Goddess. If I can’t, I’ll tell you who’s setting people against each other in their sleep.”
Al’s warning of him being a trickster rose. Hands in my pockets, I looked up at him, wanting the charms but wanting the name of who was responsible more. “What’s the catch?”
Hodin stiffened, silent as a car slowed down, the woman driving it checking him out. “There’s no . . . catch,” he said, and I eyed him, thinking he was a tall, dark-jean, leather-jacket, closed-emotion enigma. Finally I swung my bag around to find my wallet.
“Okay, but if I win, I want you to stop following me as well.”
Hodin took the wad of folding cash I gave him, holding it between two fingers as if it was a dead rat. “Damn curious way to run an economy.”
“It’s what we got,” I said, then retreated to a nearby bench as he strode to the shop, his biker boots silent, looking like an undead in the sun. The door shut with a cheerful tinkle of chimes, and I waited in nervous anticipation, counting the uncaring cars going by.
“She’s not going to sell them to him,” I whispered, fidgeting as I sat on the edge of the cold bench and stared at the store. No-doze charms worked for a day or two at the most, and you paid for it later in diamonds. I didn’t think whoever was doing this was targeting me, but even so, we had to get this done fast. “I knew it,” I said, both triumphant and disappointed when he almost immediately came out, but my lips parted at the bag in his hand with Patricia’s logo on the side.
“She sold them to you?” I exclaimed, standing when he closed the distance between us and handed me the bag. Head down, I looked inside to see four packaged charms. “I can’t believe she sold them to you,” I said, worry sparking through me. Damn it, now I have nothing. “She had to have known that you were buying them for me.”
“I can be persuasive,” he said distantly. “You have your charms. Now, how did you not only survive Gally, but regain his trust?”
Crap on toast, all I’d done was get some charms I could have purchased across town. But then my gaze flicked to him. “Where’s my change?”
“Your what?” Hodin seemed to freeze.
“Change.” Head tilted, I pressed forward into his space until he took a step back. “You know, the difference between what I gave you and what the charms are worth.”
“That’s what that is,” he almost whispered, his focus distant.
“Oh. My. God,” I said, almost laughing. “Did you steal them? And the bag, too? You owe me, Hodin. I won. The deal was, and I quote, ‘If I can get that witch to sell me the charms.’ Not ‘If I get you your charms’ or ‘If I can steal the charms and not get caught.’”
Hodin’s dark complexion flushed. “I didn’t steal them.”
“Then where’s my change?” I said, knowing what my mom must have felt like. “And my receipt,” I added. “I need that for my taxes.”
“The money is in the till,” he said uncomfortably. “I didn’t steal them.”
“No, you just overpaid. I gave you enough for a dozen charms. You brought me four.”
“Ah . . .”
Bag in hand, I sucked on my teeth, looking from his stiff expression to the quiet store. “You stuffed the till and took what you wanted, the bag included.”
He turned as if to leave. I made a grab for his sleeve, jerking away when he spun before I could touch him. “Hey. We had a deal. Who’s doing this? Hodin, don’t go. I was going to tell you about Al anyway—” I dropped back, voice choking off at Hodin’s sudden glare.
“If you’re buying no-sleep charms, you already know what it is,” he said, goat-slitted eyes on the bag of charms. “Staying awake is the only way to survive the baku once it targets your aura. Pray that it gets what it wants before it eats all your shells and leaves you an animal.”
Whoa. Wait up. My breath caught, and I stared at him. “A baku? That’s what’s doing this?” I pulled a windblown curl out of my mouth. “I’ve never heard of a baku. How do you stop it?”
Hodin’s dark expression seemed to falter, and he hesitated, searching my face as if unsure. “The baku,” he finally said, correcting me. “There’s only one, and you can’t stop it. You endure it.” Hodin sat in the middle of