they’re barred from the Ethereal world. But they’re great guys. How is that fair? Or Graham. Just because he’s an incubus, he’s really as orderly a person as they come. Almost too orderly. This whole thing with the familiars was not even the goal. We didn’t know it would happen. Maybe it should happen, though.”
“Let’s invite them in,” Byron said. “I’ll show them the map. Bevan, do you mind keeping sentry with your brave force of guards?”
Bevan’s very small flash of smile showed that he was feeling pretty cool right now. I kept staring at him because it was so weird to see him in human form taking an interest in something. He was so familiar to me—to pardon the pun—but also seemed like a new person I’d never met before. “Of course,” he said.
As we showed the neighbors down to the grotto, of course we got an earful about our design choices.
“What happened to the kitchen?”
“Are you getting rid of the stove? You’re going to regret that. They don’t even make ovens like that anymore.”
“They tore down the wallpaper! Oh, what a shame. I remember when this place was party central.”
“I didn’t know the fountain wasn’t working. Are you going to repair it, or—let me guess, you’re just going to rip it out.”
Jake was walking beside us in his wolf form, growling under his breath. He was stuck now until he got a chance to change back into his clothes in private, unless he wanted the whole neighborhood to see him naked.
“I know,” Jasper said. “But it’s probably better if you don’t say anything.”
“This is it,” Byron said, his voice echoing in the cavernous room across the gently fluttering waters of the pool. “This is the map of the three realms. Pandora’s Box. The Way of Paths.”
Maya rose out of the water, holding the Way of Paths out to him. She kept it in her magical realm when Byron wasn’t using it. Since she promised Sam she would protect the map, we could trust her with the map, at least. She glanced around at the old people and I swear she was checking out the old men.
The map seemed like it was almost floating as Byron took it from her. I knew the stones that formed the map were heavy, but not in Byron’s hands.
“This side of the map is Sinistral,” Byron said. “And all of you are here, in this tiny pinprick of light on the edge.” He tapped a spot with the tip of his claw.
“We’re on the map?”
“Yes.” Byron nodded at a lady who still had natural red hair despite her pale, wrinkled face. “You are all Sinistral wizards, and I can find you on the map. But I can also do this…” He traced a line with his claw, dragging it across the stone to the tip of the pyramid where the three stones met.
Strong magic moved into the room, the way sunlight moves into a room when clouds pass by outside. Nothing changed visually, but we all felt it, a shift in the atmosphere.
“See that? You are now standing between worlds right at this moment. If you moved into the magical world, you could go anywhere,” Byron said. “And now that I’ve shown you this path, you will never lose it again.”
“So you’re saying that we can return to Etherium?” Hepzibah asked.
“That’s what I was trying to tell you,” Jasper muttered.
“And I could even take Al with me?” She patted her husband’s chest as he put his arm around her.
“Al, you have demon blood, I sense,” Byron said.
“That’s right. My father was a scavenger demon. Nothing special. My mother was an Ethereal witch but I was marked Sinistral from birth so she gave me up for adoption. She didn’t want me hanging around her neck, I guess.”
“That’s just the sort of story we hoped to change,” Billie said. “That’s why I never had a father around either.”
“All that happened is that when we opened up the magical worlds, the familiars were also able to move around for the first time,” I said. “So some of them abandoned their wizards. I don’t see Bevan asking to abandon me, and I don’t think your familiars will abandon you either. We’re family. But if they’re slaves instead of family, they should be able to escape.”
“So we could go to Etherium right at this very moment?” Zuzana asked. “And bring our familiars as well? Even if we’ve slept with many demons?”
“Um…sure, yeah. However!” I waved a hand. “The