where she’s hiding?”
“It would have to be safe from climbers, so I doubt she’d hide out anyplace where hikers routinely travel. Maybe we’re looking at this wrong. Maybe she’s not hiding out in the mountains. Maybe…what about someplace remote, where humans don’t go but that dragons could withstand. Death Valley? Not a lot of people hang out in there and that’s almost…let me see…” I brought out my phone and brought up a search engine. “Death Valley’s almost three thousand square miles—that’s a lot of land there and most of it uninhabited. It also has mountains, or at least big hills, and a dragon could hide out there and not be noticed.”
“Why there rather than, say, the Sahara?”
“Simple. I’m guessing she knows Typhon broke free. She knows his emissaries are tackling the cities. She’s not going to want to be too far from where she can gather information. The Sahara’s a lot more remote than Death Valley.”
Yutani frowned. “It seems a stretch, but it’s worth checking out. As soon as we get back to the office, I’ll get on it. We have contacts all over the states.”
He pulled into the parking garage and we jogged through the street performers. I glanced around the crowd, looking for anybody that I might know, but none of them were familiar.
When we entered the office again, Angel shooed us toward the break room.
“Herne’s back and he brought lunch. I’ll be there in a moment after I lock down the elevator,” she said.
We entered the break room to see Herne sitting there with Talia and Viktor, and on the table was a pile of Chinese takeout boxes. I washed my hands, with Yutani following suit. As I sat down beside Herne, I leaned forward and gave him a warm kiss.
“Hey, love, how are you doing today?”
“Side hurts, but it’s okay.”
“You weren’t out there knocking about, injuring yourself again, were you?” He stared at me tenderly, and once again, my heart fluttered. When he looked at me, I felt like the most special woman in the world.
“No, I wasn’t knocking about. The most strenuous thing I did at Henny’s was to pick up a chicken and hold it.”
Talia snorted. “You making friends with fowl folks lately?”
“Funny woman, ha ha.” But it was funny, and I laughed. “Actually, it’s not a case we can do much about. I referred her to Llewellyn and only charged her the service fee.”
“What’s the problem?” Herne asked.
“Chickens stopped laying eggs, bees are agitated. A Nixie told me that it’s a Gilding. I had no clue what that was, but Yutani filled me in and so I called Llewellyn and put Henny in touch with him. They need a hex-breaker, not a head-basher.” I sniffed the food, inhaling deeply. “That smells so good. I’m hungry.” Pausing, I turned to Herne. “So, how was talking with the mayor and the United Coalition?”
Once we were settled with our food, Herne told us how it had gone.
“The UC is mustering up militias all over the states—the Shifter Alliance and Vampire Nation are helping. The Fae militia’s focused here, but there are some Fae in other parts of the country who are willing to work with the shifters.” He looked pleased. “Dormant Reins sent a note this morning that we should expect a vampire patrol call-list this week, and he’s also reached out to other regents around the country.”
“That’s good news,” I said, selecting an egg roll out of one of the cartons. I spooned some fried rice, orange chicken, and pot stickers onto my plate, and began to eat. “Yutani and I had a couple thoughts about finding Echidna.”
As we told them about our speculations, I relaxed for the first time in a while. It felt like we were getting on top of the problem. I pushed aside my worries and focused on lunch and the conversation that buzzed around the table, once again thanking my lucky stars that I had found Herne—or rather, he had found me—and that I worked with people who felt like family.
Chapter Nineteen
Herne gave Talia and Yutani the go-ahead to contact any informants we had in Death Valley, but he also cautioned them to check out other avenues too. “It doesn’t pay to focus on one theory and miss other viable ideas. Don’t overlook anything.”
They headed to their office. Viktor had already gone out—he was going to make sure all the weapons were polished, cleaned, and ready to rock before we were called out again.
“Before you go, Angel…Ember, too… I