Crossroads Burning

by Nash, Layla

  “Fingers crossed,” I said, my entire face burning. It just brought up memories of my sisters and me standing around in our underwear in the middle of the night, working magic and burning herbs, when he could have driven up. “But make sure you bring rifles.”

  “We’ve already asked Grady and Eddie alike,” Mason offered helpfully. “I think we’ll be okay. Have there been that many wolves close to town?”

  “More than any other year I can remember,” I said. I slid my seat back and reached for the helmet, catching sight of Lucia and Clara on the other side of the street. “Even for the summer. Means winter will be even worse. I’ve gotta run, but I’ll send you all a message a bit later about meeting tonight.”

  All three of them stood as I did, and I froze again, waiting for something. The last word, a parting shot, some kind of joke. But they just watched, unconcerned, until I backed up a couple steps and ran into the next table, almost knocking over a chair. Great. Really smooth.

  I ducked my head and half-waved, ignoring the brothers’ grins, and headed for the door. Rory called out a goodbye as he handed Hazel her change, but I didn’t pause long to thank the both of them before I headed for the street. I just needed some fresh air before I lost my composure completely, and Lucia would make me feel like a different kind of fool than Lincoln did, at least.

  Chapter 8

  I didn’t get much farther than the sidewalk and a shout to Lucia when someone called my name behind me. Butterflies jostled in my stomach the moment I heard his voice, and I tried to school myself into indifference when I turned to face Lincoln. “Was there something else?”

  He held out my phone. “You forgot this. Thought you might need it.”

  “Right. Thanks.” I flushed again, bracing myself for the worst as Lucia and Clara jogged across the street and sidled up to me.

  Clara grinned as they eyed Lincoln, though Lucia remained somewhat reserved. She’d always been a protective older sister, but it had definitely gotten worse as the bills got bigger and work got scarcer. We could all feel ourselves slipping deeper and deeper into trouble, and Lucia took it personally.

  Lincoln smiled and nodded to them. “Good afternoon, ladies. How are you today?”

  Clara tugged on the end of her braid. “We’re fantastic. How are you? Got all your business with Sass straightened out?”

  “Sass?” Lincoln said, glancing at me. The smile spread. “That’s quite a nickname.”

  My whole face burned as I fixed Clara with a “I’m going to fucking kill you” look. “It’s an old one. Not something anyone has used outside the family in years.”

  “That’s too bad.” He could tell something was up from the way Clara beamed at him and practically nudged me forward, and from how Lucia frowned as well no doubt, and retreated a step so he could tilt his head at where Mason and Nelson still sat in the diner’s large windows. “I should keep them out of trouble, but we’re meeting Luckett at the bar tonight. You should join us.”

  “Sounds great,” Clara trilled. She threw her arm around my shoulders. “We’ll have the beer waiting.”

  Lincoln nodded, smiling to himself about something, and retreated back to the diner to face his own inquisition. I looked at Clara and wondered if it would have been bad form to just grab her shoulders and shake her until her teeth rattled. “What the hell is wrong with you?”

  “He’s cute,” she said. Lucia started to lead the way to where Clara’s beat-up farm truck was parked on the other end of the street. Clara followed, hands in her pockets. “You should totally do him. Take him out to the Crossroads and snuggle under the stars and make a couple of babies. You need a good lay, Sass. You’re all tense and serious.”

  “They’re just here to find a drone,” I said. My cheeks had to be purple with embarrassment, and I just hoped we didn’t run into anyone else we knew. “That’s it. In and out and done.”

  “That’s all you need, baby,” Clara said. She waggled her eyebrows at me. “In and out, and in and out, and maybe a little more in and out, and done.”

  Even Lucia laughed. I covered my face, unable to keep from groaning and laughing and trying to smack some sense into my sister’s best friend. “You don’t—”

  “He can find your drone,” she said. “Seriously, Sass, if you don’t want me to say shit like this, stop setting it up so easily. God. It’s like you don’t even know me.”

