"I'd go today. But what's going on?" he asked.

I explained everything I'd gotten from Jie, then broke down and told him about the Jinn's message in Marrakech. He didn't ask questions, just listened. I'd learned that was his way of processing things-gather all the information, then filter through it. He and Mamie were a lot alike in that respect.

Finally he said, "The Archer. That's what Xing Li said."

"Yes," I told him. "But Jie made it sound like it was all of us."

"It is, and it isn't." He frowned. "Mamie's birthday is in ten days-the twenty-third."

I waited for him to say more, but he sat there, wearing his "thinking frown" and staring into s.p.a.ce. I let it go on for two minutes before losing patience. "And?"

"Mamie." He looked like a man who'd solved a monstrous puzzle. "She's a Sagittarius."

Okay, I hadn't figured on us veering into astrology. That seemed more like Xing Li's turf. "Yeah, so?"

"The Archer," Dad said. His eyes were alight with sudden understanding. "She's not only an Archer in name, but she's an Archer because of her birthday."

Born at the right time, in the right place. "G.o.d. You're right. But what does this mean?"

His expression went cold and hard. "You know what it means."

Yes, I did. "The Bears were supposed to take her to him-the Dark Master. He wants her, but I don't know why."

Why doesn't matter. Tink's sigh was heavy. The bigger concern is if he'll come for her again.

The same panic I felt in the aftermath of a nightmare rose up inside of me. This wasn't an "if" scenario. It was when. "Dad, I don't know how to explain it, but Mamie's in danger."

He stood. "Then it's time I went to Billings."

Chapter Twenty-Six.

Dad left the next morning. He had an afternoon flight to Beijing, an evening flight to LA, and would be home in Montana by tomorrow night, Billings local time.

It had to be enough. If it wasn't-no, I couldn't think that way. He'd make it home in time.

But then what?

"It's going to be okay," Will was saying. "We'll go home soon, too. He can keep them safe until then."

Right after Dad left, Johnson called Mike and had us tell the story on speaker phone. My uncle was so quiet, I had this picture of him seething in his office, unable to speak without blowing up.

"So Dad's on his way," I said. "But I'd like to request an immediate furlough, sir. I have to be there."

"Me, too," Will said. "We're done here. We need to be in Billings."

"I'd like to go with them, sir," Johnson said. "I request to be a.s.signed to Mamie's security detail."

The line crackled with static, and I wondered if we'd lost our connection. Then Uncle Mike said, "Jorge and Ramirez aren't done in Alaska and I need at least one of them in Honduras as soon as possible. Julie's coming home for a few weeks to spend Thanksgiving with us before deploying to India. And we still have seven or eight other hot spots to mop up."

I knew what he was agonized over: fulfill our charter to rid the world of nightmares, or protect his only niece.

"Okay," he finally said. "Here's what we'll do. Matt and Will, I'll give you a short furlough home. Cruessan, this is a two-day pa.s.s. I'm sending you to Yemen after that."

Will would get to see Penn for a few days. That was something at least. "And me, sir?" I asked.

"You'll stay stateside. We've heard of some potential issues in Oregon, Arkansas and Michigan. We've even gotten a little weird chatter out of Colorado, but it's not confirmed. We'll send you on short stints with your team, so you can go back home to check in on Mamie now and again."

It would have to do. I had a responsibility to keep as many people safe as I could. Even if I was cold with fear for my sister, I had a duty and I couldn't forget that now. "Dad will stay as long as we need him to. If Dad and Brent tag-team for security, I think Mamie will be safe enough while I'm gone."

"Okay. Davis will put together a travel plan for you. Johnson, you'll head back to Fort Carson with your team to work on advance planning until it's time to go to Yemen with Cruessan. Pack everyone up and head back to the Chengdu and stay near the airport."

"Yes, sir," Johnson said, even though he didn't sound happy about it. I knew he wanted to protect Mamie as much as we did, but with everyone spread too thin, Mike couldn't spare extra personnel.

I touched Johnson's arm. "We'll keep her safe, Captain. If I have to move heaven and earth, I'll protect her."

He gave me a grave nod. "I know you will."

We spent the rest of the day packing up, making sure the villagers were okay, and burying Xing Li. When I went into his house to pick up my duffel, I found a piece of thick parchment paper, like the one he'd been painting when we met, under his chair at the table.

It had been folded in half, and instead of a Chinese character, an "M" was painted on it.

