I set the carton down, my appetite sated for now. “We don’t owe the owl woman anything, either.”
“We could turn around,” Lu said. “Stay with Ricky at the Crossroads? Visit Valentine? Been awhile since he’s called. I’m sure he’d be happy to see you.”
“Damn ghost,” I said.
“Moon balls?” Abbi asked. “Can we make cookies? I mean, can we visit? I bet Ricky is super lonely for us.”
“She’s not lonely,” I said. “She has that annoying werewolf ghost to keep her company.”
Lu shook her head. “You like Valentine.”
“He’s a ghost. I very much do not like him. Besides, Cupid wants us looking for that book.”
“Cupid hasn’t told us there’s a deadline,” Lu said. “For all we know, the god’s lost spell book is back in Missouri.”
“Nope,” Abbi said.
“Or Illinois,” Lu said.
“Nope.” Abbi pulled Hado onto her lap and petted his head. “I can hear it. It’s not behind us. It’s somewhere ahead.”
“Ahead?” I asked.
“West, mostly.” She petted Hado with strokes that were a little too determined.
“Abs,” I said gently. I nodded toward her hand.
She blinked, as if coming back from wherever it was the book was calling, and gave me a half smile. “I like that. Abs.” She rested her hand on Hado’s back
“How far ahead of us is the book?” I asked.
She cocked her head to one side. “I can’t tell. It’s…hard to hear, but it’s west. I know it.”
She started petting again, softer and slower. Hado closed his eyes and purred.
“Made you purr,” she told him.
He opened his moonstone eyes and yowled.
Abbi giggled and started petting him again. “Made you purr. Just like a cat. A pretty, pretty cat. Are you a pretty kitty, Hado? Pretty little fur ball?”
Hado put up an effort not to close his eyes and melt into her soothing touch, but his lids closed once, twice, and on the third time, the purring started up again.
Abbi slapped her free hand over her mouth, eyes filled with delight.
“It feels like a trap,” Lu said. “Going where Headwaters and your vision woman want us to go.”
“Oh, it’s undoubtedly a trap.” I shoved at the blanket with my feet, pushing until I could pull them up over my hips. Not as easy as it seemed, since Lu and Lorde were both on the outside of the covers. “We have lots of things in the Tulsa storage, though.”
“And?”
“We have plenty of minor magical doo-dads we can give Headwaters. And plenty of weapons we can arm ourselves with.”
“Hold on, let me picture this,” Lula said. “You, striding into a soda shop wearing a sword, maybe mace and chain, and an axe. Is that what you want us to do?” The smile was back, along with the twinkle in her eye.
“Absolutely, that’s what I want us to do.”
“We’ll get arrested.”
