Page 96 of The Shadow Path
“Drop us off on Brompton Road.”
Carys sat up so fast she banged her head on the edge of the door.
“Lass, what’s the damage?” Duncan winced and leaned over, pressing his palm to the sore spot on her head that was stinging. “You were sound asleep.”
“I had a strange dream.”
Strange dreammight have been an understatement. Her heart was racing.
“You are here.” The man reached his hand through the window. “Brompton Road. I only take cash.”
“No, you don’t.” Laura, ever the practical tourist, pulled pound notes out of the purse she carried at her waist. “All licensed taxi drivers in London have to accept cards and contactless payments.”
The driver stared at her. “But you have cash.”
“Yes.” She handed it over. “Because I’m nice. But I want my change.”
The cab driver muttered under his breath but handed Laura her change while Carys got out on the sidewalk and Cadell and Duncan unfolded themselves from the back seat.
Carys was still stuck between sleep and the waking world.
Go back now!
Go back where? To California? To Shadow London? What was Rhiannon trying to tell her?
After the driver had sped away, Laura walked over. “Grocery store before we head back?”
Carys wanted to shout no and run for the gate, but she had no logical reason other than a weird dream, and the others were nodding.
“Coffee,” Cadell said. “As much as we can carry.”
“And I just…” Duncan pointed over his shoulder. “I have a quick errand to run at the pharmacy. Meet in front of the restaurant when we’re finished?”
Duncan’s voice slapped her back to the present.
The pharmacy. She caught his eye. “Sounds good. We’ll get coffee.”
She grabbed Cadell’s hand and dragged him along the sidewalk before he could make a comment.
“Why are you embarrassed?” the dragon asked. “I approve of the surly human’s instinct to protect you from disease or untimely pregnancy.”
“Great.” Her cheeks were flaming. “I just don’t want to talk about it with you.”
Discussing her sex life with Cadell was a little like what Carys imagined it would be like talking about it with a judgmental brother.
They walked to a nearby city market that promised fresh food on the go, and Carys and Laura split up to look for the instant coffee while Cadell surveyed the plastic-wrapped packages of deli sandwiches, wraps, and salads.
Carys was debating the larger instant jars of coffee versus the smaller individual packages of espresso when someone bumped into her.
“Pardon me.” A woman in a business suit turned and grabbed Carys’s shoulder, steadying her as she tried to keep the jars of coffee from falling off the shelves. “Have you got it? Richard, let me call you back—I’m attacking tourists in the Sainsbury with my briefcase.”
Her voice was clipped, but her accent was delicately Welsh and had Carys looking slightly up and into familiar blue eyes set in a face that nearly stopped her heart.
“Mom?”
She was still standing frozenin the coffee aisle when Laura and the dragon found her.
“Carys, what’s?—?”
