"Here you go," Jessie said, passing Ever a bag full of the stuff the two customers had purchased. "How long are you guys staying in Wisconsin?"
"We're heading back home now, actually," Ever replied.
"Right, you've got to go find that guy. Well, this is my uncle's shop, so I'm helping out on the weekends. Feel free to come visit anytime." Jessie looked at Warrick as she said that.
Warrick gulped from a mix of both fear and anticipation. He quickly caught himself feeling the latter. But that wasn't what he should have been feeling toward his ex-girlfriend. The two of them already broke up years ago. He knew it wasn't right in his head, yet it was impossible to move on from her dominance. The only way was for him to find himself someone new, preferably a werewolf dadd—dom.
"Uh, sure," Ever said. "Come on, Warrick. Let's go. Warrick...?"
The boy didn't move an inch from his kneeling position.
"Oh, sorry about that," Jessie said. "Get up and fuck off."
"Woof!"
Warrick sprang up and ran out of the store with his tail between his legs.
"Okay, then. Bye," Ever said, to which Jessie sent her a friendly wave goodbye.
Ever left the store and went back into the twins' car. She tossed Warrick his wallet, which Jessie took out of his pocket earlier to make him pay for everything. The boy caught it with his mouth, only to immediately spit it out, surprising even himself. Was he really turning into a dog?
Warrick let out a long sigh. "Phewoof..."
"What's wrong with him?" Walt asked. "Well, minus the typical stuff that's wrong with him."
"Woof, woof," Warrick said, shaking his head to express that he didn't want to talk about it. He pointed at the steering wheel.
Walt nodded, figuring it was just his brother being weird again. He started the car and tossed the POOP back to Warrick, who this time didn't catch it with his mouth. Wincing in disgust, he gave the rock a squeeze. It was slightly harder than he remembered.
Seeing the special stone, Ever said, "We got a great lead for finding the person who took that pendant. Apparently, he stopped by the gift shop too this morning. The shop worker said he was also from Freer City."
Warrick appreciated Ever not bringing up Jessie to Walt, who was sure to make a few teasing remarks again and he would rather not deal with that right now. He was still very embarrassed about what happened. Although, he didn't entirely mind Ever knowing yet another one of his secrets. She seemed pretty chill, which was actually not the impression he used to have of her at school. The "Ever" at school always appeared a bit... disingenuous. But that was all behind them now, just like the gift shop growing tinier and tinier in the side-view mirror.
"Hm, Freer is still a pretty big city," Walt said. "But I guess that will make our search a little bit easier. Then, we're heading back home."
"Another day's drive," Ever sighed, settling into her seat.
"Don't worry. It won't take nearly as long to get back."
"Are we going to take a faster route this time?"
"No, we're going to take the same route. Exactly the same route, just in reverse."
"Huh? I don't get it."
"You will once you see the next chapter."