in here, hoping we’d take care of it?” Crap on toast, I didn’t want to have to stop at the boat and change before meeting Trent and the girls at the top of Carew Tower for his lunch and my breakfast, but that’s what I’d be doing if I touched it.
“Probably.” Ivy jumped from the open hallway to land on the plywood with an attention-getting thump. “You got anything on you for this?”
Jenks looked at me and shrugged, and sighing, I awkwardly followed her. “I should have worn more leather,” I muttered, then louder, “Anything that works on a zombie?” I hefted a charred two-by-four the cleanup crew had missed. “Sure. Jenks, some distraction?”
Jenks darted off, and Ivy lifted a crowbar, wiping the colorful wet leaves from it and taking a few practice swings. “You look nice today,” she said. “I’ll take the bottom.”
“Thanks,” I said in relief. “I dressed up for David. He always makes me feel like a slob.”
“I know what you mean,” she said, glancing back at the trim man. Yes, he had some scruff, and his long hair was escaping the clip at the back of his neck, but he carried himself with enough grace that he looked like a million bucks in jeans and a leather coat.
“The I.S. won’t send anyone,” David said loudly, standing to lean against the interior wall. “They want you to take him to the zoo.”
“The zoo?” I said in disbelief. Weapons in hand, Ivy and I paced forward as Jenks buzzed the slow zombie, easily staying away from his confused swipes. “Are they serious?”
“They put in an exhibit last week.” Ivy pointed for me to go right while she took the left.
My God, the stench was a thousand times worse this close. “They’re putting these things on display?” I muttered, breath shallow as I wove through the tombstones and tall grass.
Jenks zipped to us as Mr. Z whimpered, his back to us as he tried to find the pixy. A flat circle of grass detailed his circular path, making a nice place to down him. “They’re probably the only people who have a strong enough air filter,” Jenks said as he settled in my hair, clearly cold. “Fairy farts, he stinks. I think I burned my wings on his stench.”
“The kids love them!” David shouted from the raw opening to the church. “Watching them bang into things. Lose parts. You know!”
The zombie was between me and Ivy, and I hefted my two-by-four. “That’s not getting in my car,” I said, and Ivy jerked.
“You’re the one with the convertible,” she said, and Mr. Z groaned in indecision, relying on our voices to find us, as his eyes were a hazed opaque.
“So?” I adjusted my grip as Mr. Z decided on me. “You telling me your trunk hasn’t had a dead man in it before?”
“Not one that smelled like that.”
“Ladies?” Jenks said from my hair. “Can we finish this before the sun goes nova? I have to talk to Trent tonight about renting out a tree in his conservatory.”
A real smile came over my face, and I suddenly felt invincible. Jenks would survive the winter at Trent’s, and there was no way in hell that decaying piece of animated magic was getting in my car. I nodded to Ivy, and we both jogged forward. Eight steps was all it took, and Ivy cut his feet out from behind him as I smacked him on the forehead.
Mr. Z collapsed backward with a startled whimper, his face to the sky and blubbering as his orientation was lost. It would be at least ten minutes before he realized he was on the ground.
“Sweet as pixy piss,” Jenks said, and I dropped the two-by-four. Ivy met my grin with her own. It was always a pleasure to work with her, even this little.
Slowly my smile fell, but no one noticed, as David had finally gotten over his heebie-jeebies and was striding through the long grass and tombstones with the pool table cover to wrap Mr. Z in. I didn’t want Ivy to stay at Piscary’s when we moved back into the church, but with Nina . . . It was better this way. Ivy had been drifting away for a long time.
And as I’d told Jenks, it wasn’t as if she was dead.
CHAPTER
2
a small crowd had gathered At the back gate to the zoo, mostly patrons, since the employees had probably had their fill of zombie stink by now and were finding other things to do—things