by Mark Henwick
Holding it up against the light, Tullah photographed it with her cellphone.
“I’ll log in to send it,” she said, meaning when we had access to some internet and could use Matt’s untraceable email system.
I finished my champagne.
“Of course, you must stay in the guest rooms,” Dominé said. “Behind the shop on the opposite side of the road. Not for club members, naturally—for staff and friends.”
Tullah was trying to shake her head without Dominé seeing it.
“Thanks. That would be great,” I said. “Just for one night. We’ll find our way around tomorrow.”
“Dante will take you over. Maybe we will have dinner to celebrate finding your friends. There are some wonderful places to eat if you know where.”
We left it like that, and Dante took us out of an emergency exit and across the street.
Chapter 20
“You sure about this, Boss?” Tullah said after she’d finished sweeping the room for bugs.
I sighed. I’d showered quickly while she’d searched, and I was toweling my hair.
The room was small and neat, with two double beds. It could have been any small hotel, but the huge advantage was we were untraceable. Just so long as Dominé was trustworthy.
“Yeah,” I said finally. Like any hotel or motel room, this place would be a nightmare to try and defend from a serious attack. The front door was off a passage with a single entry and exit point. The windows overlooked a flat roof and a tiny courtyard, currently full of the Hill Bitch. Having our car close at hand was good, but the roof was easy access for someone to get to us.
My initial thought had been to go to sleep fully dressed and ready to run, but I decided I trusted Dominé enough to wear some sweats that Jen had packed for me when my House decided to send me off to New Mexico.
Which thoughts brought me to how to call home.
Tullah had brought a couple of new encrypting phones that her boyfriend Matt had set up to connect securely with the phones at home or the Kingslund Group, but I used her laptop and the room’s internet connection instead.
I found Tullah had installed new levels of security which prevented me from using the webcam, so it was voice only, but I got through immediately. Despite the hour, they must have been waiting by the computer.
“Honey—”
“Amber—”
Alex and Jen spoke over each other.
“Are you okay?”
Having just their voices to listen to didn’t stop my heart from aching when I heard them.
“I’m fine,” I managed without tearing up. Been away a day and it was like I’d had bits of me forcibly torn out. Man up, Farrell. “What about you?”
“We’re fine,” Jen said. “We’re here surrounded by guards, in a safe place, not alone in the middle of enemy territory.”
“I’m not alone, but I would have been if I’d planned it.”
“Ah. Yes—” Jen started, but Alex overrode her. “Had to do it this way.”
I let it pass. I wasn’t going to spend time arguing with them. “Yelena?” I should have been there. I shouldn’t have dropped this problem on them. What if she’d—
Jen laughed, a lovely rich sound, even on the laptop speakers. “Well, no complaints from Gary and Leon. She’ll be upset she missed you, but she was dead on her feet. I sent her to bed. I think one of the twins might have snuck in with her.”
I sighed. That sounded as if it’d gone better than it might have.
“Alex?” I wanted his opinion as well.
“I only saw her very briefly at dinner, but she wants it to work, and I like her.” He growled a little. “It’ll be better when her marque’s changed.”
“Does Pia think—”
“She’s just come in now.”
“Hi, Amber,” Pia said quietly. “If you’re asking whether we’ll be successful changing her marque, then yes, of course. It’ll be even easier when you’re biting, but David and I have started already.”
Manassah had been Bite Central today, by the sound of it.
“That’s good, but I guess what I was really asking is, will she really be part of our House? She’s Carpathian and she’s been acting the part of a Basilikos. We’re Panethus.”
Pia hummed a bit before answering carefully. “Well…I can’t give you a definitive yes or no. The Carpathians wouldn’t have sent her out to live like she did if they hadn’t conditioned her to be able to handle it. But that would mean she could default back to Carpathian behavior, and we know next to nothing about that, without access to Skylur or Diana. She says she will tell us everything, but she wants to talk to you first. And that should be face to face, I think.”
