I lifted my chin at Finn. "Would you open that door there? Tim's gonna blow. He needs some open s.p.a.ce so we don't get hurt."

My roommate's frustrated screams echoed back into the room as he flew out the door. At least, for me they did. The others sat there with blank expressions on their faces, oblivious to the true conversation. I sighed happily, my equilibrium restored. I did so love to tease me some pixie.

"So what's our next step?" asked Aidan.

"Well, we find out about the angels' arrival, wait for the information from the gray elves, and then make our next move," said Jared. "The council has to make a decision quickly."

"You mean the decision to go after some dragons," I said.

Finn reached up and stuck a finger in his ear, wiggling it around a little. "You wanna repeat that, Jayne? I coulda swore you just said you were gonna be chasin' some dragons. That can't be right."

"No, it's what I said." I smiled at him. "Interested in being part of the posse?"

He looked from me to Jared and then to Aidan. "She's kiddin', right?" He was getting seriously excited, his words coming out with quick breaths. "Y'all ain't gonna be huntin' no dragons, right?"

"Technically, we're not hunting them; but yes, she's right. We are going to search for them," answered Jared. He turned his attention back to me. "But we don't know who is going or even who is able to go. Pa.s.sing into the Otherworlds as a living fae isn't normally done. We don't know if it can even be done."

"Well, I managed to do it. And we can always just have Samantha put a little spell on us. Everything'll work just fine, I'm sure." I laced my words with as much sarcasm as possible, but apparently it was lost on these t.u.r.ds.

"She'll definitely have to be involved," said Jared. "I doubt it could happen without her."

"Yeah. She's got some scary skills," said Aidan, nodding appreciatively.

I snorted. "As if."

"She's really good, Jayne," said Scrum. "I've see her do her thing. The other witches are all working with her. She's like the mother witch or whatever."

Hearing the term mother attached to Samantha made my a.s.s-hairs bristle. "Whatever, Scrum. I don't care what any of you say. Every time I come into contact with her magic, I or someone I care about gets burned, which is another thing I'd like to add to our list of suspicious c.r.a.p. Whenever Samantha is supposed to do a spell that involves me, it's messed up. And I know she does it on purpose. That b.i.t.c.h has it out for me."

"What do you mean?" asked Jared. "Give us an example."

"Well, the garden for one. She was supposed to put a spell over it so that I couldn't ... I don't know ... float away. But she didn't, and I ended up floating around in the Overworld until Tony snagged me back."

"How come we didn't hear of this?" asked Aidan, looking over at the head daemon. "Jared, did you know about this?"

"No," he said, frowning.

"And the bedrooms. She put spells on the bedrooms that lock me into Ben's room. I can get in, but I can't get out unless he lets me."

"Maybe you just didn't use the door properly," offered Scrum.

I smacked him on the shoulder. "Shut up, gnome-head. You think I can't open a simple door?"

He rubbed his arm, lifting it up and down a few times. "Doors have locks, you know."

"Yeah, well, I checked the lock. There wasn't one, actually. And Ben told me it was a spell from Samantha causing the problem, so it wasn't anything but her stupid messed-up casting keeping me in there."

"This is all news to me. I'm surprised no one's brought this to the attention of the council," said Jared, looking to Aidan.

"Don't look at me. I wasn't in a position to know. But I am now." He frowned in my direction but I could tell he wasn't mad at me. Just concerned.

I had a feeling I was going to be tripping over werewolves for the time being. I sighed. I hope they don't smell like dogs. I rocked my body to the side, surrept.i.tiously sniffing in Aidan's general direction. So far, he'd only smelled like outside, forest, and guy; but I hadn't seen him as a wolf really, so it was highly likely he had a stench as a beast-man I wouldn't like. I decided to ask Netter for some perfume, just in case. I could put it on my sleeve or something and hold it up to my nose if Aidan got all doggy-smelling on me. I smiled inwardly, satisfied with my wolf-de-stinkifying plan.

The conversation had continued on without me, so I struggled to catch up, trying to figure out what they were talking about.

"She ain't gonna like that," said Finn, glancing at me and then looking away quickly.

"I ain't gonna like what?" I asked.

Jared repeated himself. "I said, we need to a.s.sign you a full-time body guard. Someone who's not vulnerable to the issues that daemon and werewolves are."

"We could not agree more," said a voice from the door.

A white light was shimmering there, just to the right of Finn. Finn scrambled back away from it like a crab, jumping to his feet when he was arms-length away, pulling a knife out of his boot on the way up.

"Jesus H. on a buckin' bronc, what the heck are you thinkin' sneakin' up on a guy like that?" Finn wiped his forehead off nervously, his knife blade slicing the air sideways making the innocent motion look menacing.

"I am sorry. I did not mean to frighten you," said the fully formed angel now standing in front of us.

Beau. My heart skipped a couple beats. He was even cuter than I remembered.

Becky appeared next to him. "Turns out I didn't need to transport him with me. He's got his own channel," she said, smiling. She walked over to Finn and frowned at him. "Put your knife away, Finn. You're being rude." She took her boyfriend's forearm and pushed it down to his waist.

Slowly returning his weapon to his knee-high moccasin boot, Finn never took his eyes off the angel. I could tell he didn't want to put the knife away; but it was better to be a little vulnerable to the angel than to p.i.s.s off his girlfriend. Even I knew that. Besides ... if he was as good with the knife-throwing as he was with the bow and arrow, he'd probably be able to retrieve it and wing it into the angel's neck before anything bad could happen.

Beau faced me and gave a short bow. I didn't know how to respond to that, so I just stared at him, nodding slightly. I had to catch myself to keep from drooling.

"Beau, thank you for coming," said Jared, standing.

