Diana flicked on the light switch as she walked into her room. Just as she reached the bathroom door, a voice from behind said, “Nice sword.”
Shock dropped her stomach to her toes as her fist tightened on the sword she’d taken to Verulamium. She whirled around to see a lanky, dark-haired woman reclining in the big wing chair in the corner. The chair had been out of her line of sight when she’d entered the room. A scruffy black cat lounged by her side.
“Who are you? How did you get in here?” She worked to make her voice brave.
“I’m Esha. And this—” She pointed to the cat who’d started to clean himself shamelessly. “—is Chairman Meow.”
Diana’s heart slowed its gallop. “You’re the one who made the portal for Cadan and me to go to Verulamium.”
“Yep.”
“Why are you here?”
“I wanted to talk to you.”
“Not Cadan?”
“No. You, specifically. He’s not going to come up here anytime soon, right?”
At her words, the cat lowered the leg he’d stuck up into the air while grooming and sauntered toward the door to peer out. Double weird.
“I don’t think so, but you never know.” Diana decided not to be afraid of the woman who’d done nothing but help her. And who, most important, wanted to speak to her specifically. As if she had information. “Why did you want to talk to me? Do you know who I was?”
“I don’t know any details, and even if I did, I’ve been warned against giving you too much information. But I think I have some clues about your task. And those, I am gut certain you need to know.”
“How? And why are you telling only me and not Cadan?”
Esha eased the door closed. “Cadan and Warren—that’s Cadan’s boss, by the way—both know who you were. Cadan won’t tell you, Warren won’t tell me. The only other people who know are Aerten, Warren’s boss, and Lea, the Historian. You met her when you first came to the university, remember? Anyway, Aerten is too high ranking for me to contact, but Lea is my friend and gave me a few pertinent details.”
Diana felt a scowl crease her forehead at the confirmation that Cadan and this Warren guy were keeping things from her. Any control she tried to exert over her life was slipping through her fingers and they weren’t helping. “Why?”
“Because I asked her.”
“No, I mean why do you care who I was?” Diana doubted that Esha was a Good Samaritan intent on helping her discover herself.
“Something in the Edinburgh underground has gone wrong. Really wrong.”
Diana listened with a growing oh shit feeling as Esha explained her ability to sense evil and the afterworld hell that was trying to break loose from somewhere in Edinburgh’s underground.
“What hell did you say it is?” Diana asked.
“Erebus. I think that fixing the portal could be your task, and that you should come to me as soon as you remember who you were.”
“Why do you think it’s my task?”
“Because of which hell it is, and because of what Lea told me about your life. She said you’re a professor from America.”
“What does that have to do with anything?” Diana asked.
Concern shone in Esha’s amber eyes. “I’m sorry, Diana. I don’t know if you actually knew her or not, but your colleague Vivienne Lawrence was abducted to Erebus a few days ago.”
The air rushed out of the room in a great gust, leaving Diana to sway on her feet. Vi? Abducted to the Roman afterworld?
“What?” Diana pressed her hand to her chest, trying to calm the sense that she was drowning.
“You knew her? I’m so sorry. Her soul was taken to hell while her body stopped at the portal. Her body couldn’t cross over because she’s mortal. She’s in a coma.”
“No. A coma? She can’t be. She’s safe in America, teaching my classes.”
“Maybe that’s where they nabbed her. They thought she was you, perhaps.”
Oh, God. She was directly responsible for Vi’s abduction. And her coma.
“She won’t wake up?” Diana asked.
“Not unless her soul is returned. And even then, I don’t know if it’s possible to revive her. Most mortals wouldn’t have survived. They’d die immediately at the portal.”
Diana stumbled backward to the bed. Sat. The sword tumbled from her loose fingers.
“I can get her back. How do I get her back?” A panicked sob strangled in Diana’s throat at the idea of Vi’s soul trapped in hell.
“I don’t know if you can. I don’t know why they took her, but it’s a clear link to you and suggests that this is your task. If it is, maybe there is some way you can save her.”
Diana nodded blindly. She could do this. She had to do this.
“If you can figure out who you were,” Esha said, “and if it turns out that the portal is your task, I can help you with it. I would bet a million pounds that this is why you were brought back. I shouldn’t be helping you, but I’ve never liked following the rules.”