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The atmosphere was even more partylike than back at the house, all the paranormals chatting and chittering and cackling, flitting from group to group, eyes wide with excitement and anticipation. Well, at least the ones that had eyes. But even the flames dancing above the salamander pit seemed to be happy.
One creature wasn't moving, though. Arianna sat on a rock to the side, watching. I picked my way along the bank over to her, careful not to draw attention to myself. I wanted to get out of here, fast, and getting into conversations with less-humanlike paranormals wasn't on my list of things to do. They weren't exactly good at brevity. Or making sense.
"Ar? Whatcha doing out here?"
"Just watching. "
"You wouldn't happen to know if everything is set on this end of things, would you? Do they have everyone who wants to come?"
She nodded slowly, her eyes trained on the movements in the pond. "Yeah, they do. Cresseda declared that 'The gathering is complete, and what was altered will be set right. ' Or something like that. Sounds like full speed ahead to me. "
I swallowed hard, fighting nerves. "Okay. Guess I'll head back to faerie land and get everything squared away there. "
"Good idea. And you might want to hurry. I was talking to the banshees and, near as I could decipher from their mad rhyming skills, you only have until dawn tomorrow before the two worlds shift too far apart and the gate is lost forever. "
"I-Wait, what?"
Arianna shrugged. "Apparently there's a bit more of a time crunch than we knew about. "
"Well, that's just brilliant. Maybe they could have told me this? Didn't the faeries know? The Dark Queen is making new Empty Ones like she has years. "
"I guess the earthbound paranormals can feel it better because they've always been here. The faeries knew time was running out, but they didn't know how soon. "
I took a deep breath. "Whatever. Doesn't matter, I need to get Reth through before he dies anyway. " Saying it like that made my throat stop up. He wouldn't die. I'd make this work.
"Anything I can do to help?"
"Convince the entire Dark Court to abandon their queen's plan and join Team Leave Now?"
"I was thinking more along the lines of recording tonight's Easton Heights rerun so that hour was freed up for you. " She held up her hands at my outraged look of horror. "Kidding. Kidding. I've been helping David and Raquel set up emergency places for all the faerie land transplants and IPCA refugees who aren't leaving. We'll get everything ready here. You focus on the faerie stuff. "
"Can't I be in charge of the DVR, instead?" I stood and turned around. Arianna swatted my butt as I walked away. I wanted to laugh, but it was all I could do not to hyperventilate. Everything was finally happening.
I hadn't made it very far back up the path when Reth stepped out of the woods, scaring me half to death. "Way to make an entrance," I said, my hand over my rapidly beating heart.
"You need to come with me. "
"Did you know I have to open the gate tonight? Never mind. Don't answer. If you did know, I'll want to kick you in the nuts for not telling me, and I don't have time to do it. Good news is I'm going to save your life. We'll just get Jack from the house and then we can go. "
"This isn't a matter for Jack. " He took my hand and threw open a door in the middle of the air. He walked through it; I had to practically run to keep up with him, though he was breathing hard. He opened a door in the blackness and we walked through into his room. Someone was sitting on the couch with her back to us.
"Who is-"
"Hey, stupid!" Vivian squealed, jumping up and running to hug me.
Chapter Thirty-Nine
YOU CAN'T BORROW MY CLOTHES, EITHER
I stood stock-still, utterly stunned, with Vivian's long, skinny arms around me. When had I fallen asleep? I quickly ran back through my recent memories-Raquel, the path, Arianna, Reth-but they all flowed sequentially into each other. So either I was having the longest, most lucid dream ever or Reth had knocked me unconscious on the Faerie Paths.
Or Vivian was really here.
"I- You- Am I asleep?"
She laughed, backing up to arm's length and holding both hands out in a ta-da sort of gesture. "You're not asleep. And neither am I, thank goodness for that. "
"How?" I scanned her frame but couldn't see the burning souls she would have inside her if she'd drained any paranormals.
