I knew what the look meant—she was hoping to intimidateme, but it was too late for that. I’d been hunted by churchmen. Killed a few who needed killing.
This woman had threatened my family.
The tiniest hint of a killing smile flowed into my eyes as I pulled on Soulwood. My hands warmed. Leaves rustled in my hairline. And I let ’em.
She was surprised at my lack of being browbeaten, at what she saw in my eyes, but she pushed on. “Finding and acquiring the rift is a matter of national security,” she said, her eyes locked on mine. “We need it in our possession. In return for Nell’s help locating it, we are prepared to provide all the military’s assistance to locate and retrieve Soul.”
“You scratch my back,” the boss-boss said, “is not a game PsyLED is prepared to play with the military.”
“If itisan interdimensional rift, you can’t move it,” I said. “The Dark Queen’s winter court is in the mountains in the middle of nowhere. I reckon you can confiscate the land,ifyou can find the rift, but so far you haven’t. And if you did find it, if you build a building around it, disturbing the soil might damage the rift.”
“How wouldyouknow that?” There might have been an implication in her words that I was an uneducated hillbilly and therefore should keep my mouth shut among my betters. Or maybe I was projecting, as T. Laine sometimes said. I glanced at FireWind and got an approving nod, so I let my thoughts and words flow, dropping deeper into church-speak. I leaned forward in my chair.
“Knoxville is a hotbed for R and D into anything paranormal, nuclear, physics, psysitope related, and magical. You ain’t got diddly-squat because you’re here, talking to me, an uneducated hillbilly, about interdimensional rifts.
“You’un got a way to measure multidimensions in the field? Far as I know, it has to be measured in one a them fancy labs in Oak Ridge, up the pike a ways. So no. You ain’t got one.”
I rested my elbows on the table, my hands one atop the other directly in front of me. My tone turned just a tad accusing. “You’un don’t know how far underground the rift extends, or how far out to the sides. So you want to force me to read the land, find the rift for you,andtell you what it’s doing.”
Rettell’s eyes flicked to the windows.
My own followed hers. “Ohhh. The lightning. The strange cloud-to-cloud, pearly lightning. There’s arcenciels in the clouds. You military types done set a trap for this Pearl and Opal you’un been talking about. Way you been looking out the windows? I’m figgerin’ you’un expect them to show up here, and real soon. And you want, but do not need, the Blood Tarot, because you jist needed an excuse to be here when your trap is sprung.”
Rettell looked appalled. LaFleur and FireWind followed my eyes to the sky beyond the windows. FireWind said, “I’ve noticed the strange lightning.”
I turned my attention back to the military doctor. “You ain’t as good at hiding your intentions as you think. I been reading sneaky people since I was a toddler. It’s a woman’s survival skill in the church.”
And we had Tandy, who was clearly more powerful than she knew. Right now, Tandy was grinning at me like a wild man, enjoying me being…whatever I was being. I thought about Mama taking over the women’s council at church. Maybe I should go by one night and watch her in action.
FireWind said to Occam, “Search her bags for crystals that might be used to capture an arcenciel. Jones, all security cams and exterior security devices on high alert.”
Occam walked to Rettell and gathered her bags, bringing them to our side of the table.
Rettell relaxed and her face softened. There was a sense of relief in her expression.
“She didn’twantto capture arcenciels, but she has orders?” I posited.
The military doctor stared out the windows.
“Or she’s a really good actor and what she’s really been doing is stalling for time,” I added.
Occam pulled out a velvet bag tied with a silky thread. Inside was a handful of natural quartz crystals. He fanned them out. There were no empty places inside, like Torquemada’s crystals. I wondered if she knew what his looked like. Occam placed the quartz in T. Laine’s hand. The witch carried them to the null room, where they couldn’t be used.
FireWind said, “We have the Blood Tarot in our possession.”
“Interesting,” she said. “Where?”
“In a safe place,” FireWind said.
Rettell gave him a tight smile.
Outside the windows, a rainbow of light blasted from the clouds. Dazzling dragons made of prisms of light dove toward the earth, swooped around the building twice, and landed on the roof. The roof cam showed blinding light, and then two human-looking beings, female, were standing on the rooftop, staring at my bed of Soulwood soil.
Rettell shoved back from the table.
FireWind moved fast and was suddenly standing in the doorway, blocking us all in. Especially Rettell. Her expression was flat and uncompromising. Her body went loose, balanced, her stance ready for combat. FireWind laughed at her, which ticked her off. The woman had a job to do, and though she might not be happy at being ordered to do all of it, she was determined to follow at least some orders.
Everyone started checking weapons, but I figured there was no good reason to. You can’t shoot light.Light…“I’m bettin’ that beings made of light can come through the computer wiring if they want to,” I said.
