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Reality hit with a sledgehammer. “Yeah . . . I know. A bad idea all the way around, I guess—”
“What if who catches us?” Rhiannon entered the kitchen, cocking her head to the side. “What’s going on? What are you planning?”
I frowned. “I thought of a way to go after the antidote. But Peyton’s right. I can’t risk you guys.” I quickly explained Geoffrey’s offer to her. “If I could get in there, keep him occupied, maybe . . .”
“Too dicey. But what about this? It’s still dangerous, but . . .” She hesitated.
“What is it? Dangerous I can handle, as long as there’s a chance of breaking through.”
“Kaylin took you dreamwalking once before. Suppose you go dreamwalking through Geoffrey’s mansion and find out where he’s keeping the antidote? If you can find it, and nobody’s guarding it, maybe you can manage to steal some for Grieve?”
Rhiannon looked positively shocked at herself, and I almost laughed. She had spent so long keeping her nature under wraps that it was going to take some time for her to get used to putting herself out there.
“That’s actually got a chance of working. It means getting Kaylin on our side.” I bit my lip. “But it’s the only way I can think of. It also means I have to find a safe place to keep him once we have him free, because even though I love him with all of my life, I won’t chance you guys living in the same house with him. I’m not that stupid. Even without the light-rage, he’s still plenty dangerous.”
I thought of Leo, of how he’d react. “We’re going to have to tell all the guys, but we have to put up a united front or they’ll let testosterone get in the way. This isn’t up for a vote. I’m going to do this . . . well, if Kaylin agrees.”
“Leo will be home in a few minutes for an early dinner. He’s got some evening chores to attend to for Geoffrey. I guess I’ll go get Chatter and Kaylin.” Rhiannon pulled out a frozen pizza. “Here, stick this in the oven. Make sure we have something sweet for dessert. You know the best way to influence men is through their stomachs, and we need all the help we can get.”
Then she took off to look for Kaylin and Chatter. Peyton unwrapped the pizza while I dug through the cupboards and found pudding mix and cookies. I whipped up some instant chocolate pudding and topped it with whipped cream, then set it in the refrigerator and opened the cookies.
“Do you trust Leo?” Peyton suddenly asked, her voice low.
I glanced at her, surprised. “He can be a butthead, but yeah, I guess. Why?” Actually, I’d had nagging doubts over the past week or so, but ascribed it to my own nerves.
“I don’t know. He’s in thick with the vampires. He owes his loyalty to Geoffrey—and every time we bring up your connection with the vamps, he seems defensive, like he thinks he’s being edged out.” She shrugged. “Maybe I’m imagining things, but I am a little uneasy with the way he acts.”
I blinked. I’d had the same thoughts but hadn’t wanted to articulate them because they sounded petty. Coming from Peyton, they sounded reasonable.
“I . . . I’m not sure. I kind of wondered, but Leo’s in love with my cousin. They’re engaged to be married. I can’t just up and ask him, ‘Are you jealous because I’m indentured to Geoffrey and Regina? And Lannan, by default.’”
“Yeah, I guess not. If he were, he wouldn’t admit it. And if he’s spying on you for them, he’s not going to tip his hand.”
Now I was nervous. The thought that Leo might be spying on me for Lannan made me queasy, and I would have wiped the thought right out of my mind if I were sure about him. But honestly, I didn’t know. I couldn’t say for sure how much I trusted him.
Stricken, I stared at Peyton. “What if you’re right? What happens if he runs back and tells Geoffrey what I’m planning?”>“Here we go.” I gave her a crooked smile. “It’s not like we’re going to have a hundred people on our doorstep the minute we put this up but you know, it feels so very official, doesn’t it?”
She nodded, a glint in her eye. “Yeah . . . who knows where this will lead for both of us?”
As she held the sign, I pounded it into the ground, first scooping away a good foot of snow to reach the dirt. As we finished and stood back, I realized that in some weird altaverse I’d been hoping that a throng of people would descend on us, but for the moment, we were alone, standing in the snow. I brushed back my hair and glanced up at the sky.
The clouds were rushing by, white cotton mixed with gray haze, and always the ever-present silver sheen that accompanied snowstorms. They were billowing by in the stiff breeze and the temperature was steadily falling. I turned, slowly, staring down the street, across the road, at the woods.
Everywhere, a silver and blue wasteland. The Ice Queen held the world in her grasp, and she was steadily squeezing tighter as her magical storms passed through. We were up to a good four feet of snow in parts of the yard. Drifts were higher. In Seattle, they were reporting the coldest winter in recorded history, with fifteen inches to two feet depending on how far out the neighborhoods were.
And in that moment, I knew. “She could do it.”
“Who could do what?” Peyton glanced around, then at me.
“Myst. She could bring on another ice age. I can feel it in the wind—I can feel the shifting of currents and the cooling gusts racing around the world. She’s sent her people into all corners of the northern lands. And they all carry her magic.”
“Ragnarök.”
I glanced at her. “Not quite. That’s the twilight of the gods. This could be the twilight of the mortals. And this will be ice, not water.”
“Stopping her won’t be easy.” Peyton stared at her feet. “When she held me captive . . . Heather and I were put into the same cell and Myst came to me. She was so beautiful . . .” Her voice drifted off. “I couldn’t believe how beautiful she was. But so cold, and so . . . inhuman.”
I nodded. “She has no more humanity in her than a rock.”
