“Her scent ends beyond this bookcase, but I can’t get to it,” he growled.
I opened my eyes, staring down at my patient, my heart in my throat. Iman’s eyes fluttered open. She gasped, then winced and rolled to her side, her hands raising to hold her head.
“Easy,” I said gently. “You took a nasty blow to the head. Don’t move too quickly, or the rush of blood will make you feel like your head’s going to explode.”
“And you’ll throw up,” Peasblossom added, rising into the air as if just remembering that possibility.
“Arianne,” Iman choked. “Arianne’s been taken.”
“How do I open this bookcase?” Liam snarled.
Iman tried to sit up, but as she opened her mouth to answer him, her eyes bulged. She twisted to the side just in time to avoid vomiting on me.
“Lay down,” I urged her.
I used a Cinderella spell to clean up the vomit, and Liam grabbed a pillow from the couch to put under her head.
“Switch behind the bookcase,” Iman mumbled, one hand covering her eyes. “Halfway down. On the left.”
Liam returned to the bookcase and a second later, there was the mechanical click of a latch releasing. Liam pulled the bookcase out from the wall and it swung easily to reveal a hidden door. He jerked it open and ran out.
I let him go, keeping my attention on Iman. “Can you tell us what happened?”
Iman closed her eyes. “It’s all my fault. It was a trick, and I fell for it.”
“What was a trick?” Peasblossom asked.
“Such cruelty,” she whimpered. “He possessed a doctor. Lied to my patient’s family about the car accident. Lied about needing her heart. To put them through that…” She shook her head. “All because of me. I thought it would be safe. Arianne was going to meet with Moghadam, you were all so certain it was him. I thought…”
She pressed her lips together. “But he was there. Hiding in my patient. Waiting for me. I didn’t even feel it. I didn’t know. I came back and I was so sad. I remember crying, and then Arianne brought me in here.” Her hand rose to her head, and she winced as her fingertips touched her scalp.
“You’ll be sore for awhile,” I said apologetically. “I healed you as much as I could, but the damage was significant.”
“At least it wasn’t a burn,” Peasblossom said encouragingly.
“I remember the pain, and falling to the floor. Then Arianne spoke, but it wasn’t her. It was someone else’s voice, using her mouth. They said ‘Take me someplace safe, or I will finish her now.’ That’s all I remember.”
Liam returned then, and I knew right away he’d been too late to catch up with Arianne’s abductor. I told him what Iman had told to me, and he huffed out a breath and rolled his sleeves a little higher.
“Can you do the summoning?” he asked.
“Yes. I’ll just need the blood scrapings from the altar.”
Iman started to sit up again, then thought better of it and laid back down. “What summoning?”
I told her about our plan. Her eyes widened and she grabbed my wrist. “No! No, you can’t do that. He made her take him somewhere he believes is secure. He can’t fight her forever, Arianne is too strong. He’ll have to restrain her in some way, make certain she can’t escape if she wrests control back from him. If you summon him, he may refuse to tell us where her body is. I could lose her!”
“Calm down, calm down, it’s okay.” I patted her hand. “We won’t do anything you’re not comfortable with.”
“That corridor ends in the ladies’ room,” Liam said, pointing to the secret passageway. “She left the ladies’ room and Crystal said she saw her leave out the front door. She must have got into a car because I lost her scent in the parking lot.”
“We have to find her before you summon him,” Iman begged. “Please. I need her back. I can’t be the cause of her death.”
“The longer we delay, the stronger he’ll get,” I said grimly. “We don’t have a lot of time.”
“And he knows we’re looking for him,” Liam added. “On top of that, Arianne knew about the summoning plan. Isn’t it only a matter of time before Prower sees that in her head? Could he stop us from doing that if he knew about it in advance?”
“Yes.” I hesitated, then added, “If we can’t find her soon, then I’m afraid we’ll have to go ahead. If we can get Prower out of the way, it’ll be easier to find Arianne without him stopping us.”
