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I squatted next to Rosie. “Are you done barking at Brooks?” I tugged on her collar to make it look like she was nodding. “And are you going to be on your best behavior?” Another nod. “See?” I said to Brooks, throwing her my most convincing smile.
Brooks didn’t look convinced. “What happened to her leg?”
“I found her like that,” I said with a shrug. I didn’t like talking about Rosie’s missing leg. It reminded me of my theory that her previous owner had abused her. When I first saw Rosie, she was all bones and no spirit, and I’d wanted to pound the person who had abandoned her. I made a promise to her then that no one would ever hurt her again.
“She’s fierce,” Brooks admitted. “I like that.”
Brooks had asked enough questions. Now it was my turn. “So where are you from, anyway?”
“A place.”
“You want to be more specific?”
“It’s not on any map, or at least none you’ve seen.”
I gazed up at her. “What is it, like, some bird place?”
“You’re impossible.”
“You’re the one up in the tree.” I needed a different tactic. That’s what the FBI does when they question a criminal who’s not talking—they come at him from a new angle to throw him off-balance and then boom, they go in for the kill. Theoretically, that is. “So have you always been a shape-shifter?”
Brooks frowned. “I’m not here to talk about me.”
“Fine,” I said, exasperated. “Then come down.”
“I’ll meet you at the base of the volcano.”
“There? Really? You can’t just talk to me here?”
“Don’t you want to find out what’s going on?” And just like that she turned into the hawk again and flew away.
Show-off!
It would take me a little longer to get to the volcano, since I couldn’t fly, and of course there was my bum leg. Rosie and I hurried as fast as we could, because apparently Brooks had something incredible to tell me. The whole way there I tried get a handle on the weirdness of it all. I mean, turning into a hawk was so not normal. The more I thought about it, the
more I wanted to backtrack home. I didn’t even know Brooks, or what exactly a nawal was, and now she wanted me to go back to where the demon had confronted me? What if she was on the creature’s side and trying to lure me into a trap? I mean, she did sort of dress like an assassin….
“What do you think, Rosie? Should we trust her?”
Rosie grunted in response.
“Here’s the deal,” I said. “I don’t know whether to keep going or turn back. You decide.”
Rosie barked and kept trotting forward.
My dog was an exceptional judge of character. If Rosie was willing to give Brooks the benefit of the doubt, I decided I could give it a shot, too.
When we reached the base of the volcano, Brooks was waiting there, looking up at the crater like she was wondering what was inside. Rosie treaded up to her, sniffing cautiously. I thought Brooks might freak and turn into a hawk again, but she didn’t. She squatted and held her hand out gently for Rosie to smell.
Rosie whined, sniffed, retreated. She did this a few times while Brooks waited patiently and I held my breath. I suppose I wanted Rosie to like Brooks because… well, just because. With one last whine, Rosie got close enough to Brooks to get a chin scratch, and my dog’s eyes rolled back with pleasure.
I let out a long whoosh of air.
“Hey, girl,” Brooks said, smiling. “You’re a little champ, you know that?”
Rosie ate it up, rolling onto her back so Brooks could rub her belly. Then her lips went up in her signature smile. (Yep, that’s right. You gods probably wouldn’t know this, but dogs can smile.) Rosie raised her eyebrows and grinned so wide her eyes looked like slits and we could see all her pearly whites.
Okay, enough chumminess. Brooks had dragged me back to the volcano—not exactly the place I wanted to see up close, at least not for a very long time—and she’d turned into a bird right in front of me, and she’d said I was in danger. It was time for some answers.
