Chapter 750: Home
I passed us through the veil, felt Mom reach for me the moment my feet touched down in the back yard. Liam wasn't home, I could tell immediately, felt his presence pulse at the wards to the Sidhe cavern. He was safe, at least.
Our reunion would have to wait.
Syd. Mom's power hugged me, desperate before releasing me again. What happened?
Quaid and the Zornovs gave me space, Max an immobile statue watching me as I turned away, eyes locked on the park beyond our back yard, mind focused on my mother.
Long, crazy, you'll never believe it story, I sent. Is everyone okay?
Yes, of course, she sent. Frightened and shaken, but whatever happened was over so fast we didn't have time to react between feeling like our magic was gone to everything snapping back into place again.
Whoa. What felt like forever to me had been an instant to them. Probably a good thing. Though knowing time literally held its breath while I made up my damned mind gave me the willies.
Short version, I sent, we won. The stronghold is empty, though there's an army of drach there standing guard over the fallen Brotherhood, so you might want to move your Enforcer's butts before Max's people take over for good.
Not that I was really worried, but it felt good to joke about something.
Anything.
Oh, I sent as an afterthought while her mind branched off from mine, probably to talk to Pender. Mia Dumont is in their custody too. Mom. I hesitated. She doesn't remember anything.
Mom's sadness told me what I needed to know. You realize it won't matter, she sent. The law is the law. And the Councils will be looking for someone to punish.
I know. I let it go, handed it over to Mom to let her deal with.
I had other things to think about.
I'm going after Ameline. I know Mom must have felt the satisfaction in my magic, because it ripped through me in a powerful flash of absolute horrendous joy.
Save me a piece, Mom said, equally vicious.
We'll see.
I looked up at Max, felt his sorrow hovering around him, pushed my empathy for his feelings aside. "I need help," I said. "Can you track her through the veil?"
He nodded, took my hand again. "Like this," he said. And left Quaid and the Zornovs behind, carrying me into the place between planes.
I saw her path immediately, cold and tingling, old from the way it sparked in tiny pinpoints.
She was here once, Max sent.
The day she attacked Gram. Perfect. Except.
She's been a lot of places since here, I sent. I'd rather not retrace every single time she's been in the veil.
Agreed, he sent. Then call to her power and find its most recent trail.
Interesting. I opened my maji power, connected with Ameline's, remembering the feeling of her, of Ahbi and Gram, of the Sidhe soul she carried, of the darkness of Belaisle's sorcery and the taint of the vampire's thrall.
Like a rubber band snapping into place, I traveled in a straight shot to connect with her, the tingling buzz of my first discovery burning with fresh power.
Excitement heated my heart. She was here recently, I sent, eagerness set on explode.
She was, Max sent. But a day ago.
Damn it. I focused tighter, now that I knew how her path felt. Connected again with an even more powerful trail.
But this time it was easier for me to decipher the frame of reference, hours passed, distance. She was here last, I sent. But before the battle. Where the hell were we? A soft touch to the edge of the veil told me. Core.
The home of the dark maji.
No wonder her trail thrummed and hummed and sizzled along my power. Because it wasn't just hers I sensed, but mine, too. Max and Mabel's. Now that I knew where I was, what I was feeling, I could separate our trails from hers.
Again, Max sent. But only Ameline.
Only Ameline.
I knew I had the hang of it now, felt Max's support, his approval as I maneuvered the veil, able to feel the separation between planes. Feeling the veil keeping my home from Demonicon was only a small section, the veil itself going on and on, a labyrinth of walls and doorways, gates and sealed worlds, all bound together by the slippery, rubber membrane around me.
I pulled to a halt finally, near home, frustrated and irritated. The only path of Ameline's I could find was wrong, all wrong. Thinking I was smart, I returned to the stronghold plane in what felt like-and I now knew was-the center of everything, and went looking. But her energy there was missing demon power and Sidhe, weaker than I'd felt her in a long time.
Had to be an old trail.
Craptastic. I felt Max beside me, hovering, waiting in silence. I lost her. Which meant she had to be back at the stronghold, hadn't entered the veil at all. Do we go back?
She's not at the stronghold, he sent with so much conviction I instantly believed him.
Fine, not there. Then I would check in with every single race I knew, even if I had to tear the planes apart one at a time to find her.
First stop was a no brainer and I was glad I made it the moment I stepped out of the veil and into the Sidhe Gate cavern. Liam came running at once, swinging me into his arms, face pressed to my neck as he whispered his love to me over and over again. I kissed him, legs twined around his waist, laughing and breathless over his mouth as he leaned away and smiled.
"I knew it," he said. "My hero."
I laughed, head back, loud and ringing. "Smartass husband," I said. Kissed him a little more thoroughly while the heat of our connection crawled down my stomach and legs.
"I mean it," he said. "You're the most amazing and best thing that has ever happened to me and I can't believe you're my wife."
Sniffle. "Even though I'm a trouble magnet?" I giggled. "And almost get everyone-including myself-killed on a regular basis?"
"Because of that," he said. "I love trouble. You didn't know?"
Galleytrot cleared his throat, waggling his doggy brows suggestively as his big tongue lolled out the side of his mouth. But his tail was wagging and, when Liam set me down, the big dog rumbled a happy greeting as I hugged him hard.
"Nice to see you safe and sound," he said.
"You, too." I straightened, sighed. "I'm only here for a minute. I'll tell you everything later. But right now, I'm hunting Ameline."
Liam's frown told me immediately he wasn't happy about this turn of events. "Where is she?"
"Silly," I said, "if I knew that, she's be dead already."
Galleytrot growled. "Is she on this plane?"
I hesitated. "Don't know," I said. "Something's wonky." I turned to Max who watched me with his sad diamond eyes. "Could she have masked her trail somehow, knowing I'd be after her?"
"Possible," he said. "Perhaps we'll have more luck if we search for that trail on the actual planes themselves."
Wow. "I can do that?"
He smiled, though it didn't take away his odd grief. "You can. And you already know how."
Wicked cool.
I kissed Liam one more time, went to Max, took his big hand. Turned and blew my husband one last smooch while he closed the gap between himself and the giant hound, hand on Galleytrot's head as we stepped back into the veil.
And out again on the other side of the Sidhe wards.
Now, Max's voice sent. Look.
I did as he'd taught me in the veil itself, seeking out Ameline. Felt her touch with the vampires, though I knew it was probably an old trail.
Stepped through the veil to Castle Wilhelm anyway.
***
