Chapter 22: Sleight of Hand

Nick wasn’t sure how many drinks he had had. Because of what he had been told about the bar, it seemed like nothing would matter later, but he was still trying as hard as possible to commit what he was hearing to memory. Beau had finally arrived at drunk and was gleefully regaling Julie and Mae with a story it seemed that they had both heard before. They kept correcting him.

In the world that had replaced Nick’s familiar one, he was trying very hard to learn the rules… if there were any. Not only that, it quickly became clear that there was little difference between the things he could believe and those just being said in front of him to extract his looks of incredulity. Beau’s laughter was verging on mean-spirited.

He had mentioned vampires and werewolves in passing. That appeared to be true, but he declined to comment on what was true about them and what was false.