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I was starting to run out of ideas, and the creature was growing more aggressive, when another voice rang out—one I recognized.
“Menolly!” Vanzir raced through the mist, toward me. He looked intact, however—solid in a way neither Chase nor I were. He had leaped onto the Dream-Time in body, not an easy feat. But, for a dream-chaser demon, easy enough, I supposed.
“Vanzir—help me! Chase is in trouble. ” I dodged again, trying to cover Chase’s ass, but the jellyfish landed all its tentacles on me and sent me reeling. No more little shocks, but one long, intense racking pain.
As it sailed past me toward Chase, Vanzir launched himself, landing in its path. He held out his hands and tendrils appeared. They were wormlike, neon ribbons that filtered out from his palms, eerie and alive and writhing.
“Your powers—you’ve got your powers back!” I watched, mesmerized as the tendrils sank into the body of the jellyfish and began to feed on its energy. The thing shifted then, no longer a jellyfish but the vague shape of a human, though far more nebulous. No features showed, only gaping sockets where there would be eyes. But it was hungry, and it wanted Chase.
“You betcha, babe. Only I’m in control now—I no longer have the need to feed. But oh, it feels so good. ” He closed his eyes, cackling as he siphoned the energy off the creature. It began to shrivel and fade, and then was gone.
Vanzir turned to me. “Surprised to see you out here, babe. ”
“How did you know what was happening?”
“We were down at HQ, discussing a few things about last night. I went along to get out of the house, and I also wanted to drop in on Carter. He called for us to come over—he told us about your visit last night. ” He eyed me up and down. “Don’t ever think about fucking with him, girl. He could tear you to bits and probably would. It may not show, but he likes it rough. ”
“He actually talked to you about that part of our conversation?”
“Demons stick together. ”
“Well, trust me, the possibility didn’t cross my mind. ” I stared at him. “Get on with it. What’s going on with Chase?”
“Anyway, we got a call from Sharah that something was going on and we headed over there. By the time we got there, Chase was unconscious. We could tell he was being drained. Somehow, he must have thrust his spirit over here to the Dream-Time. He’s getting damned good at that. But I could sense something had latched onto him and was sucking away his energy. So I came over to see if the leech was on this side of the veil. Apparently it wasn’t, but whatever that thing was, it was ready to feed, too. ” He paused. “What are you doing here?”
“I don’t know, to be honest. Sometimes I find myself on the Dream-Time when I’m sleeping. I think, maybe, I came here because Chase needed me. Maybe he called me out here somehow. What the hell was that thing?” I looked at the wispy remains of the jellyfish creature, which was now a mere shadow, floating on the breeze.
“It sure as hell isn’t something you’d find on a Nova special, regardless of what it looks like. It must be some sort of spirit. ” He paused. “It’s not a Karsetii demon, but there was a similar feel. ”
I shook my head. This felt all too familiar. “Hungry ghosts?”
“Maybe…or maybe an offshoot of them. And ten to one, whatever it is, it’s out and about thanks to Gulakah. By the way, I heard about your adventures in spookland last night. Delightful. ” He sighed. “Well, I’d better hop off the Dream-Time and see how Chase is doing. By the way, this—my powers returning? Very recent. The Triple Threat had something to do with it, though I’m not sure exactly what. But we’ll talk about that later. Bye, wench. Sleep well. ”
Before I could stop him, he plastered a kiss on my nose, then winked and vanished, along with Chase. I stood there, staring at them as they faded, wishing I could wake up, too. As I meandered around the boulders, I wondered—had Chase really managed to call me out? I’d been able to keep that freak show tentacle monster from sucking his life force out until Vanzir had been able to get here.
And if Chase had summoned me, what the hell was he evolving into? Even the little bit of elf in him couldn’t account for some of the changes going on. But then again, humans had their own type of magic, and we knew next to nothing about the rest of Chase’s family.
As I stared up into the misty skies of the Dream-Time, I felt myself fading. The next thing I knew, it was sunset, and time to rise. I slipped from beneath my covers and once again, dressed to face the endless night.
