“Hey, Brogan,” I said before he had a chance to end the call. “I’m here. I was just letting Val practice dialing.”
“All right,” Brogan said. “You, I’ll talk to.”
“Thanks. I need some information, if you have it.”
“From me?”
I knew I should proceed carefully here. I’d been Lula’s friend for many years while Brogan had been an earthbound spirit. Lula and I had a good relationship, a great relationship.
I’d assumed Brogan and I would be instant friends now he was back in the physical world. But to my surprise, Brogan had disliked me on first sight.
Lula had told me it was jealousy. She and I had spent time together for decades.
Now that he was alive, he was terrified of losing the time they finally had together.
He’d mostly gotten over being jealous of me. I thought we were friends, now. But that friendship was new and fragile.
“You want to talk to Lula, don’t you?” he asked.
“I just need to know if she’s run across a god coin on the black market.”
He inhaled, exhaled. “You don’t have to make excuses for talking to her, Ricky.”
“It’s not an excuse. Card showed up. He tangled with a god, which, and I will state for the record again, my friends seem to have a disturbing habit of doing lately.”
“Card? Cardamom Oak? I thought you kicked him out years ago.”
“Mostly,” I said, not really wanting to rehash my heartache. “But you know how it goes. All sorts of outcasts blow up on my steps.”
“You want us to come back?” He was moving again, I could hear it from how his voice got louder and quieter as he adjusted the phone. “We aren’t that far out, Ricky. Just in Oklahoma.”
“No. Not unless you actually have the coins?”
“Coins? More than one?”
“To cover the bases, I’m saying two. Might only be one on the market.”
“Hold on.”
He moved the phone away from his face. “Lu, love. Ricky has a question about god coins.”
I could hear her in the background, but couldn’t quite make out her words. Then Brogan said, “Which button? This isn’t... Okay, that one. Can you still hear me?” he asked. “You can talk now. To both of us.”
“Hi, Ricky,” Lula said. “You’re on speaker. I’m at my computer. What are you looking for?”
“Hey, Lu-lala. Two of Fate’s coins. Have they popped up on the magic black market yet?”
“Fate’s coins? As in the goddess Fate?”
“Yes.”
She huffed a breath. “Where were they last seen?”
“In Card’s pockets, apparently.”
“All right. Where was he?”
“A diner out in Oregon. But you know him. He moves around.”
