CHAPTER 142

"You don't have to hide your treasure," he told the imp. "I'm not going to take it."

Emery bit his lip in frustration and then looked down at his feet, his wings drooping. "It's my job to take care of this place," he explained, "not polish my collection."

"Does polishing your collection make you happy?" Mike asked.

The imp nodded tentatively.

"Do you do a better job when you're happy?" Mike asked.

Emery scrunched up his face, as if afraid to answer. When he spoke, his voice was a hopeful squeak. "I think so."

"From now on, I want you to take some time for yourself. Every single day." Mike pulled the now full carafe of coffee off the counter. "Polish your collection. Go for a walk, er, fly. Whatever. Consider it an order if that's what it takes."

A look of sheer joy bloomed across the imp's face, and the coin reappeared in his hands.

"This one is a silver dollar from 1901," Emery declared, then set it on the table between them. Mike noticed that the coin looked clean as if it had recently come from the mint. "The woman on it is very pretty."

"She is."

"I like the ones with faces on them the best. During the lonely times, it felt like they were my friends." Emery picked up the coin and smiled at it as a mother would to a child.

"Speaking of being lonely, do you ever feel..." Mike looked around conspiratorially and lowered his voice. "Do you ever feel like this place is alive?"

Emery's eyes widened even further, and then he nodded.

"Every home is alive in its own way, Caretaker. If you stand in the door, you can feel it breathing around you. Stand on its floors, and you can feel its heartbeat." The imp grabbed Mike's finger in his tiny hands. "When you fill a good house with love, it loves you back. It will shelter you in a storm, and warm you when you are cold. I think you know by now that this place is very special."

The conversation was taking an unexpected turn.

"Special, how, Emery?"

The imp grinned, and then his eyes flicked to the woman on the coin. "Special in ways I can't say. In the same ways that the trees speak to Master Foot, this place can speak through you."

"You mean to me?"

Emery smiled, his brow furrowing up and making him look like an old man.

"I said what I said." He let go of Mike's hand and picked up the coin. "My magic helps me keep the coins clean. I'm an earth elemental. Anything that comes out of the ground, I can manipulate, even restore it to its previous luster. I suspect you have a similar ability when it comes to Velvet. I haven't seen her this happy in months. When you take her from this place, I ask that you take very good care of her."

Mike laughed, then held out a finger for the imp to shake. "You've got yourself a deal," he said.

They sat and chatted until the coffee was gone. Emery told stories about the girls growing up, and how much he enjoyed playing with them as children. Once his mug was empty, Mike excused himself and went outside for some fresh air.

It was warmer today than it had been all week. The snow was like slush near the grove of trees that had burned down the other night. What few trees still stood were ashen specters with skeletal limbs that reached for the sky. Mike wondered how long it would take for them to grow back.

He found Dana out in the barn with the hood of the jeep up. She had found an old radio and was blasting some hits from the '80's while giving the car a tune-up (at least, that was his assumption). Wearing a white tank top that barely covered her midriff, it rode up and revealed the tattoo of gears at the base of her spine every time she leaned into the car.

"What's going on?" he asked.

Dana backed out of the car and regarded him with red-tinged eyes. He couldn't help but notice that her biceps looked more defined than before.

"Needed something to do." She set a ratchet on the edge of the car, then used a rag to wipe some grease off her fingers. "Wondered if this thing still ran. Might need it for tonight."

Mike nodded. He sincerely doubted that the jeep would be of any use in capturing the Jersey Devil, but he wasn't about to argue with her.

"Everything okay? Your eyes don't look so great."

Dana smirked, then leaned against the jeep with her arms crossed. "Funny that you ask. I'm okay, I think. Ever since the other day, I've felt more energized than I usually do. Like I've downed a bunch of caffeine or something. Senses are heightened even more than usual. I feel kind of like I do right after feedings, only it isn't fading like it usually does."

Uh oh. He thought about the weird electrical storm he had summoned, and then subsequently poured into Dana. Had he changed her? He could only hope it was for the better.

He offered his help, but she declined. They both knew there was little he could do to contribute, but he wanted to be polite.

Outside the barn, he found some good handholds and climbed up to the roof, where Abella waited.

Her eyes were closed, a thin smile on her lips as she soaked up the sunlight.

"What brings you to my neck of the woods?" She grinned at her own joke.

"I came to check on you, actually." He walked across the roof, wondering how it was even strong enough to hold her. Looking down, he noticed that she had left several gouges in the roof with her talons, most likely from walking across it.

She opened her eyes and looked at her wing with a frown.

"I'm fine," she said, but he just shook his head.

"You aren't." He stopped in front of her and ran his hands along her cracked wing. The dark lines were flecked with stone that glistened in the light.

"It doesn't hurt," she reassured him. "It will heal. Eventually."