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. But you want to be closer to work, Mennie s Creole accent was thicker than normal.His mom nodded. And Nick s school.He s always having to run for the streetcar.I d like for himnot to have to start the day off in such a panic. The devil is sitting on icicles, isn t he? Nick asked.She laughed. No, sweetie.It s just & you wouldn t believe what people tip at Sanctuary.Oh myGod, I had no idea.Between my salary and tips, I m making four times the money I used to. Nick gave her a hopeful grin.She screwed her face up at him. All right.Both you and Bubba are forgiven for getting me fired. Really? Absolutely.In fact, I was thinking of taking you and Mennie out to eat tonight to celebrate. That sounded great, but there was one little problem. I m stuffed.Rosa made this turkey tetrazzinithat is unbelievably tasty.I brought some home for you, too.There s even enough for Mennie. Hereturned to his backpack to dig it out.No sooner had he put his jersey on the floor than his mother sucked her breath in sharply.Nick froze at the sound that usually heralded him getting into trouble. Something wrong? What are you doing with that? She pointed at his shirt.He glanced down at it and wondered why its presence had warranted her reaction. The coachwants me back on the team. His mom appeared skeptical. Are you serious? Yeah.They re short a few guys for the team, so& You don t seem happy about it, Menyara said.That was the only drawback to Mennie.She hadthe gift of second sight and knew all kinds of things about him that he didn t say.He gave them both a fake smile.The last thing he needed was for them to find out what the coachwanted from him.God help him if Mennie figured that out. I m happy. Nicky.I m your mom.Don t lie to me.What s wrong? His coach was a psycho, that was what was wrong, but he couldn t tell her that.If he did, she d gomarching into the office and cause such a stink that he d be framed for sure.When it came to him, hismom tended to lose all sanity. Nothing.I promise. She gave him a look that said she wasn t convinced.Luckily, Mennie distracted her while hepulled out the leftovers and took the container to the kitchen.As soon as they were done eating, Mennie and his mom headed over to Mennie s to watch TVwhile he stayed in on the pretext of doing homework.Not an entire lie.He was working on something that involved school.Once he was sure he wouldn t be disturbed, he called Madaug again. What? Man, Madaug didn t even bother to disguise his irritation at being interrupted. Have you found anything? Nick asked. No. Nothing? You re missing my point, Nick.I haven t uncovered anything at all.This guy s a complete ghost.There s no background on him that can be found.Not a school in this country has a Coach Devus, andwith a name that unusual, he should be pretty easy to find.Right? Nick sat there, trying to digest it.Madaug was right.They shouldn t have any trouble findinginformation on a guy with a name like that. Are you serious? Yeah.The only Coach Devus I can find was one who coached at Georgia Tech in get this1890. 1890? Nick gaped. Like over a hundred years ago, 1890? Yeah.He was the lead coach in the first rivalry game between UGA and Tech for the Governor sCup.Tech trounced the Dawgs 28 to 6.And get this & the next day, the entire team, including thecoach, was killed in a fire that started in the building where they were celebrating their victory. That sucks. It was something that would happen to him.Crappy Gautier luck was the stuff oflegends. Don t it, though? Anyway, that was the only Devus I can find. That didn t make any sense at all. He told me he s been coaching for years.He has to have acoaching history somewhere. Can t find a trace of it, and believe me, I ve looked.I even hacked the school records.His résuméisn t online.Without that, I m stuck.I don t know where else to look.I ve hit more walls at this pointthan a blind mouse in a test maze with shifting walls. Only Madaug, whose parents were both scientists, would come up with that for an example.Nick sighed as disgust filled him.He dreaded what was to come, but he knew it meant only onething.He d have to search the coach s office and see if he could find something about his past.Crap.Crap.Crap.How do I always get into these things?Whatever he d done in his previous life that warranted the misery of this one, he hoped he denjoyed every minute of it.C mon, Nick.Think.There has to be another way.Unfortunately, there wasn t.This was it.He d have to go in and pray he didn t get caught. All right, Nick said. I ll get more information for you tomorrow.Thanks for looking it up forme. De nada.And be careful.I don t know why, but he creeps me out. Given the fact that Nick was pretty sure the coach had killed his classmate, Devus didn t exactlyfill him with warmth and sunshine. Good night, M. Bye. Nick hung up, then called Caleb, who answered on the second ring. You dying? Was that a note of hope in Caleb s tone?Or was he being paranoid? No, Nick answered, praying for paranoia but pretty sure Caleb was hoping he was on the brinkof death.Caleb let out a deep breath. Then why are you calling me? I was wondering if you knew anything about Devus. Other than he s our new coach? Yeah, Caleb.Something a little more than that. Not really.Why? Nick hesitated, then decided this was the one creature he could trust with the truth. He threatenedme earlier. Caleb materialized right in front of him with his phone still in his hand. What do you mean, hethreatened you? he said in his demon s tone. Now that was service.Completely shocked by the sudden appearance, Nick looked from the phonein his hand to Caleb, then back again.Yeah, okay, so he knew Caleb had demon powers and such, butdang &Impressive.He hung up the phone, since he obviously didn t need it any longer to talk to Caleb. He told methat if I didn t steal some things for him, he d have me put in jail. Caleb snorted. And you believed something that stupid? Offended to his core, Nick glared at him. Stupid or not, I m pretty sure he s the one who framedDave and then had him killed while he was in lockup tonight. Caleb rolled his eyes, which set off his temper. Nick, really? Your paranoia should be in a recordhall of fame somewhere. I m not paranoid, he growled. Use your powers and see.I m telling you the truth. Caleb gave him a look of irritation before he closed his eyes and concentrated.Feeling cocky, Nick folded his arms over his chest and tapped his foot.Now the truth would comeout and he d be vindicated and one vicious demon would owe him a massive apology.One Caleb was going to serve with a huge slice of humble pie.After a few minutes, Caleb opened his eyes. I m not getting anything. Dread went through Nick.He had a feeling this wasn t good, and he was about to have to put thehumble pie back in the oven. What do you mean? he asked apprehensively.Caleb s cold stare went right through him. The coach is human.I know that much, but& Hope came back as he mentally put an oven mitt on the pie again. But what? Nick asked.Caleb shrugged. It s like he s a wraith. A ghost? Not exactly.Wraiths are apparitions who appear in the form of someone who s living. Nick was trying to understand
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