"Yes."
I grunted, feeling the truth of his words swirl somewhere deep inside. "I can’t understand why anyone else would even want the keys! I mean, if they can’t traverse the gray fields, they can’t get near the gates, so what’s the point of stealing them?"
"It can only be another Aedh—one we know nothing about—or someone like you. Someone who wears human flesh but is gifted psychically, and who has the ability to walk the fields."
"You left reapers out of that group."
"Yes, because no reaper can use black magic."
"Really? Why? Is it in your makeup or something?"
"In a sense, yes." He shrugged.
Meaning, that was all the information I was about to get. Although, to be fair, maybe he simply didn’t know himself. "I may be able to walk the fields, but I’ve never seen the gates. In fact, as far as I know, I’ve never been anywhere near them."
"Which does not preclude the possibility of someone else possessing the same set of skills as you not seeing or knowing of them."
True. I rubbed a hand across my face, smearing blood, sweat, and God knew what else, then glanced down at my phone again and sighed. Better do it now, while I still had some energy to face him.
I pressed a button on the phone and said, "Uncle Rhoan." Colors swirled across the screen as the voice-recognition software jumped into action.
A few seconds later his cheerful features replaced the multicolored swirl. "Hey Ris," he said, but his smile quickly faded. "What the fuck has happened to you this time?"
"Long story. But you might want to get the Directorate over to the Werribee mansion. There’s a whole heap of dead, half-human-shifter things here."
"Damn it, Risa, I told you to let me investigate the half-shifters!"
"I did. I am. This isn’t related to that, but something else."