“Unless he has some sort of artifact blocking us from finding her,” Peasblossom said.
I gave her a look, and she threw up her hands. “What? It’s true!”
“I think I know where they’re going,” Iman insisted.
Liam’s gaze sharpened and he leaned closer. “Where?”
Iman hesitated. “Arianne and I have a…safe place. If I tell you about it, if I show you where it is, I would need you all to swear that you’ll never reveal its location to anyone else.”
“You have my word,” I said immediately.
Peasblossom and Liam agreed as well. Iman watched our faces carefully, squinting as if she could know by looking at us if we were sincere. And maybe she could.
“We have an island,” she said finally. “On Lake Erie. Arianne enchanted it. If the Emperor forced her to take him somewhere safe, the island would qualify. And Arianne would know that’s the first place I’d look.”
I stared at her. “She enchanted an island?”
Iman nodded.
Liam frowned. “You say that like it means something special.”
I shook my head. “It’s not an easy thing to do. I’ll explain later.” I looked back at Iman. “If she knows that’s the first place you’ll look, then the Emperor would know that too. He wouldn’t count that as a safe place.”
“It’s still safe if he has Arianne,” Iman said quietly. “It’s heavily warded. We won’t get in without permission.” She paused, then smiled. “But I have an idea that might work.”
I stood and fished out my cell phone. “I’m going to call Vincent and ask him to bring over some blood scrapings from the altar. I’m sure he took some, and it would be better to get them from him than to risk going back there. He should have the soul jar too.”
I didn’t mention that I also wanted Vincent to take a look at all of us before we left. Fighting someone who could move from body to body had left me very, very paranoid. I wanted to make sure Prower didn’t ride any of us on the way to rescue Arianne.
I retreated to the corner to make my call while Liam helped Iman to stand and half-carried her to Arianne’s desk. When I finished my call, Liam joined me in the corner to wait while Iman made arrangements for the transportation we needed to get to Arianne’s “safe place.”
“So,” Liam said, keeping his voice low. “Flint’s still gone?”
I leaned my head back against the wall, still holding my cell phone. “He’s been gone for weeks now. I’ve gotten word here and there that he’s in Europe. Apparently, he goes out every night, getting drunk and just generally behaving like a rich brat throwing himself a twenty-first birthday with daddy’s money.”
“What’s he celebrating?” Liam asked.
I shook my head, wincing my headache returned full-force. “I don’t think he is. I think Flint’s putting on a show so no one knows how upset he is over the destruction of his mother’s artifacts. Well, alleged destruction, but I’ve already told you my theory about that.”
“Fire is usually pretty final,” Liam said doubtfully.
“Tell that to Stavros.”
“Point taken.” He frowned. “So you think Flint is planning something with the artifacts.”
“I do. Andy and I are trying to figure out what.”
“Andy?” Liam tilted his head. “Andy is a very capable law enforcement officer, but he’s still human. What’s he going to find out that you can’t?”
“Don’t underestimate Andy,” I warned him. “He’s a fast learner, and his attention to detail is impressive.
He’s treating Flint the same way he’d treat a mob case.”
“Find out where the money comes from, where it goes,” Liam guessed.
“Who’s calling the shots,” I added.
“You don’t think Flint’s in charge?”
“I think he’s in charge, but I also think he has people working for him. Flint is a planner, and he’s managed to make a lot of enemies. He has to have help.”
Liam considered that for a long minute. “Do you have any idea what he’s up to yet?”
“No. But I know that whatever it is, he’s using me to do it. Which makes it my business.”
“I thought everything was a witch’s business?” Liam asked.
I grinned. “Indeed.”
Something changed in Liam’s eyes, something about the way he was looking at me. His aura kicked up a few degrees, humming against me like that first beam of sunlight on a summer’s day. My cheeks felt warmer, and I wasn’t sure if it was his aura, or if I were blushing.
