“You know you aren’t supposed to bring them home,” I said.
“Yeah, I know. It’s just…well, I didn’t actually think you’d be home with the way things have been lately.”
“Not unreasonable,” I conceded. “But that doesn’t change the rules. You stay at their places.”
He nodded. “Can she at least finish breakfast before I kick her out?”
I chewed my own food, thinking about what I had to do today. I swallowed and sighed. “You can let her stay all morning. I’m leaving soon anyway…I’ll probably be gone most of the day.”
Tim brightened with unexpected pleasure. “Really? Oh, sweet. Thanks, Eug. You’re the best-”
I handed him my empty plate. “Just get me a refill, and we’ll call it even.”
Since telling Lara to keep my schedule open, I now had days with no plans-which proved terribly convenient today. I was going to drive out to Yellow River again to talk to Abigail and Art and try to make some sense of this red snake business. There were too many questions and loose ends surrounding it all, and I needed to start tying some of it up so that I could get on with my life.
The downside of a drive like that was that it gave me lots of time to think. Lots and lots of time. It was a clear day, and there were no major cities along the way. It was just me, my mind, and the open road. I kept thinking about how Kiyo and I had last driven this trek together and the sex that had followed at the hotel. I thought about him and Maiwenn now, celebrating the birth of their daughter. I thought about my breakdown with Dorian and my fears that Kiyo wouldn’t want me anymore.
I’d brought my cell phone with me and had it sitting on the passenger seat, volume up high. I didn’t want to miss a call from Kiyo…because surely he’d call to tell me about his daughter as soon as he could, right? If I hadn’t heard anything, it meant he was still in the Otherworld, which-as one might imagine-didn’t have the greatest cell coverage.
We’d visited Art first last time, but when I got off the highway, I found I was closer to Abigail’s. So, I drove through Yellow River’s modest downtown-past the sex-toy store-and parked outside her building. It was afternoon by now, and people were out and about, with tourists in particular poking their heads into the antiques store beneath Abigail’s apartment. I found the little doorway by the store’s entrance and headed upstairs, wondering if I’d be overrun with cats.
But I wasn’t-largely because I never made it into the apartment. I knocked several times and even called Abigail’s name once. When that didn’t pan out, I dialed the number Roland had given me. I got her voice mail but nothing more.
“So much for that,” I muttered. Maybe it was just as well. Art was the one who held most of my attention anyway, what with his tattoo and all. He was the one who needed to be questioned.
So, I left the town for the suburbs, and in full daylight I could really take in how cute Art’s neighborhood was. The houses were large and new like his, and his neighbors appeared to love their lawns just as much. I didn’t see Art outside, but a large red SUV in the driveway boded well for him being around.
I knocked twice on the door, and for a moment, I thought he too must be out and about. Just as I nearly rang the doorbell, he finally opened the door. His hair was damp, like he’d just come out of the shower, and he held a pair of hedge clippers in one hand.
“Eugenie!” His face split into a grin. “This is a surprise.” The smile momentarily faltered. “Is everything okay? Roland…?”
“Fine, fine,” I assured him. “I just wanted to ask you some more questions.”
“You drove a long way for that,” he mused, stepping outside and shutting the door behind him.
People had an easier time lying over the phone, but I could hardly tell him that. “I had the time and thought it would make things simpler.”
“Sure. I’m happy for the company…so long as you don’t mind hanging out with me while I get a little work done?” He waved the clippers by way of explanation.
“No problem.”
He offered me something to drink first, but I was still holding on to coffee I’d bought at a gas station and declined. I sat down on his front step while he began trimming some of the thick shrubs flanking the front of the house. They were thick and heavy-leaved, filled with pretty yellow blossoms. They seemed to want to consume the house, and I was reminded of Sleeping Beauty’s castle, and the thorns that had surrounded it. He didn’t cut their overall height but mostly seemed concerned with making them look neat.
“I stopped by Abigail’s on my way here, but she didn’t seem to be home.”
“I think she’s in El Paso for a few days,” Art said. The muscles in his arms bulged, raising his T-shirt’s sleeve and showing me the coiled red snake. “Her sister lives there. They’re close, which is good, but I sure could have used her help with a banishing the other day. You should have come by then. It was a gentry girl, actually-you were looking for those, right?”
“Yes,” I said, startled. “I take it you managed to send her back on your own?”
“Yeah. She wasn’t that tough. More scared than anything else.”
I sipped my coffee, trying to make sense of this new development. I may have very well indeed jumped to conclusions about Art’s kidnapping role. Maybe Moria had just been banished after wandering here. “Do your jobs ever actually take you to the Otherworld?” I asked.
He gave a gruff laugh. “Not if I can help it. Those transitions are a bitch, even with that crossroads. I haven’t actually been over in…I don’t know. Years.”
“Huh,” I said.
Art paused in his clipping, giving me a puzzled look. “Why do you ask?”
“I’ve heard stories-that is, gentry rumors-about some human over there who kind of sounds like you.”
“Like me?” His confusion grew. “That’s a little weird.”
“It was a human with a red snake tattoo.” I didn’t mean to sound accusatory, but a tiny bit of it slipped into my tone.
“Why on earth would I lie about crossing over?” he asked. He wasn’t angry, exactly, but some of that friendly demeanor had cooled a little.
“Whoa, hey. I didn’t say you did.” I tried not to sound too defensive. “It was just weird that there were sightings of someone who looked like you near where your crossroads lets out.”
“The gentry I’ve banished are probably getting confused and thinking I was in their world when I kicked them out of this one…it’s honestly hard to understand how any of them think. And you know how disorienting banishing is.”
“Yeah, I know. I’m just saying the story I heard was weird.” Art said he’d kicked a gentry girl out, but Moria sure had sounded like she’d escaped.
If I thought his attitude was cool earlier, it was frigid now. “I find it equally weird that a shaman is chummy enough with gentry to be listening to their stories-and concerned about them. Why does it matter to you if humans are over there anyway?”
“Because those humans might be harming gentry.”
“And?”
“And it’s not right.”
He snorted and returned to his trimming. “They’re gentry, Eugenie. They’re not like us. And from what I hear, you’re not all that gentle with them anyway.”
“When they’re in this world, yeah.”
“Any world, Eugenie. They’re literally not human. Why do you care so much?”
“None of your business.” The harsh words were out before I could stop them. Art paused again and this time turned to fully face me.
“And it’s none of your business where I go and what I do-in either world.”
My heart lurched in my chest. “What, are you saying it is you? That you have been over in the Otherworld recently?”
“I’m saying I’m done with this discussion. You’re not welcome here if you’re just going to toss around ridiculous accusations-accusations that don’t even matter.”
“It matters to them.”
“I think you’re asking the wrong questions here. You need to examine your motives and figure out why you’re so eager to defend those who have no regard for us-and why you’re picking fights with your own
