by L. J. Smith
“And we add another layer of protection,” Nissa said. “Circle Daybreak agents posted around the house, starting now. Nothing gets in, nothing gets out that they don’t know about. That way, when we go to the party on Saturday, we know it’s safe.”
“We just whisk her from one safe place to another,” Winnie said. “As long as we can keep her in here until Saturday night, there’s no chance of any danger.”
Keller considered. “We have to make sure the limo is safe, too. Absolutely safe.”
“Of course,” Winnie said. “I’ll take care of it.”
“And I’d want agents to check the people who go in somehow. Not just monitor. Would there be any way to do that?”
“Without the family knowing?” Nissa chewed her lip gently. “What if we set up some sort of road crew near the front gate? There’s bound to be a gate; this is a mansion, right?”
“Check it out. And we’d better get plans of the house, too. I want us all to know the place by heart before we get there.”
“City planner’s office,” Nissa said. “No, more likely the local historical society. The house is probably a historic monument. I’m on it.”
Keller nodded. “Hmm.” She tried to think if there was anything else to worry about. “Hmm, it sounds…”
They watched her, breath held.
“It sounds good,” Keller said. “I think there’s just the tiniest, slightest possibility that it might actually work. But I’m probably being overoptimistic.”
Winnie grinned and socked her on the shoulder. “You, Boss? Perish the thought.”
“It’s so difficult,” Iliana said. “I mean, what can you wear to both a birthday party and a promise ceremony?”
“And a Solstice Ceremony,” Winnie said. “Don’t forget that.”
“You’re trying to make things worse, aren’t you?” Iliana held up one dress, then another. “What’s right for a Solstice Ceremony?”
“Something white,” Winnie suggested.
“That would be good for a promise ceremony, too,” Keller said. She was doing her very best to be patient, and finding it easier than she had expected.
The last three days had been very quiet. Iliana had agreed to stay home from school even when her cold got better. Galen and Keller had scarcely spoken in that time, and they had never been alone.
And that was…all right There was a quietness inside her to match the quiet air outside.
They both had jobs to do. And they would do them as well as possible. Keller just prayed that what they did would be enough.
“White? I don’t know if I’ve got anything white. It has to be fancy because everything at Jaime’s is fancy. I hope she’s really okay.”
“She’s fine,” Keller said. “You talked to her an hour ago.” To her own relief, Jaime had stayed quietly at home for the past three days, too. The last thing she wanted was for that girl to be attacked again.
But the Ashton-Hughes house, at least, was safe. For three days, it had been buttoned up tight, with Circle Daybreak agents watching every person who went through the gates. And checking them, using the same wards that protected the house. No Night Person could cross the invisible line that encircled the grounds, and no person who tried to cross and was turned back by the wards would be allowed to leave without being tracked.
All we have to do is keep her safe during the drive, Keller thought. First to the mansion, then to the meeting place in Charlotte. We can do that. I know we can do that.
She checked her watch.
“Come on, kid, it’s after eight,” she said. “We should be moving soon.”
Iliana and Winnie were both ransacking the closet.
“Pale blue,” Winnie said, “pale lavender, pale pink…”
“It has to be white,” Iliana said.
“I’m sorry I mentioned it.”
A knock sounded on the door, and Nissa looked in. “We’re back. You guys ready?”
“In a minute,” Keller said. “How’re things at the mansion?”
“Perfect. The witches say the wards are strong.”
“Who’s come in?”
“Caterers and a college band. That’s all so far. All one hundred percent human according to the wards—and to Galen, who kept running up to the cars at the gate and trying to sell them Christmas Benefit teddy bears.”
Keller almost grinned. Galen would be good at that. “The family must have thought he was crazy.”
“They never came out and complained. Nobody’s come out, in fact, which makes things easy on the surveillance team.” She sobered. “Boss, why do you think the dragon hasn’t tried something yet? He’s cutting it awfully close.”
“I don’t know. I think…”
“What?”
“I think he must be betting it all on one throw of the dice. One all-out attack, fast and decisive.”
“At the party.”
“At the party,” Keller said. “So we’d better be on our toes.”
“We’ve got him locked out, though. Those wards are secure.”
“I hope so.”
From the closet, Iliana squealed, “I found it!”
She was holding a dress almost the color of her own hair, white with some sort of sparkling thread woven in. It draped in soft folds across her hip as she held it up for Winnie’s inspection.
“Perfect,” Winnie said. “You can get engaged in that dress; you can go to a birthday party; you can celebrate the Solstice—you can probably get married in it if you want.”
“You can do whatever you want, but you have to do it now,” Keller said, checking her watch again.
“But do you like it? I think I bought it last year.”
“It’s beautiful,” Keller said, and then, as she saw the hurt in Iliana’s violet eyes: “Really. It’s beautiful. You’ll look wonderful in it, and Galen will be—very impressed.”
Where had that sudden hitch in her breath come from? She had gotten over it quickly, but she noticed that Iliana gave her an odd look.
“Now, come on, everybody,” Keller said briskly, looking at Winnie and Nissa. “Are you two ready?”
They both looked down at their ordinary outfits, then looked back up and shrugged in chorus.
