sense to make bacon. I licked at a few greasy crumbs of a bacon sandwich still clinging to my fingers. All war efforts need the warming effects of salty pork fat to keep their wheels turning.
“Um, Earth to Jane. Are you with us?” Blondie’s sharp voice cut through my reverie.
I looked at her, and then dropped my eyes pointedly at the uneaten strip of bacon on her plate. She sighed, and then pushed her plate toward me. I quickly began eating her bribe before she could change her mind. Or give it to the dog.
Who gives away bacon? I wondered. Originals are weird.
“Selkies,” I heard her mumble, before taking a deep breath. “Anyway, we were asking you if there were any other places that were close to your heart, Jane.”
“Where’ve you checked, again?” I asked. After my swim, I just might have fallen asleep for an hour on my ratty old couch while we waited on everyone to arrive. Blondie had been busy checking out the places I could list for her off the top of my head, so I enjoyed a wee catnap. Only to awake to the non-ghest barghest licking my face like I had Alpo hidden in my cheeks.
Blondie sighed. “We’ve checked where Jason, Nick, and Nan have their memorial stones, and where their ashes were buried. We’ve probed the hell out of your house, and Anyan’s. We’ve tried your friends’ houses, and we’ve even tried Read It and Weep.”
“And you got nothing?”
“We got nothing.”
Hmmm, I puzzled, as my brain yawned. I wish I had more bacon… Then I thought of the most obvious thing ever.
“Did you check the cove?” I asked. Clearly that was the place closest to my heart.
“That was the first place I looked,” Blondie replied. “While you were swimming.”
Iris nodded. “Everyone knows your obsession with the cove.”
“It’s not an obsession… It’s a healthy relationship. The cove gives me pleasure. I keep her sand combed. It works for everyone.”
“Uh-huh,” Iris said, patting my hand.
“There’s one thing that makes no sense,” said Caleb. “Jane’s been alive for only a few decades. Surely her interests can’t have dictated where these sigils are buried.”
“No, it’s got to be something that’s a coincidence. Something that Jane happens to like and that’s also where one of the glyphs is buried,” Blondie said.
“How do we even know to trust this voice?” Iris interrupted. “I mean, all it’s done is warn us, in a way that’s really scary.”
“Is there a friendly way to warn about the destruction of a big chunk of the continent?” asked Trill.
“I think what Iris is saying,” said Caleb, always the peacemaker, “is that those ‘warnings’ could just as well have been threats, or bait. Maybe whoever is doing them is leading us on a wild goose chase.”
Blondie frowned. “Were any of the other places close to your heart?” she asked me.
“I’ve never even been to Gus’s rock, but obviously Jason’s house was very close to my heart,” I answered.
“So we have one connection and one nonconnection,” Blondie said. “Which leaves us with nothing.”
“Are there any other things that connect the two places?” I asked.
“Well… they were both homes,” Iris said.
“Both built under homes,” I said.
“Actually, had houses built over them,” Blondie corrected.
I chewed my lower lip as I thought. This whole conversation was starting to sound very familiar…
“But one was the house of a mortal family. The other was the rock of a stone spirit. Both homes, but still very different,” Blondie argued.
“Actually, Nell and I lived where that house stood, too,” Trill said, still rocking the baby in her arms.
“When?” Blondie asked, sharply.
“Hundreds of years ago. Right before Nell bonded to this land. And come to think of it, so did Russ.”
“Who’s Russ?” Blondie asked.
“He’s a really old nahual,” I answered. “He’s been retired for a few years as a family pet. A dachshund.”
“Why isn’t he around? Why haven’t I met him?” she demanded. Apparently She Who Keeps Secrets didn’t like being left in the dark about something.
Iris sighed. “Poor Russie isn’t doing well these days. He rarely goes outside anymore.”
“But he lived where the Grays did?”
“He definitely built the house that stood on the property, prior to this last one being built. And, actually, I think he might have built that second house, too,” Trill answered, thinking. “No, he definitely built that one, as well. He’s the one who sold it to Nick and Nan. There were some other folks interested, including quite a few of our kind. But Russ wanted to keep the