That left him to infuse some sunshine and light into the discussion or watch his teammates self-destruct.
“What do you call cheese that isn’t yours?”
His teammates stared at him like he’d lost his mind.
“Nacho cheese.” Only he pronounced it not yo’ cheese.
Dead silence. Then Bruce twisted in his seat. “Did you seriously just make a bad cheese joke?”
He shrugged. “Tough crowd.”
“Don’t you mean, tough cheese?”
Now it was Laddin’s turn to stare. “What?”
“Tough cheese. You know, like tough nugget. Or tough love. Or, I don’t know, tough noogies. Don’t they say that in LA?”
“Never. But then, we don’t have murderous cheese like you do in the Midwest.”
Stratos lost her temper. “Have you both lost your minds? You’re supposed to be looking for the world-ending demon! And the expression is tough nut to crack!”
Bruce and Laddin looked at each other, then shook their heads. “No, it’s cheese,” Laddin said.
“Definitely cheese. That’s way more dangerous than nuts. Especially in Wisconsin.”
She gaped at them, and they grinned back. Laddin would have held the pose longer, but they were approaching the second checkpoint. As he pulled the car to a stop, he heard her grumble, “Crazy. The world’s fate is in the hands of crazy people.” But there was a lightness in her tone that hadn’t been there before, and when he glanced back through the rearview mirror, her lips were curved in a slight smile. A very slight one, but it was something.
It disappeared the second Wiz jumped into the car as they crossed through the gate.
“You were supposed to meet us at the third checkpoint,” she snapped.
“Change of plans. Park wherever you can. We’re getting out here.”
“What? Why?”
He turned dark eyes toward her, but his voice filled the car. “Because something strange is going on, and it starts before the third checkpoint. Don’t ask me what it is. I’m still thinking, but my guess is it’s some sort of fairy shit. Nothing else can confuse my brain like the damned fae.”
No one spoke for at least a minute. Laddin was busy finding a stretch of ground to park on. The others, presumably, were noticing how the road stretched ahead for maybe a half mile, then ended in a gray haze, like thick smoke. Only it had flashes of color that fuzzed out his brain. Whatever was ahead, it was too chaotic for him to make sense of. And he wasn’t alone. He caught a glimpse of a pair of confused-looking reporters stumbling down the road toward them. One carried a mic, the other gripped a camera, but neither seemed able to function. They rambled forward, wearing shell-shocked expressions. A moment later, others followed—some in National Guard uniforms; some wore lab coats and carried laptops. No one spoke, and they all looked like they were escaping the apocalypse.
That was when Bruce started cursing. It was soft and low, but the sound filled the inside of the car with frustration.
“What?” Laddin pressed. “What do you see?”
Bruce didn’t seem to want to answer, but Laddin wasn’t going to let him get away with it. They needed information and they needed it now.
“We’re going in there,” Laddin said clearly. “And we need to know what you see.”
Bruce shot him a heavy stare filled with dread. “Fireworks.”
Laddin was so horrified, he couldn’t speak. But neither Stratos nor Wiz knew anything about what had happened.
Wiz spoke first, his voice commanding. “Is that a joke?”
Stratos answered. “They don’t look like they’re joking, but I can’t see anything but smoke.”
Laddin shook his head. “We’re not. He’s not.” He squinted as he looked forward. “I can hear some booms and see the smoke, but nothing else.”
Then Bruce jerked his arm forward to point into the haze. “I see people down. I count six, but there could be a lot more.” His expression tightened as his gaze kept moving, looking everywhere at once but never landing anywhere. “I think they’re tied down like I was.”
“So how do we get them out?”
Bruce put his hand on the car door even though Laddin was still easing the car forward, trying to get as close to the smoke as possible. “One at a time, that’s how.”
“Wait!” Wiz exclaimed. “Fairies are unpredictable, and they’re dangerous. We need a plan.”
Like they didn’t know that already. Meanwhile, Bruce started issuing orders. “You three get the people out. I’ll handle the fairies.”
“Hell no!” Laddin snapped.
“Why you?” Wiz asked, his voice sharp.
“Because I’ve got experience with them.”
Wiz reared back. “Since when? You’re a puppy.”
Laddin slammed the car into Park. “Since earlier today, when he offered up his firstborn child!”
Stratos’s voice hitched slightly as she opened her door; then she looked at Wiz. “I don’t think we’ve been getting the full action reports.”
“We’re werewolves,” Wiz returned. “Nobody does the paperwork.”
Laddin did the paperwork, but now wasn’t the time to point that out, because Bruce was already heading for the haze. The firework booms were there, but not nearly as loud as they should have been, given the amount of smoke.
Bruce shot him a concerned look. “You okay?”
“Yeah. Sure.” Just because he was walking into a repeat of last night’s nightmare, that didn’t mean a thing. But then he happened to look up. Or maybe it didn’t just happen, because something was pulling at him. Something strong.
The moon.
But it wasn’t the regular moon. There was a second one. A fairy moon that seemed to illuminate the smoke in a mesmerizing white glow. And deep inside him, his werewolf howled in hunger.
“Laddin?” Bruce asked, his voice heavy with worry.
“I’m good,” Laddin lied. Except it wasn’t a lie, because he had it under control, right? It was just a moon. Or two moons. And though his werewolf itched to be free, Laddin was in control. “I’m fine,” he repeated.
“Then let’s get it done,” Wiz said, his voice hard.
“You’re getting the people out,” Bruce said,
