"Yes. A special delivery letter came addressed to me this morning. He has a list of Circle operatives. I have one day to appear in what is left of Hartwood. If I'm not there, he'll start killing."
"Insanity obviously runs in that family," Jake muttered. "You can't go, Seline. It's suicide."
"I have no intention of going or letting anyone in the Circle get killed." Nikki closed her eyes. If she had to go in alone after Michael, she would—but she had a bad feeling it would all go to hell if she went without Circle help. "So what do we do?" Seline paused and said, "I want you to go in my place, Nikki."
"What?" Jake half rose from the chair. "No way!"
Nikki touched a hand to his arm, squeezing lightly to stop his protest, and asked, "How? I might not have met you, Seline, but I know you and I look nothing alike. Besides, it's very likely that Weylin tried to kill me. He knows what I look like."
"Weylin may know a lot about what happened in that week, but I doubt he realizes I was using magic to hide my true appearance. We'll use that same magic to hide yours."
"If he's a sorcerer, won't he sense it?"
"No. The spell will be similar to what he used to get Lenny in the building, but stronger. More hidden."
"So, you change my appearance, then what? I just waltz in there and get Michael back?"
"I wish it was that easy." She paused again, and unease crawled up Nikki's spine. "For this ceremony to work, he will have to have all the major characters in place."
"How, when it all happened over a hundred years ago? Most of the major players will be dead, won't they?" But even as she said it, the image of the gnarled driver came to mind. She had a vague suspicion at least one of the major players was still alive. Whether he was still human was another matter. Seline blew out a breath. "Yes. But all Weylin really has to do is get living replacements. His magic is strong enough to enforce role-playing."
"So what will I have to do?"
"There are three huge problems." Seline's voice was grim. "The first being, you must do what you can to disrupt the sequence of events. But we do not know which events Weylin knows about, and which he will deem important for the ceremony. Plus, Michael and I were separated much of the time, and I do not know everything he might have done."
"So tell me everything you remember, and I'll play it by ear."
"Yes." Seline paused again. "Then there is the sacrifice. Michael and I rescued the women on the night of the new moon. Letting them die is not an option, so you must try and find them before the new moon rises."