Free Celebromancy by Michael R. Underwood Page A

to wrench it to inflict damage. She smelled smoke, but not wood smoke. It had a sharp note to it, like burned plastic.
    The thing reared, swinging her around the bedroom like a rag doll as she held on for dear-God-life.
    As she struggled, the 50% miss chances and grappling penalties for invisible opponents rules from various RPGs all made a scary amount of sense.
    Ree pulled on a maybe-arm, trying to catch her feet somewhere to give her more leverage. Danny made a calculated swing that produced a thump sound and stopped in the middle of the air. The invisithing recoiled, and Ree hauled harder, trying to tighten the circle of her move to maximize the effect on the joints. The thing lurched to the side, and Ree broke through the closet door with the invisithing crushing her.
    The air in her lungs quit in a huff, leaving Ree clawing for breath without losing her grip.
    The invisithing broke free of her grasp, and Ree took a vicious right hook on the cheek.
    The pain let her gasp in air, and as soon as she had breath to use, she shouted, “Fucking A!” at the compounding pain. She kicked out at the thing as Danny jumped over the bed with an overhand swing of the bat. The thing caught Danny in the air and knocked him back into the doorway, then tore down the curtain covering the window in the corner, broke the window, and then, presumably, disappeared out into the alley.
    Ree clambered over to the window, careful to keep her hands off the broken glass but not so careful she didn’t step on it, and stared out into the night, looking for traces of the invisithing.
    She took a half-step back and looked to Danny, who had picked himself off the floor and was at the bedside, hand on Jane’s shoulder.
    The star was awake again, eyes wide as a cartoon character’s, filled with terror.
    “Is it gone?” she asked, breathless.
    “It’s gone,” Ree said as Danny said, “Yes.”
    Ree grabbed an errant sheet and wrapped it around her chest, stepping gingerly off of the shards of glass. Once again, she hoped the decade of callusing from Taekwondo had protected her. She sat on the bed, leaning into Jane. “It’s gone. You’re safe now.”
    Jane turned away from Danny and Ree and vomited on the headboard.
    Yikes.
    Ree looked to Danny and asked softly, “Has this happened before?”
    Danny furrowed his eyebrows. “Of course not.” I smell something extra-fishy here.
    Ree pressed the topic, asking louder, to both of them. “Has something else happened before?”
    Jane leaned into Ree and curled up into a ball, breathing inconsistently and sobbing.
    Fucking hell. Ree’s protective instincts dropped her onto the bed, and she wrapped her arms around the star before she realized what she was doing.
    “We need to take her to the hospital,” Ree said.
    Danny shook his head. “No. She told me not to.”
    The hell? “She told you? She knew this would happen?”
    Ree looked down to the terrified star, the woman who just hours ago had captivated an entire club, who’d had a whole room of fans and reporters eating out of the palm of her hand.
    “What the hell is going on here, Danny?” she asked, point-blank, locking him in her gaze.
    The bodyguard considered for a moment, looking at Jane, then Ree, then the broken window. “I’m going to go get Yancy. Stay with her, okay?”
    Ree nodded, one hand caressing the star’s sweat-slicked hair.
    Danny stood, grabbed his gun, then nodded and left the bedroom. He closed the door behind him, leaving Ree with a sobbing superstar, the fading smells of sex and fear, and her own troubled thoughts.
    •   •   •
    Yancy showed up wearing a blue robe that screamed anniversary present , with his initials monogrammed in gold. He’d clearly just been asleep. Ree saw other lights on in the trailer camp, and far more activity than normal at whatever o’ clock in the morning it was. It was too dark out to be anything later than four.
    “How is she?” Yancy asked, his face drawn with worry.
    Ree