I left early the next morning while Sigyn was still asleep, having barely slept that night going through Misha’s journals and taking a quick walk to the nearby gas station. Stood in there with a picture of one journal page on my phone while I got a wrap for breakfast as well as the items I needed for my ritual. By the time I returned to my room Sigyn was still dead asleep curled up on my couch, tears staining her cheeks in her sleep, and Lord laid out beside her. The cat having been surprisingly gentlemanly the last twelve hours, I was glad he was trying to be a comfort in some way without too much to say about it.

  Setting a wrap I’d gotten for Sigyn on the table, I ate my own quickly before gathering up Misha’s notebooks and shaking Lord awake. The cat let out a grumble of surprise, and raised his head as he claimed, I didn’t do it without a moment’s hesitation.

  “I’m heading out,” I whispered, pointing to the wrap on the table, “wait until I’m out of the room and wake Sigyn up? I want her to eat.”

  Yeah, sure, whatever, the cat mumbled as he stumbled to his feet, and I started up the stairs to the door that led outside. Climbing into Knifes’ new car from The Lady I was borrowing without much permission, I settled in and started a slow drive to a rural part of the state.

  At this point in spring it was warm, not brutally hot but warm, and the first harvests of the year were just growing in the fields. Farmers would soon be going out to the fields, looking over them carefully, and then I would raise suspicion. This needed to be done quickly, and I needed to be careful doing it where I’d need to.

  The sun just rising as I stopped thirty feet from a roughly paved crossroads. Misha had used this location in his journals, made note of the path to get there presumably without a smartphone, and I wasn’t risking finding somewhere else. Instead working fast while I took my bag of supplies from the passenger seat, and walked to the center of the converged roads to begin setting up while I made sure no cars were approaching. My breathing unsteady, hands shaking, it was a slow process as I weighted Misha’s journal open with a small rock and followed his instructions precisely.

  There was more than one being associated with the crossroads, and they ranged from rather safe to dangerous. I had, in something resembling luck, realized I needed to go for a middling option and been able to find one.

  My safest bet would have been Papa Legba, a deity who was rather easy to get in direct contact with from how Misha talked about him. The problem with that was I would have needed to then ask to deal with individual gods, and I had no knowledge of the religion or who would be able to help within the pantheon, and that was beside the point of I didn’t feel comfortable making offerings to gods that weren’t mine. I didn’t fucking need the Wolf Gods forsaking me now because I’d asked gods beside them for help, and probably not even get the help.

  A crossroads demon would be dangerous, they apparently required heavy payments for big rewards. Misha hadn’t put in many details about that, but made rather clear his one attempt at a deal had fallen through no sooner than negotiations began. That was almost too much though, and as I understood would have been overkill for me to call on just to figure out the information behind this.

  That left the middle, if still questionable route, something he called the Shadow of the Crossroads. Apparently some sort of unspecified being, Misha had only written down how to summon it and gave a very vague since of how it worked. It was good for information with the only cost being simple favors, he would answer your call up to three times, he’d used it twice with no information about what he needed or was asked.

  Not ideal, but I was short on options and owed Sigyn big.

  Crouching in the middle of the crossroads, I placed a bowl down and filled it with the bay leaves I already owned and laid a cigar across the top. Fumbling with my purse, I pulled out a cigarette and my lighter, lighting both it and the bay leaves as I next took out my pocket knife. A slit of my finger, a few drops of blood, and I mumbled, “dark blight, hidden in the night, old fear brought here, born under the tree, come to me.”

  The bowl burst into a miniature bonfire, crackling and twisting as an acrid black smoke poured up over me. Twisting, burning, sending a shadow over the crossroads we stood, hovering there as the scent of burning herbs and tobacco filled the air as well as a burning gas I couldn’t place.

  I took a long drag of my own cigarette, enjoying it dampening the smell, and from the smoke stepped the silhouette of a man in loose fitting robes, smelling of nothing himself. The cigar I brought held lightly between his fingers, he raised it to a nonexistent mouth, blew out a trail of smoke, and in a voice that sounded like a group’s chant complained, “Misha trained a cheapskate, didn’t he?”

