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Chapter 1

THE STARTER COMPLAINED AS IT TURNED OVER THE old Buick's heavy engine I felt a lot of syht class was so I was inti in a world of olves and vampires - outmatched is an understatement

"One er, as sitting in the driver's seat of his mother's Buick I sniffed and dried my nose on the shoulder ofin the winter

I love being a reasy hands, and all

It's a life full of frustration and barked knuckles, followed by brief moments of triue from the chaos my life has been lately: no one is likely to die if I can't fix his car

Not even if it is his mother's car It had been a short day at school, and Gabriel had used his free ti badly to not at all, then had a friend tow it to the shop to see if I could fix it

The Buick made a few ine co that the engine in question isn't toast

"It's not catching, Mercy," said Gabriel, as if I hadn't noticed

He gripped the steering wheel with elegant but work-roughened hands There was a srease on his cheekbone, and one eye was red because he hadn't put on safety glasses when he'd crawled under the car He'd been rewarded with a big chunk of crud - rusty rease - in his eye

Even though e off the cold, we both wore jackets There is no way to keep a shop truly hen you are running garage doors up and down all day

"Mercy, my mama has to be at work in an hour"

"The good news is that I don't think it's anything you did" I stepped away froine compartment andto be running in an hour Jury's out on whether it will be back on the road at all"

He slid out of the car and leaned under the hood to stare at the Little Engine That Couldn't as if he ht find some wire I hadn't noticed that wouldand went through the hall to my office

Behind the counter was a grubby, used-to-be-white board with hooks where I put the keys of cars I orking on - and a half dozen mystery keys that predated my tenure I pulled a set of keys attached to a rainbow peace-sign keychain, then trotted back to the garage Gabriel was back to sitting behind the wheel of his h the open

"Take the Bug," I told hinals don't blink, so she'll have to use hand signals And tell her not to pull back on the steering wheel too hard or it will come off"

His face got stubborn

"Look," I said before he could refuse, "it's not going to costIt won't hold all the kids" - not that the Buick did; there were a lot of kids - "and it doesn't haveit We'll work on the Buick after hours until it's done, and you can owe me that many hours"

I was pretty sure the engine had gone to the great junkyard in the sky - and I knew that Sylvia, Gabriel's ine, any more than she could buy a newer car So I'd call upon Zee, ic - there was not remlin whose natural element was metal