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While Millennium Park was fine, skyscrapers were becoming hills east of Michigan and south of the river. These hills were rockier than we’d seen near the United Center, a mix of grassy fields and craggy hills, moving slowly west.
“You’ve told them?” I asked Brody, staring at a craggy peak that rose over State Street.
“I told them. They’re changing routes.”
“Then we’ll meet them at the rendezvous. We’ll go the rest of the way on foot.”
We walked through Millennium Park, Cloud Gate shooting our reflections back at us, then over to Randolph and up Columbus to Aqua, which rose nearly nine hundred feet above our heads. Its undulating edges looked more organic than glass and steel, like a bridge between the two worlds we faced right now.
Yuen wore a black jacket withOMBUDSMANin white letters, and he directed members of the CPD into action.
“No Dearborn?” Connor asked, glancing around.
“He’s monitoring with the mayor,” Yuen said dryly. “You’re all okay?” he asked, looking us over.
“Dented, but fine,” I said. “The SUV’s a total loss. The fairies?”
“Claudia is waiting. No sign of Ruadan.”
“The trembling is starting,” Connor said, and we all went quiet. The vibration was subtle, but it grew stronger. “They’ll be here soon.”
“Then we’ll be quick,” Yuen said. “Connor, Elisa, this is Hammett. His people will be backing you up out there.”
Hammett was short but stocky, with muscle packed into dark fatigues. His hair was cropped, his eyes bright blue. A dozen men and women in the same ensembles stood behind him.
“Hammett,” he said, shaking my hand, then Connor’s. “I saw the footage from Grant Park,” he said, smiling at me. “You have nice moves.”
“I had good teachers.”
He nodded approvingly. “Good answer. We’ve got Tasers”—he pointed to the weapon belted at his waist—“and guns if we need them. But we’re hoping to incapacitate if we can.”
“Always a good strategy,” I said. “Once they figure out what’s happening, they might try to rush Claudia.”
“We can stay on them, let you run the field.”
I nodded, glanced at Connor.
“Fine by me,” he said with a nod. He lifted his shirt, showed the gun holstered there. “I’m fighting in this form. There’s going to be too much confusion otherwise, and too much magic.”
“Understood,” Hammett said. He gestured toward another group of uniformed cops. “That’s the round-up team. Off to the brick factory they’ll go.”
“Here’s the lay of the land,” Yuen said, and offered a larger screen with an overhead plan of the park.
“Claudia’s here,” Yuen said, pointing to the largest spot of open lawn.
“She said it’s possible there will be some stuttering,” Petra said. “You should be prepared.”
“What do you mean by ‘stuttering’?” I asked.
“Incomplete phase shifting,” she said. “Ruadan is going to try to bring more of the green land here, while she tries to reverse it. In the meantime, the green land might stutter in and out of existence.”
“So, you’re saying you could be on a bridge over the river,” Gabriel said, “then it’s a nice, green hill, then it’s a bridge again, and you might or might not end up in the water?”
Petra smiled at him. “Yep.”
Gabriel just shook his head. “At least I know how to swim.”
