"How long is this gonna take?"

"I don't know. I need to call Levi and let him know what we discovered."

"If you decide to call on Tzariene, have Dharma with you. She's a Cleric and she knows a lot more than you give her credit. And take Ivan. He needs more practice at defensive magic."

With a half smirk on my face, I patted his shoulder as he stood and faced me. "You talked to Jack?"

"No. I'm going to wait till this present crisis is over. I don't think getting the wolves involved is a good idea."

I agreed. Which was why I had no intention of letting the pack know what I was doing and shut down their link to me. I really liked Bastien. He was big, and sweet, but he bit me once to make me do what he wanted. I wasn't going to let him do it again. I made a note to myself to go see Regine as soon as I had Crwys with me again. That way we both could see her.

"I'll be back. And I promise to call on help."

"Witch's honor?"

I glared at him. "Don't make me do that."

Kyle held out his hand. "Witch's honor."

With a sigh, I handed the book back to him before I put my right hand in his. He worked his hand to my wrist, and I held his. "By my measure and by my knife."

"I swear to you on truth, by the giving of my life."

"That what I say is truth, with held hands and bended knee."

And then we said together, "The promise I make is true, so mote it be."

Red, yellow, blue and green swirls made rotations around our hands. I felt the pressure that kind of oath imparted and let go of him with a frown. "You know I don't like doing that."

"You've never done it before."

"No. I haven't."

Kyle winked. "You're my best friend, Sam. I can't...I don't think I'd survive without you."

We did something we hadn't done in a long time. We hugged one another. It felt nice to know how much Kyle cared, and to show him how much he meant to me. But I couldn't help feeling a touch of foreboding as Grey, my Elementals and I left the protective bubble of Kyle's ward and headed back to the Jeep.

TWELVE.

I called Levi and Ivan and asked them to meet me at Ina's as soon as they could. It was just past ten o'clock when I pulled into my usual parking spot in front of the house. The address wasn't far from Arden's, and like most of the houses in the Garden District, Ina's was large, well lit, and with a professionally tended yard. The front of the house was surrounded by a seven-foot iron gate that became a brick wall halfway around the house. The rest of the place was private and away from prying eyes.

I lived in this house from the time I was nine, after my dad met Pauline, till the day I graduated from high school. I tried college and found myself right back in New Orleans again. Ina had settled in here and stayed. I didn't know Ina wasn't really my mom's best friend. The real Inamorata Devonshire died not long after my mom was declared dead, killed in the line of duty.

Ina was much, much more. And very dangerous.

Grey and I sat in the Jeep for a few minutes and watched the outside of the house. The exterior lights were on, set on a timer to scare away burglars. But honestly, the lights were unnecessary because the wards on the house would do that. They were fixed to make anyone intruding the perimeter of the house believe they were being followed by monsters.

Pretty effective.

I'd been back to the house a dozen times or so since Crwys paid to have the garden and the interior doors into the garden fixed after Circe's zombies tore up the lawn. Never mind the fact those dead people were buried there by my "aunt" unbeknownst to me. The idea that the police wanted to look around in the house because of some anonymous missing persons filing worried me. I was pretty sure when Crwys destroyed the zombies, he burned away every bit of human organic matter in the soil. Or that's what he said. The work in the garden itself was finished but the replacement doors and windows still needed some touch ups. This was something Crwys had been overseeing. But since his disappearance, nothing had been done.

Grey and I stepped inside. The place smelled of fresh paint and sawdust. I could also smell the newly packed dirt and sod out back. My Elementals appeared and headed in front of us to the garden to check it out.

They seem excited.

"Yeah. They are. New earth, new plants, new everything." I flipped the back garden's lights on and stared at the completed work.

It was breathtaking. Crwys's new design was nicer than Ina's had been, with less weaving and not as much color, but the simplicity made everything more elegant. I unlocked the sliding door and stepped out onto the new cement patio. The house itself made a squared U-shape, with the left wing housing the bedrooms and the right wing Ina's old study and the private rooms. The center of the house had been where Ina taught her students in Witchcraft and built her coven. A coven that was now little more than ash floating about in Couturie Forest. They had been Ghouls. All of them. Created by the Leviathan inside of Ina. The coven had been a facade created to build a stationary Coyote Flame, a gateway to the Other Worlds.

Gone was the center circle of flowers arranged in Elemental colors. In its place was a simple, concrete sundial built into a stone and granite dais an inch above the gra.s.s. I walked out to it, still a bit freaked out and expecting the gra.s.s to erupt and spit zombies back out at me. On the dais were circles within circles, the increments of time marked off with Roman numerals. Zodiac signs also marked along one of the larger spheres, and along the edge, set into its correct place along the large circle, were the Hermetic symbols for the four Elements.

