He still looked exhausted, but his color was slowly returning to something that looked a little less cadaverous.
“Nothing of this world can free him. No dark magic or ancient text. No modern technology or intervention. If you are to ever see him again, he must be given as a gift, a terrible promise kept by that which does not walk our land. That is what I see. That is what I know. I’m sorry.”
“What is a thing that doesn’t walk our land?” Jame asked. “Everything comes to Ordinary.”
Yancy shook his head. “I can’t see more than that at this time. The future is flexible and distorts easily. Perhaps it is simply a person who isn’t a part of Ordinary, perhaps it is something more. I would give you more if I had it. Believe me, Jame, I would.”
I knew he was sincere. Yancy was a nice man, and he had chosen a profession, helping people find their career paths in life, that made use of his abilities and went a long way to helping others.
But Jame was a werewolf who had lost his mate. I didn’t expect him to accept reason so easily.
“Thank you.” I stood and moved over to Jame. Not that I’d be able to stop him if he decided to throttle Yancy. Or, well, maybe I would be able to since Jame was not fully recovered.
“We’ll find him?” Jame asked, moving to the desk to scowl down at Yancy.
“If Delaney makes the right choice.”
“What?” I said, and the same time Jean said, “The hell?”
Jean was standing shoulder-to-shoulder with Jame now, a matching scowl on her face. “You said something not of our land would find him. You didn’t say Delaney. And she is the most of-our-land of all of us. What the hell are you talking about terrible promise?”
Yancy picked up his donut and took a bite. He shrugged. “It is what I see. Delaney will have to make a choice if Ben is to be saved. It is the truth, but isn’t clear. Like a fortune cookie. Or a reality TV show.”
“Not helping,” I said. “Take it down a gear, Jean. You know he can’t give us a map. He can give us the words and images that will hopefully help us make the right decisions we need to make. If he were able to spell everything out, he would be controlling the future directly, instead of observing it.”
“Oh, you do not get to lecture me about metaphysical theory, Delaney.”
She was angry. Angry that Ben was gone. Angry that Yancy had just put me firmly in the middle of saving him.
But I was already in the middle and more than willing to do so. To put myself on the line for him. For Jame.
“We got this,” I said to her, holding her angry blue gaze. “Trust that we got this, Jean. We’ll make the right choices, and I won’t do anything stupid.”
Yancy, wisely, said nothing, but instead finished his donut.
Jame took a deep breath, then reached over and pulled a maple bar out of the box.
Yancy smiled. “I have never been fond of maple. That one’s yours.”
Jame took a bite. “He’s alive?”
“Yes.”
“We’ll find him alive?”
“If Delaney makes the right choice. That is what I see.”
“Thank you.”
That was more than I expected out of Jame.
Jean started out the door, Jame right behind her.
“Thank you,” I said to Yancy. “I know you didn’t have to give us that much for a box of donuts.”
“I’m not sure you should thank me. I placed a very heavy decision on you, Delaney. A heavy decision on your soul that could change you permanently, change Ordinary permanently, change those you love permanently.”
“If it means I can bring Ben back alive, I don’t have any problem making that decision. I can do change. So can the people I love. As for Ordinary, well, we even have mostly reliable wireless service now, so we’re full speed ahead with change.”
