the sideboard. ”It's a collective name for those people who aren't mortal. There's a French term for it, too, but I can never p.r.o.nounce it. Most people call it the Otherworld. Adam is a part of that, and as such, he has powers that go beyond those of mortal people. Seals last for twelve hours.”