Spooked.

Receiving her threat loud and clear, I looked back at Spence.

Spence frowned slightly.

"Spence, it is imperative that you answer me truthfully. Everything I ask you is for your own good. We are your friends."

Spence nodded again. "Right."

"You"d trust us with your life, Spence, because we"d never do anything to hurt you. We"re like family. A close-knit family who love you. You trust us completely."

"Yeah," Spence said, using the same tone a child would use to answer in the affirmative about liking ice cream. Of course I do. Who doesn"t?

"So you need to tell me, Spence. What is the pa.s.sword?"

"Virginia Skies."

Jude looked down, shame and disappointment in himself pa.s.sing over his face like a dark cloud. "That"s a nice pa.s.sword, Spence."

"Thank you. It"s the working name of one of my girls."

I blinked. I had picked up on only one daughter. Then I realized that he was talking about the high-priced call girls he"d spent his daughter"s college fund on.

"Thank you, Spence," Jude said.

Spence nodded. "You"re my friends." His eyes fell closed.

"Look at me, Spence."

Spence opened his eyes with difficulty. "Yes?"

Jude leaned forward, closer to Spence. "You won"t remember any of the conversation you had with me. You will only remember that this was a relaxation exercise that we used to make you feel better after a stressful week at work. Do you understand?"

Spence nodded.

"What do you remember about talking to me, Spence?" Jude said, his voice like a gentle breeze moving through leaves.

"You helped me relax.Work has been stressful."

"Right. Good, Spence. Now listen, when I clap my hands together once, you"ll feel refreshed, relaxed, and happy that you came here to talk to us today."

"Okay," Spence said.

Jude clapped his hands together once, and then opened them, lifting them, palms up. "Okay," he said, his voice at a normal level, but still soft. "We"re done here. You did great, Spence."

Spence sat forward, pushing his spectacles up his nose. "Thank you. Thank all of you, so much. Really. It means so much to me."

We all nodded. A lump rose in my throat. This man had just given Jude the pa.s.sword that his company had entrusted him with, for reasons that could not be anything even resembling honorable.

"Any time, Spence," Morgan said, stepping back to signal that it was time for Spence to "get his fat a.s.s out of there," I heard her say in her mind. She was truly a despicable creature. Whatever the h.e.l.l she was.

"Thanks again. Really," Spence said, turning back to us when he got to the door.

Jude and I nodded at the same time.

Spence offered a solemn smile and left. Morgan closed the door behind them.

"Well," Jude said, dropping his s.h.a.ggy head in his hands. "That sucked."

"Mind control. They use you to steal for them," I said, awed and disgusted.

"Yeah," he said, his head still cradled in his hands.

"I"m so sorry, Jude. That is horrible."

"Yes," he said, not looking up at me. "You have no idea how bad it can get. But you will." He turned to me, an expression of gentle pity on his face. "You will."

Chapter Twelve.

Apparently, I"d done well. I"d been cooperative and Lucian was pleased with my abilities. The thought of him, his level voice devoid of emotion, and his icy, controlled demeanor, sent shivers up and down my spine.

Because of my obedience, I was allowed out of my cell to eat dinner in the dining room with the others. Jude led me through the door and down the hall to another door, which opened to a s.p.a.cious living room/dining area. A large man banged pots and pans on a beautiful chrome oven. Walking past the open concept kitchen, I marveled at the shiny, state of the art appliances. The man cooking clearly knew what he was doing, and had to be a hired chef. Whatever he was cooking smelled amazing and my stomach whimpered with hunger.

Jude led me to a table; steaming bowls of food were being placed on it by other teenagers, who seemed to be at home. It occurred to me that these kids were like Morgan. They were strays and throwaways who Lucian had rescued from bad situations, either living on the streets or in homes that were unbearable for them. What they did in return for his generosity was nothing to them. They were survivors. Streetwise. They knew how bad it could get if they were tossed out into the streets.

Here, they were treated to luxuries they would never have been able to afford or enjoy otherwise. These kids all had haircuts in the styles they wanted. Their clothes were new, not shabby in the least. The ones who wore jewelry wore the real deal. No fake stuff. I could tell the difference. They were obviously either given cash or they were taken shopping to choose what they liked.

"Have a seat," Jude said to me, placing a hand lightly on my back. "You can help clear when we"re done."

"Can I ask you a question?" I said to him as he sat next to me.

"Yeah. Just be careful what you ask. You may not want to know the answer."

"These kids want to be here, right?"

"Yeah. For the most part. Most of them aren"t all that bothered by a conscience."

"He treats you all very well," I said. "As long as you play nice."

"Right." He sat next to me, pouring himself a gla.s.s of milk. "As bad as it can get, there are worse things out there."

"Jude, there"s a guard here, or something..."

