“And everyone else?” I asked.
“We took some hits.” The smiled faded slightly. “But nothing like we might have. Thanks to you.”
“To me? I wasn’t even there.”
“But your warning was. I got here just before everything went to hell.”
“My warning about . . . ?”
“Lizzie?” He looked slightly incredulous, maybe because we’d talked less than a day ago. But to me, it felt like a week.
“And Jonas listened?”
He nodded. “I don’t know if he believed me or not, but he tripled the guards and ordered the main wards put online. You should have been here! The wards went up and bam. We were hit almost the moment after, by everything the Black Circle had! I think they assumed our guard would be down, after they took on the vamps and then Dante’s earlier. That we wouldn’t expect another attack so soon. But they found out otherwise, once the new weapons deployed—”
“What new weapons?”
“Some stuff we’ve been developing, ever since that thing with Apollo—”
He looked over his shoulder, and then had to get out of the way as what appeared to be a whole platoon marched past. I almost did the same, because they looked so real, and like they were coming straight out of the wall at me. But the heavily armed men and a few women disappeared a second later, melting into the air like 3-D images in a movie theater.
And leaving me staring at Caleb again—or, more accurately, at his back.
“Caleb!”
“I’ll tell the old man you’re here,” he said, turning around to walk backward, despite the fact that the tunnel appeared to be anything but level. But he never lost his footing. “He had to go put out some fires!”
“Literally?”
He laughed—actually laughed. “No, not literally—at least I don’t think so. But, for once, stay put!”
He deftly dodged another fire unit, then disappeared around a bend in the tunnel. And the people in the white hazmatlike suits ran straight out of the wall and through my middle, causing me to stumble back a step or two, because the illusion was a little too good. And then to move back even farther, because I didn’t want to experience that again.
Which was when I heard cursing coming from the kitchen.
After the day I’d had, I fully expected to see an army at the gates, or a fire run out of control, or something for the adrenaline flooding my system to expend itself on. I did not expect what I saw, when Fred and I burst through a door off the lounge. I did not expect— A dancing chicken.
I just stood there.
It was a chicken, and it was dancing, on the kitchen countertop.
There were a bunch of people standing around looking at it, too: a scattering of initiates, including a Cindy Lou Who clone clutching a beat-up doll; some war mages, looking grim; the pink-haired girl from the drag; three tough-looking women, glaring at the mages; and a smattering of vamps. Including Roy, in a brown-and-tan-checked suit that set off his red hair. But suddenly, no one was making a sound.
The chicken wasn’t, either, but I guessed that was excusable, since it was dead. And raw, and wearing those little paper things on the end of its leg bones, like ruffled socks. It looked like it was ready to be put in the pan with the carrots, potatoes, and onions sitting nearby. But, instead, it was up on its legs, doing a jig.
“What is that?” one of the mages finally demanded, pointing at it.
“The cancan?” Fred guessed, causing the man’s weather-beaten skin to flush with anger.
“I’m sorry!” A skinny boy was huddled against the cabinets, looking freaked. Maybe because a war mage had just drawn a weapon on him. Jiao; my brain supplied a name in the split second before the mage was disarmed, the gun ending up in the pink-haired girl’s hand.
“Give it back!” the man warned her.
“Ask nicely.”
“Give it back or spend the rest of the year in lockup!”
“For what?” I interrupted. “You were the one threatening a child.”
The man started, like he hadn’t noticed I was there. But even when he did, it didn’t seem to matter. “The child is a necromancer—and a strong one!” he rasped. “Why is he here?”
“Why are you?”
The flush was back, darker this time. “We’ve been assigned here—”
“By who?”
“Who else? Who guards the Pythia?”
“The senate, at present.”
“The senate?” That was another mage, older and grizzled, with the war mage scowl firmly in place. His eyes took in the motley crew in the kitchen, half of whom I didn’t even know, with disdain. “This whole lot should be locked up.”
“Uh.” That was a third mage, a young blond with a severe military haircut that wasn’t making him look any older. Or any better, considering the jug ears that stood out almost perpendicular to his head. They looked vaguely familiar.
“Uh, what?” his older companion demanded.
“Uh, please don’t make her mad?”
And it clicked. The younger guy was one of the group of mages I’d sent for a bath in Lake Mead recently. And who was not looking like he wanted another trip.
“Do you know how to swim?” Roy asked him kindly. He and the other vamps were just standing around, observing but not interfering. If Pink Hair hadn’t grabbed the gun, one of them would have. But now that Jiao wasn’t being threatened, they had returned to the vague, slightly bored interest of people watching TV.
If the Circle and some witches wanted to kill each other, why should they care?
“Not that well,” the young man admitted. “And all the weapons—”
“Act like small anchors, don’t they?” Roy commiserated.
“They really do.” He looked at me. “Please, lady, we have orders—”
“From Jonas?”
He nodded. “We’re supposed to be here. And you need us—”
“Didn’t need you this morning,” Pink Hair said, her eyes still on the flushing mage.
“And you’re here . . . because?” I asked, not wanting to offend, but also not being all that comfortable with a reporter hanging around the suite.
Not that there appeared to be too many people to report on, since most of my court was still missing.
She shot me a grin. “Presents.”
“What?”
“All of us, from the covens.” She gestured around at the three tough-looking women. “After this morning, they decided you needed some competent help.”
“Competent!” the red-faced mage exploded. “As if the covens would know the meaning—”
“At least we get to a fight on time.”
“Yes, suspiciously so! Almost as if you knew—”
“That’s it,” one of the other women said, pulling a wand just as the mage made a gesture. That was thankfully blocked by his own man.
“Have a care,” the grizzled mage hissed. “Assault the bitch and you know damn well—”
“Call me bitch again, old man, and see what happens,” the witch warned.
“All right, out!” I said. “All of you! Except you, Jiao,” I added, because he was still looking freaked.
“This is not an issue for the Pythian Court. This is a Circle matter,” Red Face protested, as if I hadn’t spoken. “That boy was doing illegal magic—”
“Five.”
“Five? Five what?”