“I know a lot of magical people. My guess is they’re on the other side of this door trying to get through even as we speak. Time moves differently here, right?”
Mom silently nodded in confirmation.
I raised my hands, magic flaring, and placed them on either side of the door. “Here goes nothing.”
“Hadley, wait!” I felt May moving in behind me but I ignored her. I was not going to be dissuaded. Not this time. I pulsed magic into the door and was thrown back as a group raced through the opening and landed right in front of us.
Galen, his chest heaving and his eyes blazing, jerked me to him. “What did I say about disappearing?” he demanded.
“Sorry. You really can’t blame this one on me.”
He held me tight and swayed back and forth.
“I was hoping you guys would be on the other side of the door,” I said. “I need some help.”
“I can see that,” Booker said. He was studying Mom and May. “You must be Emma.” He extended his hand, then pulled it back when he remembered she was a ghost and couldn’t shake it. “I’ve seen you in the cemetery. This is much better.”
“Yes, my mother told me about the cemetery,” Mom said with a grimace as I pulled back from Galen. “It’s a little embarrassing.”
“Meh.” Booker lifted one shoulder. “There are worse things.” His eyes moved to me. “You left Galen a mess and guess who had to deal with it?”
“Hey, this time it really wasn’t my fault,” I insisted. “It was an accident. It … .” I forgot what I was going to say when I realized there was someone else with the group, someone I wasn’t expecting.
Marjory didn’t look upset about where we were. She looked fascinated. I couldn’t understand why she had crossed with the others.
“She refused to be left behind,” Galen volunteered. “She said she’s put too much effort into planning our wedding to lose you now.”
I opened my mouth to say something to Marjory — I had no idea what — but she was fixated on my mother.
“It’s been a long time, Emma,” shesaid.
“It has,” Mom replied stiffly. She didn’t seem thrilled to see Marjory and yet a small smile appeared. “I hear we’re going to be related.”
Marjory laughed. “I tried to talk Galen out of it. I wanted him to have a nice shifter wife, but he’s set on Hadley.” She looked over to me. “They’re a good pair. I’m fond of her.”
Mom laughed, then sobered. “Maybe we’ll get a chance to talk about that later.” She glanced at the door, then at me. “It’s close. I can’t go through just yet. We need more magic.”
I’d already thought of that. “Then I guess we’ll have to get it from Declan and Bogdan.” I shifted to look at my friends. They were ready for a fight. “They’re here. We have to end them both.”
Lilac took a step forward, her blond hair catching fire as the demon in her took over. “I’m ready.”
“Oh, my,” Mom said as she took in the flames surrounding Lilac in ominous light. “That’s downright terrifying.”
I managed a grim smile. “You haven’t seen anything yet.”
28
TWENTY-EIGHT
“We have to lure them here,” I said to Lilac. “A show of magic should do it. If we’re lucky, they’ll fight each other and one of them will die. Then we’ll only have to deal with the other one.”
Galen arched a brow. “Can we get that lucky?”
“Look around.” I gestured. “There’s a lot of magic here to steal. It’s awfully tempting.”
Galen nodded. “Okay, let’s do it. Once this is done, you and I are going to talk about you walking through doors that might lead to different planes without paying attention to what you’re doing.”
“How can you think this was my fault?” I protested. “I was minding my own business when — poof! — I was on another plane. This is really your mother’s fault.”
