“Look up ‘whispering lights’…We’re talking about some sort of energy creature similar to the will-o’-the-wisps.See what you can find out, okay?”
“Will do.Thanks, by the way.I don’t want to just sit here and dwell,” he said.
“Yeah, I know.It’s best for you to keep busy.”And that was absolutely the truth.Yutani did his best work when he wasn’t left alone with his imagination.He was still working through the mess with Lyrical, and time sitting alone in a hospital, waiting and worrying, could lead to chaos.
I hung up and turned to the others.“Wager will live, but he’s going to be out of commission for a while.”
“Good—as far as the living part,” Herne said.“All right.Ginty, why don’t you show us to Nalina’s room, now?”
Ginty led us behind the velvet rope that cordoned off a staircase near the back, and as we began to ascend the stairs, a mist filled the corridor.We were entering the sanctuary state—the interdimensional safe space.There might be other ways in and out, but if so, I didn’t know.And Ginty had the magical codes needed to enter the sanctuary area, but we never saw him program them into any device or draw any runes.It was all very much on a need-to-know basis.
As we came through the mist and reached the top of the stairs, the second floor—which wasn’t apparent in any shape or form from the outside—appeared very much like a guest floor in a hotel.Each room here had an en suite, and there were vending machines in the halls and ice machines.Apparently, electricity worked here, and even television channels and the internet managed to get through.The latter didn’t surprise me—there was a place over in Annwn where the gods could receive their texts from our realm.
Nalina looked around, her eyes wide.Muffin let out a soft whine, but he didn’t seem that scared.She reached down and ruffled the hair on his head.
“Here, you’ll be in room 101.We don’t have any other guests right now, so you’ve got the place to yourself.”Ginty unlocked the door and handed her a keycard.“Keep this.You’ll need it to get in and out of the room.Don’t try to navigate the stairs by yourself, or you might accidentally find yourself in a different dimension altogether.If you need something, text me and I’ll either come up or send someone up.”
Nalina nodded.“All right,” she said, staring around.“There wasn’t a second floor to your restaurant when we were outside.”
“That’s right.This is all in another dimension.You’re safer here than just about anywhere else.The Whispering Lights won’t be able to get to you here.”Ginty stood back as she entered the room.
The rooms here in the sanctuary space were quite spacious and comfortable.We helped Nalina get situated, and Ginty promised to send up some food and water for Muffin, and dinner for her, and then we left, promising to contact her as soon as we knew more.
Downstairs, Ginty motioned for me to join him, off to one side.“How’s Lyrical doing?”
Ginty was up on all the latest gossip.
“All right, but when I talk to her, it’s obvious she wants to come back.But we can’t let her rejoin the Wild Hunt, not with Yutani’s fixation.”
“What about having her work for me?”he said.“She’d be good for business, and since she’s one of the Leannan Sidhe, she should be able to sing.She could entertain the evening crowd, and I’ll bet she’d make big bucks in tips.”
I hadn’t even thought of that possibility.Yes, she’d still be in the same general area as Yutani, but he didn’t go into bars much on his own due to his prior issues with alcohol.And if we didn’t tell him…But no, we’d have to tell him.If he found out on his own, he’d be pissed out of his mind.
“I’ll talk to Herne, and to Lyrical.She might do better working here.It suits her nature more.She never did seem very comfortable at the agency.And then, once my temple is built—” Here, I stopped, blushing.But Ginty said nothing, nor did he roll his eyes.“Once my temple’s built, she’ll be installed there as the head priestess.She’ll live there, as well as work there.”
“This could serve as a short-term solution.I need a qualified bartender, and I remembered what you told me about having to separate those two.”
“Right.Well, I’ll get back to you.Meanwhile, we’ll get busy trying to find out whatever we can about Nalina’s situation.We just don’t want her wandering off into trouble, and I have no doubt that would happen if we leave her alone with them.”
With another kiss on the cheek, I patted Ginty’s arm, and then Herne, Viktor, and I made our farewells and headed back out to the car, just as the clouds boiled over into rain.The autumn rains were coming in, and trouble wasn’t far behind.
CHAPTERSIX
As we left Ginty’s,I said, “We should head over to see how Wager’s doing.”
“I agree, although I doubt if he’s awake.Text Yutani and ask,” Herne said.
I texted Yutani as Herne unlocked the car and we all got in.hey, is wager awake yet?we were thinking we should drop by and check on him, but if he’s asleep, we might as well wait until later.
Yutani answered immediately.don’t bother right now.the doctor said wager will be out for another hour or so, and when he wakes up, they’re putting him on some powerful pain meds.also, they’re giving him a dose of medicine safe for the fae in case any bacteria had the chance to bleed into his system.he’ll be loopy for a while.i was just about to head back to the office.the doctor has my number and yours—he’ll have the nurse call when wager is coherent enough to talk to.
“I guess we should wait,” I said.“If he can’t even recognize us, it won’t make any difference.All the same, I wish we had someone who could stay with him.”
“Why don’t you call Raven?”Viktor asked.“They’re good friends.”
As Herne started the SUV, I called Raven.When she came on the line, I explained what had happened.
“We were thinking it would be nice if someone was there for when he wakes up, but we’re busy on a case,” I said.“Can you?—”
