Page 73 of Search for the Lost

Leo nodded, relief flooding his eyes.

Crispin reached out to touch the TV screen, and the moment his fingers made contact with the glass, the walls around them started to fade, replaced by the walls of a very different place: a tidy little cabin with wood-beam walls, shelves filled with books and bottles, and windows that looked out onto a dark forest.

Just then, the door burst open, letting in a very flustered-looking Aspin, an angry squirrel, a chastened faun, and three very large WOLFs.

Oh, and one very handsome and put-upon tour guide.

Crispin brightened at the sight of his brother. “Hey, Aspin⁠—”

His brother threw his arms around Crispin and squeezed him so tightly that he felt his eyes trying to pop out of their sockets. “Thank the dead gods you’re all right.”

“Good to see you too?” Crispin managed between labored breaths.

“What happened to him?” Dietrich was staring at Leo’s mouthless face. “He looks better that way.”

Leo glared at him.

Aspin grinned. “And thank those same gods we get a little break from that nonstop mouth.”

Leo turned his angry gaze to Crispin’s brother.

“Be nice. This is really traumatic for him.” Crispin startled as something raced up his arm and settled on his shoulder.

“Chaos Man no speak?”

Crispin reached up to pet Minkis’s soft fur. “The King hit him with a silence spell. We have to get him to Juzir—he can fix poor Leo. Then we’re going to Kansas.”

Minkis leapt from Crispin’s shoulder to Leo’s and nuzzled his neck. “Sorry, Chaos Man.”

Aspin frowned. “Didn’t he blow out Juzir’s plumbing last time? And hey, didn’t that dino bastard betray you?”

Leo grunted. Juzir, the T. rex wizard on Earth 2, was not one of his favorite people.

“Yes and yes, but he was under duress.” He and Juzir had worked things out since the whole kidnapping Leo thing, though Crispin was still somewhat angry with him.

Aspin nodded, looking thoughtful. “So how do we get there?”

“We have to get out of the forest and back to someplace with a mirror.” Crispin looked around his mother’s cabin. It was obsessively neat, except for the bed, which was excessively rumpled. He didn’t want to know what she’d been doing there with the King.

As he stood near the front window, his gaze fell upon a small desk with a series of dials and brass handles. Crispin grinned. At least they wouldn’t have to walk back.

“Anyone know how to drive this thing?”

26

Leopold

The good news was that Crispin was being all alpha and competent, which meant Things Were Being Done to solve their problems. It was sexy, too.

More good news was that he figured out pretty quick how to drive the Baba Yaga hut, and although Leo found the lurch-swaying as they moved kind of cool, like a theme park ride, Dietrich had to puke in a bowl and still looked distinctly green around the gills.

Even more good news was that Crispin had a destination in mind. In between barfing, Dietrich had pointed out that there were plenty of mirrors at Koniglichen Titten.

And—one more thing to add to the ever-growing list of good news—they didn’t have to walk back through the forest through all those stupid vines.

Oh, but there was a bad-news list too. At first, Leo assumed that the top item was the curse he’d inherited from Oberon. Not being able to talk sucked. Big time. And nobody could find a pen or pencil anywhere in the hut, so he couldn’t write anything down. He might have been able to use Thea’s keypad to type things, but she was busy assisting with the driving, and he didn’t want to mess that up.

And as if being incommunicado wasn’t bad enough, Leo was also on the receiving end of a series of smug smirks from Cypher. The only thing keeping that situation from getting out of hand was the answering torrent of growls from the WOLFs, who were definitely, positively coming home with him when this was all over. Assuming they wanted to. Leo figured he’d look pretty badass stalking around with his giant canine entourage. The King of Chaos. Boo-yah!