Though he doubted the Guild would use a goblin to carry out their bidding. They wouldn’t want to be connected with such a vile, mischievous little creature, but he had a notion of someone who wouldn’t particularly mind…

“Your master is Durant, then?” Emery asked.

The goblin hissed. “One does not use names in places where little ears are known to hide just out of sight.”

“You used my nickname.”

“You are not my great master.”

“Fabulous.” Emery glanced at the fuzzy line separating the worlds. He’d known it would be dicey entering so close to New Orleans if the Guild was already set up there, but without a car, proper ID, or any of the other items required to purchase travel in the Brink, he hadn’t had much choice. Until now, he’d been hoping in and out of the Realm.

He ran his fingers through his hair. The logic checked out on what the creature was saying. If he did land somewhere else, Darius would definitely collect him. The vampire liked to keep tabs on all of his assets, and after asking him for a favor, Emery was definitely in his pocket.

If only that was the least of his problems.

“Fine.” Emery stepped away. “Get word to your master that I will oblige.”

“Of course, master.”

Emery barely kept from swearing as he headed back to the fast-track magical path. The Mages’ Guild had attacked him, the last black mist vision had implied they’d also attacked Penny—or were toying with the idea—and now they were covering the crossings. They were already organized and their plans were well underway. Time was winding down, and he’d just increased his travel time by days. And that was if Darius was quick to send a jet.

If Penny was in danger and on her own, days could make the difference between her freedom and magical enslavement.

20

Reagan stopped near the archway leading into the kitchen, dressed in a new set of leathers. She pointed at me. “Don’t go anywhere.”

I wasn’t sure where she thought I would go. I didn’t have a car, was mostly afraid of the extremely rough neighborhood in which she lived, and was utterly exhausted from the intensive spell work and physical training (a.k.a. getting beaten up) we’d just finished.

It had been this way for the last three days. We made spells, discussed the feelings of the spells, talked about when it would be best to use the spells, and then engaged in physical combat, after which I limped to the couch and collapsed in exhaustion.

Oh yeah, and there were daily, or sometimes twice-daily, calls from Callie, who kept checking in to make sure I was still alive. That was what she said, anyway. Since each call devolved into a rant about my being stripped from her house without any notice, I had a feeling she was just venting.

Regardless of her anger, she never asked for me to come back. Instead, she asked to be passed on to Reagan to get a rundown of what we’d done that day. She was monitoring me from afar.

I could read the writing on the wall: she agreed with the others. No matter how much she blustered and blew about it, she thought I was better off with Reagan. Whether that was because of the training, my safety, or the giant mess that had unfolded at Darius’s house, I couldn’t say, but she was worried about the magical climate to trust the vampire’s decree.

For better or worse, I was stuck with Reagan.

And actually, despite the pounding I got every day, it was working out surprisingly well. She never told me something was right or wrong. She didn’t even point out how someone else might have done it.

In spell work and fighting, I was really coming along. In just three days, I had progressed much further than in all that time with Callie and Dizzy. But that was in terms of reading spells and duplicating them. When it came to making them up on the fly—in a controlled, precise manner—or pairing a spell with a situation, I was still freezing up.

At this rate, when the Guild came calling, I didn’t have any faith I’d be able to beat them back.

I sighed heavily and fell into the couch, immediately regretting it. My butt hurt from the multiples times I’d fallen on it in the last hour. “Where are you going again?”

“I have a friend who knows a guy who said the Magical Law Enforcement office might need some help bringing in a banshee. With Darius preoccupied, it’s the perfect time for me to do a little contract work.” She waved her hand nonchalantly, a gesture she often used to make light of doing something very wrong. “It’ll be a super-easy case. Nothing to worry about. I’ll just help out real quick and that’s it. No reason to mention it at all.” She paused and lowered her voice. “Do you hear what I’m saying?”

“That you’ll beat me bloody if I go telling anyone, yeah.” I glanced at the clock. “It’s two in the morning. Who is working now? Not that I’m complaining about my practice session being over.”

“The magical community keeps different hours. Don’t worry; you’ll get used to it. But this isn’t the actual job, just a little information gathering. I want to know exactly what’s going on before I make the captain hire me. There’s no way I want Darius on my case about doing something stupid. And that’s the problem with boyfriends—they’re always on your ass about jeopardizing your future and committing yourself to an eternity of servitude.”

“Uh-huh.” Now that I was temporarily living with her, I’d decided it was in my best interest to ignore her crazy life. I rubbed my eyes. “Well, he can’t really talk, can he? What with the ongoing Ja situation and all.”

Ja was going to live, though we didn’t yet know if that was good or bad. Darius had started hitting the books really hard to determine how badly he’d messed up by making me entice her back into vampire politics (I totally blamed him for the whole debacle). Until he knew more, we were in the dark.

Not that it mattered. Reagan assured me that it was a vampire problem, and it was best to let them duke it out themselves. With Ja thinking rationally again, I was in no danger.

Or so they said. I planned to stay as far away from her as possible, just in case.

Reagan put up a fist. “I knew you’d see it my way.”

Before I could bail myself out of that sinking ship, she was striding through the front door.

“Right.” I stared after her in the sudden silence.

I was alone, really alone, for the first time in what was probably a very long time.

Wasn’t that something? I hadn’t been alone much in my life. My mother had always been hanging around, peering over my shoulder. After moving, Callie and Dizzy had always been home, not peering over my shoulder so much as wanting my company. And Veronica—

Veronica!

I’d talked to her as much as Callie since the night at Darius’s house, but I hadn’t been able to see her. It was starting to wear on me. And truth be told, I was a little worried about her. The last time I’d moved locations in order to hide from the Guild, she’d been taken hostage. I didn’t want something like that to happen again.

After painfully hefting myself off the couch, I waddled my sore butt to my room and grabbed my phone. One missed call from Callie. No 9-1-1 text, though, so she probably just wanted another crack at the day’s rant.

“Hello?” Veronica answered in a sleepy voice.

“Oh my—I am so sorry, Ronnie! I completely forgot normal people are asleep right now. Forget I called. I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”

“No, it’s fine.” I heard her shifting. “What’s up? What are you doing?”

“Are you sure? It’s nothing important.”

“No, it’s fine. What are you up to? Did you do your training and everything?”

I told her about a breakthrough on a recent spell, and also about how much my punch was improving. I could even, almost, occasionally deflect Reagan’s punch or kick. Sometimes.

“That’s great. But how are you supposed to fight when you’re using your hands to do magic?”

“Right. I’ve asked that so many times it isn’t funny. But Reagan is convinced that knowing my body, and feeling less physically helpless, will improve my confidence.”

“Oh. Well that’s true enough.”