back home, yes. Maybe not in his own clan’s territory, but with his kind, among things he knew.
Instead of relief, though, he felt outside it all, as though he no longer belonged. And maybe he didn’t.
“Yes, I’m here.” Reid pinned Cian with a stern gaze. “How am I? I’ve haven’t been able to reach Faerie or go far inside it until today, no matter what I’ve tried. The spell that exiled me was powerful. How did you manage to bring me back?”
“I?” Cian didn’t even try to sound innocent.
“What did you do? Sell yourself to a shaman? How did you negate my exile?”
“I did sell myself,” Cian said, his voice low. “My life’s blood. For you to come and help save us all.”
Ben found it difficult to remain the nonchalant, cool dude he portrayed himself to be while Angus and Tamsin, Jaycee and Dimitri, and Reg, the second-in-command of the New Orleans Shiftertown, glared down at him.
“What?” he asked.
Ben stood in a circle of them, red wolf and black, leopard and serval, and most daunting of all, the fox. He never knew what Tamsin would take into her head to do.
Or maybe Jaycee was the most frightening, her golden eyes full of fury. She could strike fast, and it was almost impossible to get out of her way.
“Where are they?” Jaycee demanded. “Eric has already been on the phone to Kendrick, and Kendrick is all over our asses about losing them. Plus … we’re just worried.” Her voice quavered.
“I don’t know what happened.” Ben swallowed nervously but spoke the absolute truth. “One second I’m catching up on the basketball game, the next, Reid is teleporting in with Peigi and a Shifter I’ve never seen before. Then that door opened, and they were gone.”
He pointed to the wall in the parlor that was smooth and innocuous. No door in sight.
“So open it again.” Jaycee closed in on Ben, her distress sharp. “You can do more magic than you let on.”
“Yep,” Tamsin said. “Like the glams you throw, and how you once pinned a scummy Feline who was tailing me to the floor.” She broke off in admiration. “That was awesome.”
“This is different.” Ben knew he could disable every single Shifter surrounding him if he wanted to—maybe not all at once, but a couple at a time until they were no longer a threat. Magic to do with Faerie, however, wasn’t as simple. “There’s ley lines involved, and gates I can’t go through, and whatever the house is doing or not doing. I can’t just twirl my hand, and voila, there’s a door.” He waved in demonstration.
A fiery tingle shot through his fingers. The wall shimmered, and the outline of a door spread across it.
The six of them turned to stare at it. The door wasn’t substantial—but as though someone had drawn a door frame and door panels on the wall with pencil.
Tamsin went over to study the outline but carefully did not touch it. “Is this what it’s supposed to look like?”
“No.” Ben, Jaycee, Dimitri, and Angus spoke at the same time.
Ben broke through the circle of angry Shifters and approached the wall. “It should be more like a real door.”
The tingle in his fingers increased as he reached for the outline, and he quickly withdrew his hand. He wasn’t sure what would happen to him if he crossed through a gate, and wasn’t thrilled about finding out.
“If we can’t open it, what good will it do us?” Jaycee asked.
“Always so impatient,” Dimitri said. “But she has a point.”
“I still say we call Lady Aisling,” Jaycee said.
“Agreed.” Tamsin said eagerly. “I’d love to catch up with her.”
Ben knew why. Lady Aisling had revealed that the Tuil Erdannan had created the fox Shifters, and Tamsin must have a lot of questions for her.
Tamsin fixed Ben with her too-knowing gaze. “Remember what Lady Aisling said to the two of us? That you and I had the power to see what was really there, and also to make others not see us. The first part might be what we need—you can see this door and where it leads. Maybe even find Peigi and Stuart when you do.”
“There are too many maybes and mights in that sentence,” Ben said.
“We need to start somewhere,” Jayce said.
“All right, all right, let me think.”
Ben reached to the wall again and made himself lightly touch the outlines. He felt power in the insubstantial door, masses of it, but he wasn’t certain how to tap it or what to do