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“I am. As sure as I am about giving you what I promised.”

I glanced over my shoulder at Mira, who understood at once and laid the package on the table. I tore off the brown paper and twine so he could see the sealed wooden box and read the engraved gold plaque on its lid.

A pinpoint of red spread from his pupils to blot out his irises.

“It was the only way, I swear.” I held up both hands, palms out. “And, for the record, I would have given it to you whether you gave me any information or not.”

The red sucked back into his pupils in a flash and disappeared. He reached out with one shaking hand to touch the top of the box.

“If this is a trick, Harker,” he whispered, “I will spend decades killing you.”

“It’s real enough, Zick. Go home and enjoy.”

I stood, cut my eyes over to Mira, and tilted my head toward the door. We were done here. As we turned to go, though, she thought of one more question.

“What did he steal?”

“Hmm?” Zick tore his eyes away from the box.

“Castle. From the Nepali Sanctuary. Why else would he break in if he didn’t want to take something?”

“Clever girl. He stole a sword from a dragon’s horde.” His gaze dropped back to the box and he finally picked it up. “When the dragon awoke and realized it was missing, all Hell broke loose.”

“The earthquake?” she asked. “All those poor people died because a sword was stolen?”

“Dragons.” He shrugged, as if that said it all. “Of all the lessons life will teach you, only three matter. One, sometimes the hero wins. Two, sometimes the villain wins.”

“And three,” she finished for him, “sometimes the dragon wins.”

“Harker, she’s a keeper.” He grinned and his razor-sharp canines glittered like diamonds.

Well, shoot! Who could’ve known the old leech would actually break his face and smile for once? There’s no way she won’t guess now .

Sure enough, Mira spun her head to look at me and her eyes lit up with satisfaction. I made an ugly face at her, which made her laugh.

Zick walked out of Mammoth’s with us, then stopped us when we would have gone our separate ways.

“Why, Harker?” He gave me a look that made my guts squirm around. “You said you planned to give this to me either way. Why? That’s not the Harker I know.”

“Yeah, well, let’s say I can understand your situation now in a way I couldn’t before.” I rammed my fists into my coat pockets.

“This,” he touched the box, “is worth more than I paid. I owe you. I hesitate to ask, lest I find myself even more indebted to you, but what was the cost?”

“I had to kill Caturix.”

He blinked, then burst out laughing.

“Then perhaps I do owe you two favors. Take this as one.” He shook back his sleeve and held his free hand out to Mira. A dozen silver charms hung from a chain bracelet. “Think of a place as you crush a charm and you’ll arrive there in a blink.”

“Whoa!”

I knew Zick had hoarded some amazing artifacts during his long life, but this was truly a treasure. When Mira looked at me, I nodded, and she unlatched it from his wrist.

“How many can one charm transport at a time?” I asked.

“Two alukah or three nephilim or four humans. Other beings or combinations, I am not sure. Maintain contact with each other, crush the charm, and focus on your destination.”

He explained there was no limit on distance, but the charms could not go to an imaginary place, travel through time, or enter a warded location.

“This is too much,” I started to say, but he cut me off.

“For your heart, would you not give all? That is a trinket compared to what you have restored to me.”

“One last thing, Zick. As my second favor.” I lowered my voice and leaned closer. “Who has the peri queen?”

“Any other day, Harker, I’d make a fortune off that knowledge.” He narrowed his eyes for a second, then shrugged. “My debt to you, however, is greater. Og has her.”

Oh, good. I fingered the long scar that ran from my mouth to my jaw. Very good.

Then he was gone, scurrying down the sidewalk a little faster than would pass for normal, but none of the humans seemed to notice.

Mira pulled off one of the charms and held it out to me, and my pulse sped up.

“I know you wanna try it. I would, too. But I don’t like the idea of you going alone. You could end up in a nest of goblins with no ally or stuck somewhere you can’t escape. At least take the bracelet with you so you can beam back.”

She pooled it in her palm and held it out to me, and I frowned, but took it.

