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I remembered the rainbow shimmer. “The cell had some sort of magical halo around it. It almost killed me when I tried becoming Aedh.”
He nodded. “What restricts your shift would also restrain my connection with you. Until you were clear of that halo, I could not answer your call. The earth is restrictive as well.”
“Why?” I asked. “And if that’s the case, how do people involved in accidents underground ever get moved on?”
“A reaper’s sense of death is more attuned than the connection I share with you.” He hesitated, as if to say something else, then glanced past me as Tao came into the room. “I think it would be better if we left this place.”
“We’re as safe here as anywhere else.” Tao dumped a large glass of Coke and a sinfully large burger in front of me. It had obviously been microwaved, but I wasn’t about to complain. Food was food, and I needed it badly. He turned to face the reaper. “We have Ilianna’s wards, cameras, and motion detectors activated. No one is getting in here without us knowing.”
“The Aedh have already retrieved the Dušan’s book from this building,” Azriel said. “And my sword is no match if they come in a group.”
“He’s right.” Ilianna walked back into the room, med kit in hand. “The wards are designed to work against evil, but the Aedh—as far as I know—are not intrinsically evil. And the sensors can only detect flesh, not those who are fundamentally energy.” She nodded Azriel’s way. “They didn’t go off when our not-so-grim reaper appeared, and if the Aedh have already stolen the book, they’re obviously not impeded in any way by my magic.”
“I guess not,” Tao said. “But that leaves the problem of finding a place where the four of us are going to be safe.”
“Speaking of that,” I said, looking around, “where’s Stane?”
“Catching some sleep,” Ilianna said. “He was practically dead on his feet, so I frog-marched him to bed.”
Tao snorted. “He took his laptop with him, so I’m betting he’s just retreated to quieter quarters.”
“Has he had any luck finding out who Joseph Hardy is, or uncovering the names of the people behind the consortium?” I asked.
“Not yet.” Ilianna placed the kit on the table, then carefully picked up one of my feet. Her nose screwed up. “Damn, girl, your feet are a mess.”
“They’ll heal soon enough.” And we had bigger problems. “Ilianna, you need to warn your mom about the copies of the book
pages you gave her. The Aedh may not go after them, but just in case—”
“She’ll be fine.” Ilianna began wiping down my feet with a lotion that was cool and soothing, and smelled faintly of lavender. “Both she and those copies are at the Brindle, and not even the devil himself could get into that place uninvited.”
“What copies?” Azriel asked.
I glanced at him. “We made copies of the Dušan’s book.”
“An excellent move, but why would you give that copy to the witch repository?”
“Because I need the contents translated.”
“But I told you—”
“No,” I interrupted. “You told me what you thought I needed to know. But there was more than just an incantation in there, wasn’t there?”
He merely lifted an eyebrow. I snorted softly. The reaper, like everyone else, was looking after his own interests first and foremost.
“So what is in there?” Tao said, propping his butt on the table and pushing my burger forward.
I took the hint and picked it up, taking several delicious mouthfuls before answering, “According to my father, it’ll tell me what the keys are.”
Ilianna’s gaze jumped to mine. “You talked to your dad? What’s he like?”
“Ghostly.”
“As in dead and just a spirit?” Tao asked with a frown.
“No. He’s alive, but the ability to take on flesh has been taken from him.”
“Oh.” Ilianna began slathering a thicker, smellier cream over my feet. “Why don’t you just ask the reaper what the keys are?”