“How’s your head?” he asked softly.
“Still hurts.” My voice was a little raspier than I’d expected, but there was nothing for it.
Liam leaned closer.
Suddenly Peasblossom landed on my head with a thump. “Want me to massage your head?”
I sighed as she put her hands on my forehead and began furiously rubbing back and forth in what I’m certain she meant to be a soothing motion.
“Thank you, Peasblossom.”
Liam chuckled.
The phone clicked as Iman put it back in its cradle. She leaned back in the chair with a heavy sigh. “It shouldn’t be long,” she said. “Thirty minutes.”
“Why don’t you lie down while we wait?” Liam suggested, heading back to the desk. “If you have to come with us, you should rest while you can.”
“I have to come with you,” Iman said firmly. “You won’t make it to this particular hiding place without me.”
Despite the vehemence of her insistence, there was no mistaking Iman’s weakened condition. Magical healing could do what medical professionals could do in less time, but for serious injuries, it didn’t eliminate the pain or the injury completely. Arianne would need to watch Iman for a night or two to make sure there was no concussion, and her head was going to hurt like the devil for awhile. And of course healing took a lot of energy, some of which came from her as her body responded to my magic.
I’d have felt better if we could leave her home to recover.
Vincent called when he arrived, and I went to escort him inside. I raised my eyebrows as I noticed Vincent had his wizard’s staff with him today. He noticed me looking.
“If I’m going to check for an evil god, I thought it best to prepare for the worst,” he explained.
“I see.” I held the door open for him.
As soon as he was inside, he handed me a satchel. “Here are the samples you asked for. And the jar.” He hesitated.
“Is something wrong?” I asked.
He ran a hand through his unruly brown hair, making it even more of a mess than it had been to start with. “It’s not my place to tell you how to work your cases, but I would be remiss if I didn’t warn you how terribly dangerous necromancy can be.”
I frowned. “Necromancy? I’m—” Realization dawned. “Oh, you mean the second sample. No, Vincent, I’m not using necromancy. Far from it.”
The wizard visibly relaxed. “Excellent.”
He fell into step beside me as I led him back to Arianne’s office. Seeing the wizard reminded me of another member of the forensic team.
“Speaking of the dead,” I said casually. “Have you talked to Kylie?”
Vincent stopped walking and turned to face me. “Yes, I have. And I want to thank you, Mother Renard. I’ve been thinking about Kylie’s situation for a long time, but I’ve never quite figured out how to broach the subject. I’m not just a wizard, you know, I’m a scientist. A scientist first, really. I already have several ideas that might help our friend, and thanks to you, I’ll be meeting with her for lunch to talk about which ones she’s interested to try.”
My shoulders slumped in relief. “Oh, thank the Goddess.”
Vincent cleared his throat and started walking again. “Well, yes, I suppose. But let’s give some of the credit to science, yes?”
I led Vincent to Arianne’s office and let him set up a circle so he could view each of us. As I waited my turn, my thoughts inevitably strayed to the satchel in my hands, and the two blood samples therein.
Plan A and Plan B.
One of them had to work.
Right?
Chapter 26
“You don’t like being on the water, do you?”
I jumped at the sound of Liam’s voice, then immediately tightened my grip on the railing that encircled the boat. My heart pounded as my mind tormented me with images of falling into the dark water. Images of what could be waiting for me in the depths of Lake Erie.
“No,” I rasped. “I don’t.”
Liam came to stand next to me, glancing from my face to the water. “Because of the kelpies?”
“Yes.” I stared into the water, imagining I could see them now. Waterhorses with their shining pearlescent eyes. Teeth that could crush bone. Hair winding through the currents like seaweed, long enough to tangle around your limbs and drag you down…
For a second, every twinkle of the boat’s lights on the lake looked like those eyes. Staring. Waiting. “It’s hard to be on the water without feeling like I’m being watched.”
