best I can. Defying him behind his back might be slightly easier than doing it to his face.” Again, I heard a hint of bitterness in his voice. I hoped that meant his conscience was bothering him over what he’d done to me.
“So you don’t think I’m completely crazy for wanting to leave?”
“It’s a risk. But then, so is staying in Avalon. As you’ve already seen.”
I believed him. Of course, I’d believed him before and been wrong, so my judgment might be questionable. But he was the only hope I had, so I pushed forward.
“Right now, I can’t get out of Avalon because either Grace or my father has my passport. I don’t see myself getting it back, no matter who has it. So somehow, I need a fake one that will do the trick. Is that something your magic can do?”
For a long, tense moment, he didn’t say anything. I could practically hear him thinking. Now, if only I knew what he was thinking!
“I suppose you know this,” he said, “but that’s a hell of a lot more complicated than creating an illusionary wall.”
“Yeah, I figured. But is it possible?”
Another long pause for thought. “It’s certainly possible. I’m just not sure I can do it. I’m good, but that’s a tall order. There are a lot of pages in a passport, and they’re detailed. Plus, I’d need an American passport to model it on, because I wouldn’t know what one looks like off the top of my head.”
“I can get you an American passport,” I told him. “My mom came to Avalon looking for me, so we can borrow hers. The question is, can you make the counterfeit one?”
“I don’t know.”
“But’”
“The only way I’ll know is if I try. I can guarantee I’ll try my hardest, but I can’t guarantee it will work. When can you get me the model passport?”
That was going to be a bit tricky. (Yeah, like everything else was going to be so simple.) The easiest way to get Ethan my mom’s passport would be to send him to her hotel. But would my mom actually hand her passport over to some Fae she didn’t know? I sincerely doubted it.
Maybe if I called her and told her he was coming?
A chill snaked down my spine. I was currently trapped here in Avalon because Grace had absconded with my passport. I was willing to take the risk that Ethan might betray me, but could I also risk my mom like that? Could I have her hand over her passport to a guy I wasn’t sure I could trust?
The answer was no. I was going to have to get the passport myself, and I wasn’t going to let it out of my sight while Ethan tried to replicate it.
“I’m going to have to sneak out of the house somehow to get it,” I said.
“Not a good idea, Dana.”
I bit back a snappish response and went for dry sarcasm instead. “You expect me to get out of Avalon without leaving my dad’s house?”
He sighed. “Right. Good point. But I’m not letting you wander around the streets of Avalon undefended. Tell me when you intend to perform your great escape. I’ll come meet you. I’m not as powerful as Finn, but I’m better than nothing.”
More lip-gnawing was in order. If I was wrong about this, if Ethan backstabbed me, then I was delivering myself straight into Alistair’s arms. I wondered if he would change his mind about whatever agreement he now had with Grace and my dad if I were in his custody.
But despite my doubts, I had already made my decision before I’d even picked up the phone.
“I’m going to wait until late, when I’m sure my dad is asleep. Maybe one a.m.?”
“That’s good. There will be fewer people in the streets then. Less chance of being seen. I’ll be waiting for you. Call if there’s any change of plans, okay?”
“Yeah. Sure.” Oh my God, I was really going to do this. Was I nuts? “I’ll see you then.”
“Okay. Hang in there. If things go well, we’ll have you out of Avalon before the sun rises tomorrow.”
I clung to that hopeful idea as I hung up the phone and tried not to think about just how many things could go horribly wrong.
chapter twenty-four
That night was one of the longest in my life. The hours of the early evening crept by like years, and then, once Dad and I said our good nights, they slowed down even more. I