Staked (Iron Druid Chronicles) by Kevin Hearne Page A

the distinct whiff of an asshole about him.”
    “Yes, he’s the brother, but they all have that attitude, unfortunately. Let’s talk out of earshot. The father speaks English and is not above eavesdropping. The brother has gone to fetch him. He’ll be out shortly to berate me for going outside alone, no doubt.”
    “Alone? I’m here.”
    “Alone with a stranger is worse than being actually alone.”
    “We’ll convince him that we’re friends somehow.”
    Laksha smiles, a bit crooked but relieved. “I’m so glad you’ve come to visit.” She greets Orlaith and gives her a scratch behind the ears. Without waiting for anyone’s permission, we walk two blocks to a tea shop, and Laksha tells me on the way that Mhathini’s mother works in the silk industry, her father is an IT consultant who works from home serving clients in the UK, and her brother is a computer science major at the university.
    “And what about you?”
    “Mhathini was about to get married, which was apparently to be the sum of her future. But then she got in that car accident that landed her in the hospital. I am fairly certain from what I could glean of her remaining memories that it was not an accident but rather a suicide attempt.”
    “What?”
    “Her family is so very abusive. Not physically—I mean verbally. Lots of assertions that Mhathini is stupid and ugly and things of that nature. She didn’t think the marriage would improve matters. And of course the marriage is off now—the man married someone else while she was in a coma—so at this point I am reminded daily of how useless I am.”
    “Well, that’s bullshit and you should move on.”
    “I think Mhathini tried to do just that.”
    “That’s not what I meant.”
    “I know what you meant, Granuaile, but you are speaking from a place of tremendous privilege.”
    “What? I am not—”
    “Hold that thought, please,” Laksha says as we arrive at the tea shop. They have three outside tables and we sit at one, where Orlaith can join us. After we place an order, Laksha picks up the thread of our conversation. “Think about it, please: You have money and the ability to go anywhere you wish on the earth without spending that money. Plus significant physical abilities. These assets make you think it is simple for women to leave abusive situations.”
    “I never said it would be simple—just that you should do it. And you have significant abilities too, Laksha. There’s nothing keeping you here except your own will. If the situation is unbearable, then why have you decided to bear it?”
    Laksha shrugs noncommittally and looks down at her lap. “This is my karma.”
    I snort in disbelief. “How do you figure that?”
    “I don’t know what happened to you that night with the rakshasas and your father and Durga…”
    That’s not a night I wish to relive, so I say, “The short version is that I’m here and all the rest are not.”
    “Yes. I’m sorry about your father.”
    “Thank you.”
    “Well, after my austerities and prayers, after all of my efforts to battle the rakshasas, during the moment I was likely to do the most good, my help was firmly rejected.”
    “Rejected how?”
    “I left my host body’s mind, you see, to do battle with the raksoyuj in the ether, as I promised you I would. And while I was in the ether, the woman died—I don’t know how, for she was alive when I left. And Durga told me—not verbally; these were words I heard in the ether itself—that it was not my place to help, that my place was in my necklace, and then she forced me to return there.”
    “Durga said that exactly? You’re not paraphrasing?”
    “She said that. And then my next memory is of you telling me to inhabit this body or you would leave my necklace behind to be found by whoever walked by. So this is where I am supposed to be.”
    I shook my head. “That doesn’t follow. I told you to inhabit that body because it was the only one I could find on short notice. I was