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Wards locked, bar and bookstore secured, I pushed into the kitchen where Dave was placing his pies into carriers to take over to The Viper’s Nest. “We’re all closed. You can take off whenever you want,” I told him.

Dave checked the time. “Maggie might still be awake.” He strapped the boxes together to make transport easier and then paused. “When are you planning to leave?”

“Not sure.” I leaned against the counter. “I don’t know if Clive is flying with me. If he is, that dictates when we can fly. If not, whenever Bracken can get here, I guess.” What was my problem? I was already feeling defeated and we hadn’t even boarded the plane yet.

Clive stepped into the doorway, the phone at his ear. “You’re not going anywhere without me.” He held out his hand to me. “Let’s go home and discuss it. I’m on the phone with the nocturne’s historian and he’s confirmed that one vampire that he knows of entered the Underworld and was never seen again.” Returning to his conversation, he asked the historian to call him if he’d learned anything more and then pocketed his phone. “Come on, darling. Let’s go home.”

We left Dave, walked through my apartment, and headed out into the folly, with Fergus at our heels. Our folly was a magical space created by dragon builders. We were deep underground. I knew that, but to look around, you’d swear we were walking through the Shire under sunny, blue skies in Middle-earth.

Holding hands, we walked down the cart path, past the large pond and the hill housing our hobbit holes. My eyes teared up. We finally had our little piece of heaven, and I was about to leave it all so I could sneak into a realm governed by a god who was okay with me dying. I hated being scared, damn it.

Clive lifted my hand to his lips. “I’m scared too. I know we owe Meg, but I can’t just let you face this on your own.”

“I’ll have Bracken.”

Clive nodded. “That’s a start. The problem is that I don’t really know him. I’m not trusting your well-being to a long-lost relative we just met.”

“I mean, I can take care of myself. He’ll be my backup.”

He squeezed my hand as his brain raced. “The historian couldn’t find much on the vampire who’d disappeared in the Underworld. There’s a very good chance he was young and weak. There’s no guarantee I wouldn’t be fine accompanying you. I’m quite old⁠—”

“Decrepit,” I interrupted.

On an eyebrow raise, he continued, “and powerful. There’s every reason to believe we could do this together.”

I swung our joined hands between us. “I’m not taking that chance.” When he opened his mouth to argue, I said, “No. We’re not taking that chance. Stheno is thousands of years old. She knows what she’s talking about, and she says no. We listen to our expert friends and we change our strategy.”

Glancing over, I took in his furrowed brow and changed the subject. Sort of. “I don’t know if you heard, but Fyr suggested asking Coco to go with me.”

Clive turned at that. “Coco?”

When Fergus trotted back to my side, I patted him with my free hand. “That was my response as well.” We were crossing into a new section of the folly: the Canterbury of a thousand years ago, when Clive was alive and farming. “I kind of understand, though. I could see she was struggling when I had dinner at Owen and George’s. Alec is back, but she can’t get past what happened to him. Fyr thinks she needs to get out from under her grandmother’s scrutiny and do some dangerous stuff.”

Clive tipped his head to the side, considering. “Having a dragon on your side would be extremely helpful and he’s probably not wrong about her needing to shake up her life. The problem is Benvair. If we knowingly take her granddaughter into danger, she’ll rain fire down on us.”

“There’s that,” I agreed.

By the time we made it past the island and were in the garage, we’d decided to go visit Coco. We climbed into one of Clive’s cars, a sedan that Fergus fit in, and drove out into the night.

I called Coco’s number. I didn’t want to show up unannounced on her doorstep.

When she answered, I launched in, “Hi, Coco. It’s Sam. Would you mind if we stopped by to talk with you tonight?”

“Tonight? Now?” she asked.

“Yes, if you wouldn’t mind. I’m sorry to bother you, but we need to discuss something with you.”

“We?” Coco was clearly confused and wary of this phone call, which was making me regret pursuing this.

“Oh, sorry,” I said. “Clive and Fergus are with me.”

There was a pause. “Clive wants to come into my apartment?”

Clive glanced over at me before returning his gaze to the road. “Coco, that wouldn’t be necessary,” he said, his voice pitched so she’d hear him. “I certainly don’t want to make you uncomfortable. I can wait in the car, with or without Fergus. It’s really Sam who needs to talk with you, if you wouldn’t mind.”

I hadn’t realized Coco had a problem with vampires. Given her brother’s abduction and imprisonment by one, it made sense, but I hadn’t known. I tried hard not to let her fear or dislike of Clive color my opinion, but it wasn’t working.

“You know what?” I said. “We shouldn’t have sprung this on you. Never mind. We can discuss this another time. Sorry to have bothered you. Have a good night.” I hung up and Clive downshifted, pulling over to the side of the road.