could have escaped when the time came over the water on wing, but you went into the dark because a friend needed you. And you, Jonah, on the edge of despair, chose life because a stranger needed you. Arlys chose truth rather than the safety of lies. Chuck gave Arlys and Fred shelter and a way out. Katie gave a helpless infant a mother and family. Rachel stepped into the unknown because she was needed. My mother left everything she knew and loved, met a stranger and his dog on the road, and helped them. That’s what we take to New York. And that’s a powerful weapon.”
“Can’t argue with it,” Will admitted. “But I’d feel better going into this with a shitload of swords, arrows, bullets, and soldiers.”
“And we will. But we’ll also go with the light, strong and powerful enough to shut down the dark.”
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
It felt a little strange, and altogether amazing, to sit in Fallon’s kitchen while she fixed breakfast. Just the two of them, Duncan thought, in the big house. Her parents and Ethan had left the day before, his mom had steadied up—with the framed picture of her family on the mantel.
He’d be a fool not to take advantage of some Fallon time. And he was nobody’s fool. For the first time, they’d spent the night together in that big house, and now the morning after.
He wondered if she wondered if this served as a kind of gateway into their future. And just where the gate would lead.
He let her cook because she made it clear he sucked at cooking. He didn’t think he was that bad, but why argue? Besides, he liked watching her—the confidence, even a little flair.
She set the plates on the counter, sat beside him.
“Looks great, smells great.” He sampled a forkful. “Tastes— Wow. What is it?”
“Pesto and roasted tomato omelette with some goat cheese.”
“Take after your mom. She’s the best cook in the world.”
“She’d say there’s not a lot of competition.”
“Are you worried about her, about them?”
She tasted the omelette, found herself pleased she’d pulled it off as she’d been taught. “No. I worried I’d worry, if you get me, but I’m not. It’s all steps somehow. I just wanted to fly, to take some time to think, and there was Lucy. Now through her maybe we get a couple hundred soldiers. And maybe one of them points us in a direction that gets us a couple hundred more.”
“We’ll need them. Is that what’s worrying you? New York. I hear the worry.”
“I’d be stupid not to worry. It’s a big bite. And what Will said the other day isn’t wrong. It’s not enough to be right. We need soldiers and weapons.”
He said nothing for a moment as they ate in the quiet hum of the kitchen, in the warmth of it while winter held cold and hard outside.
“They can’t always understand,” he began. “Will’s a hell of a commander. Tough, smart, courageous, committed. I learned how to fight from him—learned how to fight smart—but he can’t always understand. He accepts and respects magick. That can’t always be a snap, either, right?”
“I guess I don’t always think often enough from their side. Just listening to Fred, how she talked about those weeks in New York when everything changed. How she changed.”
“Will, Eddie, the other NMs—with the big exception being your dad—are always going to think the conventional way first. Even after twenty years in this world, they lived that long and longer in the other. I figure that’s a good thing.”
Curious, she shifted to him. “Why?”
“Because that’s how the world works now. The mix. We’re a mix of conventional—or what was conventional—and magickal. It works best when everybody accepts. You and me, we’ve got that mix right inside our own families. So does Will, so does Eddie. I figure that’s how it’s going to be now.”
“That’s another reason we’ll win.”
“Check that. I’ve spent some time at the barracks and the academy since I came back. Some students, some recruits are going to need more seasoning. You’ve got some like Denzel.”
It gave him a pang, always did, when he thought of his friend.
“He was never going to be a soldier,” Duncan went on, “but he thought—hell, lived to be one. Because he figured combat was exciting, dangerous, just plain cool.”
She thought of how desperately she’d wanted to use the sword hanging over the hearth in Mallick’s cottage because … cool.
“Didn’t you at first?”
“Maybe.” He added a half laugh. “No, hell yeah. Got