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I said, “She cursed him.”
“That’s right,” Mom said.
“You stabbed him in the shoulder with a ram’s horn,” I said. “He ran away. Then you told me he could never return. You’d been saving that horn.”
“It was a demon’s antler,” she said. “He cannot return to the continental United States or he’ll break out in hives, which will grow increasingly more agonizing the longer he stays, until after about twelve hours, he’ll die. It’s been so long, I’d assumed he’d died of other causes, and I’d forgotten about him.”
We almost both had.
Silas was right about Kurnbottom, err,Maizeall along. Silas was in danger in Inorog without me. I had to get back and help him.
“I have to go,” I said.
Imogen tapped her cellular telephone screen quickly with her thumbs. “All set. We’re catching a plane.”
“We?”
“You think I’m not coming with you?” Imogen laughed. “Oh, I’m coming. We’re finishing this together.”
I glanced at my mom, who was smiling at me with such warmth it felt like a hug. She said, “Don’t forget to stock up on supplies in the basement before you go. When you return, we’ll get you that cake I promised.”
“Cake?” Imogen asked.
“For her birthday,” Mom said.
Imogen bumped me with her shoulder. “You didn’t tell me it was your birthday. Friends need to know each other’s birthdays. It’s friend law one-oh-one.”
“I’ll keep that in mind,” I said to Imogen. Then to my mom, I added, “You’re not going to tell me not to go?”
“You know better than anyone what you need to do, what you can handle, and when to ask for help. You’ve got this.”
It was the most encouraging thing my mom had ever said to me.
“Thank you.” I hugged her so hard.
She hugged me back. “I love you, Lily. Now go rescue the man you love.”
Imogen snapped her attention to me. “I knew it! Lily and Silas sitting in a tree. K-I-S-S—”
I shook my head, laughed, and prepared for the most important mission of my life. It didn’t matter if the library had fired me. I could do this without their support. I would protect Silas and bring down Cornbutt.
The small childsitting beside me on the airplane put her hands over her ears and closed her eyes. She shrieked. Her mother, seated by the window, attempted to console her, but the girl was not having it.
The pressure in my ears began to build. They needed to pop.
I folded my hands in my lap and worked my jaw, hoping that if only one thing could go right and I could work out the fluffy feeling in my head, then I could better cope with the rest of my situation.
The girl screamed louder.
Imogen reached across the aisle and poked me in the arm. She nodded her head in the direction of the child and made strange eye gestures that surely were meant to indicate something. “Maybe we should switch seats.”
“I’m so sorry,” the girl’s mother said to me as she wrapped her arm around the girl’s shoulder.
Imogen poked me again. “My ears are popping. You want some gum? It helps.”
I accepted her gift and turned to the child’s mother. “May I? I’m told gum helps the ear pressure.”
“Please.” The mom nodded.