Chapter 12
As I entered the kitchen, it was eerily quiet. I looked around, but there was only silence. I’d never gotten up when somebody wasn’t cooking something or eating something or arguing in the kitchen.
Worried, I headed into the living room, looking for signs that somebody might be around. The living room was quiet, too. Where the hell were my sisters? The guys? Iris? Maggie and Hanna?
A peek into the parlor showed it was empty, too.
“What the fuck?” I dashed upstairs, poking my head into Delilah’s room. Nothing. As I slowly descended to the second floor, a sound from Camille’s study caught my attention. I quickly opened the door. No one was around, but the Whispering Mirror was making noises.
I sat down in front of it and spoke the password. The mirror shimmered and—in place of the reflection of the empty room, since I couldn’t see myself in mirrors—Trenyth’s image appeared.
“Who’s there? Menolly, is that you?” He squinted, staring at his mirror.
I nodded. “Yes, it’s me. I’m sorry, the entire house seems to be empty and I have no clue where everybody went. I was just headed downstairs to look for them. What’s up?”
He cleared his throat. “Quall and the others are headed by caravan to Rhellah. They arrived in Ceredream just in time to sign on for a caravan. They should arrive in Rhellah in a few weeks. I thought I’d just update you on matters. ”
I studied his expression. Since nobody else was around to shut me up, I decided to ask a few of the more indelicate questions I’d been mulling over. “Tell me the truth. Can we trust Quall? I know what you said in conference, but, seriously, we need to know. ”
Trenyth looked over his shoulder, then turned back to the mirror. “Don’t trust him if you’re alone with him. He’s cruel, and he’s vindictive, and he takes delight in the pain of others. But truly, he is on our side. He’s out for his father’s blood, and he’s got the best reason in the world to back up Queen Asteria—he owes her his life and she made sure he knew that from the beginning. That’s all I can say for now. ”
I nodded. “We’ve got problems over here. We’re not sure if they’re all tied together or not. ” But before I could tell him about what had gone down, he darted another look over his shoulder.
“I’m being summoned. Her Majesty needs me. I’ll talk to you soon, Menolly. ” And with that, the Whispering Mirror went dark.
I stared at the mirror, seeing only Camille’s study reflected behind me. Might as well go figure out where everybody was hiding. I dashed downstairs and did another run through of the house, but nobody was there.
Seriously worried, I headed out onto the porch and into the driveway. Most of the cars were there, and I could hear some commotion out back. I raced around the house, readying myself for a fight, but stopped when I saw the trailer parked in the back yard. Iris and Bruce’s temporary home had arrived!
Smoky, Trillian, and Vanzir were hooking up wires and whatnot, and the door was open. I paused next to Vanzir, who squatted beside the trailer, installing what looked like a jury-rigged Internet cable.
“You guys might have left a note for me so I wouldn’t freak out, thinking you’d all been captured or something equally hideous. ”
“Eh, we knew you’d figure it out pretty soon. ” He set down the wrench he was holding and stood, arching his back. “You get back okay from the Dream-Time?”
“Yeah. I was going to ask…so you
were there? And Chase? How is he, and why isn’t anybody there with him? What’s going on? I expected a note, asking me to rush down to the FH-CSI. In fact, when I didn’t find one, I was beginning to think maybe it really was just a dream. ”
He shook his head. “No, unfortunately. As for why no note, Camille asked me to send you down to HQ when you woke up. She’s down there right now, with Delilah, Shade, and Morio. The rest of us are helping Iris get her trailer ready. ”
“Where’s Maggie?” I looked around. “I can imagine how much help she’s being. ”
“Hanna took her for a walk in her stroller. That woman thinks everybody should live on fresh air and exercise. ” He grinned, though. Hanna had managed to win over everybody in the house.
“Alone?” I glanced around. “What about—”
“No, don’t worry. Roz is with her, and one of the elfin guards. ” He gave me a reassuring nod, which, coming from Vanzir, wasn’t all that reassuring.
