I sort of liked this guy, in some freaky, otherworldly, totally surreal kind of way.
“Here’s my idea,” Rene said. “DJ and I can go to the park early to see the lights; I’ll run interference while she sets up a new transport behind the museum somewhere on the grounds.”
So far, so good. Although I was finding a polar fleece outfit to wear beforehand. “How do we get Jake to the transport if he’s wearing chains?” They’d shackled the prisoners the first time.
“Make up one of your little potions that could take care of it. You create a diversion while I use the potion to free Jake. I’ll get him out of the building.”
“What do you wish from me?” Christof, showing signs of sugar shock, had slumped on one of the sofas with his eyes at half-mast.
“You create a diversion outside,” Rene said. “Some of this thick snow—maybe even thicker. Enough to give us a camouflage. Then somebody’ll have to break the transport.”
“I’d say whoever gets there first.” I figured it might be me. Unless I was testifying or they had me in chains myself, I’d probably be pretty low on everyone’s radar if pandemonium broke loose. I could create a diversion in the room without being near the source. A nice smoke bomb or something. “And Jean, you should go to Barataria with Jake. If anyone tries to follow, you need to make sure your ducks are in a row.”
He frowned at me. “Les canards? I do not trade in poultry, Drusilla. I shall be prepared nonetheless.”
I wanted to sleep so badly my bones ached, but there was no time. I had to warn Alex that Mace was going to rat out Jake, in case he didn’t already know. I had to warn Rand that we might be in deep-shit trouble. I had to go to my freezing house in Lakeview and cook up some potions. And I had to check on Eugenie.
All in time to meet Rene in City Park at seven p.m. to set up an illegal transport in the midst of a blizzard.
Running away from home had never sounded so good.
CHAPTER 28
I checked my cell phone on the way back to my room and found two missed calls from Rand, and two from Alex.
Any conversation with Alex would be an emotional wringer, and Rand had probably been pounding on my mental stronghold, so I dropped my shields. Rand!
Where the hell have you been? Transport here now. And stop yelling.
I took a quick shower and put on four sweaters. After a moment of thought, I tugged on the bottoms of my flannel Harry Potter pajamas and managed to get my jeans over them. Housekeeping kept vacuuming up my transport, so I dug out my vial of salt and laid a new one, grabbed Charlie and my messenger bag, and transported to Rivendell.
Rand was sitting in the gazebo, looking like the world’s most petulant elf. I’d known the real Quince Randolph would show up eventually, but I wished he could’ve behaved until I’d gotten some sleep.
“I know, I know. There’s trouble.”
He already had a slight glow. “Where is she?”
Huh? “Where’s who?”
We sat in confusion a second. Clearly, we had two different crises. “You start first. Where’s who?”
“Eugenie, of course. She’s gone. Car’s gone. House is locked up tight. Sign on the salon door says it’s closed until further notice.”
Holy crap. “What did you do?” I should never have left her alone with him. Dumb dumb dumb. He’d lured me in by being reasonable. I’d known it was out of character.
“I did nothing but try to protect her. She’s too stupid to understand.”
I reached out and gave him a good zap of magic with my right hand. I’d pull out Charlie if Rand didn’t get rid of the attitude.
“Ow!” He moved farther away on the gazebo bench.
“Eugenie is not stupid, you oaf. She’s afraid, especially when you start being your overbearing self. She has a good, pure heart, and you wouldn’t recognize a pure heart if it bit you on your elven ass.”
Okay, maybe I’d gone too far. His glow increased.
“Stop doing your glow-worm impression and tell me exactly what happened.” I had too many other things to worry about for this crap, and so did Rand.
“I told her to get packed up so I could move her to Elfheim for the rest of her pregnancy. I have people there who can keep her and the baby safe.”
Yeah, I bet that went over really well. “Rand, she needs to stay near her friends. She’s scared. You need to keep her calm, both for her sake and your son’s. Scaring the bejeezus out of her isn’t going to help.
“Besides, we have bigger problems.”
“What’s more important than my child?”
Oh, I don’t know … your miserable elven life? “Mace is making his move against you.”
He grew still, his restless baby-daddy energy bleeding away. “How?”