"Welcome to Miami," she said. "Population: a few hundred… none of whom you want to meet."
"This is Miami?" I said.
"Weird, huh? Watch this."
She murmured an incantation, then rubbed her hand in front of us, as if cleaning glass. There, in the spot she'd cleared, was a tunnel view of a city street, neon signs blazing. A pair of headlights rounded the corner and headed straight for us. I locked my knees so I wouldn't bolt. The car zoomed to the edge of the "window," then disappeared.
"That's your Miami," she said, then pointed at the swamp. "This is ours."
She swiped her hand over the image, and it dissolved. I took a few steps, shoes squelching in the mud.
"Stick close," she said. "I'm serious about there being things out there you don't want to meet."
I looked around and shook my head. "So all the cities are gone in the ghost world?"
"Nah. Miami's special."
"What are the other cities like? Do they look like ours?"
"Kind of. That's the cool thing. They look like the real ones, but they're stuck in the past, at some important point in their history, their heyday or whatever."
I looked around. "So Miami's heyday was back when it was a primeval swamp?"
Eve grinned. "All downhill from there, huh? Or maybe it's a metaphorical thing."
"You said ghosts live in the other cities. What if you lived in Miami while you were alive? Would you have to relocate?"
"Mostly, yes. But those things I was mentioning, the ones that live here? Rumor has it that they used to be-" She grimaced and made a zipping motion over her mouth. "No more questions, Paige."
"But shouldn't I know-"
"No, you shouldn't. You don't need to. You just want to. God, I'd forgotten how curious you are. When you were little, I swore your first word wasn't 'Momma,' it was 'why.'"
"Just one last-"
"One last question? Ha! Do you have any idea how many times I fell for that one?" She started walking. "One last question. One last game. One last song."
"I just-"
"Stop talking and get moving or you'll learn more about this swamp than you ever cared to know."
Blindsided
Eve knew her way around the ghost-world Miami from her frequent visits over the last two weeks. What had lured her to this hell swamp? Us. She'd been keeping tabs on Lucas and me since we'd arrived in Miami, as she'd been periodically checking in on Savannah while she was under Elena's care. Apparently, she'd been doing this since her death, reassuring herself that her daughter was safe, and now keeping track of her guardians as well. It was a strictly visual supervision, but only because she hadn't figured out a way to extend her protectorship to a more active form. Not surprisingly, the Fates frowned on the whole guardian-angel routine. Interfering with the living was forbidden. Even checking in on loved ones, as Eve was doing, was discouraged. To make the full transition to ghost life, you had to break all ties with the living world. Eve was having some difficulty with the concept.
We had to walk two miles to get to where our hotel would be in the living world. I hoped Jaime was there. Otherwise, we were in for a long hunt.
Two miles wasn't relatively far, given the size of Miami, but when you were walking through a swamp, up to your ankles in muck, blazing a trail through the vegetation with fire spells, every few yards seemed like miles. Fortunately, Eve had forged some paths earlier, including one to our hotel. Otherwise the vegetation would have been impassable. Already, in the half day she'd been gone, the vines had wound over her trail, the lush vegetation filling in so fast you could almost see it growing.
As we hacked through a particularly overgrown area, I thought I did see the vegetation growing, as ferns a few yards ahead swished in the still, fetid air. Then I saw a shape move behind the fronds.
"Shit!" Eve said.
The figure shambled forward, taking shape in the dim light. I made out a vaguely humanoid form, then everything went dark. I bit back a yelp, and started casting a light spell. Eve grasped my forearm and leaned down to my ear.
"It's me, Paige. I did it."
Did what? Before I could ask, I remembered that Eve was also a half-demon, having been sired by an Aspicio. An Aspicio's power is sight, and its progeny can inflict temporary blindness.
"What?" I hissed. "Don't-I can't see!"
"That's the idea."
Mud squelched as the thing moved through the swamp, coming closer with each step. I blinked hard, but saw only darkness.
"Eve!" I whispered. "Stop this. I'm not a little girl anymore. I've seen things, lots of things. Demons, corpses, reanimated corpses-multiple reanimated corpses. Whatever's out there, I can handle-"
I stopped mid-sentence, mouth open, frozen, not in fear, but in a binding spell. Eve's hair tickled my ear as she leaned down over me.
"Maybe you can handle it, Paige, but you don't need to."
I glared at her-or in the direction I assumed she was.
"Don't worry," she whispered. "I've dealt with these things before. Most times if you just stand still, they'll go away."
Stand still? Did I have a choice? I couldn't see. I couldn't move. I couldn't speak. I could hear, though. I was frozen there, blinded, listening to the squelching of some unknown horror as it shambled toward me. Then another sense kicked in. Smell. A sickly sweet smell, worse than the stink of the rotting vegetation. My gut clenched.
As the thing drew close, I caught a faint, papery sound, like dry leaves rustling in the breeze. The noise took on a rhythm, then a clear sound, a steady, raspy "ung-ung-ung." The hairs on my arms shot up and I struggled against the binding spell. The smell grew stronger, until it was so overwhelming, I felt the gag reflex in my throat. But, caught in the binding spell, I couldn't gag. My mouth filled with bile. I fought harder against the spell, but it didn't crack.
"Ung-ung-ung."
The sound was so close now I knew the creature was right in front of us, just off to my left, where Eve stood. The noise stopped, replaced by a dry snuffling.
"It's okay, Paige," she whispered. "Just let it sniff you, and it'll-" A chomping sound. Then a gasp. "You fucking-!"
She cast a spell, something I didn't recognize. A high-pitched shriek rent the air, then a bellow, and fast footfalls through the mud.
"You'd better run," Eve said. "Goddamned-"
"Ung-ung-ung!" The cry, loud now, came from somewhere to our left, immediately followed by another to our right.
"Holy shit," Eve whispered.
She snapped the binding spell and I stumbled forward, my sight returning just in time for me to see the ground rushing up. Eve grabbed my arm and yanked me upright. I made out three, maybe four humanoid shapes rushing at us before Eve whipped me around and we started to run.
We raced, slipping and sliding and scrambling, through the swamp. Apparently unaccustomed to moving fast, the creatures were having just as much trouble. We retraced our steps through the path we'd cut coming in, which made it easier.
As we rounded a corner, Eve skidded across a muddy patch. I caught her before she fell.
"I hate running away," she muttered as we plowed forward again. "Hate it, hate it, hate it."
"Should we stop and fight?"
"As soon as we get enough of a head start to cast. They're falling behind, aren't they?"
"Seems like it."
"Good. Fucking bastards. I can't believe they attacked me."
"Look on the bright side," I said as we tore around another curve. "At least they can't kill us."
Eve's laugh rang through the swamp. "This is true. Being dead has its-"
Eve's body jerked, as if someone yanked her legs out from under her. Her lips parted in an oath, but before any sound came out, she was sucked into the swamp.