we have never been able to find them.”
I finished the last bit of my dinner, then placed the bowl on the table. “Riona said Winter took her and Reign to Darkside to be schooled in demon script and magic. What if she meant a way station rather than Darkside itself?”
“I’m not sure either of them would be able to give firm directions,” Luc said. “They’re only young.”
“Riona is an old woman in a young body,” I said. “And I don’t think there’s much she’d ever miss. It’d be worth ringing Jackie and getting her to ask. We’ve really nothing to lose.”
Mo nodded. “You have her new number?”
I got out my phone and scrolled through the contacts. I’d listed Jackie’s new number as “hairdresser new number,” simply because I couldn’t risk Max getting hold of my phone and using the number to track her down. He’d know Mo wouldn’t hand his children over to anyone she didn’t utterly trust, and there were few enough people in her life that applied to.
I handed Mo the phone, but before she could ring, her own phone rang. A heartbeat later, so did Luc’s.
Coincidence? Something within doubted it.
My pulse began beating a whole lot faster as the two of them rose to retrieve their phones, then glanced at the screens and answered. Luc walked to the far end of the room, speaking softly but urgently to the caller. Whatever had happened wasn’t good, that much was clear.
I returned my gaze to Mo. She wasn’t saying anything, but her expression grew ever darker. I clenched my fists against the urge to rip the phone out her hand and put it on loudspeaker. I could wait. I could.
The minute she hung up, I said, “What’s happened?”
Her gaze rose to mine, her expression bleak. “The worst. London is on fire and the palace is under siege.”
Chapter Ten
“Fuck,” I said. “How bad is the damage? And is the royal family safe?”
“First reports say the palace’s protections are holding, but things are chaotic in the surrounding streets, and demons are everywhere. Full details remain somewhat sketchy at this point.”
“Are they going to move the royal family to a more secure location? There are tunnels under the palace built for that purpose.”
Luc might have said they wouldn’t unless it was absolutely necessary, but if things were already this bad …
“They’ll only evacuate if the palace is in danger of falling—and not just because Layton’s magic protects it. There’s been no time to screen all the staff at the other locations for wraith infections.”
I swore again. “Was it just the palace and its surrounds that were hit?”
“The five main business districts are all under some degree of attack. The council’s air witches are calling in storms to take care of the fires, but demons flood the streets, killing anyone and everyone they come across.”
“Which plays into their game plan of causing utter chaos in order to prevent police, military, and witch coordination.”
Mo nodded. “A level-three emergency has been declared by the government, which means COBRA, the Civil Contingencies Committee, and the High Witch Council are working together to coordinate engagement and response, so it won’t remain chaotic for too long.”
“What the hell is COBRA and the CCC?”
“The government departments whose duty it is to deal with the various levels of disasters and emergencies.”
Obviously. And I guessed the “who” didn’t really matter as long as there was a coordinated, real-time response to this disaster. I thrust a hand through my wet hair. “What are we going to do now? Go to London?”
“There’s little point in doing so—there’s nothing either of us can do right now.”
“We can fucking fight—”
“Gwen,” she cut in gently, “London is not our battlefield. We need to find your brother and stop him before what is currently happening in London is repeated across every city and town in the United Kingdom.”
“And how in the hell are we going to do that, given he’s apparently protected against any of your finder spells?”
“By starting with your suggestion—destroying their way stations and blocking their gates.”
“Riona will only know the location of the station they were being taken to. She wouldn’t be able to tell us about the rest.”
“Perhaps not, but there has to be some means of differentiating a way station’s gateway from a regular one. Your regular type of demon isn’t the brightest spark, and they’re not magic capable, so it would have to be something fairly obvious. Once we know the indicator, we can send an urgent request for all gateways