“Folks are pretty irrational when their families are threatened,” Liam said, face grim. “That sort of rumor is already being whispered in corners. I heard it myself, although no one came right out and said anything. That’s why I came out here to talk to Barbara and try and convince her to leave the area until things cooled down.”
“Fat chance of that happening,” Chudo-Yudo said from near Liam’s feet. His new bone was already half gone, but he happily resumed chewing on what was left, slobbering a little on Liam’s boots.
Liam jumped. “Jeez—you can talk!”
Chudo-Yudo rolled his eyes. “Right. So a talking dragon is okay, but a talking dog freaks you out? Dude, you’re going to have to adjust to this crap a lot faster than that if you’re going to be any help.”
Clutching his coffee cup like it was a lifeline to reality, Liam stared beseechingly at Baba. “I promise I’ll try to catch up on believing the impossible. But I really think you should consider leaving—or at least lying low for a little while until things calm down.”
Baba shook her head hard, causing half the pins that held the gossamer net over her hair to tinkle musically down to land on the table and floor. Annoyed, she tugged the fragile bejeweled web the rest of the way out so the long masses of her hair came tumbling down. Liam’s fingers reached out as if against his will, then reluctantly returned to the safety of his mug.
“I can’t leave,” Baba said. “Or lie low either.” She could feel a headache forming behind her skull, as if all her bones were suddenly too tight. “I went through to the Otherworld tonight to tell the queen we were fairly certain Maya had discovered an unguarded door between the two worlds.”
“That’s bad,” she explained to Liam, “because too much use of the doorways, especially to bring things back and forth as Maya seems to be doing, can upset the delicate balance between the Otherworld and here. The effect of that can eventually be devastating, especially on the other side, where the energy flow has been limited since they withdrew from regular contact with the Human world.”
She shook her head. “And the pollution of the water and air here leaks through at places where the worlds meet, causing damage to the sensitive Otherworld environment.”
“Bringing things back and forth,” Liam repeated, his voice dropping to a register that made him suddenly sound like a dangerous man. “Things like these creatures you’re talking about. And three missing children.” He stared at Baba, as if daring her to deny it.
She didn’t bother. “That’s what we think. It would explain why you haven’t been able to find any trace of them here. And if she’s using her glamour to lure them away and cloak them from sight as soon as she’s grabbed them, it also explains why the children seemed to vanish in a moment’s time.”
“But why would she take them at all?” he asked, a question that had clearly been tormenting him since the disappearances started. “Is she . . . are they dead?”
“We don’t believe so,” Gregori said, laying a comforting hand on the other man’s shoulder. He turned to Baba. “Did you get any clue as to what she was doing with them while you were there?”
Baba bit her lip. “Of a sort. If I’m right, she’s bartering them to Otherworld folk in exchange for some of their power and magic.”
“Which means that whoever has the children on the other side is someone with lots of extra power, which means they are likely to be high up in the court,” Mikhail said, his usually pleasant visage set and harsh.
“I don’t understand,” Liam said. “Why do they need our kids? Don’t they have their own?”
Baba shook her head. “Otherworld folks are very long-lived, but they rarely reproduce. Part of the trade-off, I suppose, but tough on those who want to be parents. Because of their rarity, children are valued beyond almost anything else there.”
“So they steal ours,” Liam said bitterly. “That’s rather ironic.”
“I know,” Baba said. “If it is any consolation, stealing Human children was outlawed centuries ago, at the same time the worlds separated. Anyone who is involved with Maya’s scheme will be severely punished if they are caught.”
Liam pushed his hair out of his eyes again. “If they are caught. How the hell are we supposed to catch some woman who can use magic, has a veritable army of mythological creatures at her beck and call, and could steal another child right out from underneath our noses at any time?” A muscle pulsed along his jaw.
“I don’t honestly know,” Baba answered. “But we’re going to have to do it. The queen has given me strict orders to find the door, track down the children, and bring Maya to her. Soon. Or else.” She drew a hand across her throat in the classic gesture.
“Or else?” Alexei didn’t seem overly concerned. Of course, he hadn’t been there. “Maybe she didn’t mean that kind of or else.”
Baba grimaced. “She was so angry, she blew up a moon.”
“Oh,” Alexei blinked. “Then I guess we’d better find Maya.” His face brightened as he had a thought. “Did the queen say we had to bring her in alive? Because if not, then I vote for dead. Really, seriously, extremely dead.”