Catch put his hands on his hips and stared down into the empty river. "Well, Trex, looks like you and I have some free time. Guess you'll be heading out to wherever it is you go. I think I'll go in and see if Steemer needs some help. The horses are taken care of, and the Boys won't be off for hours."

Sometimes it was easier to nod my agreement than to burn my throat with the terrible, scratchy voice. The job would be so much easier without the disguise. I nodded and waved to let Catch know I was on my way, then I turned the boat around to ferry back to the other side.

I was bone tired and ready to go home and eat, shower and drop into bed. I'd caught only fleeting glimpses of Maximus with his pack. They had gotten to work early to have a talk with Feenix. Unfortunately, it was too hard to talk with him while we were in the underworld. I'd have to wait until we were both free to find out how the meeting with Feenix had gone. I saw them talking to Zander and Tracker, so I could easily conclude that the counter attack on Vapour's plan was in full motion. The entire thing made me a little more than nervous.

I tied off the ferry and headed along the bank and across the sticky, mist covered barren field that led to my portal. As I walked past the slick, jagged rocks lining one side of the field, four big ravens shrieked and flew out of their hiding places. It startled me and I stumbled forward but caught myself. I had no idea what had scared them. Most likely it was just the river stench on my tattered cloak.

I reached the carved out rock where I stashed the cloak and veil. I was thrilled to be relieved of the moisture soaked garment. The cloak was several layers thick, which helped keep the smell of the river off my jeans and t-shirt. But tonight it seemed even my clothes had absorbed the rank odor. A hot, soapy shower would be nothing short of heaven.

Just like on the outside, the portal was not visible from the inside. But Trex had marked the spot with a black stone that was now worn smooth from years of us ferrymen traveling over it. That thought made me smile. I was never quite sure if my dad would even consider letting me take his place at the helm, and I was never sure I wanted it. During my teen years, I thought there would be nothing worse than the ferryman job. It gave me the creeps to even think about, and I knew my disdain for the idea had left my dad feeling a little lost about how the family business might continue without a logical male heir. But now that I'd been forced into taking the position, I found it a rather interesting career choice. Occasionally, the grim atmosphere and my equally grim cargo got to me, but I found it was easy enough to shake off the melancholy once I stepped back into the human world. In fact, it made me appreciate life just that much more.

I reached up and pressed my hand against the invisible gelatinous opening. I felt the warmth of my hand transfer to the plasma, and the sticky substance fell away. Just as I lifted my foot to step through, an ice cold hand pressed over my mouth. A strong arm wrapped around my waist. I struggled against my captor, but it was no use. We both fell through the portal together.

I landed face down in the loamy dirt of the forest with the man on top of me. The rock markers on the outside bruised my shins as I wriggled to free myself from his grasp.

"Lie still, girlie." His breath was as putrid as the odor on his pinstriped suit. The outdated suit, his burial clothes, assured me that Vapour had once again let loose one of his dangerous tenants. And from the looks of his clothes and the way he talked, it seemed my captor had been an earlier century gangster of some kind. Only the top level of criminals found their way to Vapour's realm, so he had most likely been a gang leader with a long history of murder and crime.

The gangster groaned as he pushed up to his feet, dragging me with him by my hair. What was with the underworld cretins and their obsession with my hair?

He held the long strands tightly, but I still spun around to face him. He was hideous with a deep scar crossing his neck and a nose that looked as if it had been broken so often it no longer resembled anything close to a nose.

"Ay, you're a pretty little thing. I think I'll get a big bonus for this catch. Thanks for getting me out of that hole."

My eyes shot toward the portal. It had closed up, but it would only take a quick touch for me to open it and jump back through, preferably without the mob boss on my tail.

"Uh," I said as I reached to my own neck. "I think you've got something there."

My theory that these reanimated criminals weren't terribly bright was proven. He released my hair and touched the scar on his neck, which I could only assume had been the cause of his untimely death.

I lunged toward the portal. Just as my hand warmed the plasma, he grabbed my feet and yanked me back so hard, my chin sliced open on the rock marker. My vision blurred from the pain, and a warm river of blood trickled down my neck.

