Page 68 of Triumph of the Wolf
“Did you really take that potion more than once?” he asked me as we headed off, his face still damp from his tears and his hand on the brick wall for support.
“I had to help Duncan.” I walked at Bolin’s side, letting Duncan trail behind, waving his magic detector around. “Don’t worry,” I added to Bolin. “When we find her, I’ll let Jasmine know about the sacrifice you’re making.”
“Will you?”
“Yeah.”
“Thanks. She’s not just cute. She’s smart too. And we like the same kinds of coffee and snacks, and she doesn’t care that I’m…” Bolin groped in the air with his hand.
“A big boffin?” Duncan suggested into the void.
Bolin scowled at him before looking back to me. “She doesn’t care that my family hasmoney. I don’t think that matters at all to her. In the past, uhm.” He glanced at Duncan again, thenlowered his voice, apparently oblivious to how keen werewolf ears were. “I’m not the most suave.”
“I hadn’t noticed,” I said blandly.
“Or hot or athletic or, you know.” Bolin shrugged. “Sometimes, I’ve convinced girls to go out with me because of my car and because I was willing to pay for everything. Jasmine doesn’t let me pay for her half of things.”
“She’s more impressed by your ability to summon vines to grab the fenders of vans that are trying to smash into her,” I said.
Bolin led us around a corner while he considered that. “That’s okay. It’s taken me a lot of studying and practicing to learn how to do that. I wasn’t even sure Icouldlearn. That’s some old-school druid stuff.” He lifted his chin. “Mydadcan’t do anything like that.”
“I guess you’re getting pretty badass.”
“Yeah.” Bolin smiled a little, looking cheered. And determined.
“His badassery is impressive considering his esophagus was so recently disintegrated,” Duncan said.
Bolin only scowled back briefly at him. With his hand on his chest again, he picked up the pace, turning down another street and heading for an alley, the brick walls half-smothered in ivy. After walking through the alley, we came to residential streets featuring old Victorian houses with small yards.
“Maybe we should have followed Bolin in the van instead of on foot.” Duncan looked over his shoulder.
“Are you worried about being parted from your baby?”
“Worried that I parked in front of a fire hydrant. The bobbies give tickets for that here, don’t they?”
“Yeah. And they pilfer any rusty treasures they find in the vehicles of offenders. Did you stash your Nabisco tin somewhere safe?”
“Of course.” Duncan pointed. “There’s parking on that side street. I’ll move the van here and catch up with you.”
“Okay.” I hurried to keep pace with Bolin, who was striding along with determination, now cutting across lawns and down driveways to take the most direct route.
He walked down a cobblestone street that must have been built in the early days of the city. Since Seattle wasn’t that old when compared to other metropolises around the world, or even in the country, such sights were rare.
“I feel…” Bolin touched his chest, then pointed toward a side yard on a lot larger than most on the street.
A flagstone path led around the house and into a garden, the raised beds fallow for the season. It had a pond with a fountain, a stone bench, and tiny ceramic frog houses, all tucked inside a fenced rectangular space with arches on either end, the wrought-iron frames covered in dormant vines, the leaves gone for the year.
Though it looked like a pleasant garden, there was no way it was the one in my vision. That had held lush and exotic foliage sprawled over hundreds of acres.
Bolin climbed over a low fence to gain access to the garden path.
“Uhm.” I eyed the front of the house, expecting to find someone gawking out a window at this trespassing. Or maybe ready to unleash a guard dog.
“She’s this way.” Bolin stopped at one of the arches. The wrought-iron frame gleamed, as if it had been recently oiled.
“We can’t traipse through someone’s backyard.” Lingering on the sidewalk out front, I pulled out my medallion and wrapped my fingers around it, silently asking it if we were on the right trail.To save Jasmine, I emphasized, hoping it cared about protecting members of the pack.
“I don’t think we will be for long,” Bolin said. “The pull is strongest here. It’s almost as if… if we passed under this arch, we’ll be taken into another realm or something.”
