Page 51 of Scout’s Honor

Dallas looked back and forth between Bonhi, the wolf statue, and Mama Soline. “There’s a key… something we have to find or… or…. everyone dies.”

Mama Soline raised her chin. “He tell you true.” She picked up the leather lacing Dallas had shown her, the one Warrior Woman had given him, and pressed it into Bonhi’s hand. “Take this, bébé. Put your magic in this. You’ll know when.”

The lights dimmed. Mama Soline looked up. She walked to the far corner of the shop, picked up a coat, and motioned they should follow her.

“Closing time,” she said, her voice suddenly all business.

26—No Such Thing

Bonhi put the cuff in her pocket but kept the piece of lightning sand in her hand. She followed Mama Soline outside, her fingers threaded through Dallas’. Music floated down the street from somewhere close by, and boozy people walked every which way. Night was falling, but Bonhi could see an opulent Rolls Royce idling at the curb in front of the shop. The driver got out and nodded to Mama Soline. He was tall and dark-skinned, wearing a double-breasted black suit, with black shoes and white gloves. He wore sunglasses, even though it was almost dark, and chin-length locs framed his face. He went around to the passenger side and opened the door for Mama Soline, speaking to her briefly, then he came back around, his eyes on Dallas.

Dallas approached him, about to speak. The man bared his teeth and flicked his strangely long and forked tongue out of his mouth. Bonhi gasped, shocked. Dallas took a step back. The man got in the car and drove away.

Bonhi grabbed for Dallas. “His tongue!”

Dallas shuddered. “It was like a snake tongue. Why do people do that to themselves?”

Bonhi held him close and searched his face, whispering, “He wasn’t, you know, like a snake shifter or something?”

Dallas shook his head. “There’s no such thing.”

Bonhi huffed out a breath. “Oh, thank goodness.”

Dallas took her hand. “At least I don’t think there is. He scented human, anyway. Come on, let’s get out of here.”

The urgency Dallas had felt when seeing the images faded, leaving him feeling like they had time to get the key. Nothing bad was going to happen right at that moment.

Bonhi ate chicken parmesan, while Dallas demolished a bread bowl of seafood gumbo. They spoke little, both of them focused on filling their bellies. They’d gotten back to the hotel quickly and placed an order at the hotel restaurant before they stopped briefly at their room so Bonnie could grab her laptop. When they returned, their food was waiting at an outdoor table at the edge of the garden where they could see the sky. Torches surrounded them.

Bonhi checked to be sure she still had Dallas’ cuff in one pocket and the magic trinket in the other. She finished her food and pulled her laptop in front of her, first checking the tentative court docket for the next day and day after. There was nothing on either that had anything to do with her, not even Vernon’s. Next, she checked for messages from her private investigator and found nothing, which bothered her. She’d expected to hear from him by now. She sent him a check-in message.

Next, she typed a progress email to Vernon, telling him the private investigator should have pictures soon, and there was no hearing scheduled yet, but if it did happen, the earliest it could be would be 1 p.m. the day after tomorrow.

Dallas got up and grabbed a notepad and pen from the hostess desk. He sat back down and started writing while Bonhi was typing. After a moment she looked over to see he’d filled the notepad. She read the first line and realized he was writing down what’d happened at Mama Soline’s shop.

Dallas picked up his phone and called Aven, putting it on speakerphone.

“Pspspspsps,” Aven answered.

Bonhi looked at Dallas curiously. He rolled his eyes, then leaned close to the phone and spoke softly so the other diners couldn’t overhear.

“Skree, you’re on speakerphone. We found her. She’s ancient, but she glows white. I don’t think she’s a switch, but she did say she had witch blood. Maybe she’s got switch blood, and that’s what the white glow means.”

“Makes sense,” Aven said. “Your mom must’ve had switch blood for Dakota to end up a switch.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Dallas said. “Listen.” He looked at Bonhi, then asked. “Is there such thing as snake shifters?”

Aven said, “Never seen one.”

“…Okay, but that wasn’t a no.”

“Put it this way. I’ve never seen one, nor do I think they exist.”

Bonhi and Dallas both exchanged a look.

“Did you see one?” Aven asked.

“No, no,” Dallas said, meeting Bonhi’s eyes and winking at her. “It was just a guy with a weird tongue. I thought you would say ‘no’ off the bat, that’s the only reason I even asked.”