Dot smiled, but her eyes were starting to go wet. “I don’t know how I can ever thank you. How I can…”
Lu pulled her into a sturdy hug. “You’re welcome. That’s all. That’s enough.”
Dot nodded and gave Lu an extra squeeze before stepping back. “Any time you come through here, any time at all, you are welcome in my home. In my sister’s home too.”
Stella floated into the room and stood next to Dot. “She’s such a softy,” she said. “If Lu doesn’t leave now, she’s going to have to draw a name for the family holiday gift exchange.”
I grunted, and wisely didn’t say anything about how Stella was looking a little choked up herself.
“Thank you,” Lu said. “If I come through here again, I’ll be sure to stop by.”
“Do that. Please do that. You’ll never have to pay for a room here. This is your home too. If you want it. When you need it.”
“As long as there aren’t hot guys staying here,” Stella added. “Well, probably then too. Dot has a blow up mattress that fits in her office.”
Dot finally stepped aside and opened the door.
“Good-bye, Stella,” I said. “Don’t steal any more magic books, okay?”
“Wait,” she said. “I’m sorry you didn’t get your part of the deal. I’m sorry that man took it.”
I rubbed at my chin, scratching at the stubble there that never grew into a full beard. “It wasn’t in your control. I know that.”
She bit her lip, glanced at Dot, glanced at Lu, who had hefted her duffle to her shoulder again and was walking out the door.
“There’s another magic item,” Stella blurted.
“There are a lot of magic items,” I said.
“Not like this one. I saw it. A half-staff carved with creatures and symbols and runes. The woman who rented out the room a few years ago had it with her. It glowed. And everything on the staffmoved.”
Magic was a lot more common than people suspected. It was in the soil, in the air, in all of our blood. Still, magic items, real magic items, were carefully guarded, protected, and most of all: hidden.
Lu made a lot of money off real magical artifacts. When she found them.
“You remember the woman’s name?”
She closed her eyes, her lips moving like she was paging back through her memories. “Betsy…no, Betty. Yes, that’s it.” She opened her eyes. “Betty Moss.”
“Betty Moss. All right. Thank you.”
She nodded. “What you gave me, well, that’s invaluable. If I see anything else that comes through here, I’ll let you know when you come back.”
“Ifwe come back.”
She smiled. “You will. Dot’s probably going to bribe the sheriff to arrest you if you drive down the highway and you don’t stop in first.”
“Good to know.” Lu was out the door now, walking, even though Dot had offered, repeatedly, to drive her to the vet’s office.
It was time to say good-bye. Time to leave.
“Safe travels, Stella,” I said, in the common way of those who drove the Route.
“Safe travels, Brogan. I hope you find the answers you’re looking for. You deserve it. You both deserve some answers.”
I was already striding through the door, but I waved my hand in acknowledgment. I hated that she had any of Lu’s memories, that she had gotten to relive even a moment of our life together. Even if some of those moments were sorrow and horror.
I knew she meant well, but I was jealous to hold what we had to ourselves.
