“I didn’t know,” Gertie admitted in a small voice. She appeared rocked by the news. “I had no idea.”
“Do you know what a dhampir is?” I asked.
“In theory,” Gertie replied. “A human-vampire hybrid.”
“Jareth insists the human must be a witch, so, to be more accurate, it’s a witch-vampire hybrid.”
“Interesting,” Gertie mused. “Did he tell you why that is?”
“Humans can’t survive the birthing process.”
Gertie shook her head. “Let me put your orders in. I’ll come back with coffee and juice. Then we’ll get into it.”
Gertie turned on her heel and headed to the kitchen without asking what we wanted.
“Remind me why we come here again,” I complained to Galen. “She doesn’t even let us decide what we want to eat.”
“Have you ever been disappointed?”
“Isn’t the customer always right?”
He laughed and patted my head. “You’re adorable. Will you marry me and make me smile like this forever?”
There was no stopping my eye roll. “You’re very corny this morning.”
“He’s a whole ear of corn,” Booker complained. “It’s gross. Stop it.” He balled up a napkin and threw it at Galen’s head.
Galen slapped it away. “Don’t push me.”
“Stop that,” Gertie admonished as she emerged with a tray of coffees and juices to dole out. Then she grabbed a chair from anearby table and sat with us. “I need to know everything.” she insisted.
“You heard about Wesley going missing?” Galen asked.
“I did.” Gertie flicked her eyes to me. “I was going to come see you, but I wasn’t certain that was a good idea.”
“I would have been happy to see you,” I assured her.
She smiled.
“I would have been happier if you let me order my own breakfast,” I added. “Just once.”
Gertie pretended she hadn’t heard me. “You found Wesley last night. The news spread through town this morning. Everyone is relieved.”
“We found him,” Galen confirmed, “but we’re missing a few steps in between.”
He started telling Gertie what we knew. A pause was enacted so Gertie could retrieve our breakfasts from the kitchen. He resumed as we ate and she sat in the chair again.
“You think you saw your mother on another plane?” Gertie asked me.
I swallowed hard. “Essentially,” I confirmed as I mixed my eggs and hash browns together. For once Gertie had brought me exactly what I would have ordered. It didn’t feel like a coincidence.
“How would that work?”
It took me a full bite to realize she was asking the question of me. “I have no idea.”
“We’re not a hundred percent positive it’s Hadley’s mom,” Galen interjected. He looked distinctly uncomfortable.
“You’renot positive,” Gertie countered. “Hadley, even though she’s fighting the urge to argue with you, does believe it was her.”
