We’d reached the vehicles now. Crow was leaning against the Jeep, his arms crossed over his chest, one sneakered foot stuck behind him on the bumper.
“Well, shit,” I said. “I was supposed to be with Frigg and Than this morning.”
“Power trade off?” Myra asked.
I nodded. “Can you take the toy to the station?”
“Why,” Jean said moving over to lean on the Jeep next to Crow. “Did it go a little bananas?”
“Ha. Ha,” Crow said.
“You love me best,” she said in a sweet voice.
“I’d love you more if you had better jokes,” he said in the same sweet voice.
Jean laughed and bumped her shoulder against his. He bumped her back.
“The monkey—” I started.
“—got it.” Myra lifted the box out of the back of the Jeep and tucked it under her arm with the other one.
“One question,” Ryder asked.
We all turned to him. Waited.
“Where did you find the butterfly sticker?”
Jean spoke up. “Myra found it stuck on the bottom of the box. They were using the box for a potato chip platter.”
I exhaled a little sigh. “I can guess your next question,” I said to Ryder.
He nodded and tucked his hands into his jacket. “What happens if we can’t find the butterfly sticker? What happens if someone wadded it into a ball, or threw it in a fire?”
We were all silent a moment. My stomach clenched, because other than those stickers, we had no defense against the curses.
“Okay, I can stay here for at least the day. Myra, check in with our witches. See if they have any idea how to contain this stuff. I’ll track down Zeus and ask him if he has any ideas, since he’s been a part of Pandora’s life for, like, forever.”
I moved to the front door of the Jeep, put my hand on the handle.
“Or,” Crow said, “we could just use these.” He reached into his damp hoodie and withdrew a sheet of paper—several actually, a whole booklet—all of them covered in dozens of unused yellow butterfly stickers.
“Where did you get those?” Myra demanded.
“Score, old man!” Jean high-fived him.
“How,” I shouted, louder than the others, “long have you had those things?”
Crow shrugged and tucked them safely back inside his hoodie. He pointed at Myra.
“From the storage unit. They were the last thing I found, of course.”
He pointed at Jean. “Keep it up with the old man stuff, and I’ll start sending everyone who goes through my shop to the other bakery instead of your boyfriend’s.”
Lastly, he pointed at me. “Like, since I came by your place this morning?”
“And you made me stand there holding a monkey in my sweaty hands while you dug through the box for the old sticker? You had all those butterflies and didn’t want to use one of those?”
“You’re welcome, Boo boo,” he said. “I know I’m awesome.”
