“What’s in the jars?” Lu asked.
Pamela started forward. “Rooroo dust. It’s a family recipe. Works on the Hush like salt on ghosts or holy water against demons. Throw a little on them, and they’ll freeze and burn.”
“You’ve tried it?” Lu asked.
“All us Walch kids keep some near our beds. Ever since—according to family lore—our aunt was stolen out of her cradle and possessed by one of the Hush.
“She and the Hush fought, seeing as Aunty didn’t like sharing her brain with any other creature. She rolled around in Rooroo dust, and the Hush took off in a shot. But then she got lonely and spent a couple decades going from cave to cave apologizing and hoping to see the Hush again.”
Ricky chuckled. “I’ve heard of her. She married the Hush, didn’t she? Your aunt was Old Ruby?”
“The same.”
“Raised that Hush kid for a while, right?”
“Yeah, but Thrum disappeared the day she died. Went back in the caves, they say.”
I stilled. I knew that name. My dream?
“Auntie’s welcoming approach to the supernatural sort of runs in the family,” Pamela said.
“We’ve got no beef with the weres,” she added. “Well, Gramps thinks they’re running people off his shop, but if he used a broom more than once a year, I think a lot more people would show up.”
Pamela extended her hand to Lu.
Lu crossed her arms over her chest.
Pam stuck her hand in her pocket, not seeming concerned that Lu had refused the handshake.
“Since it might need saying: I have no quarrel with the weres, the Rabbit, Crossroads, or the two of you—whatever you may be. I do want to make sure the Hush aren’t stepping out of line, stealing people and such. Just like my family’s been making sure for centuries.”
“You do that, we’ll have no troubles,” Lu said evenly.
Pamela must have caught the warning in Lu’s tone, because she took a step closer to Ricky. “I’d be happy to pay for Gramps’ meal. Mine too, if you have extra.”
“We have plenty,” Summer said from the door. “Come on in Pam. I brewed tea.”
“Hey, Sum.” Pamela strode past Ricky and followed the head of the Riggs pack. “You know I would have helped if I knew you were going up against the Hush.”
“It’s not something we planned,” Summer replied, her voice fading as she strolled deeper into the house. “Abbi ran off. Things went downhill from there.”
“You trust her?” Lu asked Ricky.
“I don’t know her,” she said. “But if she wanted to cause problems, she would have taken her shot when they first drove up. I’d know if she were lying.”
“The magic you sent out to her?” I asked.
She raised her dark eyebrows. “Magic?”
“You pulled it out of the house and sent it through the grass.”
“You saw that?”
I shrugged.
“What else do you see, Brogan Gauge?” For a moment, Ricky was more. Her eyes burned lavender with power, her body built of stone and iron, wings curving above her head. The tattoos became a living river of symbols, motion and magic, ancient as the stars.
“I see that you have a house full of trouble,” I said. “The minute they’re off your property, all hell’s going to break loose.”