Beau acknowledged his thanks with a single nod of his head, but said nothing in response.

"We've asked you here because we have a bit of a dilemma ... a mystery ... and until we have it solved, we'd like to know that Jayne is adequately protected."

"You are a daemon."

It was a simple enough statement, but we all knew what he meant. Jared should have been able to handle this on his own without an angel's help.

"Neither daemon nor werewolf are fully capable of providing the protection that Jayne needs."

Beau raised an eyebrow, waiting for further explanation.

"The daemon ignore, by our very nature, those things that can mask themselves behind emotions. Werewolves miss the things that move above an elemental level. There's a middle ground there where things are slipping through."

The angel said and did nothing.

I joined in the conversation, unable to stop my curiosity from taking over. "They say I called you in from the Gray. Is that true?"

Beau looked at me and nodded once.

"Well, I'm not sure who started that rumor, but it wasn't me. Or I was asleep when it happened."

"That is not possible," he said. "We answered your summons. That is all I know."

"How does that work?" asked Scrum. "Do you get a page or something?"

I had to hold back a giggle, imagining a large angel waiting room with my voice coming over a loud speaker: "Attention, attention! Angels needed for a.s.s-saving. I repeat! Angels needed for a.s.s-saving. Report to the Here and Now!"

Beau answered, but instead of looking at Scrum, he looked at me. "No. It does not work like that."

My face went beet red. Did he just read my mind? Is he reading my mind now? I glared at him. If you are in my head right now, Beau, you better get the f.u.c.k out. I don't like having intruders in my head.

"Perhaps you should not open your mind quite so wide, then."

I gasped. "How dare you?!"

"What?" asked Becky, totally mystified. "What'd he do?" She was looking all around the room, trying to find answers on everyone's faces. But everyone but Beau and me were as clueless as she was.

I stood up. "Beau, I'm as serious as a heart attack. One more step into my head, and I'm gonna pluck you like a Christmas chicken."

"I'm pretty sure it's a goose," said Scrum quietly.

I kicked him sharply in the thigh.

"Ow, geez. Watch it. Those toes of yours are sharp."

I leaned down and flicked him on the head. My finger stung with the thumping it gave him. "Is that better?"

He reached up and rubbed his head absently. "Yeah. That one didn't hurt so much. I'm glad I have puffy hair."

"Yeah. Me too," I said, reaching down one last time to tweak a small clump of it.

"Youch! Okay, that one hurt. I felt that one for sure."

I turned my attention back to the head-invader. "Seriously. Angel or not, that's none of your business, what I have going on in there. Stay out or suffer the consequences." I had visions of going over his head to Chase. Or higher. I hadn't really meant the plucking thing. I couldn't imagine pulling a feather out of an angel's wings. That'd probably get me sent to the Underworld for the rest of eternity.

He shrugged ever-so-slightly. "As you wish."

"So either Jayne is compelling angels totally without her knowledge or conscious thought ..." started Aidan.

"... Or someone's doing it but making it look like it's Jayne," finished Jared. "That's just ..."

"...Wrong," said Aidan, shaking his head.

It was creepy, watching the two of them look so unsettled. And it wasn't even their heads being messed with, it was mine. I started to feel sick over it.

"I can determine the origin of the summons," said Beau. "Shall I?"

"Yes, please," said Jared. "But do me a favor ... don't tell anyone you're doing it, okay? No one on the council or anyone outside this room."

I was feeling sick earlier, but it was nothing compared to the horrible feeling of dread that overtook me now. "You think we have someone on the council out to get me?" I asked in a weak voice.

"No, I don't. But it's better to be safe than sorry," said Jared.

Beau nodded his head. "Is there anything else?"

"Yes. We need protection for Jayne."

"I shall see to it," he said simply, before fading out and disappearing.

The room was silent for what seemed like way too long. Everyone was looking around; and I don't know about the rest of them, but I was measuring the oh-s.h.i.t factor I saw registered on all their faces. Oh-s.h.i.t factor nine out of ten. I am in some serious trouble now, and it's not even my fault this time.

"Looks like you've made some enemies, Jayne," said Becky.

I frowned at her. "Thanks, Becks. Thanks for pointing out the obvious."

She grimaced. "Oops. Was that obvious? I didn't know. If I were you I'd be bawling right now."

"That's because you're a wienie water sprite."

She stuck her tongue out at me, and for some reason, it made me feel not so soon-to-be-dead.

"Thanks, Beck. I know I can always count on you to be real."

She frowned for a couple seconds and then smiled. "I'm not sure if that was meant to be a compliment, but I'm taking it that way anyway."

I walked over and grabbed her into a big hug. "It was. I need real right now."

We pulled apart and Becky reached up to wipe a tear from her eye. "All you have to do is give me a hug, and there I go falling apart. You're right. I am a total wienie."

Finn grabbed her into an embrace and patted her back. "That's why we like you so much."

"You like wienies?" she said, into his chest.

He frowned, looking at all of us worriedly. But he answered her anyway. "Yeah. I like wienies."

I couldn't help but laugh, right along with the rest of our friends. I so wished Spike were with us right now so he could go to town on Finn about liking wienies.

Jared rubbed his hands together and then clapped them once. "Well, I guess that's about all I had to talk about tonight. It's getting late. What do you guys think about breaking up the party for now and regrouping tomorrow?"

"Works for me," I said, grabbing the handle of the door. "Anyone feel like walking me to my room?" I was feeling a little vulnerable after all the talk of a mole out to get me and everything.

"I'll do it," said Aidan, getting up. "See you guys later."

"Want me to go too?" asked Scrum.

"Nah. I got me a werewolf at my back," I said, patting Aidan on the arm. "What more could a girl ask for?"

"A daemon," said Scrum, confused.