While they planned, I went back to the bedroom to get our bags. We still needed to get out of here before the pack blew us up. When I opened the door, I found our room empty. Even the chocolates and book I’d left on the coffee table were gone. Hmm.
Do you have our luggage? I asked Clive.
Yes. We need to go, love. Vlad and Cadmael are going to fly back with us so we can talk.
Coming, I told him, jogging down the hall.
The three men were waiting for me in the main hall. “Not that way,” Clive said. “There are explosives on the front door. We’re going back out the tunnels.”
“Cool.” I paused, seeing the queen had appeared beside the men, her eyes back to their more natural—for her—swirling kaleidoscope of gold, blue, green, pink, and purple. She looked petite beside the men, but exuded so much power, it was hard to stand in her presence.
She stepped forward and pressed her delicate hand to my cheek. The pain from fighting Cadmael disappeared. “I am surprisingly pleased with you,” she said. “I hadn’t anticipated that.” She tilted her head, her long silver hair glistening in the low light. “It was good that I saved your life when I did.”
“And thanks again for that,” I said. “Did you find the prince? Was he still alive?”
Her eyes swirled faster, the colors turning darker. “He was. He’s not anymore.” Shaking her head, she glanced around at the building. “A spell had been put on this palace by… someone.”
She meant the fae king, who was a complete bastard.
“I’ve been looking for the women he stole for a very, very long time. I never would have found Cordelia or him if you and my ring hadn’t been inside the spell. Algar tracked that,” she said, pointing to my finger, “and we were able to finally find them.”
“What happened?” I asked, desperate to hear about the creep’s comeuppance.
“Tick tock, little one,” she said, which seemed odd, as I was quite a bit taller than her. In terms of power, though, I was infinitesimal, which was probably what she meant. “The wolves have almost completed their task.”
“Oh.” Right. I forgot.
“But,” she said, “as a thank you for my Cordelia, I’ll give you this.” She touched my cheek, and a rush of images filled my brain. “Run along now. You can experience my memory later. The bombs will begin in forty-three seconds.” And with that, she disappeared.
I ran for the big metal door. “The queen says forty-three seconds.”
Clive swung me onto his back again and we were racing through the tunnel. We stepped out behind the Bloody Ruin’s dumpster, the dark still thick around us, and I said, “Can you take us to the edge of the asylum property?”
He did, so we had front row seats when the explosions started. I squeezed Clive’s shoulder and he let me down. Moving away from the men, I tapped into my necromancy and called to any still trapped in the asylum, asking them to come to me and pass over.
Could I have forced them? Probably, but my Great Aunt Martha had told me never to do that, never to impose my will over the dead. I was taught only to ask. The problem was that many of these spirits weren’t in their right minds when they passed. Was it right to let them linger when they didn’t have the ability to objectively choose? Did they bring that mental confusion into death, or did it fall away?
I wasn’t sure, so I did the only thing I could. Ignoring the booming and the fire, the alarms and the people beginning to gather, I closed my eyes and sent out wave after wave of love and acceptance, calling the spirits to me so that I could serve as a way station to the other side.
Many came, not all, and with each I was gifted with a burst of color, a barrage of memories, as they passed through me.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Viktoria step out from behind some trees to watch us. There was no wind, but a breeze seemed to blow just for her, swirling her hair around her face. The last, the one who was shepherding the others, was Léna. She’d stopped to bid her daughter farewell and then her short, pain-filled life ripped through me. I caught a moment of joy when she was reunited with her sister on the other side. Then the door was firmly shut and I was alone again.
Except not really. Clive was there, wiping away my tears and holding me close.
“That last one was Léna, wasn’t it?” Vlad asked.
I nodded.
“Good,” he said.
The pack is in the trees, Clive told me.
I saw.
László stepped out to stand beside Viktoria. He studied the four of us before his gaze settled on me. He nodded once and then, grabbing her arm, they disappeared back into the trees.
“All right, love. Back up you go. I’m afraid we have no car, so we’re running for the airport,” Clive said.
