Page 71

The group didn’t seem to hear him.

“Carl.” Adam crouched and opened the bag. “I’ve got a whole case of protein bars in here.”

Wendy looked like she might protest but Joey tugged on the hem of her skirt, pulling her down toward the counter.

Adam took a box from his bag and offered it with both hands.

“Take them.”

“Thanks,” Carl whispered.

The others quickly thronged him, and Adam understood why Joey cowered. Some of them were big. All of them could use a shower. Adam fought the sense of being pressed, of being penned in, and kept emptying his bag until there was nothing left.

Some of them were already tearing into the bars.

“Come on.” Carl held up a handful of their bounty. “We got what we came for.”

The miner did not look mollified.

“We’ll be back,” he said, glaring over his shoulder as he followed the others away from the stall.

Joey let out a long breath.

“Thanks.”

“You’re welcome.”

Wendy glared at the wrappers the group had left behind.

“We’re not paying you for those,” she snapped.

“I didn’t expect you to, but if you’ve heard anything that could help me out, well, I’d appreciate it.”

She scoffed and flew in a loop from the counter to the top of the stall.

“I’m trying to make things better,” Adam said. “Especially for the Lost Ones.”

“Why would you help them?” Joey asked. “They’re animals.”

“They’re desperate. If we can change that they’ll be better neighbors.”

“And these missing souls have something to do with it?” Wendy asked.

“They do.”

“Nobody’s buying or selling souls,” she said. “Not that we’ve heard of.”

“But they are snatching up soul bottles,” Joey added.

She shot him a disgusted look.

“Explain,” Adam said.

“Souls don’t last long outside a body. They decay,” Joey continued. “But if you’ve got a bottle with the right binding on it, you can store ’em forever.”

“But why would you? Everyone has always told me that souls are useless.”

Death felt differently, of course, but he wasn’t about to give that bit of information away.