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My stomach flipped. A necromancer from the Scorching Wars down in the deserts of Otherworld—Telazhar had long ago been sent to the Subterranean Realms and there, he’d trained demons, including Stacia Bonecrusher.
“Is Carter sure? Telazhar, loosed on the general populace . . .” Suddenly Hyto didn’t seem like our biggest enemy. I looked up into Vanzir’s whirling eyes. “We’re in trouble. Big trouble.”
He nodded. “Yeah. I wish to hell I had my powers back.”
“I wish you did, too.” I hung my head. The Moon Mother had done as she saw fit, but I couldn’t figure out how taking away Vanzir’s powers—ones he was already conflicted about—had done anything to help us.
“I don’t blame you,” he said. “Trust me, Camille—I don’t blame you for anything. I’d give anything to take back what happened. But I can’t. I’ll do whatever I can to help, though. I’m still working on your side, powers or not, soul binder or not. I just hope Smoky decides to let me stick around.” He bit his lip. “I’ll never touch you again. I promise.”
I licked my lips, feeling awkward. “Vanzir . . . if the circumstances were different . . . I guess what I’m saying is that although I would undo what happened if possible, it’s not because of you. You were incredible. Never doubt yourself. Never worry about . . .”
He laughed, a little too harshly, but he was nodding. “Same to you, woman. Just don’t tell your fire-breathing husband I said that.”
I nodded, then turned to Shade, who had moved back to give us some privacy. “We’d better get back inside to tell the others the news.” Telazhar was a necromancer so powerful he’d make Morio and me look like dabblers.
As we headed inside, we were just in time to see Smoky appear. He held up his hand as Delilah started in with a flurry of questions about how Chase was doing.
“I stayed for a few moments to find out what I could. But Sharah has no clue. She said it will be morning before she’s able to finish a battery of tests. Meanwhile, he’s stabilized and not in immediate danger.” He took off his trench coat and hung it over a knob on the coatrack near the door. Turning to me, he held out his arm and I slid beneath the shelter of his embrace.
“Sharah hopes to have some news by tomorrow morning, Delilah—she suggested you call her around nine A.M.” He paused, then looked over at dinner. “I’m still hungry; if you’ll excuse me, I’ll finish eating.”
I realized that I’d skipped most of my dinner, too, and joined him at the table, filling up another plate. Iris volunteered to heat it up, but I shook my head.
“This is fine. But I have some news for everybody.” I looked around. “Where’s Hanna? I haven’t seen her since earlier.”
Menolly spoke up. “She was feeling punky, so we fixed up a bed for her in a little cubbyhole the first level down. She doesn’t mind—she said she was used to being stuck in a cave.”
“Yeah, well, that needs to end soon enough.” I let out a short breath. “She suffered at Hyto’s hands for five years, though not in the same way I did. But she lost more than me.” I thoughtfully chewed a mouthful of potato.
“What was it you had to tell us?” Delilah asked. She looked worn out. We all did. Living in Smoky’s barrow was going to crowd us, but we didn’t dare go home.
“Vanzir has something to tell us, actually. News. Not good. Bad, in fact. Real bad. Hang-on-to-your-hats bad.” I decided, why get their hopes up? We were already facing a world of hurt, might as well Band-Aid it and just yank it off fast.
Vanzir cleared his throat and told them what Carter had told him. When he finished, everyone sat there, staring at him. Then at me. Then all hell broke loose and the barrow was awash with voices.
After a moment, I slowly, painfully climbed on top of one of the chairs and let out a whistle. Delilah winced—her hearing always gave her trouble with shrill noises.
“Shut up. Everyone just shut up. There isn’t much we can do about it now. There isn’t much we can even discuss doing about it. Tomorrow, we put out feelers. Hunt around, see what we can find. We do our best to trace the rogue portal—but I guarantee you, Telazhar isn’t going to be hanging around waiting for us. I have no doubt he’ll make himself known, however.”
“Do you think he’s working for Shadow Wing?” Roz began to carry plates into the kitchen for Iris.
“I don’t know. Stacia was working to edge Shadow Wing out of his position. Telazhar trained her. Chances are he’s on a rogue mission, but then again—we can’t be sure.”
I tried to run through all the permutations. Telazhar could be working on his own, or for Shadow Wing. For all we knew, Trytian could have coaxed him to come over. No matter which way you cut it, it added up to a very dangerous sorcerer hanging around Seattle, and that just wasn’t going to fly.
“All we know is that he’s trouble and we can’t let him stay over Earthside. If he tries to make it back to Otherworld, they can deal with him—and will. He’ll be put to death if he tries to reenter OW.”
A knock on the door interrupted me. Smoky answered it, cautiously peering out into the night. Almost immediately, he pulled back and opened up the door, allowing Estelle and St. George to enter. Georgio looked up at Smoky and began to sputter, mingled wonder and fear spreading across his face. He’d recognized Smoky as a dragon from the first time he saw him. Sometimes those who walked with one foot in another world—whether it was the world trapped inside their own minds, or another realm—could see beyond the superficial.
“What brings you to my barrow?” Smoky asked.
Estelle shook her head, tears streaking down her cheeks. “Someone came to the house. Someone I did not recognize. He was average height, bald—except for a long ponytail hanging from the center of the back of his head—”
“Asheré! It’s Hyto’s snow monkey!” I turned to Estelle, panic rising. “What did he say? What did he want?”
“He indicated we’d better get out of the house if we didn’t want to be . . . how did he put it? Cannon fodder. He told us to bring you a message, Lord Smoky.”
Smoky looked seconds away from losing his cool. I took his hand in mine and held it tightly. He glanced down at me and I stepped closer to him, the barrow suddenly feeling all too exposed.
