Circle of the Moon (Soulwood #4 )- Faith Hunter Page 0,139

body hitting metal. The cage rattled hard. Rocked up, slamming down. I peeked through the glass office wall and saw a black leopard in a cage. The calling/curse spell had forced my boss into his cat, inside of silver. That might have forced Rick-the-human to sleep and allowed the wereleopard to take over. And the leopard was trying to get out of his cage. Ramming the walls. The grindy screamed. I felt more blood.

“Is LaFleur being summoned?” FireWind asked.

“Yes.” I wanted to see if I could calm Rick, but the blood sacrifice that was attracting Soulwood’s attention might make things worse.

My cell buzzed and I glanced at the screen. Yummy. Dagnabbit. The vampires might be feeling the spell too.

“On my way. ETA fifteen,” FireWind said. “I’ll bring Loriann Ethier.” The call ended.

I answered Yummy’s call but no one was there. No voice mail. I sent a fast text. Spell of calling. You okay?

I realized that Loriann was likely staying in the same hotel as FireWind. The curse and the blood pulled at me. I wanted. I swallowed. Groaned. Sat down. Missed my chair, spilling the last sip of my coffee from my mug. I leaned my back and head against the wall. Time passed.

And then Occam was kneeling beside me. He murmured, “Nell, sugar. I’m here.” He touched my shoulder.

I threw myself into his arms. And burst into tears.

• • •

The spell of childish tears didn’t last long, but it was enough to ease my misery. It helped that Occam was murmuring sweet nothings into my ear, his jaw by my temple, his chin bristly with scruff. He was sitting on the floor with me, holding me. “I gotcha, Nell, sugar. You done good. It’s okay.”

“Not really,” I said. “I tried to drag your desk in front of Rick’s door.”

Occam chuckled. It sounded growly through his chest.

“FireWind is on the way in,” I said. “He’s bringing Loriann. And Mud is barricaded in the sleeping room. Is FireWind gonna be mad that she’s here?”

“Do we care?” my cat growled.

I thought about that. “Not really.”

Occam stood and hauled me to my feet as the outer door opened. I smoothed my clothes and said, “Thank you. I feel better.” And I did. Soulwood wasn’t yanking on my brain so much. I found my chair and this time managed to sit in it. Occam told Mud I was okay, then cleaned up the coffee mess I had made, rinsed out my metal mug, and poured me a fresh cup. JoJo and T. Laine came in from dropping things off in their office cubicles. Rick slammed against his cage again. The grindy chittered in anger. Tandy came in, carrying a bowl of fresh fruit. My coworkers poured coffee. Took their seats. Tandy passed the bowl around and I took a banana. Peeled it. Everyone looked exhausted. I had waked some of them up after too few hours of sleep. The schedule was getting to all of us.

“I’m thinking I can read the land through the soil on the roof,” I said to them.

Occam stilled, thinking. “How?”

“You and Rick put Soulwood soil there for me to plant things in. The soil is touching the roof. The roof is touching the earth through the three stories and the foundation. So maybe I can read the earth and track the blood without accidently getting rooted, since there aren’t any roots in the dirt.”

“Or maybe the earth will send up magic-roots and swallow the whole building trying to get to you,” T. Laine said, sounding grumpy.

I gave our witch a small smile. “Soulwood soil will protect me from other pieces of the earth trying to claim me.”

“Is that what the roots are trying to do when they grow into you, Nell, sugar?” Occam asked. “Claim you?”

“Or merge with you and with Soulwood,” T. Laine said.

It was a possibility that had already occurred to me. I didn’t know what would happen if I once again communed too long with land that grew roots into me. I might lose myself, might become a tree for real and forever. I took a breath that showed nothing of my apprehension, but Occam touched my shoulder again and I knew he could smell the anxiety coursing through my veins.

Suddenly talking fast, T. Laine said, “FireWind’s here, and he’s got Loriann Ethier with him. Tandy, open the null room door. Nell, are you going to be okay with him observing?”

“Oh,” I said. Not really. No. Make him stay away. “Sure,” I lied. Because I had