Lu’s palm on my chest shifted slightly, as did her fingers on my cheek. “There you are. Okay, you’re all right now. Keep breathing. You’re doing fine.”
I was lying on my back, the hazy blue sky a canopy propped up by the trees. The river sang a soft song of summer and stone and sweet tumbling flow.
“Did Val do this?” Lu asked, her expression shifting from caregiver to killer in a flash.
“It’s not always the werewolf’s fault,” Val groused.
“No,” I said, “not Val. I think it’s a binding.” I licked my lips, waiting to see if I was going to lock up again.
“Do you want some water?” Lu asked.
“No. I’m all right. Let’s see if I can figure what triggered that. What was I saying?”
“Mother Hush wanted you to find something.”
Just hearing those words, made me break out into a sweat. “Okay. I remember that. And she wants me to…” My arms and legs started to tingle, like I’d gulped down so much air I was about to pass out. I changed tactics. “You know that part, so I’m not going to say it.”
“Can you tell me what she wants you to find?”
“Better not,” Val said. He was leaning over the side of the truck bed, looking down at me. “You have…something on your mouth.”
I lifted my hand and wiped my palm across my lips.
“It’s still there.” Val leaned closer.
“I don’t think I can say it,” I told Lu. “Val’s staring at my mouth.”
“What are you doing, Val?” she asked.
“This would be a lot easier if she could hear me,” he said.
“I’ll tell her what you say,” I said.
“You only tell her the gist. Not what I actually say. I don’t usually care, well, I do, but…” He shrugged. “Right now, though, you’re going to want to repeat my words exactly.”
“And if I don’t?”
“You’re going to go stone again, and this time you might not come back in time for all your fleshy bits to still be fleshy.”
“Val’s an ass,” I said to Lu.
She looked around, searching for him. “You know, I have some things around here that can kick ghost ass.”
The ghost wolf growled. Val snorted. “Do you want my help or not?”
“It’s fine,” I told Lu. “He thinks he has something useful. He’s ordering me to repeat it exactly.”
She brushed her fingers down the side of my face, tips dragging through the scruff of my jaw.
“All right,” she said. “I’m listening.”
“Lu,” Val said.
“Lu,” I dutifully repeated.
She just gave me a slow blink.
“Brogan is a total tool.”
