All the Rules of Heaven (All That Heaven Will Allow #1) - Amy Lane Page 0,100
you and me would get some time alone.”
Tucker chuckled as he and Angel followed the poor man inside.
Rae was standing by the sink washing her hands when they walked in. She nodded at Tucker and then squinted behind him.
Then she squinted at Tucker again and just that quickly invaded his space. “What did you do to your face?” she demanded. “And what did you do to my work?”
Tucker touched the necklace at his throat and frowned. Glancing at Angel, he pulled the chain over his head and held the circumscribed pentagram in the palm of his hand.
“It’s… twisted,” he murmured. The points of the star remained firmly soldered to the circle around them, but all stretches of the silver had twisted, warping, creating a three-dimensional sphere, with what had once been a garnet suspended in the middle.
The stone was now black as an onyx, but cut in facets, like a diamond.
“That is very interesting,” he said, wondering what it meant. “Angel, any ideas?”
“Well, the pentagram is supposed to represent the five senses,” Angel said thoughtfully. “And safety—hiding—because of all the angles, the nooks and crannies it holds. This looks like the epitome of that. The shape is using the nooks and crannies to protect the rare thing inside.”
“Is that really a black diamond?” Tucker turned the sphere to try to get a better look at it.
And then it turned red.
Tucker looked to see what Rae thought, but she was looking over his shoulder. “Angel, you are almost visible. Do you know that?”
“Even Josh saw me,” Angel said, sounding proud.
“Tucker, what in the hell is going on over there?” With a frustrated grunt, Rae pulled a scrunchy out of her pocket and used it to capture the frothy wealth of graying hair on the top of her head.
“I’m thinking hell is sort of the problem.”
“Sit down,” Rae gestured. “Both of you. God, Tucker, your nose is truly special, you know that? You sit too, Josh.” She turned her head and started to holler. “Coral! Murphy! Tilda! You guys get in here and listen and fetch, okay? Coral, you especially—we’re going to need you!”
“Mom! I’m in the middle of Overwatch!”
“Coral Catherine, do you ever want to play that game again?”
The grumpy sound of irritated preadolescent was enough to lighten the air in the kitchen, so by the time the kids came in, big-eyed and sober, Tucker managed to not feel like he was including grade-schoolers in on a council of war.
“Oh!” Coral said, hanging over what was probably a vacant chair to her father and mother. “Sorry about your face, Tucker. Hey, Angel. You’re looking very solid today.”
“I can’t see him,” Tilda said flatly. “Am I excused?”
“No,” her mother told her. “Just ’cause you can’t see shit, that doesn’t mean it can’t hurt you. Tucker, tell us what happened.”
Tucker started with discovering the pentagram around his neck and the confrontation with a dangerous ghost in the garden.
“Angel doesn’t think Conklin will come in—he thinks it violates all of the rules Conklin valued.”
Rae snorted. “Yes, well, you and Angel violate all of the rules you value, so I’m with you, Tucker. I wouldn’t trust Conklin’s ghost, not for a minute.”
“What do you think he will do?” Josh asked, frowning. Tucker was relieved that he didn’t look doubtful—it was good to have Josh on board.
“I’m not sure.” Tucker leaned on his elbows. “If he’s corporeal, he could come in and attack me as I slept. I’m worried about that, but not too worried.” He smiled briefly. “Me and Angel could take him.”
Angel snorted.
“What if he’s not corporeal?” Rae asked, equally serious.
“That’s the scariest part,” Tucker admitted. “When we tangled in the front yard—” He touched his swollen nose gingerly. “—he wasn’t running at me to attack me. He was running at me to do what the ghosts at the graveyard tried to do.”
Rae and the kids all shuddered, apparently understanding the direness of having another person’s soul inside them.
“He wanted to take you over,” Rae said, and Tucker nodded. “Why didn’t he try before then?”
Tucker tugged at the charm at his throat. “I don’t think he saw me without this. So this was like a gift and a curse. It helped me fight that ghost off, but it took away my camouflage as a standard member of the living.”
“Hmmm….” She tightened her scrunchy and paced. “Why this guy?”
Tucker and Angel exchanged glances. “He’s an asshole?” Tucker said after a moment.
She pinned him with a “mom” gaze. “You will elaborate.”