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Epilogue
“Imust admit,I didn’t think you’d be back,” Marysaid.
“It’s been a rough week.” I sat in her chair—this time, she had it turned so the back didn’t face the door—and looked out on the sun beaming down on thelake.
From here, the sinkhole in Eastlake wasn’t visible, but recent news reports promised that construction crews were working around the clock to fix it. The media hadn’t mentioned dark elves, statues made from bones, or upturned vats of blood, but a few citizen reports had made it onto the various social networks. The Loch Ness monster—now the Lake Union monster—was being blamed even though the damage was several blocks inland. Tourists and locals were flocking to the sinkhole for closer looks, and the police were busy shooing them away. Nobody had tried to arrest me. I kept expecting it, but maybe Willard had pulled somestrings.
To my surprise, only a couple of people had posted footage of a black dragon in the night sky, and all of it was blurry. There was an argument in the comments section of one video about whether it was a dragon or a UFO streaking chemtrails over Seattle to poison usall.
“Do you want to talk about it?” Maryasked.
“Not specifically, but maybe we could look at some ink blots orsomething.”
She snorted. “We don’t use thoseanymore.”
“You’re disappointing mypreconceptions.”
“So sorry. Do you want to talk about your family thistime?”
I bit down on my instinct to say no. If I wanted to figure out how to master my stress and get healthier—and make sure my new weaknesses weren’t a liability when fighting bad guys—I had to take this seriously. And probably all the other stuff my doctor had recommended too. Yoga. Deep breathing. Meditation. I wanted to gag, but I would try it all. I had to try. I couldn’t afford to haveweaknesses.
“Sure,” I made myselfsay.
“Good.”
I let myself talk about my daughter and admitted that I didn’tlikethe distance I’d created, but after so many years, I didn’t know how to fix it. Besides, nothing had changed as far as my job went. It was still dangerous to know me, or even stand next to me. I wondered if Mary would one day be used against me, and a half hour into the session, I felt more bleak instead ofbetter.
A honk came from the street below the window. At first, I didn’t think anything of it, but my phone buzzed. Mary frowned at the interruption when I checked it and lurched to myfeet.
“I’ll be right back. You can keep billingme.”
I ran down the stairs instead of waiting for the elevator and burst out onto the sunny sidewalk. Corporal Clarke, one of the army couriers who occasionally delivered orders and physical materials to Willard’s office, stood next to a black Jeep almost identical to the one I’d lost. It wasnewerthan the one I’dlost.
“Ms. Thorvald? This is for you, from Colonel Willard.” He waved at the Jeep and handed me anenvelope.
Pleasure spread through me for more reasons than my fondness for Clarke’s Jamaicanaccent.
“She said to show you the manual, PMCS forms, and mileage log, and to make sure you know it’s a government loaner until you replace your personal vehicle. Or until a dragon hurls it into a tree.” His dark eyes twinkled. Clarke had always been someone I could sense coming, so I was certain he had a magicalancestor.
“Are you supposed to know about the details of mymissions?”
“I’m the courier. I knoweverything.”
“You’re a corporal. Corporals rarely know how to find their asses in thedark.”
“I’m special, ma’am. And my ass practically glows.” The eyes twinkled again.Definitelymagical blood. Probablyfae.
“Colonel Willard isn’t back at work already, isshe?”
“Still receiving treatment, but she’s doing better. I witnessed her issuing orders briskly over the phone while blowing open a scandal that… will be classified, so I’m supposed to pretend not to know aboutit.”
I imagined a pit-bull version of Willard taking a chomp out of General Nash’s ass—I was sure his didn’t glow—and approved, even if Willard should beresting.
“Much like with dragons hurling Jeeps intotrees?”
“That’s right. Colonel Willard also said to inform you that your name has been cleared with the police, and you’re back on the job. You can expect new assignmentssoon.”
I wanted to hug him. No, I wanted to hugWillard. But now that she was on the mend, she’d probably go back to barking orders and being terse with me, no touching between colleagues. And that was fine withme.
