Chapter 11
There was nothing to do in the pub. Linda and the vampires had gotten everything set up for the talk and games, and Pan couldn’t sit around and do nothing but watch them learn to talk English.
Feryn had said his uncle, the Strega, and the knight had learned to speak English from a human several months ago.
He had travelled with Calla’s Strega and a minotaur prince.
Feryn hadn’t learned, and his uncle had considered the human another oddity from the human world.
He learned to please the Strega but had not shared the knowledge further.
But if there were Tarikians who spoke English, it meant that the knight or the Strega had passed it on, so he’d asked Noah to see what he could find out.
Noah put his phone in his pocket. “Aunt Mer says those who speak English are at the hospital and are rather busy trying to help doctors with injured mythologicals.”
“Tarikians. We are Tarikians.” Mythological implied they weren’t real. “Did she say what they were?”
“One is an elf and the other looks human.”
“Maybe they are. I don’t know how many humans live in this city. I need Feryn to pull up the records.” He needed Feryn to do a lot of things. Most of which he wouldn’t do. “Okay. We are going to the Strega’s house.”
“Why?”
“Because she might be trapped in there.” Because it was as good a place as any to start.
“We are also going to ask Jarot for help.” He glanced at Noah’s face and saw the word forming on his lips.
“Because I’m tired of waiting for the human authorities to check the Tarikian buildings for survivors.
We found drak yesterday, and there may be others. ”
“Do you have a plan?”
“That is the plan.”
“No, that is half the plan.” Noah smiled. “And you are very good at making half a plan.”
Pan glared at him. “The other half will become clear once we are doing things.”
“If we locate someone, and we cannot easily get to them, do you want me to call the authorities? Are we going to go through houses and collect food? Are we going to work street by street in a methodical fashion, or are we going to flit about depending on where magic pulls you?”
Pan drew in a breath and exhaled instead of snapping that Noah should not be questioning him. He had planned to go where magic pulled him, but he could see the potential flaws in that plan. “You think we should work street by street.”
“Yes, because then we can mark them off, and then the human authorities do not need to search. And I suspect that others would’ve checked her house already since she is important to the city.”
Pan grunted. That was true, assuming her house was here. Not only that, but there was nothing in him calling him to go to her house—only the need to do something.
“But if you really want to start where it should be, we can.”
“It is near the sinkhole.”
“You can’t force magic.” Noah quipped as if he knew anything about magic. “And that area has been blocked off due to instability.”
Pan closed his eyes. “If this city’s Strega was here, she’d have made herself known.”
“Then what was the prayer for?”
“To see if another would answer my call. They usually heed a god’s request.” Not that he was very godly at the moment. Perhaps that was why he was being ignored. Or perhaps they were needed in their own cities. Or, more bleakly, they were all gone. “You do not want to start there.”
“I would rather not start in an area that has been blocked off due to a sinkhole, when there are other houses, in more accessible areas to be checked.”
“That does make sense,” he grudgingly admitted. “As does your idea about collecting food. Preserved meat, cheeses, and vegetables will only last for so long as will the wine.”
“And you will need more than one werewolf, if you plan to dig through rubble.”
Linda chose that moment to walk into the kitchen. “Why are you digging through rubble?”
Pan glanced at Noah and let him take the question. “We are going to check our buildings for survivors and food.”
“If the building is not stable, do not go in. Call search and rescue, and let them know. They will attend if the person is alive.”
Noah nodded. Pan didn’t because he had less faith in the humans than Linda and Noah. However, he wasn’t about to risk his life or Noah’s. He wasn’t that reckless.
Two drak walked into the kitchen, dressed in some of the clothes that had been brought around.
Noah had said they were children’s clothes, for those who were just learning to walk.
There’d been an assortment of shoes, little runners and boots, as well as dresses and pants and shirts ranging from fancy to casual.
The drak had been delighted with the selection.
They had tried on everything, much to the amusement of everyone eating breakfast in the pub.
The two in the kitchen were both wearing runners; one wore a dress, and the other had on pants with a hole for his tail and a shirt covered in fish.
“We are ready to leave with you,” the one in the dress said in Drak.
Taking drak with him was not part of the plan. “You don’t want to stay with Linda and learn English?”
Pan glanced at Linda, who was making a fresh pot of tea, and then at Noah for help—not that either of them spoke Drak. “They want to come with us,” he said in English.
Noah shrugged. “They can get into smaller places than us or a werewolf.”
“You won’t be going into small places,” Linda said.
“Exactly because they will be with us,” Noah nodded at the two drak.
The drak smiled, as if realizing that Noah was on their side.
Linda was also on their side.
He was a god; they should be agreeing with him, not arguing.
The one in the fish shirt said. “Inari would also like us to find a good place for a shrine to Pan.”
He smiled. That was a worthy cause. His first idea was well away from the temple for Rhiannon, if it survived. But perhaps putting his nearby would encourage more people to seek him out.
“Very well,” he said to the drak before turning to Linda. “Can we take an extra water bottle?”
She pulled one out of the fridge. “Make sure you bring them back so they can be refilled.”
“We will.” Once again, they set off for the rec center to ask a werewolf for help, only this time, the task was much grimmer. But at least they were doing something. Perhaps it was magic urging him to go out and walk around the town.
He glanced at Noah.
Following magic meant following him, which meant following Noah’s plan.
Noah didn’t need him. No one did…so what was the point of his existence?