Page 62 of Another Damned Storm
“And how high he is?” I asked.
He shot me a grim expression that did nothing to improve my mood.
Lily looked equally unimpressed. “Is it a good idea to rely on information from a junkie demigod?”
“If you have a better idea, I’m open to suggestions,” Hook replied.
She glared at him for a beat before rolling her eyes. “I’m with you, I don’t like any of this.”
“We’re getting answers. Isn’t that what we want?” I asked.
“At the risk of revealing ourselves,” he said.
He wasn’t just talking about Thrain or Lapalme discovering us. “Are you worried?—”
I didn’t get a chance to finish the question thanks to a weird shimmer in the grass that stole my attention. It took a couple of seconds for the shape to solidify, and when it did, it took acouple more for my brain to process what I was seeing: a girl, unconscious and sprawled on the ground like she’d taken a fall.
She was fifteen, maybe sixteen years old—about the same age as Angie—and dressed in a dark hoodie, black pants that looked hand-stitched, and leather boots that had definitely seen better days. A tangle of dark curls covered half her face, with a few random locks of bright orange mixed in.
“This isn’t…” I started, but I already knew the girl wasn’t Criton. “Did you summon the wrong god?” It was the only explanation that made sense to my brain.
Hook shook his head. “I’ve never seen her before.”
I crouched beside her. Scents of smoke and sulfur hit me, along with just a hint of singed hair. I reached out to check her pulse, but when my fingers were just an inch away, she vanished.
“What the fuck?” I looked up at Hook and Lily.
They both looked as perplexed as I felt.
I stood, brushing at my clothes even though I knew there was no ash clinging to them. “It smelled like she’d been in an explosion of some kind.” I scanned the ground around us, but there was no sign of her. “That was weird as shit, right?”
“Yeah,” Lily admitted.
“Where the hell did she even come from?” And if she had been in an explosion, was that what tossed her into this world for a few seconds? Could something like that happen to anyone? Anytime?
That wasn’t a reassuring thought.
Hook’s warm hand gripped mine. “Remember what Emerson said, the barriers between worlds are thinning.”
“So, what, she just popped in from another realm?” I asked.
“Likely. Some magical beings have the ability to shimmer, or hide in the places between worlds. If she was in danger, her magic, coupled with fear and adrenaline, might have pushed hertoo far out of her world. Like a knee-jerk reaction.” He squeezed my hand gently. “When you reached for her, I imagine her magic reacted to yours and pulled her back into her own world.”
He talked about it like the girl’s magic was an entity of its own, and maybe it was. The way I had to call up the power Hook gifted me almost felt like negotiating with some stubborn part of myself.
I let go of his hand and shook off the strangeness of it all. “What about Criton?”
“Present and accounted for.” I wheeled around to find a man leaning against a tree, watching us with friendly curiosity. “What kind of trouble are we getting into this evening?” he asked, his gaze settling on Hook.
“I suspect you already know,” he fired back.
The newcomer smiled at him. He was sporting shiny red combat boots and navy Dickies, and that smile, combined with the way his coppery hair was parted down the center and shaped into twin faux hawks, made him look more like a devil than a demigod. “You want to make another deal?”
Hook tipped his head. “We need your help with the weather god. Do as I ask, and I’ll tell you where to find what remains of the pixie dust.”
Criton’s gaze slid to me before returning to Hook. “If you need eyes upstairs, why not send your gal pal here?”
“Because she can’t visit the realm of gods,” Hook replied.