  “I didn't think you’d mind much. Misha only specified to go for something good on Papa Legba’s ritual, as close as the instructions were. I thought the difference wasn’t noted for a reason,” I admitted, honestly also just not wanting to have spent more than needed on this.

  The man chuckled, shaking his head as he answered, “born of the same legends,” he disappeared, his voice behind me, “the same history,” he stood at the edge of the crossroads, “the same goals,” he was back where he’d stood in front of me. “Cut from the same bolt and sewn into separate garments. Cloak and coat, truth and lie, concept and form, god and legend. One became two and two became one, No?”

  “I know what urban legends and spirits of thought are, I don’t need the history legend,” I admitted with a shake of my head, sighing as I let my own smoke run through my lungs, as though he had flesh I’d be tempted by. “I need to get some information from you. Misha’s journals said you’d trade for it, and the costs sounded uncomfortable but not too high.”

  “I will, and my trades will be fair as always, Brunhilde.”

  “My name’s Mary, not that I plan to summon you enough for it to matter.”

  “Oh, I see how it is,” the man chuckled at something I couldn’t understand, “let’s say you look like a Brunhilde to me, though we shall treat each other new as we are. Today we follow the Law of Three, as has been followed for centuries. You command three questions, and in exchange for three answers you will perform three of an action for me. As it has been since my shadow was first cast on this world, and as it’s been since that sort was first told, favors always the same, no?”

  If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

  “Fine,” I said, knowing not to question what the favor would be. Misha had specified it counted against the questions asked, and I couldn’t fucking deal with that now. Having rehearsed my questions on the way here, I started, “What’s the monster I’m looking for, who kidnaps these students?”

  From behind me, “Someone hurt by the one supposed to love them, not even looked for.” From the edge of the crossroads, “one who will cry to you for what they’ve done,” In front of me once more, “one who rests in a grave surrounded by those who no longer exist.”

  One question down, not very helpful.

  “How do I stop this ghost without getting hurt?”

  From behind me, “find the location of the original sin,” from the edge of the crossroads, “the burial that was originally deserved.” from in front of me, “never learn the name.”

  Alright, I could work with that.

  “Where should I go next for my investigation?”

  From behind me, “to the one you left behind,” from the edge of the crossroads, “to where it begins anew,” from in front of me, “the home of Phillips Edward, were he was nursed and weaned.”

  “See, that’s something I can work with,” I said, sighing even as I knew it was less than I wanted. Tapping my cigarette to watch the ash fall, I finally asked the one thing he needed to answer, “Now what do you need from me?”

  “A kiss, not said to be from the shadow’s lips,” he answered, and before I could express my confusion he was behind me, “to the one you left behind,” at the edge of the crossroads, “the one who will comfort you,” and in front of me, “the one who heals you.”

  I shook my head, resisting the urge to rip a nonexistent throat out as I muttered, “so you’re a pervert, got it.”

  “No, merely setting up a few questions and answers, futures and ends,” the man chuckled with a shake of his head. Behind me, “A test of character, failed before.” At the edge of the crossroads, “a test of humanity, to see if you’ll abandon it.” In front of me once more, “a test of regrets, to see if you’ll give someone more.”

  I nodded, taking a look around as I asked, “is that all? Do I need to do anything to finish the ritual off?”

  “Oh, I finish it when I wish for it to be, I’m just rather savoring our first deal,” the man chuckled, blowing a long wisp of acrid smoke into my face. “Next time it’ll cost more, I hope you know. Never the same favor twice, always the same favor for each.”

  I had to laugh at that, shaking my head as I asked, “do I even want to know? Going to tell me to fuck a few someone next?”

  “Nothing so crass, Brunhilde, that is not my purpose” the man tsked with a shake of his head. Behind me, “a kiss is your first cost,” at the edge of the crossroads, “you will give me three lives,” in front of me once more, “next time you will take what should be yours.”

