She sniffed. “What do you think we’ve been trying to do? You even went back in time, and you failed.”
“I didn’t—” He cut off his words, but Josh finished them for him.
“We did. In this timeline, we haven’t changed a thing.”
“Yes, we did!” Nero answered. “We know how to kill it now.”
“Not if we can’t find it.”
And that was it—the big question for everyone. Where was the demon that was creating the expanding circle of death?
While everyone mulled over that disastrous question, Bruce chanced a look outside.
Oh fuck. It was a minute or two short of dawn. Laddin had set an alarm, but it had probably been drowned out by all the noise from the cars.
“Laddin!” he said. “You’re late!” Laddin had promised to give the cheese pixies some answers at dawn—at the tree that was over a mile away!
“Late for what?” Nero asked.
But there wasn’t time to explain. Wolf Laddin looked at the sky, whimpered in fear, and then took off. He was running like the wind as a wolf, and Bruce didn’t hesitate to follow him, doing his best to keep up on his human feet. He wasn’t nearly as fast, but there was no way in hell he would let Laddin face those demon cheeses alone.
By the time Bruce rounded the barn and headed out through the open field, he knew it was hopeless. They weren’t going to make it before dawn. Even Laddin, who was a distant streak of reddish brown in the distance, wasn’t going to get there in time. Bruce was running like his life—or Laddin’s life—depended on it, but they didn’t have a prayer.
“Eat the apple. You can run faster.”
Bitterroot was back, hopping through the field beside him like a damned bunny. He had no problem keeping up, and Bruce wanted to kick him, just for the hell of it. But he didn’t have the time and he certainly didn’t have the breath. But as it turned out, he didn’t need it to talk to the creep. The bastard could pick his thoughts right out of his head.
Fuck off!he thought as loud as he could.
Bitterroot ignored him. “Laddin’s not going to make it in time. And in case you haven’t noticed, magical creatures are all very angry around here. Wisconsin is one big knot of hate and fear. It is not going to go well for your lover.”
We’re all pissed off. You should be too. We’ll all die if we don’t stop that demon. So instead of hopping like a jackrabbit beside me, tell us where the bastard is!
Then, out of spite, he imagined Bitterroot as an ugly Peter Cottontail with buck teeth and donkey ears. And to his shock, the fairy abruptly changed into exactly what he’d pictured—complete with a polka-dot bow tie and a ratty straw hat. If he’d had the breath, he would have burst out laughing as Bitterroot stumbled at the sudden change in his body.
“I am angry, you idiot. And I’m trying to help!”
Bullshit.
“Eat the apple, you fool. Lovina was right. The Seers have all said you will eat it.”
And save the world?
“Sometimes. It’s not clear.”
Great. And because he wasn’t stupid, he knew that the two might not be connected at all. He could save the world by entirely different means. Or not save it at all. So this argument was getting them nowhere.
What do you get?
“Other than a saved Earth?”
Yes.
“Standard contract.”
Like what? My firstborn child?Wasn’t that what all the fairy tales wanted?
“Don’t be insulting. We cherish human children. I am the grandchild of a human girl. It is how I am who I am.”
