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9
We hadto wait until morning to head off on Mom’s “short walk in the woods,” since, as she’d informed me, we didn’t want to be caught out in the national forest after dark. New residents had moved into the area, which made nocturnal travels a bit dicey. I asked what kind of residents were allowed to move onto government land but didn’t get much of an answer. By then, she’d had her head buried in her language books, flipping through old yellowed pages full of symbols. To my untrained eye, they were similar to the one on my vial, but I reluctantly admitted that none of them were identical. Also, there were two angry slashes on the top and bottom of mine that didn’t look anything like the flowing symbols in thebooks.
Now, we were on the highway in my borrowed government car, heading south toward Paulina Lake. Dimitri had the day off and had volunteered to watch Maggie while we were gone. She’d been set free to roam the log cabin after Dimitri had returned from the pet store with a litter box, an obvious thing that I, a non-pet-owner, hadn’t thought to buy. No wonder the cat had been crabby on hertrip.
“There’s the turn.” Mompointed.
I took a left onto Paulina Lake Road, a paved route that meandered up to an extinct volcano. Paulina Lake, along with a smaller one to the east, was in the crater. From a previous trip, I remembered a couple of old stores up there to service the campers, kayakers, and hikers but not much else. Rocket, who was riding in the back seat, thumped his tail and milled about, as if turning off the highway meant a fabulous adventure wasimminent.
“Does your friend work in one of the stores?” I glanced at Mom, her bare feet up on thedash.
Shehadbrought socks and hiking boots, perhaps a testament to the length of the short walk waiting for us. “No, and she’s not so much a friend as an acquaintance I met while on amission.”
“An acquaintance who will want to see you or one who might shoot us onsight?”
Her eyebrows rose. “I’d ask if that’s typical of your acquaintances, but you showed me your Jeep, so I’ll assumeso.”
“Thedragonis not an acquaintance.” I glanced skyward, though I hadn’t seen him again since that rest stop, and it was silly to believe he would be loitering in thearea.
He had criminals to collect, or so he said, and I hadn’t heard of any magical beings wreaking havoc around Bend. Of course, my number-one resource for letting me know about such things was in the hospital. That lieutenant probably wouldn’t tell me if he’d successfully found his own ass in theshower.
We drove on in silence, except for the occasional thump of Rocket’s tail on the seat. Lieutenant Sudo’s car was getting nicely fur covered. I wondered if we would find any mud up by the lake that I could drive through to ensure the exterior needed a wash and wax when I returned it. He deserved it for doubting Willard. Doubting me was irritating, too, but it was a more understandable affront. I was used to skepticism from people who hadn’t had run-ins with the magical themselves. Half the world still seemed to think they were like UFOs, something only nuts believed in. If only they knew how many magical beings camouflaged themselves to blend into our society. Ninety percent of them weren’t any trouble and never came onto my radar. It was the other ten that kept meemployed.
“Amber and Thad came up this past winter,” Mom said as we rounded a bend, ponderosa pines stretching up to the blue sky on eitherside.
“Oh?” I asked neutrally. Carefully. Mom had lectured me on my relationship with my daughter before, and I couldn’t imagine anything but judgment coming out. “Toski?”
“Yes. They were going to stay in some overpriced vacation rental, but I gave them the loft and the sparebedroom.”
“Who got the spare bedroom?” I’d always thought that was an ambitious label for the little office with the twin-sized Murphy bed that flopped out of the only drywalled wall in her cabin—the bathroom was on the other side, and I was convinced the builders had only made that wall flat because they hadn’t been able to figure out how to install a toilet-paper holder on alog.
“Thad. Amber always claims theloft.”
“Always? I didn’t realize they came thatoften.”
“Almost every winter over the school holidays.” She slid me the judgy look I’d been expecting. “Don’t youtalktothem?”
“No.”
I’d been at more of Amber’s swim meets and softball games than anybody knew, but I watched from a distance. Like a stalker, not a mom. It bothered me, but I wasn’t going to admit it. Mom wouldn’t understand. Oh, she probably grasped that my job was dangerous and would put anyone close to me in danger—I was worried that even coming here had been a mistake—but she’d told me more than once to get a new job. Anormaljob.
But I was good at this job, better than anyone else around, and with my fast healing and ability to sense magic, I was the ideal person to send after the magical. Having had special training and twenty years of combat experience didn’t hurteither.
Even if I did quit, as I’d done once when I married Thad, I would feel compelled to go back to the hunt every time something like those wyverns popped up. That was what had happened thirteen years ago. The regular authorities didn’t have what it took to deal with themagical.
“You shouldn’t have had a kid if you weren’t going to have anything to do with her,” Momsaid.
“You know why I have to stay away from them. I’ve told you.” I gritted my teeth and focused on the road. “The same reason I don’t come here.” I lowered my voice to mutter, “I shouldn’t have come this timeeither.”
“It’s that bad here? Didn’t you like the cookies that Dimitri made? I thought they weregood.”
“He made those? I assumed it wasyou.”
What kind of six-foot-six, yard-art-crafting landscaper had pastry chef ambitions? Dimitri looked like the kind of guy you hired to bounce people out of your stripclub.
“When have you known me to bake anything usingsugar?”
“You use dates and honey and maple syrup. It’s all sweet. I can’t tell thedifference.”
