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After I’d finally spotted Felicia, still safely with her buddies, I slipped through the crowd to Harriet’s elbow.

“Hi,” I said.

“What are you doing here?” she said.

“I got Felicia.” I jerked my head in my sister’s direction. “Who’s your girl?”

Harriet tapped the girl on the shoulder. She turned. I revised her age upward. “Soo-Yung Kim, meet an acquaintance of mine, Lizbeth Rose.” The young woman gave Harriet a dark look.

“I’m sorry,” Harriet said. “The proper introduction is Kim Soo-Yung.”

The girl extended her hand. “I am pleased to meet you,” she said. Her English was accented but clear.

“Pleased to meet you too,” I said, and we shook for half a second. Soo-Yung had pegged me for a non-magical on the spot.

“Princess Savarova is here with her sister, Felicia Karkarova Dominguez,” Harriet told her charge.

“Your sister is one of the Dominguez family?” Soo-Yung was impressed. The most famous witches in Mexico had a worldwide reputation, I had discovered the past couple of days.

“Now there are only two left, Felicia and her aunt,” I told the girl.

“I’d like to meet her,” Soo-Yung said shyly.

“Of course. Just a word in your ear: better to not ask questions about the family.” I took the young woman over to the three girls and introduced her, then returned to Harriet. We had a clear view of our charges. The four were talking a mile a minute.

“You’re here in San Diego to work this all week?” Harriet raised her darkened eyebrows.

“I am. Not even getting paid.” I smiled for half a second. “You hear that someone shot at Felicia yesterday in the Japanese Friendship Garden?”

“Arrows, I heard. You were there? You sure she was the target?”

“Assuming it. Felix took a hit.”

“Felix… the little dark wizard I met in Dixie? The one who was such a pain in the butt?”

“The very same. He’s married to Eli’s little sister.” I gave Harriet a very level look. She nodded. Message received. “Turns out, he’s distant kin to Felicia. He’s been teaching Felicia at the school. She’s a death grigori, like Felix.”

“Impressive,” Harriet said. “That explains a lot.”

Harriet Ritter wasn’t impressed by much of anything, and my back straightened a bit. I was used to my sister’s power, both exciting and dreadful. It was good to be reminded how singular she was. “What about your gal?” I said. “You friends with the family?”

“Her folks sent a kind of nanny with Soo-Yung, but the woman’s about a million years old and speaks no English.

Maybe. She doesn’t trust me enough to level with me.

They hired me to be her transportation and protection.

We’re staying in a boardinghouse. Not exactly fancy, but I don’t care.

It’s easier to keep an eye on the neighborhood. ”

“Hmmm.” I was sure there was more to it than that. Soo-Yung looked wealthy. The wealthy are well taken care of, as a rule. The ancient woman might seem helpless, but I was willing to bet she wasn’t. “Soo-Yung’s family have a lot of enemies?”

“Yes, absolutely. I had to read up on Korea when I took the job. It’s occupied by the Japanese. That’s why I was so interested in the attack on your girl. Soo-Yung’s father, I gather, is anti-Japanese, so the regime has it in for him.”

“No wonder they need you to watch out for her. How old is Soo-Yung?” I asked.

“Twenty,” Harriet said. “Hard to tell, isn’t it?”

“I’m surprised she was interested in meeting Felicia. At that age, there’s a big gap between sixteen and twenty.”

“Dominguez is a name everyone in the magical world has heard. It’s Soo-Yung’s first time here in the Holy Russian Empire, the first time she’s been Listed, and her first Wizards’ Ball. She needs some friends to help her enjoy it.”

“Hmph.”

“Your gal is kind of well known.”

That was an understatement.

It’s bound to happen when you’re a death grigori. Also bound to happen when you kill your family to keep them from kidnapping you and selling you to the highest bidder. “Soo-Yung got any followers?”

“Mostly other Asians,” Harriet said. “A white boy from upstate California made nice with her yesterday for a few minutes.”

“Has a real pretty sister? Anna?”

Harriet nodded.

“Nikolai’s a nice kid, but he’s not all there in the head.

I don’t know if he’s slow-witted, or something else.

Katerina has a brother, too, but he got thrown out of Rasputin for something.

That can’t be good.” I grinned. “Even if Paul was a great human being, which Felicia says he isn’t, his mom won’t shut up about him, so he’s not in my good books. ”

“That’s Katerina Swindoll over there with my girl and yours?”

Harriet had done her homework. “Yep,” I said. “And her friend Fenolla Gregory, who is half-Sudanese and half-English. Fenolla likes to pose. She calls herself crazy. She is anything but.”

“She’s a beauty, isn’t she?”

I nodded. “Her mother is here, Samaah, and she’s even prettier.”

