![Hunted (The Iron Druid Chronicles, Book Six)]()
Hunted (The Iron Druid Chronicles, Book Six)
that.
How are the odds?
Odin replied.
I broke the connection before I said something unforgivably rude.
Chapter 17
We arrived in Calais, France, around one in the afternoon. Timing and mental exhaustion required an interlude. We needed to give Odin time to find Manannan Mac Lir, and we had a comfortable lead on the huntresses, so we could afford to relax—or at least, not run—and have a decent meal before crossing the channel at night. We snuck into a clothier to grab some duds and walked out looking at least civilized if not fashionable. We also lifted six leather belts for later use. I took note of the name to make sure the establishment got paid later for what we took. Not trusting ourselves to nap briefly, we chose to remain awake and explore the city for a few hours. I kept my eyes peeled for possible enemies but tried to conceal my paranoia. We all studiously avoided talking of the immediate past or the future; we were both desperate, I think, for a thin slice of normalcy. I taught Granuaile a few French words here and there and taught Oberon that the food he wanted was called
saucisse
. We pulled off another meat heist in a café, but the food was rather pedestrian in Oberon’s view compared to what he’d had in Poland. It took the edge off our hunger until we could enjoy something later, however.
After sundown we walked to a spot near the channel and found a likely looking place to have dinner, calledLe Grand Bleu. Before walking in, I asked Granuaile and Oberon to wait while I made arrangements. Casting camouflage on myself, I borrowed a cell phone from the purse of an unsuspecting teenager to call my attorney, Hal Hauk, back in Arizona. I walked a short distance behind her as I called; she missed the phone a bit quicker than I had hoped, due to an addictive need to check for texts or something every few minutes. Her cursing in French was entertaining, but I couldn’t appreciate its fluency once Hal answered his cell phone.
“Whoever you are, it’s four in the morning here,” he said without preamble. “This had better be good.”
“Hi, Hal!” I said, sounding as cheerful as possible. “It’s me, Atticus. On the run in France without ID or money. Need the money right away. Know anybody in Calais?”
Hal groaned. “You’re going to give me a headache, aren’t you?” his gruff voice rumbled.
“Your kind don’t get headaches,” I reminded him. We stuck to vague words because it wouldn’t be wise to have terms like
pack
and
werewolves
bouncing around communications satellites.
“That doesn’t mean you aren’t one,” he said. “To answer your question, I believe there is someone nearby, yes.”
“Can someone meet us at a restaurant called Le Grand Bleu and drop a wad of euros in my hand and you wire them some reimbursement from one of my accounts?”
“Of course I can. But what sort of trouble are you in now?”
“Everyone’s trying to kill me. So far they’ve only managed to do it once.”
“What?”
“The good news is that Granuaile is now a full Druid.”
“That’s great, but who’s after you?”
I couldn’t very well tell him plainly without makingeavesdroppers raise a red flag, so I improvised a toupee for the bald truth. “Well, I’m running from several different LARPing troupes.”
Hal caught on and said, “Of course. Which ones?”
“The Fae, the Svartálfar, all the vampires, and the Olympians. Plus Hel and Loki.”
Hal ignored everything except the last. “Loki! Loki is free in the world? LARPing, I mean?”
“Well, to some extent, yeah. The backstory for his role is that he busted out of his binding a few months ago, but he’s been napping for much of that time, trying to heal up a bit after centuries of scarring and sleep deprivation. I’ve been able to distract him from the business of Ragnarok with one shenanigan or another, and right now he’s under the control of Malina’s coven in Poland. Oh, and before I forget, do you remember that cabin in Colorado I had you buy for me?”
“Yes.”
“Good. I need you to buy a case of fifteen-year-old Redbreast whiskey and somehow get your hands on a gross of Samoas and put them in the cabin right away. Send Greta to do it or something.”
Silence greeted this for several seconds, and I began to fear I’d lost the connection. Just as I was about to check, Hal said, “Pardon me, is
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