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Morio spoke up then. "So you feel safe with Trillian and me, but not with Smoky?"
I thought about his question, staring out the window at the strip mall we were passing as we approached the Belles-Faire district. Once there, another eight minutes, given good traffic, and we'd be downtown in Pioneer Square.
"In a way. I feel safe with him, but not in the same way," I said. Damn it, I hated to admit I was afraid of someone I'd slept with. But then, perhaps afraid wasn't exactly the right word.
After a moment, I realized what made me so uncomfortable. "It's not that I'm really afraid he'll hurt me, but I feel like I have to be someone other than myself around him. I feel like I'm a pet, in some ways."
"I can see that," Delilah said.
"I mean, look at how accommodating Trillian was when Morio came into my life." Everybody snorted, but I waved them silent. "I mean it. At first, yeah, he was an ass about it, but look at us now. With Smoky, well, I just don't think he plays well with others. And I know perfectly well that if I agreed to what he wants, I'd be locked up out in that barrow. He'd try to keep me safe from the world. I can't afford to play the delicate maiden. Not with Shadow Wing around."
I turned around to look at Morio.
He gave me a quiet smile. "I thought as much."
We passed a bookstore at that moment, where a throng of people crowded around the doors. Right, I thought. The newest Shala Morrison book had just come out—the female answer to Harry Potter. By rights, Iris should be down at the Indigo Crescent, selling copies.
"Hey, Iris, you didn't answer me, what about the shop? Why aren't you there?"
She leaned forward, peering between the front seats. "I hired Henry yesterday. He's handling the rush today and seems glad for the work. I don't think he needs the money, but… like we talked about before—his mother."
Good, somebody was down there. "And Feddrah-Dahns and Mistletoe? Where are they? I'm surprised they didn't want to come with us."
"We sent them down to Birchwater Pond," Delilah said. "Feddrah-Dahns was getting claustrophobic." She pulled into a Bartell's Drugs and jumped out of the car, hurrying around to my side. "Here, you drive. I like my Jeep better. Besides, I want to call Chase and tell him we're almost there."
"No. Morio, would you take the wheel? I want to see if I can figure out a way to use this horn against the goblins." I pulled the Black Unicorn horn out of my pocket as Morio played musical seats with Delilah. As he took the wheel, she popped out her cell phone and punched a button.
"Yeah, we're on our way… No… Well, great gods, be careful—what?… No, those are poisonous, stay away from them! We'll be there in under ten… Yeah, me too, sweetie." She flipped the phone shut. "Damn it, the goblins have blowguns and tetsa darts. Chase said most of the civilians are off the street, but there are officers there, and those darts can lodge in places their vests may not cover."
I could tell she was worried about Chase. He was all too human for these sorts of interactions, and all too vulnerable. Tetsa darts were toxic, needle-sharp winged missiles dipped in a mixture of haja frog venom and the toxic soup made from the liver of the pogolilly bird. Both frog and bird were incredibly beautiful. And incredibly deadly.
As I fingered the horn, it set up a vibration, almost as if it were singing to me. At first I thought it might be Eriskel, trying to communicate, but after a moment, I realized the voice was delicate, ethereal… floating on the breeze. Female? I closed my eyes and leaned back against the seat, sinking farther into the swirl of energy that beckoned me in.
There was a hush, then a tug, and I found myself standing in a room, black with stars studding the ceiling. Or were those really stars? The room was framed by four mirrors covering the walls, like a funhouse. Only I couldn't see my own reflection in the glass.
In the first mirror, a woman who looked like a dryad, draped in a gown of leaf green, held a wand carved out of oak. Her skin was as brown as the earth, her eyes and hair the color of fresh corn. The moment she saw me, she curtsied, dropping to one knee.
As I turned to the second mirror, a winged warrior landed on an aerie overlooking a ravine, high up on a barren mountain. Lightning flashed through the air behind him. Pale and tall, with flaxen hair, he was dressed in soft leather, and his eyes were round like an owl's. He carried a sword, long and glittering sharp. Catching sight of me, he nodded graciously and came to attention.
A noise from the third mirror caught my attention. A woman in a dress formed of glowing magma turned, her eyes so brilliant their flash nearly blinded me. Her hair, a trail of hardened pillow lava, flowed down her shoulders, and a wreath of vines shrouded her forehead. She leaned forward to stare at me for a moment before she, like the dryad, curtsied and stayed down, kneeling.
If it followed suit, the fourth mirror should contain a water Elemental. And sure enough, when I looked, a merman rose out of the depths. Coiling hair the color of kelp trailed down his azure skin, and his eyes were onyx black. He was either in the ocean or a lake so vast that I could see no horizon of land in the distance behind him. He leapt out of the water like a dolphin, splashing back in, only to break through the surface again. Raising a bronze trident, he saluted me.
"Who are you? What is this place?" I could almost understand the flow of thoughts and feelings coming toward me. They were waiting for me to give them some sort of command.
"You discovered the heart of the horn," Eriskel said, sounding pleased as he suddenly appeared beside me.
I jumped.
"Are you all right?" he asked.
"Pardon me if I'm a little wary," I said. "After all, you sent a megawatt lighting bolt my way. I understand this place on a primal level, and I can feel a connection forging between my third chakra and this room, but I'm not quite clear about how to make contact. Any hints without trying to fry me again?"
Eriskel grinned, and it was then I noticed the incredibly gorgeous white gold and diamond hoops hanging from his ears. I started to salivate. Apparently, he observed my distraction and the source of it. "You want the earrings?" he asked, rolling his eyes.
"Yeah, if you don't." I blushed then, I didn't normally hit up people for their jewelry, but something about them…
He shook his head. "For the love of… oh here. I can just make another pair for you. I have some powers similar to those of a djinn, you know, even though I'm only a jindasel." Within seconds, he held out an identical pair. They were a good three inches in diameter, just my style. I couldn't help it. I let out a delighted squeak. He stared at me. "Are we done with fashion week now? Can I get on to answering your question?"
