Bone Gods

against it instead. Standing was still a dodgy proposition. “That’s my world, too, Jack. If you’d spent any time in it you’d realize that.” She spread her hands. “You said near death is the easiest way to find Carver. What are the others?”
    “Oh no,” Jack said. “That’s not an option, trust me.”
    “I’m not stupid enough to swallow a handful of pills and hope for the best,” Pete said. “So spill it, Winter, ’fore I beat it out of you.”
    Jack shoved his hand through his hair, but he let go of the door and conjured a fag, lighting it before he talked. “There’s a flower, a kind of orchid, that puts you under, down deep to near dead. Very Timothy Leary, lick the face of Jesus type of shit, but it will put you in the twilight long enough to dip into the thin spaces.”
    “Brilliant,” Pete said. “I’m in.”
    “Well, if it were that simple, every git with long flowing hair and a book on Wicca would be doing it, wouldn’t they?” Jack said. “Your soul leaves your physical form, Pete. You’re vulnerable to anything floating in the in-between, and if you don’t have the correct words to bring yourself back, well…” He made a poof motion with his hands. “You’re so much dust on the boot of the universe, aren’t you?”
    “Don’t come if you’re scared.” She tossed it off lightly, but she felt the ball of unrest grow in her stomach, the one that had led to nothing but trouble in the past. But what was her life these days except bad luck and trouble? Doing the ritual and downing some toxic flowers couldn’t make it any worse.
    “Right, I’m warning you off tripping to the brink of both physical and psychic death because I’m scared of the boogeyman.” Jack’s lip curled up, and the flash of smugness made him look a bit like his old self before it faded. “I’ve been dead before, Pete. It’s not one of the things that scares me at the moment.” He reached out and ran a thumb over her cheek, bringing his new cold with him. “ ’Sides, who’s going to help you out of trouble this time if I don’t ride along?”
    “Lawrence,” Pete said.
    “ Lawrence? ” Jack barked a laugh. “Luv, Lawrence would piss himself at the very thought of what you’re asking me. He’s a good little boy.”
    “He’s got more balls than you do right at the moment,” Pete said. “I’m doing it, Jack. You can come along or not.” With that, she did open the door.
    She heard Jack sigh “Fuck me all the days of my life,” and then he was walking beside her to the lift.

CHAPTER 24
    They crossed into the Black and found the Lament, but Jack hesitated at the door. “I think you should do this bit alone.”
    “For the love of all that’s holy,” Pete said. “Have you got bloody stage fright?”
    Jack grimaced. “My little sojourn to the pit hasn’t exactly made me popular with people like these, in case you didn’t realize.” He pointed at the door. “Look, just go in and tell Mosswood I need to talk to him. He’ll understand.”
    “Maybe we should fit you for a giant nappy,” Pete said. “Perhaps warm you a bottle.”
    “Will you just fucking get this over with?” Jack demanded. He wasn’t smiling, not on his mouth and not in his eyes, which stared daggers of ice through Pete.
    She ducked her head. “Sorry. Not like anyone’s making you be a twat,” she muttered, pushing the pub door open. The Lament, never a rowdy place, fell dead silent as the punters caught sight of her. She saw Mosswood at his usual table, glass halfway to his lips. Taking a step forward felt like stepping into an electrical storm. The magic in the Lament was up, and it wasn’t friendly. Everything on Pete that could prickle stood on end. She kept her chin up and her shoulders square, passing quickly through the tables to Mosswood. A storm of whispers and muttering grew up around her, a rising tide of hostility that held an almost physical weight. If she’d still been a copper, she would’ve called for backup, but her backup was skulking outside, smoking and too much of a twist to come in himself.
    “Hello, Ian,” she said. She started to sit down but Mosswood shot up, grabbing her by the wrist and pulling her within kissing distance.
    “Are you completely insane?” he hissed.
    “Not that I know of,” Pete said. “But I suppose if I have gone insane, I’d think everything was normal, wouldn’t I?”
    Mosswood didn’t smile. “I know, Petunia. Where is