Everything looked in place. Except for a row of four shrubs in the back corner where Ina kept the old tool shed. The shed was gone and in its place were three box hollies. Odd. Where was the shed?

"Looks nice," Ivan said from behind me.

I jumped. Said a few words under my breath and turned to point at him. Dharma stood beside him and I stopped myself. I hadn't expected him to bring her. "Yeah," I said and lowered my hand. "Crwys did a good job with this."

"I think he actually asked Kyle to help him," Ivan looked around. "Where is he?"

"He's with Arden. Soon as Levi gets here, I need to fill you all in."

Ivan looked happy. He seemed to glow when he was around Dharma. Maybe Grey was right and she was good for him. Or maybe I'm just too over-protective.

I told you.

"Your Elementals look happy," Dharma nodded to them as they flitted about. Except for my Gnome. She was on her back on the fresh gra.s.s, her short arms and legs at her sides.

"Yeah they are. They say the place is clean. No more of what Ina did," I glanced at Dharma. "Look-"

"Don't start," Ivan said and held up a hand. "She's here because I asked her to be. She wants to help."

"I understand that. But do you understand why I'm hesitant?" I looked at both of them.

"I do," Dharma said. Her pink and blue hair glowed under the floodlights. "And it's okay. The only way you're going to trust me is if I prove myself. But if you want me to go, I will. This is your house."

I looked from her to Ivan and back again. Geez...I could see it in his eyes. Ivan is in love. I wondered if this was his first girlfriend. Yes, I worried about him. He's my responsibility. I took him in when his own family turned their backs. Though our ages were close, he felt like a younger brother.

Watching the two of them, Ivan and Dharma, made me miss Crwys even more. I wanted to feel his heat beside me, hear the sarcasm in his voice. All those things I found annoying, I missed in the pit of my stomach.

I didn't want Ivan to feel like this if he ever lost Dharma, or if she betrayed him. He depended on me for a lot of things, and I depended on him. "Fine," I looked past them to the house. "I wonder when Levi's going to get here."

"Is there a time crunch?" Dharma asked.

"To me there is," I looked at the two of them. "I'm gonna go ahead and tell you what we learned from Arden, and why Kyle stayed behind with her." With that I let them know everything I knew, with a few prompts from Grey to get the story right. And when I was done, Dharma had her hand to her lips and Ivan looked stricken.

"Is...is the curse going to kill her?" he asked.

"I don't know that much about it. She believes it will. And I sensed a mortality about her."

Dharma moved away from us to the center of the dais. "The Coyote Flame is still here."

"How? The bodies are all gone."

"The bodies weren't the important ingredients. Their deaths were. The door's still here on the Astral. This is also still a sacred s.p.a.ce, believe it or not. It's why the Elementals feel good here," she raked her hand through her hair. "I think we should contact Tzariene now. With me here, you have a witness."

"A witness?" Ivan asked.

I nodded. "It's something highly recommended when Witches contact the Other Worlds. Having a Cleric present to a.s.sure the talks, or negotiations, go smoothly. A Cleric has to be an impartial observer. And Water is the great mediator, so Dharma's the perfect witness."

She put her hands on her hips. "There's just the three of us. You want to Call a Circle for the communication? I mean it's not like she can enter this world and survive."

"Yeah, I do. Because I just don't trust Faeries." Being an Elemental Witch, it was easier for me to cut and Call on my own because I had the support of the Elements. I asked them quietly if they would bear witness to a long distance call, so to speak. They all agreed and I clapped my hands. "Gonna have to improvise since I don't carry the accoutrements."

"It's all about the will to begin with," Dharma winked.

Okay, I might like her.

Might.

Grey moved to sit in the north. Ivan stood in the east. I planted myself in the south and Dharma in the west. I closed my eyes, quieted my mind and tuned into each of the Elementals. They, in turn, answered me and took their places around the Circle. I moved to the north, held up my hand, pulled down the moon and slammed the power into the Earth as I moved quickly around the Circle, cutting the line deosil, clockwise, as I laid the groundwork for a sacred event.

I had done this so many times in my youth. If there was one thing Ina had continued despite her no longer being human, it was my lessons in magic. She seemed to stress it. My practicing magic was as important as finishing homework.

As I came back to the north, I fused the two ends and heard the whoosh of the Circle sphere as it rotated deosil. My ears popped as the s.p.a.ce was sealed.

