Storm Born Page 0,27

power to force his service, but - even as much as I disliked all things from the Otherworld - I was hard-pressed to do so without provocation. I didn't entirely trust anyone who offered help so freely, but he had never given me reason to doubt him either. Indeed, he'd always been very helpful. I had no idea what his story was, if he too was a cursed spirit. I'd never pressed for the details.

His shining body settled upon my dresser. "Hey, Odile, what's new? Why do you smell like sex? Did you get some? Why are we all here?" Too much exposure to my world and television had given him a better grasp of our slang than the others.

I ignored the questions. "Hey, Finn, hey, Nandi." The female spirit merely nodded in acknowledgment of the greeting. "So," I said in my best boardroom voice, "I'm sure you're all wondering why I called you here today." None of them found that funny, so I just kept going. "Well, brace yourselves: I'm going to be paying you guys a visit. In the flesh. The real deal."

Nandi showed no reaction whatsoever. Finn leapt up in excitement. "Really? Truly? When? Now?"

Nice to know someone appreciated me. I debriefed them, telling them the story. Volusian leaned against my wall, letting his body language convey to me what an utter waste of his time it was to have to hear this all again.

Finn's enthusiasm diminished a little. "Oh. Well. That's ballsy but also kind of..."

"Foolish," said Nandi in her typically gloomy monotone. "It will end in despair. Dark, bitter despair. You will die, and I will never know peace. My suffering will be without end."

"Never thought I'd hear you two agree with Volusian."

Finn shrugged. "It is a good cause, honest. But you can't really just walk into Aeson's castle and take the girl. Not that I'm saying you aren't tough enough or anything. You'll just need a plan. A really good one. Yeah. What's your plan?"

"Um, well...to walk into his castle and take the girl."

Volusian sighed loudly. It was hard to tell with those red slits, but I think he rolled his eyes.

I shot him an angry glance. "Hey, it's a hell of a lot better than your plan. Would you like to share it with the rest of the class?"

He did.

When he finished, Finn said, "Now, that's a good plan."

I threw my hands up. "No, it's not. It's a horrible plan. I'm not asking one of the gentry for help."

"King Dorian might help you," offered Nandi, "although his help would most likely only offer a brief flaring of hope, which would then make our ultimate defeat that much more tragic."

"Stop with the maudlin crap, Nandi." I wished they made ghost Prozac. "Anyway, it's a moot point. We're taking on Aeson directly. End of discussion."

I gave them the time and location of our meeting spot, binding them to silence about the plan. I had to take it on faith that Finn wouldn't let the cat out of the bag, but once he'd reconciled himself to my possible demise, he seemed pretty stoked about the whole idea.

"I have one more question for all of you before I release you. In the last week, three denizens from the Otherworld knew my name. What's going on? How many of them know who I am?"

None of the spirits answered right away. Finally, in a voice that sounded like he couldn't believe I was asking, Finn said, "Why, everyone. Well, almost everyone. Everyone that counts. It's all they've been talking about for the last couple of weeks. Odile Dark Swan is Eugenie Markham. Eugenie is Odile."

I stared. "Everyone's been talking about this?"

The three spirits nodded.

"And none of you - none of you! - thought this was worth bringing to my attention?"

More silence. Finally Nandi, compelled to answer any direct question, merely said, "You did not ask, mistress."

"Yes," agreed Volusian dryly. "Had you summoned us and asked, 'Is my name known in the Otherworld?' then we would have readily answered."

"Smartass."

"Thank you, mistress."

"It wasn't a compliment." I ran a hand through my hair. "How did this happen?"

"Maybe someone guessed," said Finn.

Volusian cut him a glance. "Do not be an even bigger fool than you already are." The dark spirit turned back to me. "Not all creatures come to this world to fight you. Some may have spied. For someone quiet, discovering your identity would not have been so difficult."

"What are they saying, then? Are they all going to try to kill me?"

"Some