I followed her down a narrower side hall. She opened a bright yellow door, and we stepped into a room lit by four skylights and decorated with a hodgepodge of antiques, DIY projects, and handmade pieces.
A day bed, a tiny corner desk, a small gray couch furnished the room, and, adding a punch of color, a yellow velvet chair that matched the door.
I dropped onto the couch and was surprised at the room’s silence.
“Don’t hear that?” Ricky asked. “I had it sound-proofed years ago. After a group of banshees decided to stay for a few months to work out some differences. Screamed when they were angry, screamed when they were sad. Screamed when they were happy. What I’m saying is, it was a lot of screaming. This was the only way I could get some sleep.”
“Are you expecting them back?”
“Who knows?” She sat in the yellow chair. She was big enough to hide most of the color from my line of sight. “All sorts of people show up here, and I do what I can to help them, or,” she made ocean-wave motions with one hand, “move them along.”
“Did you help the banshees or move them along?”
She grinned, and those dimples popped. “Well, they got over their differences.”
I leveled at look at her, and she chuckled. “It was a misunderstanding. As soon as I tricked them—I meanassisted in their agreement—” She winked. “—they finally listened to what the others were saying and realized they had been wanting the exact same thing, just going at it from different angles. Also, I might have bound them with truth spells for a week.”
My eyebrows shot up. “Did you tell them you were using magic on them?”
She shrugged. “Details. It all turned out happily ever after. So, let’s talk about Valentine. You said he was hurt?”
“Yes. His wolf. He was hurt.”
“All right. Let’s see what we see.” Ricky pressed her finger to the TV tattoo. “I need to talk to you, Valentine. Here. Right here.”
A tug in my chest behind my sternum, and also, an echoing tug in my head, made me close my eyes and exhale slowly.
“I can’t quite…” Ricky said. “You need to speak up, Val. I can’t quite hear you.”
I thought I heard a faint howl, thought I tasted the sun-warmed loam of a forest floor. The tug on my bones flared hot, burning me from the inside. Sweat broke over my face, soaked the back of my shirt, and trickled down my sides.
“Okay, now I see you,” Ricky said, “you’re doing great. Keep reaching. Purple. Look for the purple.”
The heat cranked up, then it was gone, leaving prickling relief behind.
My muscles felt heavy, like I’d just sprinted up a few dozen flights of stairs.
“I… I hear you,” Val said. “Ricky. I’m here.”
Ricky shifted in the chair and looked to her right. “Welcome back, Val.”
Valentine was more transparent than usual. Scrapes and bruises darkened his skin and he looked like he’d just shaken loose of a nightmare he couldn’t remember. His wolf was with him, just the barest flash of eyes and fur.
“I can’t.” Val frowned and squeezed the back of his neck. “I can’t remember.”
“You were in a fight with a Hush,” Ricky said. “Do you remember that?”
“We were in the caverns,” he said, his hand still on his neck. “Brogan. She was going to kill him.”
“You stopped her,” I said. “You saved me, Valentine. Thank you.”
His gaze skittered, then homed in on me. “Hey, Brogan.”
Ricky leaned forward and carded her fingers together. Soft purple glowed between them. “Are you ready to move on, Val? There’s a light for you. A place for you that is much kinder than here.”
Val squared off to the Crossroads. He dropped his hand from his neck and crossed his arms over his chest. “Did you just give me the it’s-okay-to-die speech? Are you trying to get rid of me? Who put you up to this? Was it Danube? I am so going to haunt his ass.”
Ricky smiled, just a slight twitch at the corners of her mouth, but I felt my shoulders relax and my pulse settle. Val was fine, or he would be fine.
