The ache in my heart and the fear in my gut grew worse as I hung up.
"Trouble?" Ilianna said, her expression worried as she faced me.
"Probably. But she won't tell me what."
"Then get Riley on it."
"Oh, I'm about to. You'd better call your mom and warn her we're coming in fast and could have trouble on our heels."
"She hasn't even said we're welcome—"
"My mom said get there, so get there we will."
Ilianna looked dubious, but she nevertheless dialed her mom. I called Aunt Riley.
The first words out of her mouth were, "Fuck, Risa, I'm going to kill you for scaring me like that."
I laughed, although the sound had an edge that almost sounded like hysteria. "It's not like I actually planned to get kidnapped or anything."
"But going to a meeting without backup? That was stupid."
Yeah, it was, and I'd do it again if it meant getting answers—not that I'd ever admit that to her. She'd lock me up and throw away the key. "It was my father, he had answers, and if I didn't go alone, he wouldn't have appeared. You would have done exactly the same thing."
"That is not the point."
It was the point, and we both knew it. "The name of the witch raising the soul stealers is Margaret Trilby. Her brother is one of the men behind the consortium threatening the shop owners, then buying up their property."
"Stane got this for you?" she said, surprise in her voice. "If so, maybe he needs to work for the Directorate. They can always use a decent hacker."