“But, Mom! We can't just walk into a hospital and...and steal one of their patients! We'll never make it out. We'll be arrested and thrown in jail!"

“Sure we can," Jeremy said. She turned to him, gaping, and he grinned.

“It's not that hard."

“To smuggle someone out of a hospital? You're nuts." She folded her arms below her breasts, pushing them upward slightly, a fact that none of the men in the room missed, Rachel saw. Not even her own brother.

And certainly not Jeremy or her father.

“When I was an undergrad,” Jeremy started, “The dining hall in our dorm served pies about once a month. And being young men, we were always hungry. One guy I hung out with loved lemon meringue. He decided that he deserved not one or two slices, but an entire pie," he continued with a reminiscent smile.

"So he decided to take one. An entire lemon meringue pie. But he was smart enough to know that if he tried to smuggle it out under his shirt or something he was sure to get caught. So he just picked up the pie and walked right out the door with it."

“And your point is?" Sarah asked testily.

“If you act Like you have every right to be doing what you're dong, people are way less Likely to question you," he said. Around the room, slow, thoughtful nods agreed. "It's always the guy who looks shady and guilty who gets caught."

He leaned forward, his hands clasped. "You still have that trailer out there from when you moved back up here, don't you, Mr. Sunderman?"

Josh nodded. "I was going to return it tomorrow, after the holiday. But please, call me Josh. If we're going to be committing multiple crimes together, it's the least I can do."

“I say we drive the truck up to the hospital a little later on tonight," he said, "After it gets dark. We'll have the trailer attached, so we won't have to move Althea out of bed. I‘1l park by the main entrance. You all can dress up real nice, in suits and ties. Look official, you know. Maybe you're hospital inspectors. Or insurance investigators, who suspect the hospital is padding the bills. Walk quickly, look official, frown a lot. Put Rachel there at the head of the pack. When she wants to, she can look harder than a coffin nail.

You sail right by everyone as if you have every right in the world to be there. You wheel Althea out of her room, down to the front door,

I'll pick you up, we drive on home, stuff Althea back in her body, and kick this asshole Kincaid back into the Abyss.”

"It's called the Pit, Jeremy," Rachel said, but her tone was impressed.

She looked around the room.

“Does anyone have a better idea?"

“Not doing this at all?" Sarah said.

“No offense, Mom, but if this guy

Kincaid is as bad as you say, maybe we should stay out of things.”

“We're already in, Sarah. And it's too Late to get out." Josh's voice was low and...angry? Rachel blinked at her husband, who was looking at his daughter with a quizzical expression on his face.

“When did you start taking the easy way out?"

“I'm scared, all right?" Sarah replied. She put her face in her hands.

"For the first time in forever, I'm happy, and now we have to deal with...with succubi and demons and who knows what. Is it too much to ask that someone not try to kill me and everyone I care about?"

At her side, Jeremy patted her back awkwardly. She lifted a tear-stained face and gave her mother a glare. "All right," she said.