“And Nick? I think I’m hearing Yelena and the twins didn’t stop at Blood. I understand he’s in hiding somewhere, but do we know what he’s feeling about this?”
“Not at the moment,” Pia said.
She seemed to have more to say.
“What is it?”
“We’re growing House Farrell, but not to a plan. We need three or four kin for every Athanate.” She frowned. “It’s a problem, and it will get worse quickly.”
Everything seemed to be a problem.
Jen spoke again. “Honey, Bian’s going to be coming over soon. I know what she told you to do, but I don’t want her to have proof of the fact that you’re in Albuquerque, so we need to finish this quickly.”
I understood. Bian was in a difficult position. Some things, like actually hearing evidence that I was in New Mexico, would have to be reported to Naryn, and I wanted him on my case like I wanted hives. Of course, if Naryn actually questioned Bian, he’d find out what she’d told me to do anyway, but hopefully, he was too busy.
The trouble was, there was so much to organize with my House.
“Okay, I hear you, Pia. Let’s talk alternatives next time I call. Meanwhile, I’m emailing David an image which we think is a map of some kind—something here in Albuquerque. Please get him to look at it for me.”
If anyone could solve Larry’s puzzle, it was David.
“Will do,” Alex said. “And you need to call Agent Ingram. He’s been trying to find you.”
“Yeah.” That, I’d expected. “And what about Keith?”
“He’s calmed down some. Julie’s okay, but Keith not so much. I guess we need to be able to show him he and Julie are safe,” Jen said. “Oh, yes. Our lawyers have had Noble’s court order thrown out.”
I’d forgotten all about that. Noble’s scheme had involved getting me institutionalized in his care, and that needed a court order declaring me mentally incapable.
“Thanks—”
“De nada. We’re doing everything to back you up. Alex has sent you an email with what we know about the New Mexico Were,” Jen said, “and Pia’s put in everything about House Romero.”
“Which isn’t much,” Pia said. “Bian’s at the gate now. We have to finish this.”
“Last thing,” Jen said. “Alice Emerson was pretty clear she wants you to hold off from both your Were and Athanate sides for the moment. No changing, no biting. I’ve put what she said in the email as well.”
“Wait. Wait,” I said. “Bian’s there now? This is about Naryn wanting kin—”
“Trust us,” Jen said. “Alex, stall Bian for a second, please. Honey, I’m sorry, I know this is going to freak you out. I’m going to Haven.”
“Jen! No!”
“Listen to me. Because Alex and I are your kin, we’re head of the House kin as well. We’ve both agreed, we’re not sending anyone else there until we know we can trust Naryn. We’re discussing it with Bian tonight. The point is, I’m a prominent citizen. Naryn won’t dare do anything bad to me.”
I tried to interrupt again, but she rolled on.
“You’ve got to put this aside and concentrate on your job, which is to get Diana back. That’s for your own health as well as stopping Naryn from pulling this kind of shit.” She raced on. “Gotta go. Talk again tomorrow. I
love you, honey, I love you. We love you.”
Her voice had gotten scratchy. She shut off the connection and it felt like she’d cut a physical link between us.
Tullah emerged from the shower, hair wrapped in a towel like an Indian princess.
“All okay?” she asked.
I nodded. No, it wasn’t, not by miles, but I had to admit, this was what we had to be doing. Jen’s decision was only what I should have expected of her if I’d thought about it instead of reacting with my gut.
It sucked. It all sucked.
“So…time for school then,” Tullah said. “Magic 101.”
“Uh, no.” I gave myself a shake. “Advanced Dragon first. You there, lizard?”
The room got fuzzy. The dragon’s body seemed to emerge from the walls. Next to the door, the small desk and flat screen TV disappeared, to be replaced by Kaothos’ head and unblinking eyes.
