“Yeah, he did that.”
“Did he run?”
Val huffed a short laugh. “Not literally. But he told me he’s going to get the hidden coin. And to wait with the truck there for him, and he’d be back by morning.”
“So he didn’t take the truck?”
“No, it’s still in Joplin. I would have called, but...” Val shrugged. “No ghost phone.”
I blew out a breath.
“Do you want me to wait at the truck stop for him?”
“No. He knows the deadline as well as I do. I’m not going to worry yet.”
“There’s something else,” Val said. “I almost didn’t bring it, but if it’s important, I think you need to know.”
“It’s the middle of the night. How awake do I need to be to brace for this truth bomb?”
He shrugged and his smile was all wolf. “I think you can take it lying down.”
“Okay. Hit me.”
“Your dad sent a message.”
I just groaned.
“Want me to stop?” he asked.
I waved my hand to tell him to keep going.
“It’s a piece of paper, and...I don’t know how, but I could carry it. I’m supposed to give it to you.”
“Did you read it?”
“Where’s the trust, Ricky?”
I pushed myself up against the headboard. “So that’s a yes?”
“It’s not like he put it in an envelope. Or folded it.” He handed me a scrap of rice paper with small neat letters written on it. “It doesn’t make a lot of sense, though.”
I took the paper, and it somehow became a little more solid, a little more real as soon as I touched it.
The words were tiny, but clear:
Never for self, as that life thread has been spun, allotted, and cut. But for another does Fate’s coin spin. a generous heart and a giving hand are rewarded.
“That’s some fortune cookie shit, right?” Val asked.
I placed the paper carefully on my night stand. “It might make sense, but right now? I’m going to sleep.”
Which I did, fitfully, until dawn. The Crossroads had taken to mumbling Card’s whereabouts, but there was a moment, somewhere around two in the morning when the house had said, gently and happily:tree, roots, home.
Card had gone to his tree. And I knew it was not in Missouri. He never would have gotten to it and back to the truck before noon, so I knew he’d used his magic andWalked.
I wondered if he would run into Stel out there, if she would sense his magic and take another run at him. But from the very protective:mine, mine, ours,coming from the Crossroads now, I was pretty sure she wouldn’t take a hit out on him so soon.
I unlocked my arms from leaning over the coffee pot and rubbed my palm over my eyes, the scent of coffee thick in the air.
