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“Does anybody know what kind of magic she wields? Or does she even wield magic, other than whatever she has up her sleeve naturally?” Delilah hopped up and dashed into the kitchen, and we heard the sound of cupboard doors quickly slamming open and shut. She returned with a bag of Cheetos and settled down on the sofa with her treasure.
Roz shrugged. “That’s another thing we don’t know.” He turned to Vanzir. “Do you think Carter has anything on her magical abilities?”
“I imagine he would have told us if he has, but I’ll give him a call. Wait here,” the demon said and headed into the kitchen.
Delilah, whose fingers were already orange from the cheese crisps, glanced at the clock. “When are you leaving for Dahnsburg?”
I closed my eyes, resting my head against Morio’s shoulder as he settled back down next to me in the overstuffed chair. “I want to leave tonight, after Menolly’s awake. Delilah, you’re in charge here until we get back, and I’m not sure how long it will take. We’ll portal hop once we’re there. We certainly don’t have the time to travel by ground.”
The thought of making a trip back to Otherworld both thrilled and terrified me. We didn’t have time for vacations, not with the lamia in town. And now with Smoky off in the Northlands, I was worried about being a man down. But I’d been instructed to go to OW near the equinox to meet Trillian, and I desperately wanted to bring him home.
“You’ll be in charge of Maggie,” Iris told Delilah. “You and Menolly. I’ve got some things to attend to in OW and I might as well go with Camille and Morio. It’s just safer that way. Roz and Vanzir will be here. Shamas, too, and Chase if you can get him free of that job of his.”
“I wish Zachary was out of that wheelchair,” Delilah said. “I can’t believe how long he’s been laid up. Karvanak almost broke his back.”
“Karvanak may not have broken his spine, but he did break enough bones to keep Zach out of commission for a while, and that’s not easy when you’re dealing with a werepuma. I’m just grateful he survived,” I said.
Weary, I glanced at the others. “Okay, we’ll leave shortly after sundown, as soon as Menolly wakes up. I’m hoping we’ll be back before the Moon Mother goes ripe, but I have a feeling we may not be, so tell Menolly to take the next couple of nights off and stay home because you’ll be out catting around in your tabby form. There’s no getting around the pull of the moon on us.” I glanced over at Morio, tired and sleepy. “We’d better get changed and pull together our packs. I’d like to get in a short nap before we head out.”
As we stood, Vanzir returned. His subdued look worried me. Something was up. Iris noticed it, too.
“What’s going on?” she asked. “Was Carter able to tell you anything?”
He nodded. “Yeah, he managed to dig up a little more on her, but I guarantee you, you don’t want to hear it. The information was hidden between the lines in her dossier. Shadow Wing’s kept a tight wrap on her history because she’s one of his generals, but Carter found what we’re looking for, all right. The bitch is a necromancer.”
“A necromancer?” I blinked, resisting the urge to just fall on the sofa in a stupor. “Motherfucking son of a bitch. No wonder we’ve had such a problem with creatures coming in from the Netherworld.”
This was not good. So not good. Toss in the fact that she was a demon general meant Stacia wouldn’t be just any ordinary bring-out-your-dead warped puppy. No, she’d be packing one hell of an arsenal in terms of spells and firepower, and could probably wipe out Morio and me with one easy conjuration.
“What the hell do we do now?” Roz leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees and clasping his hands. “This is bad news. I wish Smoky was around.”
“Should we still go?” I turned to Morio. “This puts a different spin on things.”
“You have to—Trillian’s waiting for you,” Delilah said. “And it will only be for a couple of days. We’ve been hunting for Stacia for weeks now. Two or three days aren’t going to make any difference.”
“I hope you’re right.” I hesitated, then looked at Iris. “What do you think? Your instincts are usually right on the nose.”
Iris pursed her lips together and motioned for us to be quiet. She sat down on the edge of the ottoman and I could tell she was drifting into a trance. As the Talon-haltija sank lower into her meditation, the ebb and flow of her aura beckoned me in and I hesitantly reached out to touch her energy with my own.
The moment our energies met, she gasped and yanked me into her world.
We were standing in the snows, high on a mountainside, in the middle of a snowstorm. Iris was bundled in a long, thick coat that was midnight blue, her hair hidden beneath the fur-trimmed hood. In the center of her forehead, a brilliant cobalt star glistened—whether it was inset or affixed, I didn’t know, but it gleamed with power, pulsing gently to her heartbeat.
She raised her eyes to meet mine and I found myself gazing into a swirl of mist and fog and ice. Iris’s power came sweeping over me, knocking me to my knees. I dropped into the packed snow. It was wet, dense, and would harden to ice before long. Soaked through to the skin, I couldn’t take my eyes off the woman who was suddenly much more than a sprite.
Iris held out her hands, and in the palms rested a crystal ball, the color of blue topaz. Aqualine, the crystal she’d asked for from Otherworld. As I struggled to stand, she cupped her fingers around it and closed her eyes, murmuring something under her breath that I couldn’t catch.
At that moment, a great shadow began to cover the mountain, creeping like inky fingers across the snow-blanketed landscape. The shadow clouded my vision and something told me to run from it, but I couldn’t move. As it approached the outskirts of where we were standing, Iris’s eyes flew open again and she raised one hand toward the approaching murk.
“Pysäyttää!” Her voice was strong and clear and the shadow stopped where it was. Iris stepped forward and her words thundered through the snow. “Retreat. Return to your cavern, creature of the dark. It is not yet our hour to meet.”
As I watched, the shadow slowly began to retreat, a long, fluttering sigh lingering as it rolled back up the mountain. I turned to ask Iris what was going on but she was focused on the crystal ball again, and then, as big fat snowflakes began to fall in earnest, I blinked and found myself back in the living room, lying on the sofa.
“Camille, are you all right?” Delilah was leaning over me as I struggled to sit up. “You fainted.”
I swung my feet onto the floor and scooted forward, looking for Iris. She was still sitting on the ottoman, eyes closed, but as I watched her she stirred and stretched, yawning. She gave me a long look, pleading for my silence. What had happened out there—wherever we were—she wanted to keep secret for now.
“I’m fine,” I said. Iris was our friend and if she wanted to keep this quiet, then I’d play along, unless it looked like it was going to affect us or the war against the demons. “I guess I’m just tired. Iris, what did you see?”
