She was a part of this, tangled in this knot of gods and magic along with Lula and me. There was only one answer left. “Yes.”
She released a long breath. Maybe she had seen other answers in my future, but I knew I’d chosen right.
“Then this is how I can help you,” she said. “When you have to choose, choose the reed. If you don’t…” She worked her mouth, but no sound came out. She raised her elbow and coughed into it. “Well, that can’t be said. Not by me. But trust me on this. You must choose the reed.” She jerked her head, gaze on the door.
Lorde stood, facing the door, too, her ears tall, her tail curled high over her back. Shewoofed low and softly whined.
Emotion flickered over Eunice’s round features before she relaxed. “Good,” she whispered.
The knock was hesitant. I couldn’t imagine Cupid, or any god, knocking like that.
Just the same, I stood and quickly braced one hand on the table to stay standing.
Lorde’s tail gave an experimental wag.
“Yes, yes,” Eunice said louder. “Come on in. We were waiting for you.”
The door opened. I caught an impression of white hair and big eyes and a black panther, then all that was a blur because Abbi was running toward me, chattering. “I fell for you. I fell for you. And I found you. I knew I’d find you if I went back to the moon, and I did. I did.”
Her arms were around me, squeezing tight. I almost toppled under the force of her, but the big panther padded up behind me and leaned, holding me in place.
I closed my eyes and breathed to hold back the unexpected tears of relief. I patted her back gently.
“It’s okay,” I said. “It’s going to be okay. Are you all right? Are you hurt? Abbi, oh, now, pumpkin, why are you crying?”
She snuffled, and it was wet with tears. She tipped her head up. “Pumpkin. I like that.” Her smile went watery, and the tears made tracks down her cheeks. “I thought you died, then I thought you were lost. And you were and Lula too, and everyone was gone and you were lost, weren’t you?”
“Yeah. Yes, I was.”
“I couldn’t see you, but I remembered the owl lady said I fell for you, so I went to the sky, back to the moon, and I saw you here. I found you.” Her smile was a little steadier this time. “I found you.”
I wiped tears off her cheek. “Yes, you did. Nicely done.”
The cupboard opened again. Eunice withdrew a pack of bright pink desserts of roughly the same size and shape as a snowball.
“Would you like a snowball?” she asked.
I nodded at Abbi, who still hadn’t released me.
“Is it a cookie?” Abbi asked.
“Not quite,” Eunice said.
“Is it a moonball?”
“It has marshmallow in it.”
“It’s okay,” I told her.
Abbi released me, but only enough so she could see Eunice.
“They look like bubble gum,” Abbi said. “I like that. I like marshmallow too. How did you know I fell to find him? Because you’re a muse?” She held out her hand and Eunice passed her the package. Abbi leaned back against me and tore it open.
“I can hear the music of tomorrow,” Eunice said. “It sings me the futures.”
“Neat,” Abbi said through a mouth of marshmallow.
“Do you know where Lula is?” I asked.
