I waited, both hoping and dreading he’d say more. A mile rolled by on this narrow road, through oak trees and fields of grass. A few clouds mustered to take a run at the sky and evaporated before they got far. Lu squeezed my hand, asking if the conversation was over.
“Who did they sacrifice you to?” I finally asked, gently.
“What,” he said. “I think it was a what. Those memories are too bright to stare at too long. I just go blind with rage.” His wolf moved closer to him, edges blending, and closer yet, so the wolf’s head was centered in his chest, his ghostly eyes burning red.
“They were going to throw me in a cavern, leave me for the spirits to kill.”
Lu flicked on the indicator light even though there wasn’t anyone behind us for miles. Crossroads was right ahead.
Sometimes folk came out here looking for the Spook Light drifting across the Devil’s Promenade, but they never noticed the Crossroads. Whether it was the unassuming location, the twisty old road, or just the steeped-in loneliness of the place, the casually curious moved right on by.
But the truth seekers, the magical, the desperate, always found their way here.
I wondered which of those things we were today.
“They thought giving up one of their own would placate the monsters. Dark spirits have always wandered at the edges of our land. But then food was stolen, and other, random items. A wind chime, a chair, a shed disappeared.
“Then Teddy went missing. Three months old. Couldn’t even crawl yet. Somehow got out of a locked house, no windows open.”
“Could have been a human break in,” I said. “A kidnapper took the baby.”
Lu stiffened a little. She hadn’t heard Val’s side of the conversation.
“No, it wasn’t human. It wasn’t werewolf either.”
“How do you know?” I asked.
“There was no scent of anything, just threads left behind.”
I pressed my fingers to my lips.
“Just like those,” he said, “woven like a spider web around Teddy’s cradle.”
“Did they find him? The baby?”
“About a week later. He wasn’t harmed, but hasn’t shifted into his wolf form since.”
“How long ago was this?”
“Three years.”
“They got the baby back,” I told Lu. She nodded and slowed the truck. We were almost at the Crossroads.
“They wanted to keep everyone safe. I understand that. I wasn’t blood related, wasn’t really accepted. I overheard them saying they were going to send someone, going to send me to talk to the spirits. It was a sacrifice,Iwas a sacrifice. Expendable.
“I ran. To the Riggs. I thought… I don’t know what I thought.”
“You were looking for sanctuary. Family. Pack. You thought the Riggs would take you in. Is that why you want revenge on Danube?”
“I don’t want revenge on him. I’m angry at him. Furious. Maybe I wouldn’t mind punching him once or twice.” He flashed me a sharp smile. “But I want revenge on the Hush who killed me.”
“Wait,” I said, running his story through my head. “You left the Jefferson City pack three years ago when the baby returned. You ran before they could take you to the caverns, but you said the Hush killed you a year ago. How did you end up in the cavern?”
“Can you believe I volunteered?” He grimaced and ran his fingers down the edge of his black leather vest, the straps of leather and beads on his wrist sliding forward with the movement.
“You volunteered.”
“To kill the Hush?” Lu asked.