I cupped my hand under my chin to catch the blood as he yanked me to my feet by my hair. "Fuck you. Let go of my hair, you lowlife."

His cold, dead eyes brushed over me. "You're just a little squirt. Now look what you've done to that pretty little chin." His fingers wrapped around my arm, and he squeezed it. "Come on. Let's go."

"Where are we going?"

"I've got to find the boss and see what he wants to do with you. I was told to keep an eye on the ferryman and grab him when he went through the portal."

My instinct had been to catch the drops of blood. I realized, as he led me through the forest, that it was a mistake. Wherever he was taking me, I needed to leave a trail. Deep down in my heart, I knew Maximus would stop at nothing to find me. And I was going to leave behind something much better than bread crumbs.

It was close to two in the morning in the mortal world, and the roads were deserted. In the distance I could see the glow of lights from the Seven Sins. Only Maximus wasn't there. His shift had just barely started, which meant he would be in Wynter until tomorrow night. My dad would notice me missing first. But sometimes there were so many passengers my work shift was doubled. My dad might think I was working overtime. That thought sent ice through my veins. It could be hours before anyone noticed me missing.

I stumbled along next to the Al Capone wannabe and tried to keep ready for a chance to take off. But he kept his grip so tight, my fingers were numb from lack of blood flow. But the blood flow from my chin was working just fine.

We pushed through the last copse of trees. Through the branches I saw shiny flashes of chrome. His fingers clenched tighter as he yanked me through to the road. My head spun not just from blood loss but from the sight in front of me. Five more of Vapour's creatures were sitting out on the road, on their gleaming motorcycles, under a moonless sky. Each rider looked scarier and meaner than the next. And every one of them had a dead, lifeless gaze that cut right through me like shards of ice.

"About time," the biggest one with only one ear snarled. The way he looked at me, as if I was a juicy piece of fried chicken, sent a wave of nausea through me.

"Eh, don't break my head about it. The boss said I had to wait for the ferryman. So, here's the ferryman and what a knockout she is. Only she was better before the little accident." He pointed to my chin.

A white haired man with eyes that reminded me of the black and white googly eyes we'd used on school art projects tilted his head. The moonlight illuminated a deep scar across his forehead. "This isn't the ferryman, you fool." A long tongue wiped across his bottom lip like a windshield wiper. "But I say we take her back to camp for some fun."

"This is the same girl I saw," an angry voice spoke from behind the white haired creep. It was the man I saw when I fell through the portal. "Let's go before we're seen."

The big man who had eyed me like a tasty treat waved for the man holding me to walk forward. I made one last effort to break free from his grasp, but it didn't work. I had one more desperate idea that would probably earn me a punch in the face, but since I was already bleeding, I gave it a try.

We stopped right in front of the big, hungry man's motorcycle. I lifted my foot up high and brought it down on the gangster's black shoe. I gasped in shock as his foot flattened out as if I'd jumped on a pillow. The man stared down at his flattened foot, not showing even the slightest twinge of pain. It took a few seconds for the foot and shoe to bunch back up to their normal size.

The man laughed as he pointed at his foot. "Did ya see that? Boy, I could have used that skill back when I was alive." His comment earned him a fist in the gut from the big man. Just like with his foot, his stomach, pin-striped vest and all, spread out like a giant splatter and then slowly regained its shape.

"Hey, whad ya do that for?" he asked the big man.

"Because you're an idiot. Now put her on the back of my bike and climb on with Fibbs so we can get out of here."

His foot might have spread out like butter with one foot stomp, but his fingers gripped me like iron claws as he wrestled me onto the bike seat. My captor climbed on behind the man with the white hair.

My driver looked back. "You'd better hold on, ferryman. Don't want to leave you all over the highway."

"I'd rather be road kill than touch the likes of you," I sneered back.

"Suit yourself." He twisted the throttle and took off. I reached down and gripped the edge of the seat to keep from flying off the back. As I watched the asphalt roll past the bike, I decided road kill didn't sound all that fun. Besides, somewhere out there was a man with a six foot shoulder span and the strength of five men, who I was sure would move every last inch of earth to find me. I just wondered how long it would take Maximus to notice me missing. And I wondered just how long I had before these creeps decided to kill me.