Wicked Memories (CASTLE OF DARK DREAMS) Read Free Page A

on Sparkle. She took an instinctive step back. Sparkle had narrowed her eyes to amber slits. And if Kayla didn’t know better, she’d swear they glowed.
    Sparkle looked down at the cat who’d planted his ample bottom on the toe of her boot. “Do something, Mede.”
    Okay, her client had officially lost it. Kayla would call Dad as soon as she got to her room and explain that she couldn’t work with the insane.
    Her thoughts about where the nearest mental health facility might be were interrupted by the sound of an explosion. She rushed to the glass doors along with Sparkle, the cat, and everyone else in the lobby. Across the street, a small stand right inside the entrance to Nirvana was now nothing more than twisted metal.
    “I blew up a refreshment stand. Best I could do, sweetbuns. Made it look like an electrical problem. We don’t want the cops opening a major investigation.”
    Kayla actually felt her heart stop and then start again.
She’d just heard a voice in her head.
    “Give the lady a prize.”
    A sarcastic voice. Frantically, Kayla scanned the people around her. Maybe
she
needed the mental health facility.
    “Your head’s fine, babe. Yo, down here. The cat.”
He sounded impatient with her obvious density.
“Sparkle should’ve spent less time with her binoculars and more time explaining things to you.”
The cat stared at the glass doors and they opened.
“I’m Ganymede.”
    Sparkle interrupted the craziness happening in Kayla’s head.
    “Mackenzie might still be over there, Mede. Find him. Incinerate his ass. Or send him into the past, the future . . .” She paused for some teeth grinding. “I don’t give a damn as long as he’s gone.” Then she paused and took a deep breath. “I’ve changed my mind. Don’t kill him. A murder would bring the police around. We don’t need them creeping through the castle looking for a killer.”
    “How about if I pound the crap out of him?”
Ganymede looked hopeful.
    Sparkle nodded. “Fine.”
    “There’re some undamaged candy bars over there calling my name, honeybunny. I’ll fortify myself with a few, and then I’ll get right on the beat-down.”
He padded toward Nirvana, his tail a plumed feline question mark.
    Fitting. Kayla curled her hands into fists to stop them from shaking. What was Ganymede? Who was Sparkle Stardust really? What had just happened to her sane and ordered world? And how long before she hyperventilated herself into unconsciousness? “Someone better explain things to me right now or else I’m catching a taxi back to Hobby Airport and heading home.” Maybe forcefulness would hold the hysteria at bay.
Breathe slowly, breathe deeply
.
    “Don’t be such a baby.” Sparkle sounded annoyed. “I’ll explain things later. Right now I have to talk to a few people. Stay with me.”
    Kayla wanted to run from this place where cats talked in your head and clients had names like Sparkle Stardust. But as she calmed a little, the denials began. She’d imagined the voice. She
wasn’t
insane. It was all a giant hoax.
Sparkle
was the crazy one
.
None of the explanations made her feel better. Then she thought about her father.
    He’d made it clear that Sparkle was an important client. And Kayla had made it clear that she didn’t want to join the family business. But she did need help with law school expenses. This job would pay well and keep her father off her back for a little while longer. But a freaking voice in her head? Before she bolted, though, she’d get some answers.
    “Did your cat just speak to me in my head?” Saying it out loud sounded . . . delusional.
    “Yes.” Sparkle held up her hand. “Later.”
    Stay calm
. Kayla narrowed her eyes. To hell with later. She asked another question. “How?”
    Sparkle waved her hand in an I-don’t-have-time-for-this gesture.
    Kayla
would
get an answer to one of her questions. “Why are you so important to my father?”
Does he know about the talking cat?
    Sparkle paused to