Dreamwalker (Stormwalker #5) - Allyson James Page 0,106

gravel from her desk. “But Emmett was transferred, courtesy of Colby and Drake, to the dragon compound in Santa Fe.”

My eyes widened. “Nash let him go?” I couldn’t imagine Nash handing over a prisoner of any kind to anyone, especially not to the dragons.

“Nash had nothing to charge him with. The murders Emmett committed were well covered up—no evidence—and Emmett wasn’t about to confess. If Nash charged him with destruction of property, he’d have to charge you, Mick, Drake, and me too. The dragons, on the other hand, don’t care about evidence. They’ll confine Emmett until he’s rendered harmless. Or, until they decide to kill him.”

Thinking about Bancroft, Aine, and the third member of the council, Ferrell, whom I’d met at Mick’s trial, I knew the dragons would do just that. When they decided a being was a threat, especially a threat to dragons, they dealt with it in a final fashion.

“Where’s Gabrielle?” I asked. “She all right?”

“She left earlier with your grandmother. She wanted to go back to Many Farms and make sure your dad and Gina were okay. Gabrielle said to send you her best, and that she’d call. She was quite subdued.”

I’d have to check on her, have a sisterly talk. Later, though. For now, in spite of my decent sleep of several hours, I was beat.

“Cassandra,” I said, leaning on the counter. “When I was dreamwalking—in my coma for a couple weeks—you kept this place going without a hitch. I was impressed.”

“We’ve had this discussion,” Cassandra said, her cheeks reddening. “I told you, I don’t want to take over the hotel.”

“No, but I realize I can ditch it for a little while and not have everything fall apart. In fact, it’s probably safer when I’m not here. Walls tend to stay solid.”

Cassandra gave me a faint smile but looked worried. “What are you trying to ask?”

“I want to take Mick on a road trip. Kind of capture the magic we had when we first found each other. I owe him that. We’ve had a couple of vacations, but I’ve never felt comfortable leaving the hotel for too long. But you have it covered.” I tapped my fingers to the counter. “So, I’m going to take off.”

Cassandra looked alarmed. “You’ll let me know how to get hold of you, won’t you? Just in case.”

“Like I said, the danger will more likely follow me. But sure. I’ll buy myself a dozen cell phones and make sure at least one of them survives. And I’ll have a shard of the mirror. Or you can always call Mick. He’s way more reliable.”

Cassandra nodded, but her gaze had gone past me, her hotel-manager expression returning. Two guests had come to check out—the goblin couple.

Mrs. Goblin stood a few steps behind her husband, her fingers clutching an old-fashioned fold-over handbag. Her long skirt hid her legs, and she wore low-heeled pumps.

Her husband was in a tan suit, his dark brown tie loose. He laid the key to their room on the counter, along with a stack of cash, the price of the room for however many nights they’d been here.

Mr. Goblin gave Cassandra a nod and me a warm smile. His teeth were somewhat pointed.

“This is a beautiful hotel,” he said.

“Um.” I choked and cleared my throat. “Thank you.”

Mrs. Goblin gave me an equally pointy-toothed smile as her husband turned away. “We’ve already decided—we’re coming back here for our two-hundred and first anniversary.” She leaned a little closer to me. “We had a wonderful time.”

She beamed at us both, turned away, took her husband’s arm, and let him lead her out.

I dashed to the front window as soon as the door closed, craning my head to watch them. They climbed into a perfectly ordinary Buick sedan, Mr. Goblin started it up, and they rolled sedately out of the parking lot.

They turned onto the highway that led west from the Crossroads. After a few moments, the air above the pavement shimmered with heat waves. When they cleared, the car had vanished.

“Well,” I said. “You don’t see that every day.”

Mick’s hand came to rest next to mine on the window frame. “What are you talking about?” he rumbled. “We see shit like that all the time.”

“Good point.” I turned to look at him, my tall, sexy man with the untamed black hair, stark tatts, and beautiful blue eyes. “I was just telling Cassandra I’d like to head out on the road with you for a while. See the sights. Go the hell away from