stand up on end. I had been pulled back and forth between parts of the world touched by liminal lines. Coincidence? Or serendipity? Or the plans of a higher being? Hayyel. Dang it!
“Beast. Beast?”
I raised my head to see Savannah. “Sorry. Woolgathering.”
Beast wants to gather and eat sheep.
I laughed and the Elder glared at me.
The session broke up moments later, as if Savannah Walkingstick could tell I had been pulled out of the necessary frame of mind to continue. We dressed in our clothes, mine damp, sour, and stinky from creek water.
I walked her through the snow to her car and watched her leave, her four-wheel-drive making fresh tracks in more new-fallen snow.
When I was sure she was gone, I went to the house, to Alex’s work area, and asked Alex to pull up a map of the liminal lines and ley lines. And to overlap them. There were way more than three lines of earth power. There were dozens of ley lines just across the U.S. And there were also a series of pentagrams across the U.S., formed by ley lines, perhaps the most clear one in the Southeast. One of the lines passed between southeast Louisiana and close to Asheville. “Well, dang,” I whispered. I was right.
I touched my middle and investigated myself with Beast’s eyes, eyes that could see magic better than my own eyes could. I might not have cancer in this form, but my own pentagram magics were still clear and potent. “Do me a favor,” I said. “Start looking for any ley lines that run through this property, especially if it intersects this liminal line.” I pointed.
“Why?” he asked, his voice dropping low, like mine.
I had a possible answer, but I wasn’t ready to commit. Hey, we have a ley line on this land. How’s that for coincidence! Not. Because if we did have a ley line near here, then I had to assume that Hayyel was involved in the happenstance of . . . of everything, making sure I purchased this land and would be here to discover it. Worse, despite his surprise when he realized that I had a magical tumor, it might be possible that Hayyel had participated in my getting sick. I didn’t trust the angel. “Not sure yet. But it’s worth checking out, to see if something magical or odd is close by.”
“Okay fine. But you need to shower. You’re”—his face took on an expression of glee, having caught me in a sin once often ascribed to him—“stinky.”
“Yeah. I am.” I ruffled his curls with my too-big hand and ran out of the room and up the stairs for the shower. Fortunately for my enjoyment, Shiloh was no longer lying in my tub.
CHAPTER 9
You Are the Dark Queen of Holding Grudges
I was trying to eat—my fangs made it hard to chew oatmeal—when a sleepy Alex brought my cell, his laptop, and three other tablets to the kitchen. It was as if he was moving his electronic HQ. He set the cell on the counter near my elbow. “Your brother,” he said.
I glanced at the cell and at Eli. “Guess he doesn’t mean you.”
“Negative. I’m not a timewalker. Can’t be here and on the phone to you at the same time. Take the call.”
“Mmmm. Do I havta?”
Eli’s lips did that twitchy thing that passed for a smile. Or gas. Or cramps.
“Fine. Speaker,” I said. Alex tapped on the screen and the speaker came on. “Yellowrock here,” I said.
“E-igido. Dalonige’ i Digadoli,” he said in the speech of The People. “I have received your message.” E-igido. My sister. “I have also spoken to Uni Lisi, our grandmother. She wishes to Nuwhtohiyada gotlvdi.” Make peace.
I thought about the memory of the longhouse and the old woman and the outclan vampire. I started to reply and stopped. There was so much to learn. To remember. My silence went on too long.
“You cannot avoid family and clan forever, e-igido.”
“Whatever. I’ll just avoid you all as long as you avoided me.” I sounded snarky, like a teenager with few social skills and less wisdom. And I didn’t care. My gramma might have evil ends in mind. It wasn’t like she had ever baked cookies for me. Not by a long shot. I smiled, knowing it wasn’t a pretty one. “That means I can ignore you for a few years.”
“Perhaps we deserve that. But your anger will eat at you from the inside, e-igido. I know this. I have dealt with my own anger. My own