I did the only sane thing that occurred to me.
I fainted.
Chapter Eight:
“There’s never a cop around when you need one!”
—A. CAPONE
“SKEEVE!”
The voice seemed to come from far away.
“C’mon, Skeeve! Snap out of it! We’ve got trouble!” That caught my attention. I couldn’t seem to get oriented, but if there was one thing I didn’t need it was more trouble. More trouble? What . . . later! First, deal with whatever^ going on now!
I forced my eyes open.
The scene which greeted me brought a lot of the situation back with a rush. I was in a restaurant . . . on the floor, to be specific . . . a Pervish waiter was hovering over me . . . and so was a policeman!
At first I thought it was the same one we had encountered earlier, but it wasn’t. The similarities were enough that they could have come out of the same litter . . . or hatching. They both had the same square jaw, broad shoulders and potbelly, not to mention a very hard glint in their otherwise bored-looking eyes.
I struggled to sit upright, but wobbled as a wave of diz ziness washed over me.
“Steady, Skeeve! You’re going to need your wits about you for this one!”
Kalvin was hovering, his face-lined with concern.
“W . . . what happened?” I said.
Too late I remembered that I was the only one who could see or hear the Djin. Ready or not, I had just opened the conversation with the others.
“It seems you fainted, boyo,” the policeman supplied.
“I theenk he just does not vant to pay for zee food he ordered.”
That was from the Pervect who had seated me, but his words brought it all back to me. The special dish from Klah!