“Complications?” Esha asked.
“We’ll get to that in a minute,” Aerten said.
Esha frowned, but nodded at them to continue.
“Warren has proposed that we add you to the Praesidium.”
Esha tried to keep her jaw from slackening. Why would Warren do this for her? She liked her badass solo merc status, but if she were honest, she’d longed to be part of a team. Just once, to see what it felt like. But it was too weird.
“Oh, hey, thanks, but I’m not a team player,” she said.
“You doona need to be,” Warren said. “You’d be a consultant. Your discovery in the underground highlights your skill, and we’ve recently determined we need some of your other talents. I’ve never spoken to you much before this recent problem, but I realized that you don’t drain my powers.”
He really wanted her to join the Praesidium?
“What do you think?” the goddess asked.
She must be here to make the whole deal official, Esha thought.
“Could you work with us on a consultant basis? You’d retain your current duties, but we want to ensure that you come to our department when you find something strange, as you did in the underground. Or that you’ll work for us when we need you to,” Aerten said.
Esha mulled it over. It would be nice to be part of a team. Not that she needed them, or anything. “What’s in it for me?”
“We’ll pay you more,” Warren said.
“Triple?” They already paid her pretty damn well, but why not shoot high?
“Double.” Warren’s voice was firm.
“All right, good deal. I’d have settled for half again, anyway.” She smiled and held out her hand, first to Aerten since she was the big boss, and then to Warren. Her palm tingled where it touched his.
“You mentioned recent complications with the underground?” she asked.
Aerten nodded, her face grim. “The two Mythean Guardians that Warren stationed at the portal to Erebus intercepted four demons abducting a mortal female. They tried to save her, and Lorne, one of the guardians, was killed. Three of the demons were destroyed, but one took the soul of the mortal into Erebus. The mortal’s body is in a coma here in the infirmary.”
“Shit. Are you sure she’s mortal?”
“Honestly, we’re not. A mortal body normally wouldn’t survive going through a portal to an afterworld. If she’s a Mythean, there’s no sign of what kind. We’re not even sure if she’s a victim or an accomplice who went willingly. We’d like you to take a look at her to see if any shadows of evil remain with her body.”
“Sure, I can try. But even if she was evil, it’s not a given that the shadows would stay behind with the body. Most often they follow the soul.”
“Give it your best shot,” Warren said.
Esha nodded and followed them out the door. Warren led her and Aerten across campus to the infirmary. The day had turned rainy and miserable and Esha used the power she got off Aerten to create a dry space around herself and the Chairman. He sulked for hours if he had to get wet.
Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed that the goddess hadn’t created a dry spot for herself to walk through and wondered about it. Surely she had the power to do so. As Esha looked closer, she realized that the goddess was looking at the raindrops on the back of her hand and smiling. Weird.
Esha glanced at Warren. He’d popped up the collar of his jacket to keep his neck dry and had his head bent. She waved a hand and created a dry space over him as well.
He jerked, then looked at her. A rusty and tentative smile pulled up one corner of his mouth. “Thanks.”
She nodded, then looked back at the rolling hills of campus and the big gray building that housed the infirmary on the first floor. They hurried up the steps, through the big wooden door, and down the hall into a long room with a dozen beds. Only one bed had an occupant and they walked up to it.
“What’s her name?” Esha said as she looked down at the body of the beautiful, dark-haired woman. She was hooked up to machines to monitor her vitals, but she looked peaceful. Esha could already tell that there was no evil attached to the woman.
“Vivienne Lawrence. American,” Warren said. “She had a driving license in her bag. It’s hard to say where they got her from, but I think they aetherwalked her straight from America to the portal because she dinna have a passport to get through Customs.”
“Well, I don’t see any shadows,” Esha said. “Either they followed the soul, or she’s a good person,” Esha said.
“I was afraid you’d say that,” Aerten said. “If they’ve abducted a mortal nonbeliever, there’ll be hell to pay. And now there’s a scared mortal trapped in the wrong hell.”