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“Easiest way to break news, I’ve always found.” Madigan stared down a man in a hard hat and neon vest. He’d halted his work on a street sign. It seemed he was debating whether to whistle at her or hide behind his sign post. Madigan’s relentless gaze scared him enough to look away.

“Of course, I’m human. I know… I mean … I’m human. I like to drink coffee. I love to binge-watch thrillers. I get annoyed by ‘spam likely’ calls. I’m ridiculously dramatic about paper cuts. I spontaneously hum Christmas tunes when I’m washing dishes. Those are all very human traits, I assure you. Actually, that last one might just be me.” I looked at Lyric again for confirmation. Her lashes fluttered bashfully under her bangs.

“You’re a tri-mix,” Madigan said again with what I guessed was her signature bluntness.

“A tri-mix?” I asked.

“Lyric can explain on the way. We need to get to Dante Fell.”

I stopped. “We’re walking to Dante Fell? It’s another three miles.”

“Do you have a better way to get there?” Austri asked. He wasn’t being facetious. His face had started to turn red under the summer sun and the layers of animal skins.

Right then, a city bus rumbled past. I had a fleeting vision of the four of us piling onto the hot, crowded bus. “No, let’s walk,” I said.

Austri’s round shoulders drooped in disappointment.

“Will he be all right?” I asked Lyric. “It’s hot today.”

“Austri has been the lead Valian tracker through three battles. He’s a hearty soul,” Lyric said.

“Besides, he’s all fueled up on cakes,” Madigan chirped as she glided past. It was hard to tell if her feet were even touching the ground. “Austri, there’s Omni.” She pointed up to a tall tree. A raven stared down at us from a top branch.

“Told ya Greyhart would be here,” Austri said.

“It’s the raven,” I said excitedly. “At least I think it’s the same one. He scared away this horrible man who grabbed me yesterday.”

“We know,” Lyric said.

“You do?”

“You were telling Paxton about it. That’s why we decided to transform back to flesh and blood.”

“We had to wait for that old witch, Trina, to transform us back this morning,” Austri said. “She sure took her sweet time. Thought we were going to have to spend all day in that messy satchel.” His mouth fell in an apologetic frown. “Sorry, Rafi.”

“No need to apologize. My purse is a disaster zone.” I had yet another question that needed to be asked, but questions about the witch and the raven would have to wait. “So, the three of you heard me when I was talking to you?”

Lyric looked almost hurt. “Every word. We were there for every tear, every laugh, every—” She blushed and rolled her lips in.

“Every?” I asked. “Wait a minute.” It was my turn to blush. “You mean⁠—”

“Were we there when you discovered the joy of diddling yourself?” Austri laughed. Madigan, too.

I stopped cold.

They looked back. “What are you doing, Rafi?” Lyric asked.

“Just waiting for the earth to open up and swallow me,” I said.

Madigan motioned with her head for us to keep going.

“You’re standing in the wrong place for that.” Austri paused and glanced at his compass, then wiggled his nose in the air. “A portal to the underworld is right there below that large building with the words ‘Bus Stop’ on the outside.”

“That would explain a lot about some of the characters I’ve met on the city bus,” I said. I leaned closer to Lyric. “Is he telling the truth or just making fun of me?”

“Never known Austri to lie or tease, so you can be sure it’s a portal to the underworld.”

“Guess it’s a good thing to know. So, I’m a tri-mix? Like French and German and English?”