Dante led the way. They ran through yards and narrow alleyways, desperate not to be seen. Despite the glamour being gone, there was also the unconscious murderer Dante had slung over his shoulder.
The sound of sirens and helicopters overhead brought Dante up short. He stopped near a fence under the cover of tress, and crouched down, Elaine and Siobhan following his lead.
“We’re never going to make it back to the car,” Dante said.
“We can’t walk back to the club,” Elaine said.
“Aye,” Siobhan agreed. “Not with the baggage and your arse showing, as it were.”
Both elves gave her a disapproving look.
“You two stay here,” she said, ignoring their withering stares. “I’ll find us a ride.”
“Wait—” Dante started to say.
“You two keep your heads, and ears, down,” Siobhan said. “I’ll be back.”
Before either could protest, Siobhan was running down the street.
“What happened?” Elaine asked.
Dante could hear the fear in her words. He also knew what she was really asking: Was it permanent?
“I don’t know,” he said and put his hand on her shoulder. “We have to deal with one problem at a time.”
Elaine looked up at him. Her luminescent eyes were a couple shades paler green than he’d remembered, but there was a strength and determination behind them. They looked at each other for a long, silent moment.
“I mean we need to deal with the more immediate and urgent problems first,” he said, slowly withdrawing his hand.
She smiled, just a little. “That’s not very comforting.”
His mouth turned up at the corners. “Best I can do on short notice.”
A screeching of tires made them both look up to see a fairly new minivan skid to a stop. Dante exchanged a look with Elaine. The side door slid open and Siobhan leaned over.
“This ain’t a house,” she said. “You don’t need a fecking invitation.”
“After you,” Dante said and motioned to Elaine, who climbed into the backseat.
Dante laid the still-unconscious woman across the bench seat in the third row and climbed in, shutting the door.
“Interesting choice of vehicles,” he said when they started moving.
“Get on the floor,” Siobhan said. “Keep out of sight.”
Dante and Elaine did, but both of them had to tuck their legs up to fit.
“What do you think the odds are that the guard will stop the family football coach?” Siobhan said.
“That’s good thinking,” Dante conceded. “You know the way back?”
“Aye, just keep down,” Siobhan said. “If something happens, I’ll let you know. I don’t want someone spotting your glowing eyes and pointy ears.”
Dante let out a breath. He wasn’t exactly comfortable, but his metaphorical position was exceedingly less so than his actual one.
What felt like hours later, the minivan came to a stop.
“Tell me you didn’t—”
“I parked down the alley,” Siobhan said. “Let me make sure the way is clear.”
Dante waited, then waited some more.
The door slid open. “Aye, no one around, let’s go.”
Dante got out, threw the prisoner over his shoulder, and made his way to the side entrance of the club. When he reached the door, he realized Siobhan was heading back to the minivan.
“Where are you going?” he asked.
“It’s a stolen vehicle, isn’t it?” she said. “I’ll park it a ways off and come back.”
Dante didn’t have time to reply before the minivan was gone.
“I’ll give it to her,” Elaine said. “She’s not stupid. Uncouth and short tempered, but not stupid.”
Dante nodded. “Well, we shouldn’t continue standing in broad daylight with an unconscious body,” he said. “Come on.”
He reached out, but before his fingers touched the door, it opened, and Dante’s mouth dropped open.
“Regent,” Faolan said smiling. He was dressed in a dark green military-style uniform with a slender sword on one hip and a compact assault rifle in one hand. Then his eyes narrowed as he looked Dante over. Half a second later, his eyes went wide. “Your glamour!”
“We’ll get to that,” Dante said.
Faolan stepped back to let them inside.
“How did you get here?” Dante asked.
“Trails opened back up,” Faolan said as they walked to the main room of the club. “I kept Padraig posted near an entrance and had him checking it every hour, just in case.”
Dante stepped onto the dance floor and smiled as a wave of relief washed over him. Three dozen elves, all dressed in marshal combat gear, were gathered around various crates and boxes. Some were checking weapons, some were working on laptops, and others were talking into radios.
Dante gripped Faolan’s shoulder. “I’m glad to see you.”
Faolan smiled, but it was tempered. “And I you, but, um . . .”
Dante nodded. “Our missing glamour is a complicated story, and we’re on a tight schedule.”
“Okay,” Faolan said, then pointed to the form over Dante’s shoulder. “Who’s that?”
“Someone I hope will make it less confusing, if not less complicated,” Dante said.
Faolan whistled and waved over a couple marshals.
“Secure her,” Faolan said. “Ready her for interrogation.”
“I think she might be a wizard,” Dante said.
Everyone stared and the marshals took a step back.
“Get her inside a circle,” Dante said.
“You heard him,” Faolan said. “Move.”
The marshals straightened, then took the woman and carried her off.
When they were gone, Dante turned back to Faolan. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to step on your toes. Old habits die hard.”
“You didn’t,” Faolan said. “We’re here to support you.”
Dante noticed Faolan glance at Elaine. “You two know each other, right?”
Faolan smirked and his eyes almost twinkled. “We do. Nice to see you again.”
“And you,” Elaine said. “Especially without the cuffs.”
Dante glanced at Elaine and arched an eyebrow.
“It’s a long story,” she said.
