Without much conversation, we all drifted off to different rooms to sleep, Abbi curled up on the couch in the living room with Hado at her feet. Someone found a thick blanket and draped it over Abbi. Both wolf packs stayed in the room, tucking into spaces and each other’s arms.
Lu took me by the hand to the bedroom I considered ours now, the temptation of warm blankets and soft bed too much to resist.
“Do you know where the hunters are?” I asked.
“They took two of the bedrooms,” Danube’s voice said from just outside our half-open door. “Are you going to be okay here?” he asked.
I didn’t know if he was worried about us or about Valentine.
“We’re fine,” Lu said, which was good because I was yawning.
“If you need anything,” he said, “I’ll be right outside the door.” He stepped away, though I didn’t know how far.
“What are we going to do about Abbi?” she asked, pulling the pillows where she wanted them and straightening the old quilts over us.
“What should we do?” I asked, half asleep already.
“That’s what I’m asking you. What should we do?”
“I think,” I said, my words thick, “we’re going to ask her what she wants, and that’s what we’ll make happen.”
I listened to Lu breathing, listened to the house settle and creak, the almost audible hum of Ricky’s magic wards simmering in the air. It was strangely quiet now that all the connections had been broken, and my thoughts were just my own.
I should feel happy about it, but there was a part of me that missed the chaos, the clamor, the vitality of being a part of something so much more than myself.
I lay there, wondering what the werewolves were dreaming, wondering what roads the hunters followed in their slumber until sleep came down the corridor and punched my ticket.
Chapter Eighteen
“Have you decided yet?” Summer asked Abbi.
Dawn was coming on sweet, the greens greener, the breeze cooler, the sun a buttery softness amongst bird song.
It was the sort of day that made one want to watch it bloom.
It was the sort of day that made one itchy to hit the road, to travel that old pathway, searching for answers to old questions.
Where were the monsters who had nearly killed us all those years ago? Where was the spell book of the gods? Where was our tomorrow?
“I think so,” Abbi said. She sat on the porch railing, swinging her feet. Her Shadow was out in the grass and trees, running with the wolves.
Summer rested her hand on Abbi’s head. “You’re not staying with us, are you?”
Ricky strode out onto the porch, looking her normal self—which is to say smug and annoying—after the three hours of sleep she’d gotten. Today she was wearing a pair of overalls covered in hand-painted frogs.
“Brogan, I was looking for you. I think it’s time to find Valentine.”
My heart lurched, and Lu, who was out by the truck putting in supplies for our travels, looked back at me.
I gave her a wave. “All right,” I said. “Here?”
One of the wolves had chased the panther up the tree, and now a mob of them were circling and yipping, tails wagging. Lorde was out there in the thick of it, having the time of her life.
The panther yowled and hissed at them.
Forget the pretty soft morning. It was noisy as hell.
“Inside.” Ricky nearly shouted to be heard.