  I shook my head and paused next to her truck, frowning at the bed and trying to estimate how much feed we could get in there so we didn’t have to use the sedan to transport it. “It must be temporary insanity. But on a more serious note, they gave me an advance on the fee, Lucia. Think you guys can stop at the feed store and get more grain for the horse?”

  She nodded, though her eyebrows went up when she saw the stack of cash. “Damn. Anything else?”

  “You already got groceries, right? I’m going to put some down against the repairs for the truck. I think that’s it until we can get it in the bank to pay the electric bill.” I frowned at the cash, not willing to tell her they planned to pay me over five grand for the two weeks, in case something happened and it didn’t pan out. I didn’t want to get her hopes up.

  Lucia eyed me like she knew something else was going on, but didn’t comment when I said my goodbyes and headed back to the motorcycle.

  Chapter 9

  We met up later that night at the bar but didn’t talk much business before Clara and Liv got silly playing darts with the brothers. It felt like a celebration, though for no reason I could understand. I’d hinted that maybe we would get a serious payday from the trip to the Crossroads, so maybe my sisters were banking on that more than I wanted. I had a couple of beers but not much more, since the only thing worse than getting up before dawn to ride all day was getting up before dawn to ride all day hungover. Which was just as well, because Liv had fun enough for all three of the Lucketts.

  Eddie and Lincoln spent most of the evening deep in conversation, so I was able to relax a bit without the handsome researcher’s attention, and Hazel took the opportunity to quiz me about the different personalities in town as well as the weather and wildlife at the Crossroads. She at least still pretended to be researching, while the three men sounded more like a bunch of brothers on a roughhousing vacation. I took my own notes in my head on each of them so I’d remember how they looked and sounded normally, just in case things got weird a week into the trip. Sometimes the Crossroads drove mundanes crazy just as much as it did the Lucketts, and the only way to see the warning signs was to know how someone behaved outside the Crossroads.

  The next morning, I managed to drag myself out of bed after only snoozing the alarm clock three times and stumbled downstairs for coffee before I retrieved the bags I’d packed the night before after leaving the bar. I strode out of the house just after dawn and stopped dead in my tracks the second I left the porch. Massive paw prints disturbed the dirt in front of the house and around to the side, circling back to the barn. It looked almost deliberate, like the dire wolves had found the only spots of mud and deep dirt so they could make sure we knew they’d been there, watching the house as we slept. Shit. Even the piles of ashes from the sage and lavender were gone. I left a note for Olivia and Lucia, to make sure they didn’t leave the house alone, and went to saddle the horse.

  She wasn’t happy to see me, or the saddle, or the saddle bags and bedroll and tent. She only grudgingly accepted the carrots and peppermints I presented as a peace offering, and sighed dramatically every time I tightened a strap or adjusted the stirrups. But at least magic didn’t screw up horses the same way it screwed up cars, so the horse was in good working order once I got her out of the barn and beyond where the dire wolves had waited. There were a few fresh bits of fur and feathers around the property line, so clearly the wolves had managed to catch some game, maybe chickens as well. Our coop was still secure; I didn’t let the hens out, since it would be a while until Liv got up to feed and keep an eye on them. We hadn’t seen many of the
dire wolves out in the daylight, but we’d never seen them bold enough to challenge a freshly laid ward, either.

  My thoughts distracted me as we rode through the early dawn to the meeting spot, just west of town and near the fort where the tourists no doubt waited to watch the sun rise on the prairie. I rolled my eyes just thinking about it. The reconstruction of the fort and the historic society performances brought new life and money to Rattler’s Run, but the downside was being overrun with city folks and school field trips and strangers almost all the time. They had strange ideas about how to be guests in someone else’s town, and would have made me feel awkward and strange even if I hadn’t been a witch. During the height of summer, going about our business in town felt like being an animal in a zoo.