I knew this was probably a waste of a charm, that my enemies would certainly have Gemma warded, but hope rose in my chest and wouldn’t die.

So I shut my eyes and pictured Gemma. As I smashed the charm, adrenaline jolted through me, but I knew instantly it hadn’t worked.

I could still hear the sounds of traffic and smell Mira’s distinctive scent of taint and metal filings and courage.

I kept my eyes closed and took a deep breath.

“I’m sorry,” I heard her say. “But we’re gonna find her, Kerry.”

“I know. I won’t stop until I do.”

“Oh, crap! We shoulda asked Zick what the avatar looked like! Do you think we can catch up with him?” “No.” I opened my eyes. “But don’t worry. We’ll know the avatar when we find him.”

“How?”

“Well, for one, me and Rome will smell the Hell-rot on him. Two, his eyes will be weird.” I shook my head. “They never get that part right. They always look like lizard eyes or something.”

“Oh. Okay, then. Right. Let’s move on to the next stop in this scavenger hunt. Are we close enough to walk from here?”

“Ten blocks or so.” I shrugged. “No problem for me. You?”

“Nah.”

“Here. You can be its keeper.” I handed her the bracelet, and she shook her head. “No, really. I got a feeling about it.”

She tried to argue, but I simply took her wrist and put it on her.

“Shouldn’t we tell someone who has Parvenah?” she asked as we started walking. “The wardens would want to rescue her, right?”

“Yeah, but the wardens as a whole are worthless so long as there’s a traitor on the Council.” And I wanna settle up with Og myself. In a very final way. “Let’s keep it between us for right now until I can think about it some more.”

“You know the players better than me, so I’ll trust your judgment.” Then she asked a question I’d expected as soon as we left Mammoth’s. “What was in that package to make the vampire react like that?”

“His wife, Crina. And I prefer the term alukah.”

I was a step and a half ahead before I realized she’d stopped and had to back up.

“His wife.” She leveled her eyes at me.

“An urn of her ashes. She’s fine, Mira. A few drops of blood and she’ll be back to normal. I didn’t kill her permanently.”

“ You killed her?” she shrieked and several people glanced at her before hurrying on their way. “You … what? Staked her?”

“No. That would be permanent.” I rolled my eyes, holding on to my patience. “And I just said I didn’t do that. I fireballed her.”

When she gasped, I realized she didn’t know squat about leeches.

“Trust me, Boots, she was happy. As soon as I understood who she was, I racked my brain for ideas to get her outta there while not getting myself killed. I didn’t have much to work with and I was running outta time. It was the best I could do.”

“And who’s Caturix?”

“Her twin brother.” I curled my lip. “Him, I did kill permanently.”

She stared at me for a full minute, then shook her head.

“You have led a very interesting life, my friend.”

“Gemma said I need to write a book. Maybe I will when I’m an old, old man.” I rammed my hands in my jacket pockets. “If I live that long. My heart’s gonna give out any day now.”

Mira lifted one hand, like she wanted to touch me. I went still, but she only held her fingers near my elbow.

“May I?”

It took me a second to understand she wanted to slip her hand through my arm.

I shrugged and she did what she wanted, then asked if I was good.

“Yeah. Let’s go.”

As I escorted her up the street, I pretended she was someone else. She didn’t smell right, she was the wrong height, and her hair wasn’t red, but if I tried hard enough, I could pretend she was Gemma.

And for a second, I was content.

I didn’t do it to disrespect Mira in any way, but I knew who belonged on my arm.

Aw, she’s probably pretending I’m Rome right now anyway . And if she isn’t, she should be. Uh-oh. Wait. Is she— No. Is she getting the wrong idea here?

I glanced down at her and saw she was looking ahead with a soft smile on her lips, her golden eyes all dreamy and warm.

“Uh, you are imagining I’m Rome, right?”

Please, don’t look like that while thinking about me .

“Um-hmm.” She laid her head on my bicep. “Just as you’re imagining I’m Gemma. Now, be quiet. You’re ruining my fantasy.”

I shut up, and we walked on in silence.