“Declan is only half the problem,” May said.
“Are you talking about Bogdan?” I asked.
May rolled her eyes but Mom looked intrigued.
“Yeah, we know about him,” I said, more for my mother’s benefit in case May hadn’t filled her in. “We’ve been busy.”
“What do you know?”
Did we have time for this conversation? I looked around. “Where are they?” I asked.
“We don’t know,” Mom replied. She looked me up and down. “You shouldn’t be here. I told you not to come back.”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah.” I waved them off. “People tell me a lot of things. I don’t always listen.”
“That’s not a good quality, Hadley,” May snapped.
I scoffed. “From what I hear, you had the same quality.”
May floated straighter. “That’s neither here nor there,” she said. “I told you it wasn’t safe. Why are you here?”
“I didn’t plan to come here.” I held out my hands and shrugged in a “what are you gonna do” response. “We were trying to figure out how you got Wesley back to our plane. It was suggested there was a door in the cemetery.”
“So you just marched through it like a moron?” May was incensed.
“I went to the cemetery with Booker and Galen. Marjory wasthere too.” I kept my eyes on May. “She had an interesting story to tell about Declan.”
“Ugh. Marjory.” May lowered her eyes and some of the fight went out of her.
“I’m pretty sure you know what I’m talking about,” I pressed.
“We didn’t know,” May replied. She shot Mom an apologetic look. “We had no idea this was going to happen.”
“You didn’t know what was going to happen?” Mom asked, confused.
May’s expression sagged. “We knew he was a threat.”
“This is a very long story,” I volunteered. “I can’t give you the specifics, but I can say that Bogdan was a dhampir who was locked away in a special plane cage a hundred years ago. Someone helped free him and he ended up here.
“Then, twenty years ago, they knew they had another problem with Declan,” I continued. “They weren’t certain how to deal with him so they built on the previous plan. And, unsurprisingly, he ended up here too.”
“That doesn’t explain what you’re doing here,” May said.
“Oh, let it go.” I didn’t bother to hide my eye roll. “It wasn’t the plan but I’m here.” I looked back at the door, now dormant. “I don’t think I can go back through right now.”
“Not yet,” Mom confirmed. “We’re not leaving, but you’ll be able to go through again. We’ll make sure you do … and stay there.”
I offered up a bright smile but it was all for show. “Just out of curiosity, how long do we have before the door opens?”
Mom hesitated. “Normally it would be another hour or so, but you just used it.”
“And that changes things?”
“It charges it.” Mom looked at May. “It gets stronger after charging.”
The thoughtful look May shot her in response had me adjusting my plan of attack. “What aren’t you saying?”
Mom dragged her eyes back to me. “Nothing,” she replied, but itwas clear she was lying. “I was just thinking about how I’m going to get you back.”
