“Take your time.”

“Mishmar. Your father’s hellish prison he cobbled together from the remains of office buildings from Omaha, which he destroyed. The Mishmar that’s stuffed to the brink with mutated vampires. That Mishmar.”

“Yes.”

“You barely got out alive from Mishmar the last time, and you had Curran, me, two alphas, one of the best fighters in the Pack, the best Master of the Dead in Atlanta, and Nasrin, the miracle-working medmage. You even had a guide. We still barely escaped.”

“I’m not going in deep. Only to my grandmother’s body.”

“Okay, I’ll bite. Why?”

“I’m going to bring my aunt’s remains to my grandmother and beg for her help.” Every convincing lie had some truth to it.

“You told us your grandmother is an entity beyond this world. She is filled with grief and rage and you want to take your aunt’s bones there. Did you forget that you killed your aunt? You stabbed her in the eye. What is your grandmother going to say about that? Are you expecting a warm family reunion?”

“Jim, my aunt was the City Eater. She was larger than me, stronger than me, and a magical powerhouse. She wanted to die with honor and she let me take her life. It was her choice. I was a conveniently honed tool in the right place at the right time.”

“And you think the insane thing that’s your grandmother will understand all that?”

“Yes.” No, but it didn’t matter. If I told him my actual plan, he would think I was insane.

“Did you run any of this by Curran?”

“I told him I was about to do something idiotic and dangerous, and he told me to go ahead and let him know if he could help in any way.”

“I don’t understand your relationship.”

“You don’t have to. Jim, I’m desperate. I can’t protect the city. I can’t even protect the man I love or our child, if the visions are true. Today, right now, this is our chance to make sure Atlanta doesn’t become another Omaha. Or we can move. Every time Roland gets near, we’ll scoot a little farther west, until we end up in San Francisco.”

Jim grimaced. When you’re hitting home, keep going. I plowed on ahead.

“We both know that empires are built on trade routes and good logistics. Right now he’s landlocked in the Midwest. He wants access to a port. He can’t go west, because he’d have to clear mountains and a desert. He can’t go down to Mississippi. Nobody wants to mess with Louisiana, because the native magic is too strong there and because his ships would have to clear the gulf, which is full of ship-eating things. That leaves him with the Eastern Seaboard. If he swings north, he will have to fight the federal government and he isn’t ready for it. His only logical choice is Atlanta. It’s the key to the entire South. He can’t have this city. He will drain it dry and I don’t mean financially. I mean magically. If he claims it, he’ll feed on it like a leech to boost his own power. You remember the Lighthouse Keepers. You know what happens when someone’s magic is completely drained. Help me to keep this from happening.”

He sighed. “What do you need?”

“The Pack has my aunt’s body and blood. I’ll need to pick it up so I can transport it to Mishmar.”

“I couldn’t keep you from taking it anyway,” Jim said. “You’re next of kin.”

“I know.” Georgia’s legal code specifically stated that the bodies of all shapeshifters had to be returned to their families. The Pack had lobbied for this law to be passed. Curran had wanted it in place to make sure that no shapeshifter organs were sold on the black market. Because the law had originated from him, the Pack also codified and honored it, extending it to all Pack members rather than only shapeshifters. At the time I stabbed my aunt in the eye, I was a member of the Pack.

“I wanted you to know why.”

Jim’s face was grim. “And the Oracle thinks the battle is inevitable?”

“Yes.”

His expression turned darker. I knew what he was thinking. To evacuate or not to evacuate. He’d have to make a decision regarding sending the children out of the Keep. He’d have to decide if he should pull in his forces to fight or scatter them to keep the casualties low. I’ve been in that precise spot before. The weight of every decision was enough to crush your spine.

“If I go to the Witch Oracle, will they show me the vision?” he asked.

“You can ask. There is no harm in it. All they can do is say no. Will you have the remains in some sort of portable form?”

“I’ll look into it. Kate, don’t think that it’s you against him. That’s how you talk about it, but it’s not true. He’s by himself, but you have all of us. We’re in it together and we’ll stand against him together. You have a lot of goodwill in this city.”

“Thanks, Jim.” That was unexpected.

“And if you ever turn into your father and feed on this city like a leech, I will kill you.”

Really? Not even in your wildest dreams. “If I ever turn into my father, you will kneel and pledge yourself to me, Jim. And you will be happy doing it.”

His expression turned flat.

I winked at him, got up, and left. That wasn’t the smartest thing to say, but I was getting sick of people threatening me and he had no room to talk. Let him chew on that reality check.

• • •

OUR HOUSE WAS dark. No lights on except for a feylantern. I gave it the evil eye.