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She looked at me, and there was ferocity in her face. Her cheekbones sharper, her lips thinner, her eyes a void of darkness. Not just a beautiful queen or frail regent. But a creature of magic and power and terror.
“TheEphemeris,” she said, looking away again as if disgusted by her weakness. “He found it... in the green land. It tells of the rivers of magic, and how to make use of them.”
And then her eyes closed again.
• • •
“The mayor will be instituting an immediate relocation of Chicago residents,” Yuen said when he returned. “Beginning with theneighborhoods closest to the... we’ll call them intrusion sites. Centers for those displaced will be established using the protocols established during Sorcha’s attack. The Illinois National Guard will be called in.”
“The Pack may also be helpful,” my father said. “Or what remains of it. And the other Masters may be able to assist with the relocation efforts. They also have experience in large-scale disruptions.”
“We’ll contact them,” Yuen agreed. “Can you work with the delegates?”
“We will,” my father said. “We can house any who wish to stay here, and assist those who want to return to Europe.”
And no need to discuss the city’s prior agreement with Cadogan,I thought,because the Houses are already involved in the peace talks.
“Riley should be released,” I said, gesturing toward the monitor, which still showed images of the grassy LSD. “It’s obvious this is bigger than him, that he was set up by the fairies.”
“I’ve talked to the prosecutor. They aren’t willing to release him, because there’s still no physical evidence linking the murder to anyone else. For the moment, we have to focus on the fairies. They don’t get to destroy Chicago, and they don’t get to send its people into magical exile.”
He looked at Theo. “Where are we on that?”
“Right this way,” Theo said, and gestured for us to follow him to the conference table, where a thin, open box held a stack of thick paper sheets with illuminated letters, careful script, and small sketches. “Claudia told us Ruadan found theEphemerisin the green land. Turns out, theEphemerisis a book currently stored in the National Library of Ireland. This is a facsimile of the pages from the Cadogan library. Which is impressive,” Theo added, with a smile for my father.
“What kind of book?” my mother asked, leaning forward.
“A fairy almanac,” Theo said. “The information ranges from the basic—building charms, coordinating magic with phases of the moon, understanding natural signs—to the complex.” He flipped through the pages to a sheet with a simple drawing of what looked like rivers winding through a forest.
“We don’t have any experts in the language of fairies in house other than Claudia, and she’s unconscious again. But this appears to be an explanation of ley lines and how to use them.”
“There are a lot of steps,” Petra said. “Charms and steps and procedures.”
“Anything about the green land?” Yuen asked.
“Not that we can tell without a full translation,” Theo said. “Ruadan must have figured that out on his own.”
“Or he could have been pulling information from Claudia incrementally,” I said quietly. “Waiting for his moment.”
“And when she didn’t do what Ruadan wanted at the peace talks,” Theo said, “he decided the fairies needed a different approach.”
“I don’t know if all the other fairies agree with him, but he has at least some allies,” I said with a nod. “The fairy who killed Tomas. The fairies who got Claudia into the vehicle and guarded her at the church. The fairies who supported him at the castle and Grant Park.”
“To summarize,” Theo said, counting on his fingers, “Ruadan learned how to manipulate ley lines and tossed away his queen, and is trying to use those ley lines to tug the green land into this world. He hasn’t yet nailed the process, or what he believes the process to be, and his failures and successes are dangerous to the rest of us.” He looked up. “What do we do about it?”
At that, the room went silent.
“Can we bomb it?” Petra asked.
We all looked at her.
“I’m not being bloodthirsty,” she said in her slightly kooky, matter-of-fact way. “Okay, maybe a little bloodthirsty, although I think that’s appropriate and deserved right now. Is there some way we can bomb the green land and not have it affect Chicago?”
“This is outside my expertise,” Yuen said, “but if the green land and the missing parts of Chicago are still linked by the bubble, so to speak, I would think an explosion would affect both.”
“Could we take out the fairies working the magic?” Theo asked.
“I think that presents the same problem,” Petra said. “You take them out while the magic is in play, and you risk making things worse. Sealing off the bubble, putting the green land here permanently.”
