Free Switchblade Goddess by Lucy A. Snyder

enhanced vision, you probably never would have guessed that the cats were really individual cells of a hive-mind devil. But they would probably creep you out just the same, because they’d seem weirdly familiar, and it might take you a few minutes to realize you’d seen them all in movies and TV shows and commercials.
    “Jessie Shimmer!” Sara exclaimed, her smile and Adderall-blue eyes bright. To look at her you’d think we were long-lost BFFs. There wasn’t a trace of worry or hesitation in her expression.
    And there should have been. There should have been
some
sign she realized that she’d screwed us over and that I was surely not going to be happy to see her. The last time I’d laid eyes on her, she’d thrown Cooper and the Warlock out of the campus compound, leaving them to Miko’s sweet mercies whileshe left me strapped in a chair, helpless to do anything to save the men I cared about most in the world.
    It had been one of the worst days of my life, and at that moment I dearly wanted to pay her back for her part in it. I wanted to beat her bloody for what she’d done to my boyfriend and his brother, but I didn’t know how powerful she really was. I’d already seen her murder a Catholic priest without so much as a wince of regret, and if I pissed her off she might try to hurt Pal. And clearly my ability to keep my friends safe around her was not very good.
    So I settled for a clipped reply: “What do you want, Sara?”
    “The kitties told me you’ll be seeing Miko today!” She sounded as enthusiastic as a grade school teacher telling her class they had all won a trip to Disney World. “And I’ve got something to help you find her.”
    She pulled a small white envelope out of her back pocket.
    I eyed it suspiciously. “What’s that?”
    “Three of her hairs. One of the kitties helped us find them clenched in a zombie’s hand. A genuine death-grip! She’s no kind of animal, not like us, and she doesn’t shed, so this was quite a discovery. And the kitties say you can use it to find her.”
    That I could.
    “Thanks.” I took the envelope from her outstretched hand and tucked it in my own pocket.
    “The kitties say she’s on a ranch near Devils Courthouse Peak to the north of here, but she might be someplace else by sundown. They think she might slip away through the holes in the spirits’ net onceshe’s got her head straight again. Just like your brother did.”
    I don’t know why it came as a nasty surprise to realize Miko could probably open portals on her own, but it did. And suddenly I felt more anxious than ever to track her down.
    Pal must have read the change in my expression, or maybe he heard my heart start pounding. “Steady, Jessie. We mustn’t run headlong into this. We should try to wait for Cooper and the Warlock to return.”
    “Okay,” I replied, and Sara beamed, thinking I was speaking to her.
    “When you see Miko, there’s something I need you to do. Something we
all
need you to do.” Sara reached into her other back pocket and pulled out a folded piece of yellow legal pad paper. “These are the names of all the people we’re keeping alive at the health center whose souls were stolen. My husband, Bob, is one of them.”
    Her face fell then, and a profound sadness took hold of her features. I remembered watching her weep beside his cot, and despite everything she’d done, I felt genuinely sorry for her.
    The very picture of a lonely, grieving wife, she held the paper out to me. “Will you please bring them home? The kitties say that all you have to do is get their souls out of Miko and they’ll return to their bodies. I guess you’ve done something like that before?”
    “Yes, something like that.” I took the paper from her. “I’ll do my best.”
    Just then, the Jackson sisters sashayed in from thedining room, both wearing vibrant blue caftans. Their rat familiars were nowhere in sight.
    “Well hello there!” exclaimed Callie. “You must