Page 67 of Quest of the Wolf

“When you live in a van, there’s no room for extra rolls of toilet paper. You have to be conservative.”

“But using storage space for eighties cassette tapes is okay.”

“One has to prioritize.”

“I might prioritize bathroom necessities over that, but it’s your van.”

“Theydosound like a married couple, don’t they?” came a whisper from the back. Jasmine.

If I hadn’t had enhanced hearing, I might not have heard the words over the rumble of the engine and the road noise.

“I told you,” Bolin replied softly. “Luna keeps saying they’re not, you know, but theyactlike they’re, you know.”

“Having sex?”

“Yeah.” Bolin’s cheeks were probably red.

Duncan, whose hearing was as keen as mine, slanted me a look. “I thought when your intern brought the violin case, he would play music, not gossip about us.”

“I think he’s going to use it to thump bad guys.” I didn’t mention the serenading plans. Jasmine also had keen hearing, and I didn’t want to spoil the surprise in case Bolin went through with it.

“Some druids have magical staffs they use as weapons,” Duncan said.

“He’s kind of a neophyte.”

“I can hear you two,” Bolin said sourly.

Apparently, it was okay for them to talk about us but not vice versa.

“It’s not a very big van,” I said.

“Tell me about it.” Two thunks sounded as Bolin opened and closed a cabinet door. “There’s SCUBA gear stored with the crackers and Spam.”

“Just don’t ask about extra rolls of toilet paper,” I said.

That earned me another look from Duncan. “I was going to tell you what I know about the location of the other missing medallion, so we could compare notes, but you’ve been teasing me a lot this morning. I might withhold.”

“If you knew the location, you wouldn’t have been battling a robot dog over a druid doohickey.”

“Radomir had a list of possible places he wanted me to check. That was one.”

“Druid doohickey?” Bolin asked.

“A medallion with a tree on it,” Duncan said. “I had to give it to Radomir. He wasn’t that pleased, since I’d implied I had thewolfmedallion, but it was valuable enough that he said a collector would be interested, so he forgave me.”

“A collector?” I asked. “Not him or Abrams?”

“A collector. Abrams and Radomir are only after werewolf artifacts.”

“But you have no idea why?”

We’d already discussed this, so I didn’t expect a new answer, but Duncan didn’t always tell me everything. Maybe something pertinent would slip out this time.

“Werewolves are magnificent.” He lifted his chin.

“You’re not going to bring up trimming again, are you?”

“No. That’s a personal choice. Not all werewolves keep themselves tidy. Some are quite…”

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