Elmer held his finger and thumb slightly apart.“More like a tiny little dragon wizard.”
“Oh,” Abbi breathed.“Why does it look like a lizard?”
“Because that’s what it wants to look like,” Josie said.
Abbi nodded.“It’s okay to look like what you want to look like.”
She should know, since I was pretty sure her true form was actually a rabbit.
The lizard ducked down into the shadow and for the barest second, even though I had eyes on it, it disappeared.Then it reappeared and darted out from under the rock.
“Clear,” Josie said.
“How do you know?”Lu asked.
She tapped her forehead.“It said so.”
I just blinked, letting that sink in.
Elmer handed Lu a glass of water.“I know we’re asking you to put your trust in us, but Eunice agreed this was the place where you’d be safe.So did Bo and Raven.If you trust them, you can trust us.And we trust the lizard.”
“Isupertrust the lizard,” Abbi said.
“I have a better idea,” I said.“How about we call Ricky?See if she knows if Cardamom was headed this way.”
Lu huffed, annoyed she hadn’t thought about that.“Do you have cell service?”
“Clear as a bell,” Elmer said.
I took a glass of water and downed half in one go.It was sweet and refreshingly cold.
Lu took her phone out of her pocket and called.
“Ricky, hi,” she said.“Do you know where Cardamom is right now?”
I could hear Ricky’s voice even though Lula held the phone to her ear.
“Hello to you too.Are you okay?The house was really worried about all of you.”
“Thank the house.We’re fine at the moment.Is Cardamom with you?”
“No.He left to find you.Did he?”
“Someone’s here who looks like him,” Lu said.
“Oh, we’re beingthatlevel of suspicious.Okay.Can you see his left hand?”
We all looked back at the display.
“Yes.”
“There’s a tattoo he only ever shows when he’s proving who he is.In other words, nothing which can duplicate, clone, mask, or appear as someone else can ever get that tattoo right.”
“What is it?”I asked.
“What is it?”Lula repeated.
“It’s a circle at the base of his thumb.In the center is a star.A silver star.As you look at it, it will rotate counter-clockwise between silver, gold, and green.”
