I sucked at waiting.
On the screen, Gramma and Ka entered from the door with the death runes. Three witches were present, and now two skinwalkers. Three vamps entered the sanctuary, carrying a long bag. A body bag.
The droplets told me that Soledad’s prophecy had been true—Mainet needed nine participants, the Rule of Three, times three: any combination of three witches,three Skinwalkers, three Mithrans, or three Onorios. He didn’t have Bruiser or the Roberes, he didn’t have me, didn’t seem to know I was on the grounds, or I figured he would have sent his people to get me and bring me in.
I looked at the droplets, flicking two more away.
On screen, the vamps unzipped a body bag. My heart plunged. A jaguar tumbled to the floor, bound hand and foot and seemingly unconscious. Aya. Had to be.
Alex cursed. I said nothing, comparing the scene to the futures.
Eli barked questions into his mic, and I learned that no one had been seen outside the church, so that meant that all of our enemies and Aya had been inside the church somewhere since at least a few minutes before thedeath hedgewent up. Or the transports worked even through a warding. I tried to remember if the ward at Yellowrock Clan Home had still been up when I was pulled through one. Decided it didn’t matter.
Around me, two of the images vanished by themselves and four more appeared, as the actions of the people in the church offered and created different possibilities. I flicked three more away.
“What’s Jane doing?” Alex asked over the comms system.
“Hell if I know,” Tex said, “but there’s a ball of energy around and in front of her about twenty feet thick.”
I didn’t have time to deal with their concerns. The flesh over my breastbone was being burned away, my hands were blistered, and my gut was coiling like it was being tied in knots. I had a bad feeling I was out of time, which would have made me laugh except the pain was so bad, as I sat here, the futures changing.
I flicked away more droplets, until I was left with five possible futures in which all of us survived. In all of them, I was wearing the Mughal blade. Which, because it wasn’t a magical weapon, was one of the few doodads I hadn’t brought with me.
“How do I get the Mughal blade?” I whispered to myself.
I heard a cheep and a breath of wind brushed across my cheek. The too-heavy-to-fly lizard was back-wingingin front of me like a hummingbird, its fire-opal eyes darting to each of the futures. Longfellow could see the futures like I did, which was interesting but useless. His fire-opal eyes turned to me and held my gaze as if waiting. I looked to the droplets and three more appeared, even as two others vanished.
It hit me. The lizard could cross over thedeath hedgeenergies with no ill effects. I’d seen that with my own eyes. So maybe the ability of Longfellow to see the futures wasn’t useless. Gee had fed him blood, and Gee served the arcenciels in some capacity. And the arcenciels had a natural control over time. As I thought that, the arcenciels swooped closer to thehedge, hanging in the night sky, glowing with energy.
“Longfellow. Gee said you know several languages. Is one of them English?”
The lizard cheeped and then mewled like a kitten.
“The Mughal blade. You know what I’m talking about?”
Another cheep.
“If you can cross adeath hedge, then you can beat my portablehedgeand the null stuff still in my closet. I need the blade brought here from my house.” A new future option popped into the realm of the possible. Then three more. “Ahhh,” I breathed. I was affecting the future, right now.Okay. I can work with that.Doing what I needed done would kill a human. Molly would slip over into death magics and kill everyone if she tried. Big Evan would have a heart attack and die. Eli... “Crap.” Eli had metal parts in his legs. He’d die.
Bruiser or one of the Roberes, all Onorios, were my only choices. But the Roberes were too far away, and if Bruiser entered the sanctuary, he’d very likely die, or be horribly mangled.
Yet, only an Onorio could survive what needed to be done to thehedge. I’d have to find a way to make that work without Bruiser dying in the next step, an image that made no sense.
“Can you do that, Longfellow? Can you go get the blade? And give it to Bruiser?”
The lizard whipped its long tail and fluttered up high,fast, before tucking its wings and diving up and through thedeath hedge. The energies didn’t even flicker.
The futures altered again.
“Remember the prophecy of the blade,” I said to Bruiser. “It might not be pure...” I chose a word he might use. “...balderdash. If the prophecy is right about the blade deflecting a death strike, then it might cut thedeath hedge. And be sure to cover your eyes. Protective lenses.” I described what he had to do. Him. Only him. “If it works, see if you can get a team in here. I need...” I stopped. I knew he would never agree. “I need a team of humans and witches. Not you. You have to stay on that side. If you come inside thehedge, you’ll die.”
CHAPTER 25
Ow-Crap-Ow
His eyes went hard and cold, and when he spoke, that British lilt I heard so seldom came out. “If you think I’ll leave you to face that alone, you are sadly mistaken, my love.”
“Please don’t follow me. You’ll die. Totally dead. And I couldn’t bear that.”
