I rubbed the side of her shoulder, then Abbi’s cackling laugh rose in victory.
Lu relaxed.
The radio played on, Abbi still singing, using all the wrong words and notes possible.
* * *
The night air through the truck’s window smelled clean and growing, like water flowing over rocks still heated from the day.
Lu had parked Silver next to Ricky’s black truck and turned off the engine.
I could hear, but not see, the Meramac River that ran close by, tunneling through caves and hollows, winding its way slowly through the hungry green.
“I need you to be careful,” Lu said.
“I will be careful.”
“You’re not just a spirit any more. You bleed, Brogan.”
“I know. I need you to be careful. I can’t protect you like I could when I was a spirit.”
“I’ve been taking care of myself for years,” she said, the edge in her voice a surprise. “I don’t need you to take care of me now.”
By the widening of her eyes, she realized what she was saying just as the words escaped her mouth.
A part of me was afraid of what those words meant. Was she tired of me being with her? Did she want me to leave her alone?
But I’d been with her for almost a hundred years. I knew exactly what fear looked like on her. Knew what it sounded like.
“I didn’t mean it the way it came out,” she said.
I reached over and caught the bottom of her chin, turning her face to me. “I love you. I trust you. We are both going to be careful.”
She nodded, the shadows smudging her sharp features so that, for a moment, I could wonder if this were a dream.
Knuckles rapped on Lu’s window, and I jerked. Ricky gestured for us to come outside.
“Ready?” I asked.
“I am.” Lu slipped out the door, shutting it as quietly as possible.
“Bo,” I said, my voice low, my hand on the door handle. “If you’re watching this, if we’re doing the right thing, I’d like to know you’ll step up if things go to hell.”
Nothing but the burble of the river answered me, so I opened the door and stepped into the night.
Brogan,” Ricky said. “I have a weapon for you.”
Lu was holding a very short, thick blade no longer than her palm. I would have said it wasn’t going to do her much good, but then she shifted her grip on it, and magic flared red, making the blade glow.
“These should at least stop the Hush,” Ricky said. “Even if they won’t kill them.” She had a satchel over one shoulder. From it, she pulled a metal rod. The rod was thicker at one end and pointed at the other—more of a vampire stake than a wand.
“I don’t think this will harm you. But you are not quite human and have a magic of your own, I suspect.” She held out the rod. “Careful. Just a finger first.”
“Don’t know why she gets a blade and all I get is a stick…” I grabbed the rod before she could pull it back. A lash of heat and of sound rumbled through my bones, like a storm building inside my blood and muscles.
It didn’t hurt, but it was…strong.
“That’s what I thought,” Ricky said. “You’re connected to magic, to the spirit realm, but not made of shadow like the Hush. Good to know. That ‘stick’ is a lightning rod for magic. Focus your will, and it should blow the flames out of hell.”