Liam stared out at the fog surrounding our boat. “Where does the fog come from?”
I followed his gaze, appreciating the slight change in subject. “It’s not really fog. That’s just your brain’s way of visualizing the veil.”
“You sure Iman can find their island in all this?”
The mention of Arianne’s wife made me turn to the helm. Iman was wrapped in a blanket, her head nearly hidden by a wool cap. We’d commandeered one of the big comfy chairs from the hotel to put on the boat, giving the telepath as comfortable a seat as possible. I was hoping the scent of lavender clinging to it would calm her too, remind her of her wife.
She sat underneath one of the boat’s bigger lights, and it made shadows dance over her face. Her heavy-lidded eyes remained fixed on some point beyond the bow of the boat, and she remained silent except for the odd direction she had to deliver to Blake. Liam’s second-in-command steered the boat, while his partner Sonar, still in her German Shepard glamour, patrolled the perimeter of the deck looking for any signs of unexpected trouble.
“I don’t know anything about their island specifically, but enchanted islands share some common characteristics. You can’t navigate to them with a map. They don’t have a fixed point in the physical world so much as a general area they like to hang about in. If someone claims an enchanted island, and the island itself accepts the bond, accepts them as its keeper, then they gain the ability to find it. In this case, the island belongs to both Iman and Arianne. It’s their hidden sanctuary. She could probably swim to it if she wanted to. She’d…” I frowned. “I don’t know how to explain it. The island would let her find it.”
“Magic is weird,” Liam muttered.
“It is.”
“Any idea how long it will take to get there?” he asked.
“Nope. Magic.”
I walked around the deck seeking some sign of Peasblossom. The pixie wasn’t crazy about being on the lake either. The moisture in the air made her wings feel heavy, and she was extra sensitive about it after months of not being able to fly. I arched an eyebrow when Sonar trotted past me, and I noticed a spot of pink on her neck.
“Well, that’s very tolerant of you,” I observed.
Sonar snorted. Peasblossom ignored me completely, continuing on with whatever story she’d been in the middle of telling the female shifter. Pixies used the words “and then” a lot. Their stories could take awhile.
I sat down on the deck, and Liam wande
red over to join me. He shrugged his shoulder a little, and I smiled in spite of myself. I accepted the offer and put my forehead against his shoulder, letting his aura hum against my poor third eye.
“So Scath still hasn’t answered your texts or calls?”
I closed my eyes. “No.”
Liam waited. When I didn’t continue right away, he spoke again.
“Do you want to talk about it?”
I thought about it. “No. Not right now.”
Liam nodded, then took a deep breath. “So how sure are we Prower will be on this island?”
“Iman is pretty certain. Prower probably thought he’d killed her, and this island can only be found by accident, divine intervention, or by someone with Arianne or Iman’s help. Since Iman overheard him demand that Arianne get him to safety, we can assume Arianne had some say in where he went. Iman thinks she’d have brought him to the island, knowing Iman would look there.”
“Makes sense.” He paused for a long minute. “So…we’re going up against a god.” He made a sound somewhere between a laugh and a grunt. “That’s a new one. Even for me.”
“We’ll never have a better chance than now.” I looked out over the water, imagining I could see the island already. “Breaking from his physical body and releasing a thrall he’d held for decades would have cost him dearly. Not to mention possessing a psychic a powerful as Iman. It would have been easier the second time, but not effortless. And even though he was able to use Iman’s ability to bond with Arianne and gain entry to her mind, that would have taken effort as well. Bond or no bond, Arianne is powerful, and very accomplished in self-defense on alternate planes.”
“So if we get there soon he’ll still be weak,” Liam said.
“As weak as he’ll ever be.”
Peasblossom chose that moment to land on my head. I jumped, and she squeaked as she was nearly thrown to the deck. Liam swung one arm around, ready to catch her. Peasblossom managed to save herself and recover in time to stay in the air, but she noticed his effort. That would work in his favor in the future.
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