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forsaken battle, but damn it, I miss her. She should be here with her baby. Or they should have let her take Astrid with her, even if they wouldn’t allow me to go along.” He nuzzled his daughter and kissed her lightly on the forehead.
I pulled a chair up next to his. “I know it’s not going to be easy, Chase, but life never makes that a package guarantee, you know. But you have your daughter, and you know Sharah loves both of you. And . . . you can keep Astrid safer than Sharah can right now.”
He shrugged, but a shy smile crept over his face. “Iris is wonderful. I can’t believe she took us in, and her with two babies of her own. They are cute munchkins, aren’t they? And she seems so sure of their place in the world. I wish I could see a safe future for Astrid. But when I try to look ahead, it’s all . . . just a blur of what might be.”
“That’s because your abilities don’t seem to include prognostication. But Chase, you have other gifts. And they will come out the more time goes on. You can help make the future safe for Astrid.” Camille stretched out her legs and stared at her shoes. “I am thinking, even though it’s barely near dinner, of crawling into a nightgown and hanging it up for the day.” After a moment, she whispered. “I miss Smoky and Trillian.”
Morio set down the papers and wrapped his arm around her. “So do I, love, but they will return safe to us.”
I glanced at the clock. “Menolly should be up at any moment—”
“Beat you to it, Kitten.” Menolly entered the room. “Why so solemn? Who . . .” She stopped. “Bad joke, not even going there.” At that moment, the doorbell rang. “I’ll get it.” In a minute she returned, an envelope in her hand. At my look, she shrugged. “For me. I have no idea who it’s from—messenger delivered it.”
As she opened it, the Whispering Mirror chimed and I motioned for Camille to stay put. “I’ll answer it.” I took my place in front of the mirror. “Delilah here.”
“Fuck! This is a notice that I’m being sued by one of the victim’s families! One of the FBH’s families.” Menolly let out a growl even as the fog lifted in the mirror.
I was facing Trenyth, who looked exhausted. I’d never seen him look so rough. “What’s wrong?”
Camille and Menolly crowded in behind me.
“Girls, I’m glad you’re here—Menolly, are you there too?”
“I am.”
“I don’t have much time. We are under siege and the fighting is rough. I wanted to let you know two things. One, you need to head to Grandmother Coyote’s portal as soon as we finish talking. Trillian is on his way over with Luke and Amber, and Amber’s baby. You need to keep them safe—along with the spirit seals. We don’t dare let them stay in Otherworld at this point. You have to hide the seals there, and they cannot be removed from Luke or Amber at this point.”
Camille paled. “How do we keep them safe here?”
“I don’t know, figure out a way.” He choked a little. “We lost Tam Lin to Trenyth’s forces. Shadow Wing now has another spirit seal. Benjamin and Venus are still missing. Smoky and Rozurial are hunting for them like madmen.”
I thought, quickly counting. “What about the seal we sent you from fighting Gulakah?”
“I’m sending it with Trillian. You must hide that, as well.”
“Then . . . we have three seals. Two are missing, and Shadow Wing has three now. They’ve evened up the playing field, at our expense.” The thought that Telazhar had managed to catch Tam Lin made me breathless. I could not imagine what torture they would put the man through. If he was lucky, they’d kill him outright and take the seal.
“And we still have one remaining undiscovered.” Camille hung her head. “This is beyond nightmare status.”
“What of the war?” Menolly rested her hands on my shoulders.
Trenyth pinched the bridge of his nose. “Camille, your vision was correct. The storm-creature has been spotted near Svartalfheim. I managed to get word to King Vodox and he is doing everything he can to protect the city. At least he wasn’t caught unaware. His sorcerers are massing to fight against it. There will be fire raining from the skies before midnight.”
A soldier appeared over his shoulder and whispered something in his ear. Trenyth nodded. “I must go—I . . . I have to go. Sharah is all right, please tell Chase she’s safe for now. And that her people rally to her feet.” And with that, the fog returned and the mirror fell silent.
We sat there for a moment, silent, digesting all the information, then Menolly grabbed her keys. “I’m heading to the portal. Delilah, bring your jeep. Camille, work with the others to figure out where the hell we’re going to stash three spirit seals and two Keraastar Knights. Let’s go.”
• • •
Grandmother Coyote was waiting for us, and she led us back into her forest without a word. There, in the shadow of the trees, Trillian stood, along with Amber and Luke. Amber was holding her daughter, who was almost a year old. She hadn’t been born when I last saw Amber, and I had no idea what she’d named the child. I hadn’t been sure we’d ever see them again, and moved forward to give them a hug, but paused at the look in their eyes.
They’d changed. Whatever Asteria had been doing with them had changed them. They smiled, both of them, but the smile was distant and there was a sense of aloofness there, almost a feel of regality. They also looked somewhat shell-shocked, and they were covered with dirt and leaves and soot.
Trillian led them forward and I gave him a brief hug. He patted my back as he embraced me. “I’m sorry about Sephreh,” he whispered. “I never wanted for that to happen, as much trouble as I had with the man.”
“I know.” I smiled sadly and nodded toward Amber and Luke. “How are they?”
“Rough. I’ll tell you what we know once we’re back at the house. How’s my wife?”
