The Dark Glamour (666 Park Avenue 2)

on the table, examining the pale half-moons that stood out against the dark skin of her nail beds. ‘Shouldn’t you be off masterminding a coup d’état somewhere in Africa?’
    Dee chuckled hoarsely, and Jane felt a slight lessening of the new awkwardness between them. ‘Their puff pastry leaves something to be desired,’ she replied airily, and then sat up straighter. ‘Although Kate showed me this thing where you just take a spray bottle filled with tap water, and . . . it’s a revelation, seriously. Anyway, I can call a couple of tip lines and say I’m an employee at the hotel or something. I know the kind of rumours they like to print: I’m pretty sure I can get some press about your . . . relationship.’
    ‘Thanks,’ Jane told her, sincerely but with renewed stiffness. She wished that she could relax more, but it still felt like there was a short circuit somewhere in their usual, easy rapport.
I’ve got a silly crush on her new boyfriend, and she’s worried I’m in over my head with mine,
she pointed out to herself gently.
We’ll both get over it.
    ‘We should probably be ready for you to get invited to the house anytime; that part could be hard to predict,’ Dee went on pragmatically. ‘And we don’t know how much time you’ll have alone to go looking for Annette’s old room or her things, so I was thinking you might need some magic ready to help you look. I don’t know any spells that would help, but we could go by Misty’s when I’m done with work, and—’
    ‘That’s okay,’ Jane told her abruptly. ‘I’ve got nothing but free time. I’ll go over to Book and Bell myself in a little bit. Misty’ll probably want to inspect her handiwork, anyway,’ she added in a not-quite-successful attempt at levity, waving her left hand to indicate her face and body.
    Dee’s smile was a fraction too late and too wide, but Jane told herself there would be plenty of time to shore up their friendship later. She had made huge strides in her crazy mission already, but there was still a long and difficult road ahead: getting into the mansion, finding something of Annette’s, finding Annette herself, and then bringing her home.
And then I can focus on
being
as happy as she seems to be lately, instead of being all grouchy about it.
    In the meantime, the best thing she could do would be to put some physical distance between herself and Dee. And if she got some research done in the process, so much the better.
    She pushed her chair back from the table and slid her syrupy plate beside Harris’s in the dishwasher. She crossed through the living room, studiously not looking at the spot on the pale-gold boards of the floor where Harris’s shirt had been, and moved with relief into the relative darkness of the hallway. Her entire body ached in one way or another. Research would have to wait; her top priorities were a long bath and a short nap.

Fifteen
    T HE UNEVEN FLOORBOARDS squeaked underneath the thin red carpet of Book and Bell as Jane stepped inside. A tiny bell jangled above the door, and Misty turned her cloud of frizzy blond hair towards the sound. The Wiccan’s face didn’t register any kind of familiarity, though, and Jane reminded herself that she wasn’t herself – literally. She had opened her mouth to explain when she noticed a college-age girl with skinny jeans and punk-short black hair leafing through a copy of
Tea Leaves and Chicken Bones: A Modern Girl’s Guide to the Secrets of the Universe.
The girl didn’t look like the type to be following tabloid drama, but Jane still hesitated to broadcast her real name within earshot of strange New Yorkers.
    She sidled up to the pressboard counter instead. As she approached, Misty’s right hand disappeared beneath the counter. The older woman’s eyes remained calm, but fixed unwaveringly on Jane. She realized that Misty either had a panic button back there, or something more sinister and supernatural waiting for people who came into her store looking as cagey as ‘Ella’ probably looked right now.
    ‘Misty,’ she blurted out, and the shopkeeper’s blue eyes narrowed suspiciously. ‘I’m Dee’s new roommate,’ Jane rushed on. ‘My name is Ella. We were supposed to meet this weekend, but you had to leave the party before I got home.’ She set her own left hand on the counter for emphasis, and saw Misty’s eyes dart to the plain silver ring that had held Celine’s magic until Jane had arrived to inherit it. It looked like a