“I don’t plan to help them,” I assured him. “I am curious about one thing.”
Jareth lifted his eyes and waited patiently.
“There’s a mural in Declan’s house,” I explained, going into great detail about what I’d found. I told him about seeing my mother, then wondering if it might be May. “Who painted that mural? Is it my mother? Is it May?”
“I don’t know.” Jareth looked apologetic. “I’m as curious as you are.”
“Any ideas on where we look next?” Galen asked.
Jareth glanced down at the codex. “I need to read this to see if it contains any clues.”
“Okay.” Galen flashed a small smile. “We’ll give you tonight to read it. Then we’ll regroup tomorrow.”
Weariness washed over Jareth’s face. “I thought this was behind me. Now it seems two failed hunts are coming back to haunt me.”
“We’ll fix it,” I promised him. “Together. We won’t let them come back here to pick up where they left off.”
23
TWENTY-THREE
We left the codex with Jareth. He was the only one who could read it and now that I knew what it was, I no longer felt protective.
We headed to one of the beach restaurants for a group dinner. I heard the others chatting in low voices for the walk, but I was in my head. There was so much to think about.
The hostess seemed happy to see us. She flirted with Galen and Booker, which was normal, and paid no attention to the rest of us. When we got to the patio, we found Julian, Lucinda, Taylor, and Flip sitting at a table. From the looks of it, they had just sat down.
Surprise registered on Julian’s face but he recovered quickly. “This is a nice surprise,” he said, sounding sincere.
Galen hesitated, but only for a moment. “Would you like to join us?”
“Absolutely.” Julian smiled and bobbed his head. “I want to hear how Hadley’s serial killer hunt is going.”
The hostess glanced between us, likely trying to understand what was going on. Ultimately, she asked us to give her a moment to push tables together.
“If you guys are eating here, the food must be good,” Julian said.
“It is,” Galen confirmed. He leaned back in his chair and draped his arm over the back of my chair. “Hadley is a foodie, so I have to keep her fed if I want her to be happy.”
I gave him a dirty look. “You make me sound like a glutton.”
“We’re all gluttons in our own way,” Galen replied. He looked at ease, but I could tell he was fighting his nerves. “How is the house hunt going? Are you going to agree to Mosley’s terms on Declan’s old house?”
“I didn’t think it was anything to worry about at first,” Julian admitted. “Now I’m not so sure.” His eyes moved to me. “Do you think he’ll be back?”
He was looking for information from our end, not that I could blame him. “I don’t know,” I replied after a drawn-out silence. “We believe he’s trying to come back. That doesn’t mean he can just slip into his old life.”
“Where is he?” Lucinda asked.
“Another plane.”
“Do you know which one?”
“Do they have names?” I was honestly curious.
“I believe someone designated them with numbers but they don’t have official names,” Lucinda replied. “The locals sometimes name them. You were over there, right? I thought you might have heard it.”
I shook my head and held out my hands. “I have no idea what it’s called. It’s barren. Everything is dead, as if it never sees rain. I saw a volcano in the distance.”
