Phantom of the Library - Lidiya Foxglove Page 0,3
grooviest lawyer!” Billie said. “I love this place! I mean, we definitely have to change most things…but I love it.”
Byron had stopped to look at some photos hanging on the wall in the hallway. I came up behind him and wished I could touch him. He could become touchable for brief moments, but only when he chose. My hand hung in the air just behind his back, the memory of my skin knowing all too well how solid he could feel.
“All these celebrities are demons?” I murmured.
“Yep.”
“Hm. Well, I guess that explains how Tom Selleck got that reverse mortgage gig. Sam must have been a really fun guy.” The photos were full of what looked like totally rocking parties, like old photos of Studio 54 and everyone having a good time. Probably better than Studio 54. Wizards never trusted cocaine.
“Byron…this must be hard for you, to say goodbye to the last of your friends.”
Some of the photos of Sam and the other Sons of Pandora on the wall included Byron in them. He looked just the same, younger than the other three. I saw Graham’s grandmother there too.
“I’m just glad you’re here,” Byron whispered. “This is all so long gone. Another life altogether. But when we’re together, Helena, this house feels reborn. And so do I. It’s so close now that I can taste you.”
“Don’t you mean taste it?”
“No, the first one.” He winked at me. A little mischief buried his sadness over losing his old—very old—friends. I couldn’t really imagine how hard it would be.
As we looked at the photos, I felt like I could hear some very faint, sad female singing. The neighbors? “Byron, do you hear that?”
“That’s Maya,” he said.
Female. Singing sadly. Broken fountain. Crap.
“Is Maya a water spirit?” I asked.
“Indeed.”
“Aw, crap.”
The front door flew open and Graham ran in looking more disheveled than when I last saw him, you know, about five minutes ago.
“Is your shirt scorched?” My eyes zeroed in on a brown mark on Graham’s arm, like you might get if you left an iron there too long.
“We have problems,” he said.
“It’s too soon for problems!” I cried.
“Well, we have them anyway.”
“Graham, you can’t handle a couple of old wizards?” Jake said. “I’ll talk to them.”
“I wouldn’t—”
Jake opened the door and was immediately zapped back into the door.
Yep. We had one of the worst problems. Termites were easy to get rid of. Roof leaks could be fixed. But a mob of angry neighbors? Shit.
Chapter Two
Helena
This was not what you wanted when you were trying to deal with ancient artifacts and raise dead demigods. You know. The stuff you might rather do in private. Nor was it what you wanted when you were just trying to renovate a house.
Somehow, in the five minutes we left Graham alone, one rambling old man had turned into more like a dozen old people shambling toward the house on wizened staffs and cool canes topped with silver animal heads. They were a chorus of, “Are you going to ruin Sam’s house?” and “You better not make noise past five o’ clock!” and “You’d better be aware that we have a town ordinance against any spirit summoning without approval!”
I mustered up my best boarding school manners and said, “Excuse me, ladies and gentlemen, let me just make a few things clear. We’re just here to spruce up this absolutely beautiful house. We won’t make noise after dark—”
“We won’t?” Jake said behind me, but I barreled on,
“And we’re not going to summon any spirits! We just want to make this place shine.”
The old people looked a little deflated.
“I mean, you could summon spirits, just not without permission,” one old woman said. I was going to guess she was Hepzibah because she was standing next to Al. She was wearing a black dress with a white collar that looked so much like the dress I was wearing that now I wouldn’t be able to wear it again, which sucked because I didn’t have that many clothes with me.
“Yes, we want to know who the spirits are first,” a tiny old lady with a long white braid said. “Maybe you could even invite us over.”
“You just shot me with a fireball a minute ago because I didn’t answer all your questions about summoning demons fast enough,” Graham said. “Now you want us to invite you over for a demon summoning party?”
“Well, I had to test you, young man.”
“It’s been a long time since any young people moved in,” the Hepzibah said. “Al and