I felt so much better with Harriet here. Another pair of watchful eyes. “By the way, we had trouble with an Asian grigori last summer,” I remembered. “He was from an immigrant group living in Brazil, Korean or Chinese. I hope Soo-Yung is not his kin.”

“What was his name?”

“Chin-Hao Costa? Something like that.”

“I’ll ask her. I don’t think that’s a Korean name, and Soo-Yung’s family doesn’t have a branch in Brazil.”

“He practiced a Korean magic called land-folding. Quick travel.” It had given me the creeps, though I’d been able to save Felicia from the woman who’d taken her.

“Doesn’t mean he’s a hundred percent Korean. Sounds like he’s a blend of Chinese, Korean, and Portuguese.”

“It’s good they’re not connected.”

“Understood.”

We were quiet for a moment, our eyes on our girls. Fenolla was waving her hands in the air, imitating something buzzy, and Katerina was laughing along with Soo-Yung. Felicia was smiling and shaking her head.

“I really hate this,” I said, surprising myself. I waved my hand to indicate the crowded room full of dressed-up women.

Harriet was the only person I could tell.

“It’s not what I thought I’d be doing when I joined Iron Hand,” Harriet agreed. “And it’s a far cry from one of your gun crews.”

For the first time in what felt like days, I smiled from my heart, rather than with my face. “What did you think you’d be doing, when Iron Hand hired you?”

“Running from gators in Dixie. Getting you out of a trainwreck.” If the train station in Ciudad Juárez was my worst memory, the train wreck in Dixie was the second worst. “Anything but chaperoning a little Korean magician in San Diego while she’s trying to find a suitable husband.”

I laughed. It felt like a long time since I’d done that, too. I wanted to ask Harriet if she’d gotten a new partner—either at work or in life—but I forbore. Her last partner had been lynched in Dixie. I’d seen him swinging from a tree.

I didn’t ever want to see another hanging, if I could help it.

As if she’d read my mind, Harriet said, “I’m getting married in a month.”

“That’s good news. Who’s the lucky person?”

“Bob Webster. He’s an Iron Hand negotiator.”

“What’s that mean?” I didn’t mind confessing ignorance to Harriet.

“If you’ve had a relative kidnapped, or you’ve had a picture stolen, and the thieves want to sell either one back to you, Bob makes it happen.”

“I’ll bet that’s not as calm or orderly as it sounds.”

“Pretty tense occupation, as he tells it.”

“You going to keep working?”

“As long as I can. No kids, unless God plays a trick on us.”

I nodded. I’d lost one baby early in pregnancy.

Eli had had a hard time telling me how that had made him feel. His dad had not encouraged sharing feelings. Most men, in my bit of experience, aren’t good at that. I’d like to be pregnant again. Now that I had my little half brother, Samuel, he was filling the hole in my life. For the moment.

“How’s your prince?” Harriet said, coming right in on the tail of my thoughts. “Liking Texoma?”

I sighed heavily. “Yes and no. He’s a lot more relaxed. But I’m not sure he wants to be.”

“Too bad. Whoops, she’s on the move. Talk to you later.”

Harriet coasted off, maneuvering among the women like a shark in a minnow tank. Soo-Yung had gone to one of the refreshment tables. I stood some more. I waited.

After what seemed like hours, Felicia signaled she thought it was time to go. I was ready to leave, of course, though it had been real pleasant having Harriet to talk to, someone who understood my life.

We did our duty, telling Tatiana how much we’d enjoyed the afternoon and saying goodbye to Madame Semyonova, who was almost asleep in her chair.

I nodded to Harriet, who was with Soo-Yung.

They were also in line to say their goodbyes.

As we made our way down the porch steps, I was so relieved I almost broke into a sprint.

The front yard seemed so much quieter, even with the traffic occasionally going by. I could swing my arms without hitting anyone. The relief was huge.

My sister wasn’t reading my mood. She just kept on talking . Where was the dangerous grigori who loved explosions? Normally Felicia was an eagle. This week she was a butterfly.

After tolerating this as long as I could, I said, “Have you put any thought into who could have fired the arrows at you?”

An angry butterfly. “I’m having a good time! I’m meeting people who aren’t scared of me! They actually want to know me! They might want to marry me!” Her lips pressed together in a furious line.

My timing had been crummy. I admitted it to myself. “I’m sorry for bringing the ‘kill Felicia’ part of this week up. But it’s a very important part.”

She scowled. “I know that. But I want to have a good week with fun people. Just for a while .”

“I understand. But you have to be alive to do that.”

“I may have had a talk with Felix and Eli,” she said sullenly. “Three days ago. While you were unpacking.”

Before I could ask her what that talk had been about, I spotted the Savarov car parked at the curb. Eli was in the driver’s seat. He was staring into space.