from Major Rodriguez. Anybody who gets any kind of serious wound has to be examined by the camp doc. We had some people who got attacked by dogs … well, they said they was dogs. And they said they was okay and didn’t need medical treatment. But then they … they turned into these things …” The medic trailed off, looking like he was remembering something horrible. “Anyways, it’s a standing order. I gotta take you to see the doc, or the major will kick my ass.”
Cooper blew out his breath and got to his feet, favoring his newly-healed leg. “Fine. Whatever.”
He looked at me, and then at the Warlock. “You guys coming with me, or you staying here?”
“I’m not really feeling up to a walk in the heat right now,” I replied, “but Warlock, please go with him if you want to. I’ll be fine here with Pal. We need to track down the other kitten anyhow.”
“Sounds good.” Cooper stepped toward me and gave me a quick, perfunctory kiss on the forehead. “Don’t get into any trouble while we’re gone.”
He limped out the door with the medic and the Warlock close behind.
Pal blinked his eyes at me. “What’s going on between you and Cooper? His pheromones smell all wrong.”
“I don’t really know. Miko messed with his head. Made him really angry, and he’s staying that way.”
I chewed my thumbnail, pondering our situation. Made my decision. “Strap me back into the chair. I need to talk to my father.”
chapter
twenty
Magus Shimmer
I slipped easily into my hellement, went to my vanity, and used a pair of cuticle scissors to cut my thumb so I’d have some blood for the mirror magic.
“Are you there?” I called as the mirror cleared, showing the inside of Shimmer’s workshop. “It’s Jessie, are you there?”
“Oh! Hang on a moment, if you please.” I heard him flip-flop across the floor and soon he came into the frame.
He sat down in the wooden chair before his mirror, gazing at me with an intent look of concern. “How are you? Is everything all right?”
“Well … no, not really. We haven’t found my brother yet, but … well, it’s worse than that.” I licked my lips, trying to figure out a quick way of telling him everything that happened. And then did my very best, leaving out the parts where Miko turned me into her sex puppet and I’d been miserably horned up ever since.
“Well, that is quite a press of problems,” he said when I finished.
My father leaned back in his chair and rubbed his chin thoughtfully through his beard. “Not being able to exorcise the Goad in you, well, that’s most serious. But it sounds as if you are taking all the proper precautions. The blood disease, it is serious, also, but I believe you can be cured. The sisters of the local convent are quite skilled in healing spells, although of course they believe them to be miracles granted by the saints after prayerful rituals. We humor them. It does not matter where they source their powers as long as they freely share them with our family.”
He gave a shrug and leaned forward. “The soul harvester is a far greater threat than the devil or your disease. You must not lose yourself to her. Remember that above all else, she wants your souls, and she finds them most delicious when they’re given in despair rather than taken by force.”
“What about Cooper?” I asked. And almost said, Do you think Miko’s made him hate me?
Based on what he said to me next, the unspoken question had been clear on my face: “Miko can sense a person’s weaknesses. And your man is weakened by anger. It distracts him, clouds his intellect, makes him forget the people he loves. But he does love you, loves you very much in fact, make no mistake. And he will remember when his mind is clear again. Until then, you must be watchful and patient with him. You’re all in danger, and the baser impulses that Miko inflames make your risks all the greater. So please, try to be careful. Find your brother and do whatever you must to get out of there.”
“I’ll do my best,” I replied.
“I shall do another set of divinations to try to get you some helpful information; it’s difficult to see past the Virtus Regnum’s magical barriers, but I think I can manage something.” He paused. “But promise me you will focus on getting out of there. I know that