  The horse snorted and shook her head as she sensed the fort and the corral there, where we could always stop for some hay and a drink, and I tried not to notice the half-dozen horses already saddled and ready in the corral. Four packmules stood nose-to-tail in pairs, thank God, with the rest of the supplies piled up on their harnesses. And the others...

  I held my breath as I swung down from the saddle and secured the reins, letting the horse wander over to the water trough, and smiled at Eddie as the ranger approached. “Mornin’, Eddie. You ready for this?”

  “We’ll find out, Luckett. Lincoln mentioned he went out to your place the other night and found some wolves hanging around the property.” He smiled, though there was something about his eyes that made me wonder about why he decided to face the Crossroads again. He didn’t sound confident about his decision to accompany us on the open-ended expedition. “If there’s anything to the wolves getting close to town, I want to document it so we can figure out how to manage the problem before it gets any more serious. We didn’t think the population had rebounded so quickly, but if some of them are willing to approach a house like yours, then we’ll have to think of something.”

  “Can’t have the wolves scaring tourists away,” I said.

  Mason walked up, wearing a slightly ridiculous imitation Stetson, and hooked his thumbs in his belt-loops as he affected an impressive swagger. “Mornin’, little lady.”

  I had to bite the inside of my cheek to keep from laughing, and instead only inclined my head as I touched the brim of my battered hat. “That’s quite an outfit you got there, cowpoke.”

  He grinned, pleased with himself. “This is the most fun I’ve had in months. Great idea. I wasn’t looking forward to bouncing around in an SUV for the next week. Yippeekaiyay.”

  “Just wait until tomorrow morning,” I said. The sun started to rise, the golden rays bringing more energy, and I stretched and rubbed my lower back. “You’ll be hurting in places you can’t even imagine.”

  “Looking forward to it.” For a split second, I thought he would wink, but instead he just went whistling to check on the horses, patting them and scratching their ears.

  I shook my head as I watched him try to make friends with my horse, who was just about as hateful as it was possible for a horse to be, and settled my hat a little better. “Tourists.”

  “You ain’t kidding,” Eddie said under his breath. We started walking over to where Lincoln, Nelson, and Hazel waited with one of Grady’s men. “If they didn’t all have weapons permits already, there’s no way in hell I would have allowed them to bring rifles. But with the wolves and all... It’s probably for the best.”

  “They’ve all got permits?” My steps slowed. It shouldn’t have been a surprise, not if they were wildlife researchers accustomed to heading into the back country. And I’d been the one to recommend bringing rifles along for safety, but them being so prepared even before my suggestion... “I guess that’s good news.”

  “We’ll see, won’t we?” Eddie slapped my shoulder and waved at the others. “Let’s get moving before the tour buses arrive.”

  A few early bird tourists lingered near the corral, oohing and aahing as we retrieved our horses and got ready to ride. A couple even took pictures. My horse snorted and pawed the dirt, already shaking her head at me, and it took me two tries to get my boot in the stirrup so I could swing up. It made me feel a little better that it took Hazel four tries and an eventual hand up from Nelson to get in the saddle.

  Grady’s ranch hand shook his head as Eddie set out, leading one of the pack mules, and the four followed him, leading two more of the mules. I concentrated on tying the fourth mule to my saddle, frowning as the ranch hand hesitated next to me. “Mornin’, O’Neil. Thanks for lettin’ them borrow the horses.”

  “I don’t know what they’re after,” he said, squinting up at me. He shook his head and helped tighten the lead rein for the pack horse, his face dark as a walnut but with deep creases around his eyes from a lifetime squinting against the sun. “But I get a bad feeling about this. We heard there was wolves around last night, and somethin’ spooked all the horses. One of our herds is up near the Crossroads this week, getting the last of the grazin’ before the snow. Radio back if you find anything.”

  “Will do.” I gathered the reins, waiting for my magic or the universe to tell me it was also a bad idea. I’d never been much of a seer, but most of the time my magic showed me the right way when it really mattered. For some reason, I was supposed to go out to the Crossroads with those four people. Everything else would fall into place.