“Yeah.”
“I guess they can think we’re the help,” Keller said. “Everybody check your transmitters. I want to be in constant contact once we get there.”
“Right, Boss.”
“Got it, Boss.”
Iliana had put on the dress and was looking in the mirror. “My hair,” she began, and then she glanced at Keller. “I’ll just leave it down,” she said. “Okay?”
“Down is fine, down is great.” Keller glanced at her watch and tightened her belt.
“Down is just right for a Solstice Ceremony,” Winnie said. She added in an undertone as Iliana started for the door, “Don’t mind her. She’s always like this before a big operation.”
“It’s a good thing I didn’t ask her about my shoes….”
Keller looked around to make sure there was nothing they were forgetting. Then she looked at the other three girls. They smiled back at her, eyes alert and ready for anything. Even the smallest one, who looked like a Christmas tree angel somebody had taken down and brought to life.
“Okay, people,” Keller said. “This is it. It’s showtime.”
CHAPTER 15
Galen was wearing a dark sweater and pants that set off his blondness. It was casual but still appropriate for the promise ceremony later on. His eyes met Keller’s briefly as Iliana said good-bye to her parents, and they both smiled. Not fake smiles, either. Simply the quiet, undemanding smiles of comrades with a job to do.
“Kee-kee!” Alex said from the door as they went to the car in the garage.
That kid is up way too late, Keller thought. She turned and waved.
“Blow him a kiss,” Iliana prompted helpfully. “He likes that.”
Keller gave her a narrow sideways look and blew him a kiss.
“Kee-kee!” Suddenly, his round little face crumpled. “Bye-bye,” he proclaimed sadly.
“Oh, that’s sweet,” Iliana’s mother said. “He’s going to miss you. He probably thinks you’re going for good.”
“Bye-bye,” Alex said, and huge tears rolled down his cheeks. “Bye-bye! Kee-kee! Bye-bye!” He began to sob.
There was a little silence among the group standing by the car. Winnie stared at Alex, then glanced at Iliana.
“He doesn’t—he’s never had any precognitions, has he?” she muttered.
“He’s a baby,” Iliana whispered back. “I mean, how could you tell?”
“He’s just tired,” Keller said briefly. “Come on, let’s go.”
But she could hear Alex’s sobbing even when she got in the car, and it seemed to follow in her head even when they had left the house behind.
They checked with the “road crew” stationed right outside the Ashton-Hughes front gate. It looked extremely professional, with bright lights and all the accoutrements.
“All secure,” the witch in charge said cheerfully when Keller rolled down the window. He shifted his reflective vest. “Thirty cars in, nobody out. There hasn’t been one for a while—I think you’re fashionably late.” He winked.
“Thirty?” Keller said. “How many people per car?”
“Two in most of them, but some were packed.”
Keller glanced at Iliana beside her. “And that’s what they call only inviting a few people?”
Iliana shrugged. “You haven’t seen the house.”
“Anyway, it’s safe,” the witch foreman said. “No dragon has gotten in, I can promise you that. And none is going to get in, either.”
Keller nodded at him, and they drove on.
Iliana was right. In considering how big the party was, you had to see the size of the house. Keller had studied the plans, but it wasn’t the same.
They passed something like a peach orchard on one side of the driveway, and then a carriage house that seemed to have swallowed up a dozen cars. But Nissa dropped them off by the front steps, below the stately white columns that decorated the magnificent porch.
Impressive place, Keller thought.
They walked in.
In the cavernous, softly lit entry hall, there was a girl in a dark uniform who took their coats. There was also Brett. When he saw Iliana, he pounced.
“Blondie! I thought you weren’t going to make it!”
“You knew I wouldn’t miss this,” Iliana said gently. But Keller thought she looked much less interested in Brett than the last time she’d spoken to him.
She’s learned a lot, Keller thought. And, of course, now that she knows Galen, she sees this loser for what he is.
Brett was looking the others over in his meat-appraising way. “So just which of these lovely ladies is your cousin? I never got a chance to ask.”
“Oh…that one.” Iliana pointed a random finger.
“You?” Brett’s eves ran up and down Keller’s tallness and her blue-black hair. “I never would have guessed.”
“We’re sort of…foster cousins,” Keller said.
She didn’t like Brett. That was nothing new, but somehow tonight she really didn’t like him. There was something almost creepy in the way his eyes clung to girls, and when he looked at Iliana, it was like watching a slug crawl over a peach blossom.
“Well, come with me and join the fun,” he said, gesturing expansively and flashing a smile.
Keller almost asked “Where?” but in a moment she realized that it was pointless. The party really seemed to be all over the house.
The entry room itself was big enough to have a party in, and it had a wide, sweeping staircase just like a proper Southern mansion. Above, on the second floor, Keller could see a hallway lined with portraits and statues.
Brett led them through room after room, each one impressive. Some seemed to be real sitting rooms; others just looked like displays in a museum. Finally, they went through one last open archway into a ballroom.
Paneled walls. Painted ceiling. Chandeliers. An ocean of floor. And the college band at one end playing music that was definitely modern. A few couples were dancing a slow dance, very near the band. They looked small enough to rattle in the enormous room. Keller almost giggled, but Iliana looked dreamy.
