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Mu’s grand plan—I was beginning to gain greater insight as to what it might be.

Damen scowled as he touched his glasses. “Bianca can’t summon shikigami,” was his response.

Of course, he’d be in denial—Huo had always been the most possessive of his abilities and the secrets they held.

“No one careshowKiania showed up.” But I could tell by his voice that he really, really did care. Damen’s jaw was stubbornly set as he glowered around the table. “We can’t wait for Titus anymore, but we also have no idea where they were going, and—notnowKasai.”

“Kasai?” Julian was standing, back to the wall, as he surveyed the room. “What does he want?”

“Don’t worry.” Damen shrugged him off. “Belial is up to something else shady in the underworld. But as usual, he’s harmless. I’ll get it under control once we figure out where Bianca is. Then we…what?”

“‘What’, what?” Julian asked, stepping forward. His caution was rippling through the room, causing my discomfort to grow.

Damen was running his fingers through his hair, agitation growing. “I’m not going to act as a translator. Just…” Then he whistled, summoning the shikigami into our realm.

As always, Damen’s call was answered almost instantaneously, and the white bird soared from the shadowy ceiling and landed directly in front of the onmyoji. “You’re not going to be able to contact the dragon,” he said. “He’s currently an unwilling part of Belial’s rebellion.”

“Whatareyou talking about?” Damen leaned toward his familiar. My skin felt tight as my worry grew and the voices of unrest that always lingered at the back of my mind grew stronger.

Bianca was gone, and—even though I tried to downplay it for my own sanity—she was most definitely in a life-threatening situation. Meanwhile we hadn’t the faintest idea where to begin to search.

And Titus was now missing too.

If Belial was involved with this in any way…

“The rumor in the Underworld is that you’re slipping,” Kasai replied cautiously. “Belial’s been undermining you for a while. I’m not entirely confident in the details, but shikigami talk. There’s a gathering of onmyoji working together to imprison the dragon indefinitely.”

“Well, they’re going to fail.” Damen was glowering. “It would take a massive amount of energy to keep him contained even with Belial’s help. I’d only be able to do it on my best days.”

Then Kasai spoke the words that shot ice through my heart. “Not if they have an almost infinite energy source.”

The shikigami didn’t need to elaborate, the answer was already clear. Wood nurtured Fire, as fae helped onmyoji grow stronger by enhancing their powers. And, no insult to Bryce’s strength as Er Bashou, but it was highly unlikely that any other fae could provide the power necessary to pull off such a feat.

But Bianca could.

So we knewwhatwas happening to Bianca, but still no ideawhereto find them. This also explained Julian’s pressing need to get to her. For Bianca—if this was truly what was happening—the presence of the necromancer now was, quite literally, a matter of life and death.

“Can you find out where they are?” Damen’s skin had paled, and he glanced to Finn. The blonde, in comparison, was turning a remarkable shade of red. He was staring at his clenched fists as they shook against the table. “And also,whyis Kiania not answering us?”

For a shikigami to ignore a summon from its master was a serious infringement of their contract.

“She refuses to leave,” Kasai smoothly replied. “She’s staying with Mu until they need her, and not even we can be two places at once. I’ll see what else I can learn.” Then the shikigami took to the air, fading out of sight even before he’d left the room.

“So…” Brayden began once the shikigami disappeared, eyeing Damen’s necklace. “Are you going to use that thing or what?”

The following silence was profound, and as Bryce crossed his arms, a smug, almost evil, grin on his lips.

“What?” Damen asked, not appearing innocent at all as he gripped at the charm. “What are you talking about?”

“Oh,please.” Brayden rolled his eyes. “It’s myjobto know these things. Do you honestly believe that I’m not aware of any and all portals in the area?”

“Just how much have you studied?” Damen snapped, another strike against his sanity. “Because if I use this, there’s no going back. You know that, right?”

“Yeah, yeah.” Damen’s low warning rolled off the fae without a care, and he shrugged. “It’ll open up a portal to the Underworld, blah blah blah. But think about it this way, you can just pop in there, track down Bianca that way, and then come back out.”

Damen’s dark look didn’t bode well, and my pulse soared in alarm as I realized he'd already been considering doing that very thing. Even Finn was glancing to his brother, eagerness etched heavily into his expression.

This didn’t bode well. As much as the urgent need to find Bianca called to me, even though it might possibly save her life.