“Another time, then,” Dante said and turned back to Faolan. “What’s the situation?”
“We arrived a little over an hour ago,” Faolan said and gestured to a forest giant talking to some marshals. “The chuhaister said you’d gone to follow a lead, so we set up a command center. Not long after, kids started streaming in, changelings of every court, and wizards too.” He shook his head. “I didn’t know there were so many.”
“How many are here?”
“Twenty-nine so far,” Faolan said. “Twelve wizards, seventeen changelings. We have them all upstairs in the rather lavish living quarters there. They were less than thrilled about it, but I assured them they were free to come and go as they wish.”
“I’m going talk to them,” Elaine said. “See if I can put them at ease.”
“Thank you,” Dante said.
“Stairway is over there,” Faolan said.
Elaine gave Dante a hug. “Thank you.” She kissed his cheek. “And I’m sorry for misjudging you.”
Dante hugged her back. Her hair brushed his cheek, like a whisper, carrying the smell of honeysuckle. He broke the hug and cleared his throat. “It’s forgotten.”
Elaine hurried toward the stairs.
Faolan was smiling.
“Don’t even—”
“I didn’t say a word, Regent,” Faolan said, smiling more.
“So, you arrived a little over an hour ago . . .” Dante said.
Faolan’s smile vanished and his tone was all business. “We tried calling you, but you didn’t answer. Then we saw the news report and started putting together a retrieval team—”
Dante took out his phone, pressed a button, and sighed. “It’s dead; must’ve have happened when she stripped the glamour.”
“Who?” Faolan asked.
“Later,” Dante said. “What’s the story the mortals are running with?”
“Terrorist attack,” Faolan said. “Some kind of hallucinogenic gas is the initial report from the officials.”
“More and more complicated.”
“They’re calling in Homeland Security.”
“And I thought it couldn’t get any better,” Dante said.
“They’re reporting a dozen casualties, most from cardiac arrest.”
Dante furrowed his brow.
“Scared to death by what they saw, I’d say,” Faolan said. “But there’s a report of FBI agents who were shot.”
Dante nodded. “Courtesy of our guest—she was their partner.”
Faolan’s face paled. “She’s an agent? A real agent?”
“I think they were all real agents,” Dante said. “But I think she’s a mole working for the—” He shrugged. “I don’t know what they’re calling themselves now, but I’m almost certain it’s the remnants of the dark magi.”
Faolan swallowed, then muttered a curse.
“My thoughts exactly,” Dante said. “I have no idea how we can do anything now.” He ran a hand through his hair. “Especially not looking like this.”
A female marshal with short dark-brown hair and keen lavender eyes approached, and Faolan nodded at her.
“The prisoner is secured,” the marshal said. “The wizard says the circle is solid and should keep her—
“The wizard?” Dante asked, looking at Faolan.
“We’ll be right there,” Faolan told the marshal, who then hurried off.
“Don’t tell me you brought him here,” Dante said.
Faolan shrugged. “Okay, but that’s the good news.”
Dante’s stomach twisted. “Do I want to know the bad news?”
“The queen mother is here,” Faolan said.
“What? Are you out of your mind?”
Faolan opened his mouth to speak.
“Where’s Fiona?” Dante asked.
Faolan looked down and bit his lip.
“You brought her too?”
“She’s upstairs playing Angry Birds,” said Caitlin in a calm voice from behind Dante.
Dante studied Caitlin for a moment, hardly able to believe she was the same woman who had stepped into a mysterious world to go after her stolen child. Had it really only been ten months? She still was the picture of Celtic womanhood: bright green eyes, red curly hair, and pale skin sprinkled with freckles. But she stood a little taller, more confident and sure of herself.
No, she wasn’t the same. None of them were. Caitlin had been thrown into a world she didn’t imagine could exist. Not to mention finding out she was a changeling, her father once the consort to the queen of The Dawn Court. And learning that the father of her daughter was the king of the Dusk Court. Those kinds of revelations can have a lasting impact.
“Eddy is watching her and helping with your guests,” Caitlin said. “Most haven’t seen a doctor in years, so we’ve been treating their various ailments.”
Dante nodded. “Thank you. Now you need to tell me what you’re doing here, all of you.”
Faolan started to open his mouth, but Caitlin cut him off.
“He didn’t have a choice. Eddy and I talked about it and figured something was happening. So when Faolan swapped out some of the marshals watching over us—”
Dante turned to Faolan.
“I wanted to make sure I left some of my best people with them,” Faolan said.
“We explained to Faolan that we weren’t going to just sit on the sidelines if there was something we could do to help,” Caitlin said, then smiled softly. “Sort of like others did for me.”
Dante sighed and rubbed his forehead.
“They’re safer here than just about anywhere else in the world,” Faolan said.
Dante nodded. “I know. I’m just growing tired of constant complications.”
A door at the back of the club shook, then opened.
Everyone stared as a young girl in a long, oversized, hooded jacket walked in. She carried a young changeling girl and was followed by a young man with one hand covered in flames. His other arm, obviously broken, was held close to his body.
Dante’s breath caught when he recognized the girl. Then he saw a large coyote limp into the room and look around. His eyes went immediately to Dante.
“Ciye?” Dante said in disbelief.
“Please,” the girl said between labored breaths. “We need help.”