  O’Neil lifted his hat and stepped back as my horse swung her head around and rolled her eye at him. “I heard what that boy Alex was sayin’ up at the bar t’other night.”

  I went still, though my hands tightened on the reins and the horse tested my grip.

  “Don’t pay attention to that boy,” the ranch hand said. His weathered face betrayed no emotion as he looked up at me, patting the horse’s shoulder. “There are enough of us who remember why the Lucketts are still here, you understand? Don’t let him bother you none.”

  “Th-thanks,” I said, at a total loss for what else to say.

  O’Neil nodded and walked back to his truck and the massive horse trailer, and started it up. I touched my heels to the horse’s sides and we started after where Eddie and the others slowly disappeared into the prairie. It had been many long months since I got the feeling anyone in town appreciated us, even with Bess’s antics over a year in the past, but it helped a little to know someone recognized the sacrifice we made by staying.

  I didn’t try to catch up, since I didn’t feel like talking, but it wasn’t long until Lincoln hung back and eventually reined his mount in beside me. He offered a travel mug, steaming in the cool morning air. “Coffee?”

  “Thanks.” I sipped it and tried not to groan in sheer pleasure. It was the expensive stuff, not the instant grounds like I usually ended up with, and had just enough sugar and cream to take out the bitterness. “Don’t tell me you’re a morning person.”

  “Unfortunately, I am.” He stood in the stirrups and craned his neck to survey the surrounding land. “Something about fresh air and the sunrise really makes the day enjoyable.”

  I snorted, shaking my head. “Just wait until it starts raining. Or snowing.”

  “So you’re a glass half-empty kind of person.”

  A smile almost broke free, though I managed to school myself into indifference. “Just a realist. You can’t afford to be an optimist out here.”

  “It’s the same in the mountains,” he said. “Strange things happen when the fog rolls in. My grandmother used to tell wild tales about the beasties in the mountains, and in the old country.”

  “Oh yeah? Like what?” I didn’t want to be interested. I’d come to my senses after we worked the magic on the house and I was reminded once more of why I’d never leave Rattler’s Run. Lincoln was just a pretty face and a fine set of shoulders. He wasn’t really flirting with me, he wasn’t really interested in me, and if he was... well. He’d never stick around. He’d already left a small town and clearly had no interest in settling down in another. So there was no reason to get my hopes up. And there certainly wasn’t any
reason to offer any more information about myself or the stories that my granny told.

  “Well, my brothers and I always liked stories about the Snarly Yow.”

  “What the hell is a Snarly Yow?”

  “It’s kind of like a werewolf, I suppose, though it walks upright on two legs like a man. And it goes chasing through the mountains after little boys who don’t eat their peas.”

  I snorted, unable to contain the laughter, and tried to imagine a smaller version of Lincoln listening to those stories and refusing to eat his peas. “That’s it?”

  “I’m told it also killed livestock and destroyed cars and terrorized towns and the railroad and even caused a few mine collapses.” His accent crept back in, drawing out the vowels and softening the consonants until he practically sang. Lincoln nearly drawled as he retrieved the travel mug of coffee and took a sip, and I thought my cheeks would catch fire, since it hadn’t occurred to me that it was his coffee I’d been chugging. “And then there’s the Wampus Cat, which is half-dog and half-cat, and the black cougar, which is different from the Wampus Cat, and...”

  He went on, apparently content to carry the conversation, and handed the coffee back to me without a word. It struck me as a crazy kind of thing, to share a cup with someone he’d known for less than two days, and even crazier for me to accept it. I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop, for the magic to flare up and send me screaming in the other direction, but only the wind and a faint birdsong interrupted the flow of his stories. A lonely hawk wheeled overhead, observing our progress, and a few clouds drifted in wispy strands far to the east.

  Half the morning disappeared in a blink, even with a couple of breaks to stretch our legs and let the horses rest. We’d been riding in companionable silence for a while before Lincoln took a deep breath, the kind that usually came before a question. But he didn’t ask anything, and instead went on breathing.