I’d spent so much of my life with the Crossroads, I knew it was panicking. I’d done what I could to calm it down.
It hadn’t been enough.
But to leave the Crossroads, especially in a panicked state, would be like walking away from a ticking nuclear bomb.
No matter how fast I ran, I wouldn’t have gotten far enough away before it blew up half of Missouri and most of Kansas and Oklahoma.
So I’d stayed and tried to find a way to fix the mess my father had left behind.
The Crossroads hadn’t meant to pour thousands of years’ worth of magic and information into my brain. It hadn’t meant to change me in ways that could not be unchanged.
But it had recognized its mistake almost instantly, and had called Card.
Card, who had taken the seed of his tree from one of the oaks grown here on Crossroads’ land. Card, who had always been kind to Dad and to the Crossroads.
Card, who had ink, and magic, and a skill the Crossroads very much needed.
The infinity tattoo over my heart warmed as the Crossroads thought about Card’s tree and his help.
“Yeah, I know you like him. But Val’s staying with you. And I will be back. Just like every other time I’ve left. I’m not my father.”
The Crossroads’ memories of Dad flickered across my mind like a movie.
He had been quiet, but happy. He had been strong and clever. He had been the Crossroads, born to it, one of the rare.
The movie hit a couple blank spots where Dad had disconnected himself from the Crossroads. The place didn’t know how he’d done it, but it did know why: to keep the Crossroads safe.
I’d asked a thousand times, but Crossroads didn’t know what that meant, though it did believe it completely.
“Val’s here to look after you,” I said one more time. “Fate needs to stay outside the property line. You have my permission to keep her there and not allow her inside.”
The Crossroads perked up at that, happy to have a mission and a clear set of rules.
“Yeah, well at least one of us feels like they have a handle on things.”
I filled my pocket with the stones, dropped the Minotaur horn into my other pocket, then stepped out of the notion room, shutting the door behind me.
ChapterSix
“All good?”Val asked from where he waited for me at the top of the stairs.
“You tell me. Has Card pilfered all my silver yet?”
Val grinned. “Nope. Nothing hinky, see how I worked the word in there—you’re welcome. He’s doing the dishes.”
“I do not need him washing my dishes.” I jogged down the stairs and hallway.
“He was almost done when I came up here.”
Card was in the kitchen, singing along with the radio, a Joni Mitchell song about ice cream castles in the air, and so many things that she would have done if the clouds hadn’t gotten in her way.
I slowed my approach and indulged in a moment of nostalgia. When he sang like this, I knew his eyes were closed, and he was holding very still, his head tipped toward the sky.
He was beautiful when he sang.
I pressed fingertips against my eyes. Nope. No. No falling in...whatever this was. Friendliness with him. I had one goal: Find the coins and send Card packing.
I cleared my throat and strode into the kitchen.