"That has got to be the tightest I've ever seen anyone cut a Circle," Dharma said as I moved to the center of the dais.

"Isn't it cool?" Ivan said. He put his hands in his pockets.

"Well, as cool as it might be," I said. "I'm not exactly excited about talking with a Faerie again."

"It's just a mirror, a doorway. Neither of you can really step into the other world. You're both safe." Dharma clasped her hands in front of her.

Yeah. I hadn't asked Arden how Brendi got Crwys into Alfheim, so I wasn't so confident about any hole that connected the two worlds. I a.s.sumed the Circle her people built had been more than a two-way mirror, and more of a door of some kind.

I closed my eyes again, recited the spell for the door and cut a long, six-foot oval in the air in front of me. The edges glowed red, then blue, then green, and then yellow and finally white as the center of the oval burned away. Warm air filtered through the portal and I could smell the lush greenery of a garden. I could also see it. It was the same place where we'd met Tzariene before and exchanged the milk and- Dammit! I didn't have an exchange!

"Samantha!" came a breathless voice from inside the portal. Abruptly, Tzariene came into view. She was as daunting as ever; tall with her horned brow and silver white hair. Yellow and pink flowers adorned her gown that swirled around her and seemed to grow into the gra.s.s on this side of the portal. "You received Cordelia's message!"

I shook my head. "She had a message? She said you told her to go through the Cairn, that the Obsidian Queen was dangerous."

Tzariene's pale features creased into a frown. "Yes. But she was supposed to tell you I needed your help. I'm willing to offer you anything for it."

I glanced at Dharma who looked as surprised as I felt. A Faerie offering a mortal anything was a switch. "Tzariene, what is it? You look upset."

"I don't think we have a lot of time to go over everything. These kinds of communications are now forbidden in Alfheim, even in the Silver Palace. That's why I sent Cordelia since Boggarts can move between the worlds."

Forbidden? "I'm missing something, Tzariene. Since when can you not make a call in your own home?"

"Since that half breed b.i.t.c.h of a queen brought the Destroyer back into our world."

The Destroyer? I licked my lips. "What or who is the Destroyer?" I had the feeling I already knew.

"The worst of all our mortal enemies, Samantha. A creature that once tried to destroy this world by engulfing it in fire. We believed the creature was dead all these centuries. But she has it! She has it in her castle!" Tzarine looked past the portal and then lowered her voice. "I was told by one of the Obsidian court that only you could help us. That you were the one Witch who could slay the Dragon."

Slay... "You...you want me to kill a Dragon?"

"It's the only way to quell the realm's fears, Samantha. It's the only way to restore order where she has wrought chaos. Will you help us?"

"I don't-"

"Anything, Samantha."

"Anything?"

"Yes. If it is within my power to give it."

I looked at Dharma who shook her head. I realized why the Water Witch was hesitant. Making deals with Faeries is always a bad idea-even when it seemed the deal was good. There would be a catch. Of this, I was sure. But I wasn't going to back down. "Tzariene, I request two things. One now, and one later."

The Silver Queen looked worried but she didn't refuse me. "Yes. Just slay this creature, Samantha, and we will destroy this betrayer queen."

I took a step closer to the portal. Grey left her post and bounded to me, leaning against my side to peer in. "The thing I need now is information about the Obsidian Queen. What is it she wants? What is it she wants more than anything else?"

The Silver Queen looked down in thought, and I thought I heard voices come from somewhere behind her. Someone said something to her and her expression brightened. "She wants a book. She wants it so badly she's bored the courts to death talking about it. It's a magical tome of some kind. Very dangerous. Do you know what book?"

This time I glanced at Ivan. "I think I do. It's a book of Arcane spells?"

"That's it! It's a book of spells. That's what she wants above anything else. I heard she's tortured the Dragon, thinking he can tell her where it is. This action has the entire kingdom in an uproar. Everyone's afraid she'll lose control of him and he'll kill us all."

I had guessed the Arrow was what kept Crwys powerless. Apparently, Tzariene didn't know anything about it. Or she avoided talking about it.

Tzariene looked behind her. "I have to go, Samantha. You will come."

"How can I get to-"

The portal vanished with an audible pop and I lunged for it. "No!" I heard myself cry out. But the door was gone. The magic vanished. I went down on my knees and felt hands on my shoulders. I smelled Ivan's cologne as I lost hold of the Circle and it collapsed around us. All I could think about was Crwys, an arrow through his heart.

But he was alive. Somehow, he was alive.

"Sam!"