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Magnum walked in the room a few seconds later, beelining it to us as if he’d been searching and just found his target.
“Don’t talk about Majors in front of Magnum. It took us hours to calm him down.”
I nodded.
“We playing?” Magnum asked, reaching us.
“Yeah, we’re going to have another tournament. You in?” Crackers asked Charlie. “I mean, as long as your sister says it’s okay,” he added, as if belatedly remembering me.
“Can I go?” Charlie asked, staring up at me as if he’d die on the spot if I said no.
“You sure?” I asked Crackers. They had to be doing this for Charlie. They couldn’t possibly always play this much, could they?
As if Crackers could read my mind, he said, “Our setup back home isn’t this good. We’re making the most out of our trip, right, Magnum?” He slapped Magnum’s arm.
Magnum grinned like he was another kid, set to play all day.
“As long as it doesn’t put you out,” I said.
We were only going to be here a few days. How many brain cells could this kill?
They all choked down their food and rushed off. I picked at a croissant for a few minutes before taking it with me to wander the small hotel. There wasn’t a lot to see, so I ventured outside shortly after.
A man on a backhoe slowed down in front of me. “This whole block is cleared and scoured. Feel free to roam the shops, but don’t go beyond the barricades,” he yelled over the loud hum of the machinery.
I gave him a wave and thanked him, even though I was pretty sure he couldn’t hear me.
I strolled the small street, stopping to browse in a bookstore, and then a boutique, where I picked up a few things for me and Charlie. There was a small travel agency that had maps of everywhere, and I plotted out the distance to Arkansas from here, just in case…
The light started to fade, forcing me back to the glow of the hotel. I tracked down Charlie in the makeshift game room, eating with the guys as they continued playing in between bites. I wasn’t sure how they could spend so many hours doing this, but it was only for a few days. Charlie might never get to play video games again. If he wanted to play nonstop for the next forty-eight, I was going to let him have this last memory of something closer to the life we’d lost.
I grabbed one of the sandwiches piled up on a tray and pretended to be excited about the game. The second Charlie seemed to have his fill of an audience, I made my break for it.
I wandered around the hotel again, wondering what I was going to do with myself for days. I had no wood to gather, no meals to cook. There was no surviving that had to be done at all.
I settled into a tall-backed chair in front of a lit fireplace in a cozy little nook. I’d cracked open a book I’d found on gardening when someone walked over.
“How are you doing? Are you getting settled in?”
The girl who approached me didn’t look much older than I did, not that it meant much with the way shifters aged. There was something cheery about her bright blond hair and cornflower-blue eyes.
I closed my book. “Blanca, right?”
“Yes. How’s it going?”
“Pretty good. Walked the shops a bit and checked out the area.”
“The shops are a little sparse, but not bad.” She pointed down the hall. “I was just heading to my room to make a cup of tea. Want to come join me? I’d love some company.”
It was pitch black outside. My ghosts were all gone, and sitting alone in a room for the rest of the night didn’t sound entertaining to me either. “Okay. Thank you.”
She was on the second floor, her room looking like a miniature of my setup—same décor but a bit more condensed. She had an electric kettle set up in the corner and waved to the loveseat.
“I got the kettle at a big-box store on our way here,” she said. “Kicks promised he’d get us electricity wherever we landed. I came because I’m good with herbs and medicines. Shifters don’t get sick often, but it’s good to have me on trips.” She smiled at me over her shoulder before going back to fixing the tea.
“That’s great. I’d love to know more about medicinal herbs.”
“I’d teach you what I know, but I’m not sure how it’ll work, you know, for different people.”
