"Yeah, whatever," I said. "Are we setting this meet up, or what?"

"Oh, the impatience of youth. Yes, dear, I am ready for your silly numbers. Jean-Paul will arrive within the hour."

I gave her the coordinates and hung up the phone. One hour. I could be at Jimmy's in twenty minutes. I stepped on the gas and sped through the nearly empty streets.

When I hit 5 South, I pulled Katie's cell phone out of the console and pulled up Melanie's number. She'd want to know. Want to be there. Hell, she might not even know something was going down.

As the phone rang, I thought of a way to explain this to her. I'd promised her that Katie was safe, not involved.

Truth was likely the best answer. No beating around the bush.

"Hello," Melanie said wearily.

Obviously I'd woken her.

"Melanie, it's me, Sarah. Katie's in trouble."

Forty-eight.

I PULLED OFF THE MAIN ROAD AND ONTO THE GRAVEL THIRTY minutes later. Construction south of Everett kept things tied up. Nothing like Seattle traffic to get a girl's panties in a bunch.

Things were totally out of hand, I'd decided on the drive down. Learning about dragons and dwarves, magic swords and Norse gods was worrisome. I had spoken to three dragons, one in each of the major cities in our region-this concerned me.

How many of them were there? Did they control all the major cities? What kind of world did we really live in? What if they controlled everything? Government . . . military. This was beyond the bomb, beyond Armageddon. If I hadn't completely lost my mind, it seemed that we little humans didn't know squat and our world was dominated and run by a nonhuman force. Like War of the Worlds, only everyone slept through the war. How could we have missed this?

But, then again, not everyone had missed it, had they? Rolph had warned me, Katie told her tales, Jimmy and the Black Briar had a deep, dark secret.

It was overwhelming.

I pulled up to the house, trying to keep my hands from shaking. Instead of being deserted, as I'd expected, the driveway and surrounding field was packed with vehicles. There were a dozen or more pickup trucks, three sedans, and a pair of motorcycles. Too many people here.

Looks like Jimmy hasn't cleared the place.

I parked and got my gear out of the back, strapped on my weapons, but did not put the helm on. Not yet.

The house was all lit up. As I walked around to the back, I could see into the kitchen. Melanie stood at the counter, rolling ban d-ages, if you can believe it.

Deidre was washing dishes and directing several others; Carolyn, Tim, and his partner, Jason, were bustling around, prepping for catastrophe.

I wanted to speak to Melanie first, before going out to the barn. I had to fix this before I got myself killed.

The screen door squeaked on opening, and everyone turned to watch me come in. No one said anything, but they kept their hands busy, watching me. I stepped across the kitchen and placed my helm on the counter beside the stack of bandages Melanie was rolling.

"Thanks for coming," I said.

Melanie shrugged. "Anything for Katie," she said.

Deidre came over to me and cupped the side of my face in her hand. "You are a stubborn woman," she said. "Hard to read, but easy to love." She kissed my cheek and walked into the living room, shooing the rest of the house before her like a mother hen with her chicks.

"I'm sorry," I said, looking back to Melanie.

"Just get her home safe," she said, her voice strained and quiet.

"If something happens," I began, but she turned and put two fingers on my lips. I stopped speaking and just stared into her lovely blue eyes.

"Sarah," she said, "Katie loves you. Learn to live with it."

What else could I do? "You have everything you need?"

She shrugged. "Never know. Got an EMT crew out at the Denny's on Eighty-first, taking their sweet time returning the wagon after their shift."

I smiled. "Anyone I know?"

"Well," she said, turning and picking up a strip of white muslin, "there is this dreamy redhead on that crew that I kinda prefer to sleep with."

"Dena?" I asked.

Melanie nodded.

"God, what she must think of me." I rolled my eyes and bent my head forward into my left hand.

"She thinks you are a raving bitch, if you must know," Melanie said with a wicked grin. "Said if you are stupid enough to lose Katie, you didn't deserve her sympathy."

"Nice," I said. Dena moved up a couple notches in my world.

I reached over and hugged her from the side. "I'll bring her home."

Melanie patted my arm and leaned her head down on top of mine. "I know. Just be careful."

I let her go and picked up my helm.

"Prepare for blackout," Deidre said into a bullhorn from the back deck.

I looked over at Melanie with raised eyebrows.

"Deidre insists that too much light provides targets of opportunity."

I laughed. "Leave it to Deidre to go into blitz mode." I pushed open the back door and jogged across the gravel turnaround. When I was halfway to the barn there was a loud pop and the farm plunged into darkness.

Forty-nine.