"Yeah. Leo. That"s one of the things that we put up with. The girls do."

"Lucian is okay with that?"

"He doesn"t know."

"Why doesn"t somebody tell him?"

"Because Leo is Lucian"s brother. n.o.body wants to risk p.i.s.sing Lucian off."

"Isn"t it worth the risk? I mean, seriously."

Jude barked out a laugh. "You don"t want to p.i.s.s off Lucian. Just do what you"re told."

Well, that was lame. "What happens to the ones who don"t?"

"They...disappear," Jude said. "n.o.body ever finds them."

"And because they are throw-aways, n.o.body goes looking."

"Right," Jude said.

A kid of about eighteen came in while we were clearing the table. His green hair stood in spikes all around his head, and he glanced at me on his way into the kitchen. He wasn"t particularly tall, but he was built. Judging by how diesel he was, I figured there was a weight room in the place somewhere.

"That"s Strummer," Jude said. "Don"t bother him and he"ll leave you alone. He"s a bit tweaked. Try not to be alone with him."

"Why? Is he going to attack me or something?"

Jude shook his head. "Not on purpose. But he can summon some pretty nasty s.h.i.t, and sometimes it happens without him meaning to do it. We all give him lots of s.p.a.ce. The guy"s a walking Ouija board. He"s the reason you"re here."

I looked at Jude, frowning. "What do you mean?"

"Did you happen to notice anything weird before you were taken?"

I thought about this. "A few things. There was a black mist following me around."

"Shadow spooks. That is courtesy of Strummer. Lucian has him look for others with special talents. He has some kind of built-in detection system. When he spots you, he pinpoints where you are, and then he summons shadow spooks to go after you and bring you here."

So they were shadow spooks that were following me.

Which is why Delia never wanted me to use my talent.

"Did they enter someone close to you? Someone you trust?"

I nodded, my throat tightening. "My Aunt Delia. She"s been taking care of me for years."

He nodded. "Yup. That"s what they do. They enter someone close to you through the nose, mouth, or ears. Sometimes all three. They use the information the person knows about you against you, to lure you away." Jude shook his head. "They"re pretty nasty."

I stared at him. "Do they ever..."

"Kill people? Yes. They do. But that wasn"t the purpose of sending them after you." His eyes flicked over my face. "Lucky for you."

"What happens to the people they enter?" I asked, hearing the way my words quivered. I had pretty much expected the worst for Delia, and I believed that I would never see her alive again.

He shrugged. "Sometimes they are fine. They either remember what happened to them and what they did when the shadow spook took them over, or they don"t. Sometimes possession by the spooks leaves their brains scrambled, and they are not much other than zombies. Sometimes they...die."

I stared at him, fear and dread skittering over me like spiders, making me want to scream and scream until I had no voice left. "They die?"

"Do you really want to hear this?"

"No. But I need to."

He took a deep breath. "Sometimes, the person who used to be in the body is so horrified that they just want to get away from the shadow spook, so they leave the body. They don"t care where they"re going, they just take off."

I bit my tongue, trying to focus on the physical pain instead of the grief that clawed at my insides. If I let the sorrow over possibly losing Delia take me over, I"d be rendered useless.

"When they"ve delivered the target to the destination, they might hang out for a while, especially if they"re called on to hold up for a bit. But if the host has left the body, the spook can"t stay for long."

"Why is that?" I asked, my voice barely a murmur.

"If the original person has left the body, the spook eventually dissolves the body they inhabit. The body goes bad." Jude went on. "When that happens, the body isn"t more than a grease spot when the spook is done with them."

I watched him, speechless. I remembered the rotting smell of Delia.

"I know. It"s horrible. But chances are that your aunt is fine. She may just have a wicked headache right now and be wondering whether she had a knock on the head that gave her amnesia."

I nodded, slowly. "I hope so." But I knew that she was gone.

He stood and laid a hand on my back. "Me, too, Lorelei. Best to think of that scenario, because you won"t know as long as you"re here."

"Which means what? That I may never know?"

Jude held my gaze for a moment before pushing in a chair and holding his hand out to me. "Come on. I"ll take you back to your room."

I understood that he was just being polite. I really had no choice in the matter.

During the silent walk back to my room-which I thought of as a cell, really-I was overwhelmed by how helpless I felt. I was bone tired, emotionally drained, and tried to swallow back the gnawing grief and fear I felt. I pressed my quivering lips together and felt my eyes well up. This ticked me off, because I really didn"t want to cry in front of Jude, though for some reason I believed that I could trust him.

I swiped at a tear and blinked back the others ready to make tracks down my cheeks.

"It won"t help you in here." Jude"s voice was soft next to me. "I"m sorry."

I looked up at him.

"Crying." He glanced at me from under black locks.

"I know." I took a shuddering breath. "I can"t seem to help it."