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"Sounds good. What kind of meat do gargoyles eat?" Camille asked.
"What kind do you have?" Iris grinned. "I almost forgot," she said, sliding off her stool and crossing to the bookshelf that hid the entrance to Menolly's lair. "Wait till you see what Menolly had me get last time I was in OW. Apparently she did some research and found out this was the best book on the subject." She held up a slim volume bound in leather. "The Care and Feeding of Woodland Gargoyles. Isn't that just perfect?"
"How do we know Maggie's a woodland gargoyle and not from some other land?" I asked. "Technically speaking, she's a Sub Realms 'goyle if you go by where she was born."
Iris shook her head and flipped through the book. "According to this book, only woodland gargoyles have calico coloring. It's a self-defense strategy to remain unseen in the woods."
Chase cleared his throat. "Like camouflage?"
"Right," she said. "Anyway, the more common black or gray varieties come from the mountains, and the brownish red backs come from the desert. Of course, they can interbreed, but the children tend to follow the mother's coloring. So our little Maggie's ancestors lived in the woods."
"Does the book give us an expected timeline for how she should be developing?" I smiled gently. It had taken Menolly to think of hunting down a book on gargoyle care, which told me a lot about how closely she'd bonded with Maggie.
Iris flipped through. "Well, she's not walking yet, but that doesn't necessarily mean much. This baby stage can last up to five Earthside years before she takes a few steps. Of course, we don't know how old she is. She hasn't said anything yet except for her moophs, but again, that all depends on how old she was when you brought her home, and how much she was breast-fed."
Gargoyles' breast milk was very close in makeup to the cream, sage, sugar, and cinnamon mixture we gave her, which is why the formula was recommended for orphaned 'goyles.
"I guess we're just going to have to wait and see." I turned to Chase. "Why don't you tell them about our plan for the Earthside OIA?"
Chase grunted and laid out the plan we'd come up with, while I set about making a list of things to do. For one thing, I needed to touch base with Zach and find out what he'd learned about Tyler and—hopefully—the second spirit seal.
I glanced over at Chase. "You said we need another computer expert for our OIA work, right?"
He nodded. "And you mentioned you have somebody in mind? I think it should be someone who's human, or at least an Earthside Supe."
"Actually, I do know someone," I said. I grinned at Camille. "What do you think about bringing Cleo on board? I know he could use a few extra bucks, and we can afford to pay him a little bit, at least. Or we could give him a free pass at the Wayfarer for drinks and food."
Camille laughed, her voice rich and full. "Oh, that's good.. I think Cleo would be an excellent choice. After all, he is taking computer classes to get his degree, and he does love excitement."
"Who's Cleo?" Chase asked.
"Cleo Blanco… well, technically his name is Tim Winthrop—he goes by both. Cleo's his stage name. He's a female impersonator by night, serious computer student by day. He's engaged to our mechanic, Jason Binds."
"Is he trustworthy?" Chase fished another piece of bacon off the plate and finished his hotcakes.
"I think so," Camille said.
"Of course he is," Iris broke in. "I've had several long talks with him at the store. He's a good man, and he's a good father to his little girl. I even met his ex-wife once. I think you were out shopping or something," she said to Camille. "He brought her in and introduced her. She's a lovely woman, but it was easy to see the lack of chemistry there. They were polite, though, and I could tell they genuinely cared about each other. I think I saw a diamond on her ring finger, so she's either engaged or married again."
I gave Iris an admiring look. "Good observations, Iris." I made a note to talk to him.
"Sounds good to me," Chase said. "I guess I'd better go home and get ready for work so I can get this charade into gear. Since all of our OIA medics are elves, we won't have any problems on that front." He pushed himself away from the table and pulled me into his arms. "Be careful, honey. I don't want you getting hurt."
I gazed into his eyes. He really did care, that much was obvious. Maybe I'd been underestimating him. I leaned forward, lingering on his lips for a moment before brushing the hair out of his eyes. "Only if you promise to watch your back, too."
He laughed and planted a wet kiss on my nose. "Call me later, babe, and let me know what's going down. I'll start researching the Snoqualmie area and see if I can find Goldenrod Road."
As he shut the door behind him, I told Camille and Iris about my dream. "I'm not sure what's going on," I said. "I know I was out on the astral, but I also know that I wasn't in my normal Were-form. But we have a lead on the Hunters Moon Clan, and I'm betting before the day is out, Chase will have located the road we're looking for."
Camille began clearing the table. "You know, Chase has turned out to be more help than I ever imagined he would be."
A knock on the door interrupted her. I went to answer it, while she and Iris continued to clean up after breakfast. As I opened the door, a blast of the icy winter air hit me full on. The world had turned white overnight.
Zach stood there with snowflakes in his hair. His breath was coming in white puffs, and he looked frantic as he shivered in his jacket, his hands thrust in his pockets against the cold. "Thank God you're home," he said as I hustled him inside. "I was hoping I wouldn't have to go all the way into town to find you." His clothes were grungy, and he looked like he'd been up all night.
"What's happened?" I led him into the kitchen, where Iris took one look at him and began making a pot of tea.
"We've got a situation out at the compound." He dropped into a chair and propped his elbows on the table, clearly exhausted. "We need your help. The Council elders sent me to beg you to intervene. They'll pay anything they can for your aid."