“Isn’t someone going to feel that, or whatever it is that Adepts do when they sense someone using the energy?” I spoke out loud; it was more natural than thinking words at Kaothos.
Dragon laughter.
“If I did manifest, yes, they certainly would. It would also be uncomfortable for me to manifest in a wall. Untidy, too, as far as the wall is concerned.”
“So you’re just messing with my head again.”
Kaothos blinked.
Tullah looked back and forth suspiciously.
“You two were talking in the car? You’ve been planning something?”
“We were talking and we planned this discussion. I have lied to you, Tullah. I am sorry. I was trying to protect us, but it was wrong.”
Tullah had gone pale and tight-lipped.
Okay, maybe that could have been introduced better.
“There is good news,” I said, and Tullah glared at me.
“This isn’t a joke—”
“No, it isn’t. What Kaothos lied about, by not telling you, is that we can remove the lock on your powers.”
“But…” She stopped and her face went blank. After a while, a little frown line appeared between her eyebrows. “This isn’t about me knowing, it’s about Ma knowing?”
I nodded.
Normally, it was Tullah who’d tell me that she wished she could do what I did and put everything else aside and focus like that. Now I was thinking the same thing about her. At least one of us was working efficiently.
We sat silently for a minute, Tullah’s face turned toward Kaothos, and I guessed they were in conversation. The frown line disappeared briefly and then came back worse than before.
“No!” Tullah said. “Amber, it might damage you again if we use you as a sink for the lock’s working.”
“Okay…I don’t know what you two are saying to each other, but what are the alternatives? Would the Denver community ever unlock you once they find out about Kaothos?”
“Ma could break the lock.”
“Would she? Go against the whole community? I know she’s going against Weaver at the moment, but I get the feeling that none of the community would trust you and Kaothos. Am I right?”
“Amber is correct,” Kaothos said.
“But what if we kill Hana?” Tullah said. “We hurt her so badly before, she’s barely able to talk to you.”
It was true, Hana hadn’t developed into the sort of talkative spirit guide that I’d expected when I’d first become aware of her.
“I think some of that is because she’s helping with the Were side of me,” I said. “She helped me fight Noble. She helped me be a wolf.”
“Possibly,” Kaothos said. “Sit back for a moment.”
I slid up the bed until I was leaning back against the headboard.
Hana appeared on my lap—a warm, sleeping bundle curled up nose to tail, bigger than she had been before.
Kaothos was just a visual illusion. Hana was warm and heavy. I could feel her fur. I scratched behind her ears gently and she stirred without waking.
“She’s still a pup,” I said, even though she’d grown much more than an ordinary wolf would have in the few weeks since I’d known she was there.
“A spirit guide’s appearance changes with the growth of the bond between you.”
“We think the damage isn’t permanent,” Tullah said, glancing aside at Kaothos. “She’s just recovering. The sleep is like her representation of the state you two are in. Helping you with your wolf instincts is something else entirely.”
“Is there a difference for Hana between channeling your energy through me, like I did for the explosion at Longmont, and this acting as a sink that you’re talking about?”
“It is different, but it’s still channeling energy.”
“It’s important,” I said. “We have to get your capabilities back.”
“Why? I can’t use them. If I do, I’m going to light up the town with an Adept signature that will have every one of them hunting me down. Even when we go back to Denver, I’ll have to spend all my time not using it. The community will completely freak out when they discover Kaothos. If they find out by Kaothos blowing up another building…”
“Okay. Okay. We have to do it sometime and we have to reveal Kaothos as a well-behaved little dragon, maybe with the help of the Adepts from the Empire of Heaven.”
“If I came up with that, Boss, you’d have said it wasn’t so much a plan as a handful of straws to grasp.”
I had to laugh. I’d taught her too well.
“How strong are you exactly, lizard?”
“Stronger than any of them.” I could hear the pride in her words. “I will grow stronger than the whole community together.”
“Yeah, and I can see why that might worry them.”
