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"Are you telling us you can trace Camille's whereabouts as long as she still owes you that week of debauchery you're so happily planning?" I asked. While it smacked slightly obscene, it could also be a very useful tool if anything ever happened to her.
He shook his head. "Not quite. She has to be thinking about me in order for me to pick up on it. Today, she was thinking about coming to get me, and I was able to tune in on her location and save you all some time." He winked at her. "I can't exactly read your mind, but I wish I could."
She shook her head. "You're incorrigible."
"I'm a dragon. For you to expect anything less would be foolhardy." His words seemed to fill the room with the slightest edge of a warning—a hint that he didn't mind playing, but the rules were his to change as he would.
"I suppose so," Camille said softly. "I guess I'll find out, won't I?"
"All in good time," Smoky said, relaxing. "All in good time."
I quickly filled them in on Ronyl and the mirror and Zach's condition. "With Zach out of commission, we're one man down. Meanwhile, before we question our spy, I need to ask Camille something in private."
Chase stood up and motioned to Morio and Smoky. "Come on, boys, let's go check on Zach and the medics." They took the hint and scrammed.
Camille gave me an odd look. "What's going on? Chase cleared them out of here in a hurry."
"I have something important to ask you, and I want a straight answer."
She blinked. "Of course. What is it?"
"Did I have a twin sister or brother? One who died when we were born?" I held my breath, both hoping for—and yet hoping against—a yes. Yes would mean my parents lied to me. Yes would mean Camille had held a secret from me all of these years. Yes would mean that I'd lost a part of myself, in a sense, at birth. And yet yes would mean that I carried part of my twin with me, that part of her still lived.
"Did you have what! Where did you get that idea?"
"Just answer yes or no." I wanted the truth straight, with no pussyfooting around.
"How about I don't know! I don't think so, but I can't say for sure. Nobody ever told me anything about you having a twin, anyway." She wasn't lying, that much I could tell. "Now, how about telling me what this is all about?"
I told her what Trenyth had said, and her expression turned from puzzled to worried. "So I guess my questions are, what is this second nature I've got bottled up inside of me, and did I have a twin?"
The silence in the room muffled my thoughts as I waited for her to say something. As the seconds ticked by on the clock, I thought about my childhood, straining to remember if I'd ever felt like someone was missing. Granted, I'd always felt out of place, but we all had. I'd dreamed of the day when I'd fit in somewhere. But being a misfit and missing a sibling were two entirely different situations. As hard as I tried, I couldn't place my finger on any inborn evidence locked deep within my cells that I'd been born a twin.
Finally, Camille shook her head. "Delilah, I don't know. I can't remember all that clearly before you were born. Oh, vague images of our parents and of home… of a few holidays… but when Mother went into labor with you, they sent me to stay with Aunt Rythwar. Mother had a hard time with all of her pregnancies due to the mixing of her blood and ours through the placenta."
"I just hope that whatever this second form is, it doesn't jump out and surprise me at the wrong time." I pushed myself out of my chair. "I suppose I'll have to ask Father next time we talk to him."
Camille wrapped her arm around my waist and leaned her head on my shoulder. "And I just hope we're able to talk to him again," she said, breaking the silence that bound both of our fears.
I glanced at the clock. "Another ninety minutes, and Menolly will be up. We'd better prepare a list of questions to ask the spy. I have a feeling tonight we're going to be battling more than a handful of spiders, and we might be able to gather some useful information from him."
Sobered by the thought, we joined the others in the living room. The night ahead promised only bloodshed and killing and all the things that made me want to slam the door and lock out the world.
Zach was awake when we entered the living room, and Sharah and Mallen were about to head out. "Keep him quiet, feed him lots of soup and juice and liquids, and don't let him get bitten again. Next time, it could be fatal."
I waved them out, glancing at the sky. Camille peeked over my shoulder.
"We're in for more snow," she said.
"Are you sure?" I looked at the snow piled on the ground. "We already have four inches."
"Seattle may be famous for its rain, but trust me, I can smell it in the air, and I can feel it in my bones. We're due for a storm that will leave the city stranded for a few days. It's coming in, and it's coming fast. I'm glad that Iris didn't go in to the bookstore after all."
"If you're right, we'd better get ready to roll the minute Menolly wakes up," I said. As I turned around, the technomage came quietly down the steps and joined us in the living room.
"Your Whispering Mirror now connects to Trenyth's office," he said, nodding at the Queen's messenger. "No one should be able to tell the difference unless they examine it directly, at which point they'd discover elfin magic and know something's amiss. If your city tries to contact you, they'll probably just think the mirror's out of order." He glanced at Zach. "Ah yes, the spider problem. I'll work from outside. It won't take but a moment."
When Camille moved to follow him, he shook his head. "Thank you, but I work alone," he said in a voice that edged on snotty.
