Pain and suffering seemed to be the criteria for walking the dreams with me.
It was late, but guests were still in the lobby, and Cassandra was behind the reception desk. This was a hotel for the paranormal, which meant people who were at home in the night—witches, Nightwalkers, Changers, and other things I didn’t know much about.
The small, wizened couple reading together on the couch caught my eye. They didn’t look human, but their auras weren’t demon or anything witchy. They had the solid, clean auras of earth magic, but I had no clue what they were.
I headed into the saloon, wanting to make sure the magic mirror was intact. It was the focus of Emmett’s attention, and finding the frame empty in the dream worried me.
I nodded at Carlos, the bartender, and looked past him to the wall. A shudder of déjà vu went through me as I saw that the entire mirror was gone, frame and all.
My mouth opened and closed as I pointed at the empty space. Carlos looked puzzled then glanced to what I stared at.
“Oh, the mirror,” he said, and went on dispensing wine into two glasses. “Cassandra took it down. It’s being fixed, I guess. Good thing. Needs it.”
Carlos set the glasses on a tray and slid away to deliver them to the couple in the corner. That couple’s auras were distinctly wolf, though they looked human enough at the moment.
In a daze, I walked into the kitchen. Elena was cleaning up after service—or rather, she was sitting at the table having a meal while Don, her assistant, scrubbed off the counter. Don sent me a grin as I entered, but also a warning look. Elena wasn’t alone—my grandmother sat across from her, watching Elena eat.
“Janet,” Grandmother said without rising. “I heard Mick brought you home. I thought you’d stay in the hospital at least a few more days.”
“I’m much better,” I assured her.
“He lets you get up too soon,” Grandmother said, meaning Mick. “Firewalkers are impatient.”
“They’re also good healers,” I said, on my way to the refrigerator. It was too much to hope Elena had held something back for late-night diners. When she closed the kitchen, it stayed closed. I’d become an expert at throwing together cold sandwiches.
“You need to tell me about these dreams,” Grandmother said when I emerged with bread and meat. “Leave nothing out.” Elena’s heavy silence said she agreed with her.
I sighed, sat myself down at the table, and told them what had happened while I spread mustard and piled roast beef onto Elena’s homemade bread.
I relayed everything I could remember, knowing even the smallest detail might be important. My second dream hadn’t faded as rapidly as the first—possibly because unique events had occurred, different from the original past—but already some parts had grown fuzzy.
“Maya and the Firewalker called Drake were truly there?” Grandmother asked. “Or were manifestations of your own dream? Have you asked them?”
“Not yet.” I took a big bite of my sandwich, my appetite returning with a vengeance. “Maya’s resting, and we haven’t seen Drake.”
Grandmother looked grim. “You should look for him.”
Elena laid down her silverware and spoke for the first time since I’d entered. “We need another talk with Mr. Emmett Smith. Where did he go after Mick destroyed his office?”
I shrugged, my mouth full. “I haven’t the faintest idea.” At the moment, I didn’t care. I was hungry, and I needed to talk to Cassandra about the mirror.
“Find him,” Elena said. “Bring him to me and Ruby. Here in the hotel.”
I swallowed quickly, nearly choking. “I don’t want him anywhere near my hotel.”
Elena frowned at me. “Best place. We can defend ourselves well here. We will put him against a wall and make him leave us alone.”
“We tried to fight him before, remember?” I pointed out. That fight had been one of the toughest of my life.
“We were out of our territory,” Grandmother said. “Bring Emmett here. If he wants the magic mirror, use it against him. Make him realize it’s too costly for him to take. A man like that needs to understand he can’t have everything he wants.”
“He can have everything he wants,” I said. “He’s killed plenty of people to gain the power he has now. I don’t see how we can persuade him not to.”
“Every mage has a vulnerability,” Elena said. “We will find his, and use it to bring him to his knees.”
She spoke confidently, and my grandmother nodded right along with her.
These two women, my grandmother in her