Page 16 of Curse of the Wolf
He grinned again. “I believe the mocha and chocolatesdidcome in handy when you needed to wash that dreadful potion from your mouth.”
“Does that make me an accomplice to your theft?” I grabbed a rail as the train started, the tingling now pointing me straight south, in the direction the tracks would take us.
“That makes you an accomplice to nobly saving koi from impure water.”
“You’re an interesting person, Duncan.”
“As we’ve established.”
The train didn’t travel far before the tingling in my chest intensified, wanting me to turn east.
“He might have gotten off at the next stop,” I said.
“The potion can tell that?”
“My esophagus thinks so.”
“It’s amusing that you believeI’mthe interesting one.”
“Drinking weird potions tends to elevate one’s quirkiness level.” I headed for the door as the train slowed.
Duncan followed me out onto the platform and across a street heading east. It lacked a sidewalk and headed straight into a residential neighborhood with small ramblers that hadbeen built in the mid-fifties. I thought of the convenience-store owners, Minato and Mayumi. Minato had shown me a photo of his house, and it had looked similar to these.
The tingling grew warmer, as if signaling that we were close.
“I expected their hideout to be in a box under a freeway or maybe a seedy motel,” I said, “not a house in a normal-looking neighborhood.”
“That one has overgrown grass and numerous cars on the lawn.” Duncan pointed to a house across the street and around a corner that we were approaching. “Oh, and look at all the junk on the porch. Is that an old fridge?”
I snorted. “Those are signs of a hoarder, not a criminal.”
“Are you sure? Those motorcycle thugs spend their evenings victimizing innocent people and vehicles in car parks. That may indicate a lack of time to devote to straightening and decluttering.”
I was tempted to snort again, but my tingling chestdidwant us to angle around that corner, and… Was that a motorcycle under a tarp on the cracked, weed-choked driveway? On either side, fallen leaves that hadn’t been tidied this past autumn remained, soggy among the yellow grass.
“That actually might be the place,” I admitted.
“Naturally.”
A curtain in the front window stirred.
“Someone’s home.” I thought about continuing past, pretending we were random pedestrians out for a walk, but I’d run into that guy enough times by now that he would recognize me. “Let’s say hi.”
“Hi, and have you seen a priceless sword from the Old World?”
“Sounds like a good greeting to me.”
We crossed the street, heading toward the house, but a car roared out of nowhere and sped toward us. Duncan andI hustled into the driveway to avoid it, but it turned, tires squealing. If we hadn’t sprung into the knee-high yellow grass, it would have struck us before braking.
The driver jumped out, holding a gun. At the same time, the house’s back door banged open. My esophagus told me that my target had been responsible—and he was on the move.
“Keep that one from escaping.” Duncan waved toward the backyard, then sprang onto the hood of the car and leaped for the gunman.
My first inclination was to stay at his side and help him, but then my target would escape. He was the whole reason I’d quaffed the awful potion.
I ran around the side of the house, leaped through a broken gate, and spotted the black-leather-wearing thug climbing a mildew-covered wood fence. The old boards quaked under his weight.
I sprinted toward him, a new tingle creeping into my body as adrenaline threatened to bring out the wolf. The thug reached the top of the fence, but I ran across the yard and leaped and grabbed his jacket before he could scramble to the other side. Summoning not-entirely-human strength, I yanked him back to the ground.
