“You’ve been there though,” she said in a small voice. “You’ve stayed with me most of the time, haven’t you?”
I squeezed her hand gently. “I’ve been there with you for all of the time. Always.”
Tension flowed out of her, and she propped her elbow on the open driver’s window. “Because you love me.”
“Because I love you.”
“And you know Ricky is our friend. Well, my friend, but also yours.”
I didn’t answer, but instead turned on the radio. Lu seemed okay with the ceasefire, and we let the road and hours roll by.
It was almost noon by the time we nicked the edge of Joplin and turned south toward the unincorporated community of Hornet where Crossroads lived. It was greener here, the fields clogged up with big trees whose branches arced over the road and threw shadows and light at us like buckets of confetti.
Val had been riding along with us, silent, which was a nice change. But he finally spoke up. “I think I know what the rabbit is.”
I turned off the radio. “I’m all ears,” I said.
Lu glanced over.
“Valentine,” I said.
“I was thinking rabbit, like fur and cotton tail,” Val said. “Part of me knew I’d seen a special rabbit, but not a pet like you said before.”
“This gonna take all day? Because we’re running out of road.”
“Maybe I’ll keep my mouth shut, let you figure it out, and throw you a thumbs up for a good job in a year or three.”
I leaned a shoulder into the passenger door, so I could twist to see him better. “Look at that,” I said. “We’re both assholes.”
Val scowled, and his wolf growled, but it was only a second before his lips quirked up. “I might have liked you when I was alive. Or I might have wanted to punch your face.”
“Tell me about the rabbit. You help us, you get your reward from Cupid, whatever that might be.”
“Being dead was messing up how I was thinking about it.”
I held back a frustrated sigh.
Being dead was a hell of a thing, and ghosts always wanted to talk about it.
“Sometimes my memories feel more real than this.” He waved his hand between the two of us. “It took time to sort it all out. I’d seen a rabbit, but special. Worshiped.”
“An idol?”
“Right. That’s what I was thinking, or maybe a sacred place. River spirit, forest spirit.” He shook his head, and suddenly looked very, very sad. “We still have them, you know. Werewolves. Some of us don’t pay attention to those things any more, but some do.”
He was quiet so I spoke up. “Your people are the Riggs?”
He shook his head, then tipped his head back, exposing his neck. “Pack out near Jefferson City. I left. Burned that bridge until the river went to steam.” His mouth twisted in a wry smile. “Threw my lot in with the Riggs who betrayed me, of course.”
“Of course?”
“Opposing packs. Outsiders are never welcome.”
I shouldn’t ask it. It was none of my business. But I was beginning to think there was more than one reason Bo hooked Val up into this journey. Had a feeling that, until the reason for that was solved, we’d be hitched to a ghost for the foreseeable future.
“So why did you leave your pack?”
“A lot of reasons. They left me first, really. Used me as a sacrifice. No parents. No siblings. Expendable. I didn’t fit in.”