“But to do that, I will need Tullah able to channel more energy and that—”
“Yeah, I remember, she needs to be infused with Athanate prions. You want me to bite her. Not happening at the moment.”
“I understand.”
“Make sure you do.” Tullah and I spoke together.
“Not that it’s going to be a problem,” Tullah said hesitantly, looking away, “when you’re sure you’re okay.”
My Athanate flexed in pleasurable anticipation.
Hana vanished. I took a break in the bathroom to calm down. Not what I needed at the moment—my Athanate getting hot to bite again.
I came back and climbed into bed. Kaothos had vanished too, and I found I wasn’t in the mood for Magic 101.
Tullah didn’t take the hint.
She sat in the lotus position on the edge of her bed and clapped her hands together, smiling like a primary school teacher.
“Now class, pay attention.”
“Do we have to?” I whined, laying it on. Couldn’t give my apprentice an easy time.
“Yup. The sooner we start, the sooner we’ll be finished.”
“Mary said we shouldn’t do any channeling.”
“Everyone can channel a tiny bit. That creates enough background noise that what we do won’t register at all.” She clapped her hands again. “No more excuses. Now, there are reasons Adepts don’t explain about the energy, and one of them is it’s very difficult. If you’re teaching someone something physical, or scientific, you can show them. You can go through the working from the first principles. There are rules. It works every time, or there are reasons why it doesn’t. There are words for everything that people agree on, more or less.” She hugged a pillow to herself. “The energy isn’t like that. Every interaction is personal. I can’t really tell you what it will feel like for you. I can’t tell you how to do something. I don’t have the words to best capture what you need. I can’t give you a book of rules. I won’t be able to explain why it doesn’t work sometimes. All I can do is guide your learning, but that’s a long process.”
“Wow, I feel better already.”
There was a sizzling laugh in the darkness. She was still here, of course.
“Attend to your lesson, pupil.”
“Go lie on a hot rock, lizard.�
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“Hold on. Can I block Kaothos?” I asked. “Prevent her from knocking me out?”
Tullah nodded. “Just the same as you prevented Matlal from attacking you by making a mental barrier, you can do the same for Kaothos.”
There was an unspoken at the moment behind her words which gave me a shiver.
“Diana taught me to fuel that with anger. Does that mean if I lose the anger, I lose the ability?”
“No. Once you’ve done something like that it becomes easier to do it again, and then it starts being something you want to do. Like Dominé was saying about vasana. That’s why we have to be so careful with the energy.”
This was making me feel so much happier. Not.
“Chatima said there was a difference between shamanic and, what was it, ‘new ways?’ What’s that about?”
“As good a place to start as any,” Tullah said. “Modern Adepts regard shamanic workings about the same as completely untrained workings.”
She scratched her head. “The modern way is to work everything from first principles. All very formal. You don’t learn to set something on fire, you learn to vary its temperature until it reaches the point it catches fire. That kinda thing.”
“Shamanic works much more on intuition and feel. Visualization and ritual. Your spirit guide helps. They’re like a reservoir of instinct about what will work. And of course, they’re a better channel to the energy.”
“Does that mean I’m wasting my time until Hana starts talking to me?”
“No, we can get you doing some small workings, in preparation for when she recovers. And the necklace probably doesn’t need Hana.”
“Okay. I guess it’s shamanic.” I rubbed the beads between my fingers. I liked the smoothness, the warmth they seemed to hold.
“Yeah. The working certainly isn’t a step by step. Ma might be able to understand it, but most Adepts would just get confused.” She clapped her hands. “Let’s try lesson 101. It’s common to shamanic and modern. Close your eyes.”
When I’d obeyed, she went on. “As you know from Ma, magic isn’t the word we use. We just call it energy. We don’t know where it comes from or where it goes to, but I want you to visualize it flowing through you. Try to think of it like air, or pure, pure water, welling up inside you and flowing out in every direction.”