faeries had opened the veil that night so many years before and taken my daughter with them to their home plane. I remembered how vibrant that slice of another world had been. It had been night on our plane, but brilliant daylight had shone through that doorway. It had spilled out and illuminated her small body and the tuft of hair on her head. Summer. That light had loved my darling girl.
Dannan flew out through the tiny break and Lee immediately closed it again. The world went back to the hazy shade of gray it was through the cloak.
Talking to my father and son about Summer had brought back all of my emotions. I could bury them sometimes. It had been so long, and my days got busy. I would go days without thinking about her and then I would look at Evan or Rhys or Lee and guilt would swamp me because they got all of me and Danny and Dev and she’d had so little.
I shook it off because Lee needed my attention now. Dannan, too. The pixie was doing his job. He flew straight at the cat, whose eyes widened, and a loud meow issued from him as he raised a paw to swipe at the invader.
I held a breath, but Dannan easily evaded those claws and the cat took the bait. The feline completely forgot it had been guarding the hallway from something it couldn’t see and went after what it could. Dannan led the cat away.
“We should get moving,” Lee said. “Dannan will be fine. He’s tough and smart. Where’s the book?”
“It’ll be in his office.” I knew the layout well. “We’re going to the right. It’s at the end of the hall. I’m surprised you haven’t broken in and had a look around. Do I even want to know what you’ve done with this thing?”
“Nothing as bad as that,” Lee said as we started to move carefully down the hallway. “Mostly we go down to Ether and hang out. It’s fun and there’s lots of weird stuff going on. Did you know Liv’s been meeting with the wizard’s girlfriend? Like a lot.”
That was news to me. “Olivia Carey is spending time with Nimue?”
“Yeah, but then they pretended like they didn’t know each other well,” Lee said. “I heard you introduce them the other morning when they came for breakfast, but they already knew each other. See, more information I wouldn’t have gotten if I hadn’t innocently used this cloak.”
“We’re going to have a long talk after this is over.” I wasn’t sure if it would be a lecture about how dangerous what he was doing was or a debrief to find out everything he’d learned.
Probably both.
I needed Kelsey back because sometimes I think she’s the only one in the world who can truly handle Lee. He respects Kelsey’s authority in a way he did with no one else.
I stared ahead and was surprised to see the door was open. There was a lock on that particular door, but it stood wide open now.
Was he so arrogant that he didn’t think he needed to lock his door? Or did he simply trust that he was safe here in the Council headquarters? He had Daniel and Dev pretty much under control, and he thought I was useless at this point. It had been years since I’d really gotten in trouble. He might think I was past the age of stupidity.
He was so wrong. I had a whole new generation of stupidity to do.
We moved silently and made our way past the living area, which was decorated tastefully. My faery prince would have ensured that. It was awfully normal, with pretty couches and a big comfy chair that faced the large TV mounted over a fireplace. Very modern and not at all a space that screamed “I’m a couple-thousand-plus-year-old wizard who regularly conferences with Hell lords.”
I heard something crash in the background and then the sound of a frustrated kitty cat, but we moved forward. The cameras would catch a pixie flying around trying not to get eaten. If Myrddin complained, I would simply state that even pixies get drunk and lose their way from time to time. Sorry about whatever got trashed.
“It’s cool, Mom. We’ll say Dannan got into the bourbon syrup and apologize. We’re almost there.”
It was good to know we thought alike.
We moved through the open French-style doors. This room was lovely, too, and made me worry I was missing something. There were lights