HURRICANE LANTERNS BURNED ON EITHER SIDE OF THE BARN'S main door. Out in the practice field the boys had built a bonfire that looked like it would burn until dawn.

I fished my cell phone out of my jeans and checked the time. One forty-five. Go time in fifteen.

Jimmy had the rest of Black Briar's crew in the barn, of course. Each man and woman was dressed in some form of mail, from chain to scale to full plate on Susan and Maggie.

Weapons lined one wall. Crossbows and falchions, swords and shields. The real items, not our rattan practice toys. The metal of the double-bladed axe that stood by the lockers gleamed gold in the flickering light of several more lanterns.

The twins, Gunther and Stuart, sat against the wall with real weapons at their sides. Gunther had a huge claymore and Stuart a tall, double-bladed axe. They were impressive. Everyone else stood in a circle around Jimmy. Three score fighters. Even Rolph stood with them, a smaller axe held loosely in one hand and a shield in the other.

". . . last chance," Jimmy was saying. "When we hear the signal, we beat feet out into a skirmish line, just like we practiced."

I walked over to the twins, tipped two fingers at them, and stood at the back of the crowd, listening to Jimmy's pep talk.

He saw me and nodded, but kept on with his speech. "We'll have medics on duty," he said, looking from one individual to the next. "Deidre will be working with any wounded, along with Melanie Danvers, a real emergency room physician."

"We aren't playing here," Gunther said from the sideline.

"Aye," Stuart added, standing. "No heroes needed."

"Good point," Jimmy said. "If you are ready to fight, then stay. If you are afraid, or just don't want to risk this, no harm, no foul. Head into the house and Deidre will put you to work doing something equally useful."

To their credit, not a one of them moved. If anything, they were more excited than ever.

"This is a clean swap," I said from the back. Everyone turned to look at me. I quelled the urge to run and squared my shoulders. "We have one badass for sure, likely shock troops to boot." I looked across the line, putting each face in my memory-accountant, two cops, at least one hairdresser, Chloe. Students and truck drivers, construction workers and one retired librarian. This was my clan, the family I chose.

"Listen up, people," Jimmy said, clapping his hands. "They come in, Sarah makes the swap." He looked over at me for confirmation.

I nodded.

"Excellent. Sarah makes the swap and we get the women up to the house. Once the bad guys have left the property and the women are safe, we can stand down."

"Should be no need for all this," I said, waving my hands around the room. "But it's nice to know you are there if I need you."

Bob, the accountant, lifted his fist in the air and grunted, "Hoorah."

Everyone else broke out into giggles and began pounding their neighbor's fist.

Lord protect us.

Jimmy signaled to the twins, who got up and began lowering the lamps. Soon, the only real light on the farm was the blazing bonfire.

I put the helm on my head, cinched the chin strap, and made sure the hammers had just the right amount of play in their holsters.

I took a deep breath and walked out of the barn.

Three steps from the door, Rolph jogged up to me. "Smith."

I turned. "Yes, dwarf?"

He patted the flat of the axe on his thigh and looked around. "I await your signal."

"I'm really going to trade this for the women," I said, watching his face in the shadows.

If he flinched, I couldn't see it.

"Do what you must," he said, bowing. "Love before honor."

I tilted my head to the side, trying to read him. "You are an odd dwarf."

He chuckled. "You have no idea," he said, moving to stand behind me, to the right.

Together we crossed the ring of light from the bonfire and out into the blackness of the field. Fire to our back seemed a decent position to be in. I knew they were coming from the north. I could feel it.

"Luck, Beauhall," Gunther bellowed from back by the barn.

"Can it," Jimmy said, and the sounds fell away to where only the crackling of the bonfire reached me.

Fifty.

THE HEAVY THRUM OF CHOPPERS POUNDED IN MY CHEST MOments before three of them crested the trees and flew toward the bonfire. One broke left, one right, and the third hung back a little, forming an inverted point. Each of them scanned the field with searchlights, starting at the bonfire and working outward.

Once they found me and Rolph, the other lights settled on us, covering us in the bright halogen glow.

"Something is wrong," Rolph said, taking a step away from me.

"You didn't see choppers in our future?" I asked.

"Yes, helicopters. But there should only be two."

I jerked my head around, and Rolph shied back another step, panic on his face.

I grabbed his arm, pulling him to a halt. He spun around, his eyes wild.

"Two? You expected two?" I shouted over the noise. "Whose side are you on?" I asked.

He clutched the shield against his chest, with the axe tight against the shield. His breathing was coming fast. "I honor the sword," he mewled.

"Meaning what?" I asked, punching him in the arm.