Tricked

twice. They’ll be laid up for a while. «
    I gently begged to differ. » Not much longer, I expect. They’ll have accelerated healing as well, and if they still have the Famine spell laid on them, they’ll be desperate to reach me. I’m hoping that’s not the case, though. How goes the Blessing Way? «
    » It’s almost finished. The hogan will be completely safe after tonight. «
    We reached the outskirts of Kayenta and Oberon wagged his tail, seeing the buildings. › Do they have a decent butcher in this town? ‹
    » I imagine someone’s working at it, « I said. Granuaile darted her eyes quickly at me but then realized I must be talking to Oberon. She was getting used to my occasional non sequiturs.
    » Where to, sensei? « she said.
    » Head for the big box store. I can pick up some clothes and a neck brace there. Or, rather, you can. Don’t think they’ll let me in looking like this. It’d be nice to have a pair of sandals too. «
    » Got it. « I gave her my sizes and she left Oberon and me sitting in the parking lot.
    › Where are we going next? ‹ Oberon asked.
    Breakfast. There’s a place on the highway called the Blue Coffee Pot .
    › Will I get to come in? ‹ Oberon asked. His tail wagged in excitement, thumping against the backseat.
    I hope so. We’ll get you camouflaged and you can squeeze in somewhere .
    › Awesome! I can almost smell it already. The air will be thick with coffee and butter and sausage. Just what I need after three days of dirt and beef jerky. ‹
    You could use a bath , I told him.
    › I actually wouldn’t mind one for once, even though we had one just a few days ago. Do you have a good story ready? ‹
    I can probably think of something , I replied. What sort of story are you in the mood for?
    › Something with ninjas in it! ‹
    That’s no fun. The ninjas are almost always invisible, and if they’re not then they’re wearing black pajamas and they don’t want to talk about anything. How about a story with samurai instead? I can tell you about one of them .
    › You knew a real samurai? ‹
    Yep. I spent a couple years in feudal Japan until Aenghus Óg chased me out of there .
    › Did the samurai you knew suffer terribly over minor points of honor and struggle to keep his face expressionless as his world came crashing down? ‹
    Most definitely .
    › All right, that sounds cool! I can’t wait! Well, no, I take that back. I can wait until after breakfast. Priorities, you know. But, hey, before I forget, I need to report. ‹
    You do? Report what?
    › You asked me to hang out around Sophie in the clever disguise of Snugglepumpkin and find out what she knows. It was a mission and I chose to accept it. ‹
    Ah, yes. Report, Snugglepumpkin .
    › It’s not a very good secret-agent name, is it? Oh, well. What I found out is that she is secretly obsessed with lasers and wants to equip everything she owns with them. When nobody else was around, she would talk to me about her plans to mount giant frickin’ lasers on top of her truck, her roof, and above her front door, to disintegrate missionaries and stray cats that come to take a dump in her front yard. She is a completely awesome lady. She even shared with me that she prefers T-bones to New York strips, and that means she is one of the finest human beings on the planet. ‹
    Oberon. What did you find out about the building site?
    › I was coming to that! Okay, they are laying out a massive compound, and I am not sure I understand it all. In one place they are building a factory for solar components; there’s another for wind, and in another they are planning a rail depot—does that make sense? ‹
    Yes, they need to ship out their products somehow .
    › Okay, and then she also pointed one time to this space across from where the rail depot would be and said the storage facilities would be there, and behind that would be the transformers. Does that mean Optimus Prime has decided to help the Navajos achieve energy independence? ‹
    No, the kind of transformers she’s talking about transmit electricity. They are, sadly, inanimate structures .
    › Oh. I thought that was too cool to be true. But, anyway, how did I do? Did I earn two sausages back? ‹
    Yes, you did very well. You’re at negative twelve now .
    › Gravy! ‹
    Gravy, indeed. It was comforting to know that Coyote planned to follow through on his plan—or at least he was thorough enough in his trickery to make sure that Sophie and her crew