back, the eyes going from emerald spheres to normal human eyes. Incredibly beautiful, but normal for a faery prince. He took a long breath. “I will endeavor to support my daughter in whatever she chooses to do.”
It was easy to see how hard that was for Dev. I had tears in my eyes because I was happy Marcus was going to find what he needed. “I’m glad. Now let’s try to figure out what we’re going to do. They could be a few minutes. Dean, are you all right?”
Dean frowned as he picked up the satchel Summer had left. “I pretty much wish none of you had ever shown up in my life. The faster I can get you off this plane the better.”
I had a suspicion he would be coming with us. I turned back to Dev while Dean started going through the soaking-wet satchel. “I’m worried we’ve already screwed things up. Gray’s prophecy gave me some instructions, but I don’t know what they truly mean.”
He nodded. “I think it’s pretty clear. The trick and the trap. Yes. The painting was a trick and we’re most definitely trapped. The question is why, and who would do this to us?”
I stared at him. “Myrddin gave Daniel the painting.”
Dev nodded again as though something had become clear to him. “Yes, so this was a trap for Myrddin, not us at all.”
I screamed. Internally, but I still screamed. I was not going there with him. “Whoever it was for, Gray said something about never leaving the path. But I didn’t see one.”
If I was supposed to follow the yellow brick road, shouldn’t it be all shiny and present? There was other stuff in there, but the path was what I was hung up on. The rest would play out, but he’d been clear about this. Never leave the path.
“There wasn’t a path.” Dev glanced back to where we’d come from. “Marcus and I were stuck for several hours before you got here. We studied our surroundings. There were no paths, though I’ve been keeping one.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean the ground knows where I’ve walked. I can get us back to the field where we entered this plane,” Dev assured me. “Don’t worry about not being able to get back. I know the way.”
Somehow I didn’t think that was what the prophecy was about.
“I think I can get this sucker dry.” Dean had a book in his hand. I would bet it was leather bound and had some lovely calligraphy in it if it was anything like some of the witch’s books I’d seen. Liv had a pretty spectacular one, though she mostly used crappy notebooks to actually work out her spells. Only when she deemed it good enough did it get transferred to the gorgeous bound volume she’d been given when she’d reached the age of twenty-one.
I’d stopped her from burning it three weeks ago. God, I hoped Casey was looking after her because my best friend was a mess since she’d lost her magic.
“What is that?” I asked since Summer had been very concerned with the book. “Is it yours?”
“Nah, it’s something she stole, but it’s important to me,” Dean replied.
“She’s been stealing?” Dev asked, but his eyes were lit with mirth. “Oh, her mother is going to be so excited. I always knew it was written in her DNA. It looks like she passed it on to our daughter.” He frowned suddenly. “Perhaps I should not get her together with Lee. They might form their own crew. I should get a bail fund ready.”
I’d already started saving up for Lee’s. I would need it because I was pretty sure I would be the one getting that call and not his parents. A low groan brought me out of those thoughts.
“Damn it. She’s going to kill someone. Probably me.” Dean held up the book. It was perfectly dry now, but the pages were empty. “Could we not tell her that there was writing there before I worked that spell?”
Whatever Summer had been looking for, she was out of luck.
And I had to pray that I found the path in time.
Chapter Fifteen
Summer
I followed the winding line of green that would lead me to the vampire. I was a moth to the flame. I should have allowed Dev and Kelsey to deal with the problem and stayed far away. Instead, all I could think about was Marcus sinking his fangs into Kelsey or some other woman, since he didn’t seem at all