“Comfortable, you ass. Out.” I shooed him toward the door. “Stop,” I ordered just as he reached the doorway. “Did you steal anything from this room?”
“What? No.” He grinned. “I like that you think I might have. Can you imagine the nerve I’d have to have to show up here, beg you to save my life, get you tangled up in a deal with a god, and thenstealsomething out from under your nose?”
I squinted at him. “Card.”
“I mean, there’s stupid and then there’s... What’s another word for monumentally stupid?”
“Cardamom Oak.”
“That guy? Naw, he’s not stupid. He’s just a coward. Ricky, I’ve wanted to tell you how sorry I am that—”
“Don’t.” It came out hard. “We’re not friends. I don’t like you.”
Very much.
“The only reason I’m digging you out of this crap circus is because I am fond of your tree. No, don’t smile at me like I just said we were friends. It’s just that your tree began here. Crossroads remembers it. I’m doing this for Crossroads and your tree, not for you and me.”
“Got it.”
“I don’t think you do.”
“You’re risking your life for your house and my tree.”
“Card.”
“Okay, for my tree. Because your house likes it.”
“Don’t make me rethink my decision.”
“Wouldn’t dream of it. For the house’s tree buddy, tree friend, tree crush. Also, how do you want to get there?”
“Silently,” I said. “We’re going to go without any more talking.”
“That’s gonna make it difficult to tell you where the swamp siren is.”
“Honey Island?”
He smiled. “You cheat.”
“Having knowledge at my fingertips isn’t cheating, it’s efficient. The fastest way to travel is magic. You shouldWalkus there.”
He hesitated a moment, his smile fading.
“Is that a problem?” I asked, somehow knowing it was.
“No,” he said. “There was. A problem. But since I already used it, using it again won’t matter.”
“Famous last words,” I noted. “Going to tell me the problem?”
“Nothing that you need to worry about. It’s a me thing, not a you thing.”
He held out his hand. When I didn’t take it right away, he tipped it slightly. “It’s been awhile. I don’t want you to get lost.”
“I’m not going to get lost.” I patted the pebbles in my pocket. The stones had been a part of the Crossroads since it began. The pebbles would let the Crossroads draw me across the world like metal fillings to a magnet.
“I promise I won’t let go,” he said.
I dropped my hand into his without a comment.
