Page 7 of Up in Smoke

“I’m okay with doing that for fun with hot dogs. That’s different from doing it as the upper end of my survival tactics. Anyway, you have standards, period. That’s automatically higher than any standard a scavenger has. I’m not ashamed of that, by the way. I survived.”

“You excel at general survival, except that bit with the gun. I certainly am not blaming you for someone taking a shot at you off a rooftop. That’s not your fault.”

“After reading about what my spleen does, I regret its loss. I’m going to end up having to go to the East every time I get sick just to make sure I don’t fall over dead.” I wrinkled my nose. “I thought the spleen was just a junk organ. It’s really not.”

“It might grow back,” Sandro said, getting to his feet and waiting for me to move so he could escape from his spot at the window. “Hybrids sometimes develop regeneration, and it can restore even removed organs. It’s rare, but it can happen. It’s common with full shapeshifters, but the full shapeshifters have a lot of problems when they aren’t a hybrid. And if it doesn’t grow back, I’ll make sure you get the care you need. If it means we must stick in the East for the most part, so be it. I’d rather limit how much I roam if it means you stay healthy.”

I frowned. “Wait, what’s that about shapeshifters having a lot of problems if they’re not hybrids? Wait, hybrids can grow organs back? You have got to be kidding me. Nobody told me that.”

I might be able to grow my spleen back? The idea intrigued me enough I waited for his answer, narrowing my eyes.

Sandro raised a brow at me while hauling down the heaviest of our bags, which held the prized collection of melon liquors for Ryleigh. The bag had wheels, and I set it up so I could drag it while Sandro carried the other bag, which held most of the tech we’d purchased. I had a new purse, which contained a collection of presents Sandro hadn’t let me open yet.

I suspected he’d used the presents to make sure I’d gotten onto the flight.

He had chosen wisely.

“Yes, hybrids sometimes can grow organs back. I started making calls when I went East and found out Mom has a shitty sense of humor and a willingness to spend excessive amounts of money. Since you were sleeping a lot, I kept myself busy. I was not allowed to hover like some creepy stalker while you slept. I was limited to peeking into your room every twenty minutes to make sure you seemed okay.” Sandro adjusted the strap of my purse on my shoulder so it wouldn’t attack me when I escaped the plane. “Let’s retrieve the rest of our luggage and see about getting into New Orleans. I’m not looking forward to discovering how cranky the queens saddled with picking us up might be.”

“The queens are smart. They would have seen the delay and taken a nap,” I informed him. “Ryleigh, at least, is smart enough to nap when she needs to. I can’t say much about the other queens.” I dragged the luggage to the ramp to enter the airport properly, stepping gingerly over the gap.

At less than an inch wide, I had no risk of plummeting to the tarmac below, but it unnerved me all the same. I marched until confident I stood on a proper floor before waiting for Sandro, who took his time joining me.

“What has you spooked now?” he asked.

“This whole damned flying thing. How the hell did they park the plane so close to the ramp without hitting anything?”

Sandro laughed. “They didn’t park the plane next to the ramp. They move the ramp to the plane after it’s in position. When we head home, we’ll watch some planes come in so you can see what happens. If you hadn’t put your back to the window and refused to watch the horrifying planes coming and going from Newark, you would not be surprised right now.”

“It was bad enough hearing them,” I informed him in my most dignified tone. “What happens now? Where is my candy, Sandro? I need candy.”

Sandro unzipped one of the front zippers of my new purse and pulled out a chocolate truffle, one of the more expensive ones I’d avoided at the chocolate store, which he handed to me. “I stashed emergency chocolate in your purse.”

I unwrapped it and popped it into my mouth, sighing at the decadent flavor. Before I could stash the wrapper back in my purse, Sandro stole it and escorted it to the trashcan at the end of the tunnel. My fox enjoyed the view, as did I, and I hurried to catch up with him. “What do we do now?”

“Baggage claim,” he replied, and after examining the gate, he pointed at a sign hanging from the ceiling. “We just follow those signs until we find the baggage claim, and then we go to the carousel for our flight. It usually takes fifteen to twenty minutes for the stuff to leave the plane and get sent to the carousel. It might beat us there, but only an idiot will touch our stuff at this point.”

Right. The airline had flagged our bags because we had an invitation from a New Orleans queen, which meant preferential treatment. “How big of a deal is it that someone is babysitting our bags at the claim because of those yellow tags? Also, I thought the lady at the gate was going to have a heart attack when she saw the flag on our tickets.”

She’d gone from grouchy we’d hauled a bazillion bags with us to calling someone over to help make sure our bags were loaded onto the plane without a single delay or incident. Then we’d gotten to board first, and we’d gotten fancy seats.

I had no idea what the Voodoo queens had done to freak out airport employees in a different quadrant, but I’d ask Ryleigh, as she liked it when I showed I had a sword for a spine rather than a pool noodle.

“Well, normally, I’d be the first off the plane and making a mad rush across the airport to make certain nobody stole my stuff. Today? I’ll leisurely detour to the nearest bathroom and ambush the first open café I see along the way.”

“Coffee sounds good,” I replied, pricking my ears forward at the thought of something warm to drink. “My poor tail could use a combing, too.”

“There is a combing kit in your purse. I’ll dig it out for you so the rest is a surprise for our room.”

Halting, I held out the bag. “I had no idea I liked surprises this much, Sandro, but I really do.”

Surprises beat airport-induced anxiety any day of the week.

“These are good surprises, and I’m glad you’re looking forward to it.” He unzipped my purse, rummaged around inside, and pulled out a box wrapped in shiny blue paper. “It’s more than just combs, and I hope you like it.”

Once I had the purse back into place on my shoulder, I held my present close so nobody could take it from me. “I’ll admit, especially since we didn’t crash, this flying business isn’t too bad.”

“If all it takes is a little bit of chocolate and a present to make flying tolerable for you, I think I can handle that.”