“ISAAC!” Logan bellowed.
Gear’s hawk cawed and flapped frantically outside the window. The druid pulled the curtains to his bunk aside and stood, looking around.
He looked happy. “Elves are masters of levitation,” he stated.
Logan growled. “Why is he levitating our bus?” I stood as well, and walked slowly and carefully to peek out the window. Sure enough, that little elf had his hands out, and our bus was being lowered into his huge backyard.
The druid shrugged. “If he wanted us gone, he’d have levitated us away from the house.”
True. The tires gently landed and I held onto the seat to keep from falling over as the bus jerked a little upon touching ground.
Hemlock barked, fully awake now and scared. “It’s okay. Good boy,” I told him and he met my eyes and settled back down. Nadine had a bag of breakfast sandwiches in her hand, which she must have gotten up early to get and she tossed three to me.
“Give him one. Just like last night. Don’t push him,” she ordered, clearly unperturbed at the fact that we’d all been on a floating bus.
I nodded. Peeling open the wrapper and tossing the muffin away, I slowly handed him the egg patty with bacon. He licked his lips and whined as my hand got closer. No growl yet. I inched nearer, so close that I thought he might actually feed from my hand, then he growled. I dropped the patty before him and backed away with a smile. “Good boy.”
I was going to make that dog feed from my hand, if it was the last thing I did.
The bus door suddenly sprang open and Griddish walked up the steps. “You made a scene at the club,” he yelled in that deep voice of his, addressing us all. “Bringing trouble to my town! They are looking for this yellow bus.”
Well, that explained the bus levitation. He was hiding us.
Dominic swung his legs out of the bunk and I noticed a gun in each hand. He nearly died yesterday, but after a good night sleep, he looked ready to party.
Isaac nodded. “We had a longstanding feud to settle. I’m sorry if the druids will no longer buy from you if they find out you’re helping us.” The way he said it, he wasn’t sorry at all.
Griddish scowled. “I need to make money. I need to eat. Don’t judge me,” he snapped at Isaac.
The ornate carved handles of the druid’s knife flashed into my mind then and I gasped. Why was Griddish at a pureblood club last night? “You make their knives, don’t you?” I shouted. The red glowing blade, the one that killed skyborn. He did that.
His ears burned red as he looked down with shame. “I do what I have to do to survive. Yalash isn’t here anymore to take care of me.”
It seemed his brother Yalash did everything for him, including think. Holy crap, this guy made weapons to kill Logan and I, and yet he’d seemed enthralled with Logan last night, saying he was the queen’s favorite child. Why would he work against us like that?
Part of me understood. I’d done stupid stuff in the name of survival, including leaving Logan and the pack and running away.
“So, have you decided if you will help us or not?” Isaac pressed him.
Griddish groaned. “I will do it for Yalash.”
I grinned, excited and nervous at the same time, but then a thought came to me. I still had all that money in the bank, and I didn’t want him depending on the druids for cash anymore … making weapons that killed my kind. “I will pay you one hundred thousand dollars for the staff, if you promise to never make another skyborn-killing knife for the druids again.”
His little beady eyes widened with shock and he could only nod. “On my honor as the late queen’s loyal guard.”
I could have sworn that Logan mumbled something like “hypocrite” under his breath, but I couldn’t be sure. I’d gone to a dark place after my mom died, so I wasn’t one to judge. His brother was clearly the one who took care of things, and now he was just trying to survive. I wasn’t going to hold it against him.
“How long will it take?” Isaac asked.
The elf huffed. “Considering I don’t have Yalash to help … four days, maybe five.”
Keegan growled. “We need to get back to Sophie and Ruben.”
“Sloane needs to continue her training.” Logan piped in as well.
Isaac nodded. “After Sloane’s tree has been chosen, we’ll head home and come back in four days. She can’t start her druid training without it.”
“My tree?” I asked suddenly. Had I heard that right?
The elf smiled, little dimples appearing at the corners of his mouth. “Come. I’ll show you.”
The pack had left the bus, all except Hemlock, who had growled when I tried to get him to come. He was still healing. Nadine had given him some canine antibiotics. When I inquired why she had canine antibiotics lying around, she’d smirked and told me that they worked better for her and Keegan than human ones. In the rare event they didn’t heal properly, and needed them of course.
Now I was sitting barefoot on the grass in Griddish’s backyard. Isaac and Logan stood a good distance behind Griddish so they didn’t affect my “energy,” while the pack milled about in the background, watching the elf with a curious eye.
Seeing Griddish up close in the daytime, I found myself examining his features. His eyes were crystalline and hypnotic. He smelled of oil and freshly-cut wood, and the air around him charged with electricity.
He leaned in close, peering into my eyes for an unnerving amount of time. Then he sniffed me, smelled my breath it felt like. When he rocked back on his heels, he looked down at me.
“What are you?” he asked, mystified.
I froze. Panicked. Unsure if we could trust this guy yet or not. He’d figured out what Logan was and seemed in awe, but I wasn’t sure if he should know about me. I met Isaac’s eyes and he cleared his throat.
“She is unique,” Isaac answered, and the elf looked hurt that Isaac hadn’t told him exactly what I was, but he nodded.
Griddish walked over to his tool table and pulled out a small wooden trunk. With a grunt, he hefted it over, setting it down before me. He paused for a moment, letting his fingers caress the carved wood.
“Yalash was better at this,” he stated.
My heart ached for him then. It was awful to lose a loved one, someone you were especially close with like a parent or sibling. What I wouldn’t give to have just ten minutes more with my mother. Hell, I’d sell my soul.
“I’m sure you’ll do fine,” I encouraged him.
He chuckled. “If I get it wrong, you could combust.”
My eyes widened and Logan spun his head in Isaac’s direction.
The good druid looked at Griddish. “You’ve been doing this thousands of years. Do not doubt yourself now.” The druid’s voice was calm, so I tried to take strength in that.
The elf nodded, straightening his back, and peered down at me, not yet opening the trunk.
“I’m going to ask you a series of questions. You must answer honestly and quickly. Don’t overthink it. Do not lie and do not falter.”
I swallowed hard and nodded. What kind of weirdness was this?