“Were you a good boy while I was asleep?” I asked, rubbing behind hisear.
Nadine nodded. “Sophie and Roxy are following us in your car. Hemlock and Mittens refused to leave yourside.”
At that, Mittens mewed from somewhere in my bunk. I had to peel back a few covers to find her wedged at my hip. When I saw her, I smiled, pulling her close to mychest.
Danny popped his head down again. “You would make such a cool Disney princess. You have all of the right ingredients. Orphaned, weird undiscovered powers, loves to be out in nature, and of course, affinity foranimals.”
I laughed then, which only made my headache throb harder. I loved this crazybunch.
Nadine patted Hemlock's back. “Alright, wanna see the trick I taughthim?”
I barely heard what she said over the smell of bacon that was assaulting my brain, so I justnodded.
Nadine plucked one strip off of my plate. Hemlock whined again, standing up and facing her. Nadine spoke in a firm voice: “Sit.”
Hemlockdid.
“Shake.”
Hedid.
“Eat,” she said, and held the bacon in her mouth, letting the majority hang from her teeth. She bent down gingerly, and Hemlock tenderly took the piece of bacon from her mouth and chewedit.
“That’s disgusting,” Dannycommented.
My heart soared at the sight of the once vicious dog taking bacon from Nadine’smouth.
“That’s amazing!” I told her, ignoringDanny.
Nadine gave the sorcerer a smirk, and Keegan came up from behindher.
“I made that, so you better like it,” hedeclared.
I looked at the plate, impressed. The boys were finally learning how tocook.
Isaac made a tsk-tsk noise and I was reminded of his declaration that he didn’t kill anything so that he could eat. The strip of bacon was poised at mymouth.
“Eating meat weighs down your energy and gunks up your chi,” Isaacdeclared.
I stared at the bacon. I literally could not stop salivating; it was a learned response. But I’d promised to give this druid apprenticeship a try. “Okay … I declare, from now on, I give up all meat. No burgers, no chicken, orfish!”
Isaac beamed at me like a proudparent.
“Except...” I held up a hand. “Bacon. I am a veggie-bacon-tarian.”
Logan chuckled and I felt bad when hurt crossed Isaac’s face, his bright copper eyes dimming a little. My joke was not receivedwell.
“Did your mother eat meat?” Isaac asked me, and it was like the wind had been knocked out of me. Talking about my mom still didthat.
I shook my head. “No. She didn’t.” She would prepare it for me but never ate the stuff herself. Guilt washed through me at the memory of my mother trying to make me go vegetarian at age six, but I just wanted to eat what my friends ate, so she never pushed it afterthat.
“On second thought, Keegan, do we have any avocado? I’ll pass on thebacon.”
If I was going to embrace all of my druid powers and get a handle on this magic, then I needed to do what Isaac said … what my mother would havedone.
Isaac just smiled sweetly and nodded, walking to the front of the bus and leaving me to my thoughts. I was now a vegetarian with pottedfeet.
“We’ll be at the tree in about an hour. Prepare for anything,” Isaac said over hisshoulder.
