The Spirit #18

Down at the Bucket of Blood, a shabby waterfront café, the Spirit encounters Ides O'March, a peculiar Scottish undertaker who claims to possess a charm that makes him invulnerable—and he's eager to prove it by subjecting himself to increasingly dangerous tests. When a small-time criminal named Cooler steals the mysterious charm, the Spirit must untangle who really holds the power in this eerie little dive and what Ides truly wants from the underworld's misfits.

When Police Detective Flatfoot Burns demonstrates an optical puzzle chart designed for rookie exams, he discovers the tricks play havoc on everyone's perception—including his own. As a pearl thief strikes nearby and stashes the stolen loot in one of several stacked boxes, Flatfoot finds himself unable to catch the crook because he's too distracted by solving the very puzzles he created. In the end, the chart's deceptive eye tricks become both the problem and the solution to catching the criminal.

When Satin reappears in the Spirit's life, she's fighting for something far more personal than international espionage—the safety of her daughter and a chance at a new beginning. The mysterious adventuress finds herself caught between her maternal devotion and her complicated past, as criminals and conspirators close in around her. Can the Spirit help her escape the web of danger, or will the secrets of her history prove impossible to outrun?