“I’ll head out for the station, then. ” I turned to go, then, stopping, looked over my shoulder. “Say, are Roz and Hanna…”
“Have they hooked up?” Vanzir snickered. “I’m surprised it took you so long to ask. Let me put it this way, they’ve become friends…with benefits. I doubt if Hanna wants to involve herself emotionally with an incubus, and Rozurial knows better than to break her heart. ”
“Thanks. Just curiosity. ” As I headed back to the house, I felt unaccountably glad that Roz and Hanna had managed to find some sort of companionship together. Hanna needed someone to remind her she wasn’t just a servant, and Roz…well…Roz just needed women who enjoyed his company, since there was no way he could have the one woman who seemed to have touched his heart since Zeus had turned him.
I reached the FH-CSI in record time, breaking every speed limit in the city. But luckily, no cops were on duty and traffic was light. As soon as I entered the waiting room, I caught sight of Delilah, Shade, Morio, and Camille. Delilah rose, letting out a little cry and reaching for me. I hugged her tight.
“What’s going on? How’s Chase? I got the news from Vanzir. Did he tell you I was there last night?” I took a seat next to Camille and leaned back. We didn’t look to be going anywhere soon.
“Chase is…holding his own but he’s still in a coma. ” Delilah pressed her lips together and stared at her feet.
“What happened? The last thing I remember is that Vanzir was feeding off some spirit that was trying to siphon away Chase’s life force. ” Hesitating, I glanced over at Morio.
“It’s all right, you can talk about it. I know what the hungry ghosts can do, trust me. You know I understand that. But these aren’t the same thing. They’re…worse, I think. ” He sucked in a deep breath and let it out slowly.
“They’re definitely nothing to mess with. What I saw on the Dream-Time last night was like a monster in its natural form. If that was its natural form. ” I explained to them what had happened. “So what did Sharah say about Chase? Or is she too close to the situation to take care of him?”
Delilah frowned. “Mallen won’t let her tend to him. For one thing, with her pregnancy, she’s far too vulnerable should something go wrong. And if something happens to Chase, she’s too involved and it might hurt the baby. Mallen’s been keeping her busy tending to minor bumps and bruises from some of the Fae coming through here. ”
“Have you been in to see him?” I wasn’t good with bedside visits, but Chase was our friend and I didn’t like just sitting around.
“Mallen hasn’t let us go in yet. He’s…” Delilah broke off as Mallen entered the room. Elfin, he looked young, but probably was older than any of us except for the dragons. Mallen was well into his prime. He’d managed to settle into working with Sharah. He was making a home for himself Earthside.
“You can see him now. I haven’t let Sharah go back yet. I was hoping, if you can sense anything…I’m at a loss for what’s happening. ” He worried his lip, then added, “His body is fine—he’s fit and healthy. But the seizures did take a toll on him, although I think he can recover. As far as the coma…that’s our problem. ”
We stood and followed him. Sharah was in one of the rooms we passed, attending to a young Fae woman, who looked like she was ill. She glanced up at us and nodded, but said nothing as we passed.
Chase was tucked away in a private room near the end of the hallway.
I’d been through far too much to find hospitals depressing, but when we saw him, lying there, his eyes closed as his chest rose and fell with his steady, even breath, I felt cold and alone and angry. Chase hadn’t asked for what had happened to him, and here he was, a pawn in a desperate game. Or maybe it was random chance. But I was getting sick of random chance. The universe had one hell of a nasty sense of humor.
“Oh, Chase…” Delilah slowly moved to his left side and took one hand, while Camille took the other. It felt wrong for Sharah not to be here, but I understood Mallen’s reasoning. We had to protect her, at least until we knew what we were dealing with. I glanced over at Shade. “Is there any way you can figure out what happened to him?”
Shade motioned for my sisters to move out of his way. He stood by Chase’s head and motioned to me. “Turn off the lights, please. I need shadow in which to work. ”
Making sure all I was turning off were lights, I flipped the switch. The room dimmed, with only the blinking of the machines monitoring his blood pressure and heart rate to light our way.