“It’s beautiful.”
Brett looked satisfied. “There’s food over there on the sideboard. But most of the food’s downstairs in the game room. You want to see that?”
“I want to see Jaime,” Iliana said.
“She’s down there.”
The game room was amazing, too. Not just pool tables and darts but arcade-style video games, old-fashioned pinball machines, an indoor basketball hoop, and generally just about everything you’d find at a superior arcade.
As soon as they walked in, a guy in black pants, white shirt, and black vest offered them a tray of tiny quiches and mini-pizzas. A caterer, Keller decided, not part of the regular staff of the house. She shook her head at the food and went on looking around, keeping her senses open so she could take in everything at once.
This was the first time Iliana had been out in public since she’d gone to school last Monday, and it was nerve-wracking. The game room was much more crowded than the ballroom, and everybody was laughing and talking at once. On top of that, this old mansion had some very modern renovations. The band music was being piped into the other rooms.
“Jaime!” Iliana said as a figure emerged from the crush of people.
Jaime looked good. Her face had a healthy color, and her dark blue eyes were wide open and shining. Her brown hair was fluffed softly, and she was wearing a very pretty blue dress.
“Iliana.” She hugged Iliana hard, speaking in her flat but oddly pleasant voice. “It seems like forever. How are you?”
“Fine. My cold’s better, and my hand—” Iliana held up her right hand. There was a neat bandage around the palm to protect the stitches. “It itches sometimes, but that’s all. How about you?”
“I still have headaches. But I’m getting better.” Jaime smiled at Keller and the others. “I’m so glad you all could come.”
“Yeah, so are we,” Keller said politely, feeling a stab of instinctive guilt. It was irrational, but she kept expecting this girl to look at her and say, “You’re the one who attacked me! The monster cat!”
And she wasn’t glad that they had come. Her early warning system was clamoring already; she felt as if her fur was standing on end. She couldn’t explain it, but there was something wrong about the house.
“Keep alert,” she said quietly to the others as Jaime led Iliana to the food tables. “Remember, two of us are with her at all times. The other two can wander the house, check the perimeter, look for anything suspicious. And keep in touch.” She put a finger to her brooch.
That was when they found that their transmitters didn’t work. Keller had no idea why. All any of them could hear was static like white noise.
Keller cursed.
“We’ll keep in touch physically, then,” she said grimly. She checked her watch. It was almost nine. “And we’ll get her out of here in an hour. Ten o’clock. Just to be safe.”
“Good idea,” Galen said.
Winnie and Nissa said, “Right, Boss.”
Keller stuck close to Iliana, telling herself that they were taking every precaution and that all she had to do was stay cool and they could get out safely. But as time went on, she only got more and more uneasy.
The dragon was going to attack.
She was certain of it.
But how? What form would the attack take? Was it going to be a battering ram of dark power like the one that had brought down the roof of the safe house? Or something tiny and sneaky, some clever way to get past the wards?
A mouse? Or an insect? No ordinary shapeshifter could turn into a bug, but it was a kind of animal, after all. Could something like that slip through the wards undetected?
What was it she
was missing?
Nothing to do but keep her senses open, search every face for enemies, and be prepared for anything.
As it turned out, though, she was entirely unprepared when it happened.
Nissa and Galen were the two wandering the house at that point. Keller and Winnie were sticking with Iliana. Keller herself didn’t plan to leave Iliana’s side all night.
But as she was watching Jaime and Iliana laughing and chattering by one of the food tables—which offered everything from barbecue to shrimp to exotic fruit—Brett walked up chewing his lip. He was heading for Iliana, but he looked undecided and genuinely unhappy.
Keller headed him off reflexively. She preferred to keep him away from Iliana just on principle. “Anything wrong?”
He glanced at her with something like relief in his dark blue eyes. For once, he didn’t look arrogant or patronizing or even well groomed. “Uh, there’s something…I need to tell Iliana about…I guess.” He gulped, his face twisted.
“You guess?” Keller herded him into a relatively private niche beside a video game. “What do you mean, you guess?”
“Well, I do have to tell her. I just hate to.” He lowered his voice so that Keller had to lean closer to hear him. “Her mom’s on the phone. And she says that her little brother is missing.”
Ice water sluiced over Keller. For five seconds, she didn’t breathe at all. Then she said, “What?”
Brett grimaced. “He’s missing from his bedroom. And, I mean, I hate to scare Iliana with it, because he’s probably just crawled out the window or something—he’s that age, you know? But her mom wants to talk to her. She’s sort of hysterical.” He wet his lips. “I guess we should all go over there as a search party.”
He’s really worried, Keller thought dazedly, while another part of her mind, a clear, cold part, clicked through possible solutions. So there’s something under that brand-name facade after all. In spite of the “he probably crawled out of the window” crap, he’s worried about the kid—and he’s worried about telling Iliana, too.
Because Iliana’s going to go ballistic, the cold part of her mind put in. She’s going to get as hysterical as her mom and insist on rushing back there. And a search party—that would mean all of us outside the wards, crawling around between houses in the dark…
