Robert growled a little. “Whiskey. Please. Friend.”
I handed him what was left in the bottom of the teacup, and he grasped it with his hands, bony fingers clacking against the bone china, and then the distinct sound of the whiskey hitting ribs as it slid down and dripped to the ground beneath his feet.
Penny sighed. “You got several problems, girly. Someone in Savannah is trying to kill you, that much is obvious, and whoever took Celia won’t hesitate to do the same to you and your friends if you get in their way.”
“Tell me something I don’t know,” I mumbled as I took the cup back from Robert. As tempting as it was to pour another full cup, I restrained myself. I needed my wits about me for what was coming.
Drinking could come later, during a celebration of some sort. Like a yay, we’re alive and the bad guy is dead sort of celebration. Maybe I’d get some champagne and really class things up.
Penny snapped her fingers, and a small square card appeared in her hand. “You can stay at our coven’s safe house in NOLA. Room on the third floor at the end was the one Celia liked. It’s on Rampart Street, right near a small unmarked cemetery and not far from the river. This should help you out some. It’s a hidden house, like this place here, so don’t lose this card or you won’t find your way in.”
“Will my friends be able to go in?” I asked.
“If you lead them in by the hand, one at a time,” she said with a heavy sigh.
I stared at the woman across from me, seeing what time had done to her skin, her hair, and her body, aging her and giving her aches and pains. She wasn’t spry in any sense of the word, yet her eyes glittered with life and intelligence and more than that . . . fun. She had a spirit of mischief about her that made me smile, and I suspected it was what had drawn Gran to her. If I was the type to find trouble, Penny was trouble in a nutshell.
“Why are you smiling at me?” She tipped her head to one side and squinted at me.
I grinned as the idea flowed out of my mouth before I could think better of it. “You want to go to NOLA with us? See what we can figure out together?”
Her cackle filled the air as she slapped the table. “You trust me?”
“Oh, hell no.” I waved a hand at her. “But you’re fun, and I think you can help me find Gran. Some memories came back to me in the graveyard. She let herself relax with you in a way she never did with Missy and Hattie. And I think she brought me here for a reason back then, maybe so I could find you again.”
Penny pushed to her feet. “I thought you’d never ask. It would be against the coven’s rules for me to suggest it, but you can ask for assistance and I can agree to give it, which we’ve just done. I will help you find your path, Bree O’Rylee.”
I nodded. “Do you need anything before we go?”
She tapped her cane on the porch. “Nah, got my cane. The safe house is stocked with food, clothes, and spell books.”
I held out an arm, and she settled her hand in the crook of it as I helped her down the stairs . . . and back into view apparently.
Corb stood at the bottom of the stairs, so close he should have been able to see them, yet his eyes never landed on them, only on me. “Shit, Bree, you just disappeared!”
“How long was I gone?” I asked as I helped Penny walk through the long grasses toward the cemetery. The others turned to follow us.
“Five seconds. Less maybe,” Sarge answered. “Wait, what is happening?”
“Penny is coming with us,” I said. “She was one of Gran’s friends, and she’s got a place in NOLA that will hide us.”
The silence of the two men was telling. But Feish stepped toward us and said, “She is not your best friend. I am. To be clear, that is the rule.”
Kinkly pushed the lip of my bag open and hung over the edge of the leather, yawning. “I don’t care who comes with us. I just need to sleep off this sugar.” Her jaw cracked on the next yawn, and then she