Page 35 of A Subtle Scar

“You want me to get on there?”

“Yes, Hermes. We are taking the bus. Come on.”

He sighed. “Fine. Just to please you, I guess.”

The two of us sat in the back of the bus, and our bubble teas were long gone when we got where we were going.

“That’s our stop,” I told Hermes.

“Finally. Also, how do you know that?”

I had to push him a little to get up and out of the seat. “Because this is what I do, same as you manage not to teleport into any walls or what have you. I just know.”

“Right. And where are we?”

To answer that, the driver announced that we were at the Brunswick Police Department, then he opened the doors for us. This wasn’t a regular stop on this line, but I could always get extra close if I wanted to, and today, I wanted to.

“That answers that,” Hermes said and got off.

I followed, and the doors closed after us. Both the driver and the passengers wouldn’t remember this stop, even if we got a few curious looks now as the bus sped away down the road.

The police department was in a busy part of Brunswick, and so traffic swallowed the bus back up soon enough. The building was large, concrete and glass, functional rather than aesthetically pleasing.

“I wonder what he wants here,” I said. “I know he worked with Lionel’s colleagues on a case earlier this year. Do you think there could be some sort of follow-up, as the humans call it?”

“Wait, our hu—Chandler—has been working with Lionel, as in the Devil’s boyfriend? The two of them worked together, side by side? Why didn’t you tell me that before?”

“I told you they were colleagues,” I said.

Hermes shrugged. “Yes, but I thought the necromancer worked in the morgue. That’s where he broke the labyrinth, right?”

I closed my eyes. “You know he broke the minotaur’s labyrinth in the morgue?”

Hermes looked away from me, searching around. He pointed. “There. That’s his car.”

“Hmm. We need to go inside and find out why he was summoned here or if he came here for a reason.” I headed toward the door. “And I didn’t tell you because you didn’t ask. Asking questions will offer you lots of insight if you are willing to listen, you know. But then, you must know that, if Florence also told you about the labyrinth.”

Hermes scoffed, and he had the decency not to meet my eyes, the damn eavesdropper. “I listen.”

I went through the door first, then came to a stop to have a look around. There was a front desk and long row of stainless steel chairs for people who were waiting on one side. Behind the desk, those who worked here or had business in the building went by in suits or police uniforms.

“Good for you. Listening is a skill humans praise highly. Eavesdropping, however, is not.”

Hermes crossed his arms and frowned at me. “I don’t know what you mean. Should we call Lucy? He’s been accompanying Lionel to work a lot, right? He probably can tell us where we need to go.”

“From what I know, yes. And that means he might know people inside. Wait, I have a phone on me.”

Hermes lifted a golden eyebrow. “Ronny, everyone has a phone on them at all times. It doesn’t need pointing out because that makes you look old and, frankly, weird. Not the good weird either.”

“Says the god whose idea of romance is French toast.” I went through my very short contact list and dialed.

Hermes lifted his chin in a defiant way. “I have read up about romance, and I may have read a few books last night while we waited. You know, some of those dirty novels Lucy likes so much. And I sort of get why he does now.”

Before I could comment on that, Lucy picked up. “What now? I’m busy here.”

“We are just about to follow Chandler into the Brunswick Police Department and were wondering who inside might aid us, whom you can recommend as reliable.”

“Relax,” the Devil said.