  I tried to ask what he meant, and before I could the form fell apart, a thin wisp of smoke that trailed to the sky. The darkness lifted, and I blinked once and all that I had set up at the crossroads was gone. Alone once more, I let out a small sigh and tossed my cigarette on the road, crushing it out with my boot before returning to my car.

  Sat in the driver’s seat, I went about quickly calling Allie, placing it on speaker as I fetched a folder from the back. Flipping it open on my lap, I was still scanning the first few pages writing everything said on a blank space when Allie spoke, in an exhausted voice asking, “what is it, Mary?”

  “Hey, sorry for the call, I know it’s early, I just need an address. I’m looking for the address of Phillip Edwards' family,” I explained, hoping I interpreted the shadow’s information correctly. If not I had caused myself a lot of trouble for nothing, and was probably going to get in more trouble by the time I was ‘paid up’.

  “Yeah, yeah, one minute I have my work laptop right here,” the woman muttered, yawning as something rummaged around. Someone spoke in the background, and Allie whispered, “thank you, my Lady,” before telling me, “I was…working over late with The Lady, sorry.”

  “Yeah, you two were having sex, I’m not judging I’ve known that was a thing,” I told her, hearing The Lady chuckling in the background.

  Allie let out a few pausing excuses, and quickly fell into silence as I heard her typing away on her computer. A few minutes later, she told me, “alright, looks like the parents have a place nearby actually, an upper-middle class gated community. Do you have any fake IDs?”

  “Just the normal ones, think I need more?”

  “Yeah, I know a guy who can get you some convincing ones, will get you in that sort of place zero questions asked. Surprised you never got the normal assortment of options,” Allie explained, muttering as she typed something with a long yawn, “I’ll text you the address of the home, swing by the college campus first though and pick up an ID from Zach in the student center. He works quickly, and I know he comes in first thing in the morning.”

  “Yeah, thanks, I can handle that,” I muttered with a rub of my eyes, thinking I needed to pick up something to keep me up on the way home.

  Hanging up, I tossed my phone back into the passenger seat and leaned back as I let out a noise of annoyance. I had too much on my plate, and now I needed to not only teach Basil to fight but also investigate this, and who knew where that would take me next. Letting the ride home be a contemplative silence the whole way on how things were going to go and what the Shadow’s cost meant.

  I’d put together who one of the names I needed to kiss was before I’d even reached the Covenant. A not exactly complicated puzzle, I nonetheless had some twisted feelings about knowing “the one who heals you” could only mean one person. That was a problem for later though, and I thought I could get away with avoiding the kiss if I didn’t see Samuel until I worked my self up to that one.

  Parking Knives’ car, I went into the side door of the Covenant home down into the basement. There, sat across from each other, Knives and Sigyn were eating plates of pancakes and drinking coffee. Awkwardly going back and forth about something, the two of them only looked up at me as I went to my dresser and went about removing a pair of jeans and a t-shirt.

  “I saw you borrowed the new car,” Knives said, sipping their coffee with a small sigh, “it’s not demolished is it?”

  “I was just getting some information, about to head out and talk to someone else,” I explained, kicking off my boots and pulling at the laces of my dress. I heard Sigyn and Knives both make noises of annoyance as I started undressing, and remembered a moment later this was weird to others even as I kept going. Too late to pull back now without seeming weird, I just hoped Sigyn didn’t look too close at my tattoos as I explained, “I know where I’m finding my next clue, no idea what it’s going to be. You can come if you want, Sigyn, I promised you that. I’m surprised you’re eating though.”

  “I was still hungry,” the woman complained through a mouth of pancakes.

  “I brought you down a plate too, but you were gone,” Knives told me as they sipped from their mug, “Sigyn looked like she could use some company so I stuck around. She’s eating your pancakes now.”

  “I ate anyway,” I muttered, pulling on my jeans and long-sleeved black t-shirt, more than a little annoyed at the lack of jacket. Instead, I made sure I had everything I needed in my purse, before sitting down to pull my boots back on. “You can come with us if you’re really worried about the car, Knives, it’s not going to be a big deal though.”

  “Yeah, might as well,” the werewolf muttered rising to their feet, “let me put on something a bit better for out on the town, I’ll meet you outside.