Was this a trick? Some final prank by Jie? Or was the paper itself poisoned?

When I hesitated, Tink said, Pick it up. It won't bite.

"How do you know? You don't even have teeth."

She huffed impatiently. I don't. But you want to know what it says, so quit being afraid.

I stooped and picked the paper up, pinched between my thumb and pointer finger like it was a piece of smelly trash. When my fingers didn't blister or fall off, I slowly unfolded the note.

Because that's what it was, a note addressed me, in English.

"Matthew, I do not know if this will find you, but it is for you alone. I want to be sure you receive the rest of my message in the event something happens to me. I'm not sure I can trust my translator.

My people believe the position of the heavens at the very hour of birth is matter of great importance. Each of us is unique, but some are more special than others, and there is one more special than us all. One in ten trillion, almost as infinite as the stars in perfect alignment. Born at a time and in a s.p.a.ce no other has, and never will be again, by ordination of the heavens themselves. You know of whom I speak.

Protect her from the dark.

With hope, Chen Xing Li"

I drew a sharp breath. Keep her safe. One in ten trillion.

Mamie.

I paced around the waiting area at our gate at LAX, wearing a hole in the cheap carpet. It had taken us thirty-eight hours to get this far, due to unforeseen weather issues, aircraft mechanical problems at every stop, and now because some guy had gone meth-head psycho right after we pulled away from the gate, forcing us to come back and deplane because he kept screaming about a bomb.

It was like someone didn't want me to make it home.

"Why don't you call Mamie?" Johnson suggested. "See how she's doing?"

Good idea.

She answered on the second ring, like always. "Hey! How's L.A.?"

I stared out the window at the clouds hazing the skyline. "Definitely not living up to its reputation as sunny. So what's up at home?"

"I might have some news." She lowered her voice. "I think I'm close to solving the riddle at the back of Zenka's book. I need to translate it to be sure, but I should have it ready by the time you get home."

We were finally going to get some answers. "Really? That's awesome!"

"Yeah."

Her voice sounded so weary that my antenna went up. "Everything okay there?"

"Yes. I'm a little anxious, that's all. Being under house arrest for a month hasn't been much fun, either."

I glanced at the flight board. They'd delayed us another twenty minutes.

I started pacing again. "And I'm stuck here."

"I can tell you're making yourself crazy, so stop. I'm not in danger. I'm just antsy," she said. "Mom's working today, but Dad and Brent are home." A snort. "Hovering."

"I heard that!" Brent called in the distance. "And we're keeping watch, not hovering."

I laughed and calmed down a little. "Good. I want them to hover. Stay inside until Will and I get home, okay?"

I could picture her scowl when she said, "I can't live like this forever, Matt. No matter what time we have, I can't spend it like a prisoner in my own house."

A cold feeling stole down my back. "What do you mean, 'no matter what time we have?'"

She sighed. "None of us knows how this is going to turn out. If the end is coming, if the darkness wins, I want to feel the sun on my face while I can. I want to eat cookies for dinner and ice cream for breakfast. I want to enjoy life, not hide. And I want that for you, too."

I understood, but I also worried we'd scared her. Yes, we needed to be vigilant, but Mamie didn't need to live in a bubble of fear that the end was imminent.

Even if it was.

"I'm going to do everything I can to make that happen, sis," I said. "I promise. In fact, Penn's driving Will and me home from the airport, and I'll stop at the store for cookies and ice cream on the way. How's that?"

"Penn? Where's Ella?"

Now it was my turn to sigh. "She's out of town. Her parents are taking her on a college tour for the first part of Thanksgiving break. She'll be home Wednesday, and I'll see her then."

"I'm sorry she's not here," Mamie said. "Now, back to the cookies. Will you get me the double chocolate kind?"

I couldn't help but smile. Her chocolate addiction was still intact. "And chocolate ice cream to go with them."

"Excellent. See you soon."

"Bye."

Feeling better, I went to tell Will about the pit stop on our way home.

Six hours later, right as it was getting dark, we landed in Billings. We should've been home two hours ago-h.e.l.l, twenty hours ago-but I was grateful to have my feet on the ground.

Penn met us with a squeal, leaping on Will with the force of a tiny missile. "Giant Will!"

Heads throughout baggage claim turned to stare. Most people-especially women-melted into smiles at the scene as soon as they saw our BDUs. Two soldiers, home safe. I kept my cap pulled down low. I didn't need the weight of "Wielder Archer" lore following me to my house.

Penn led us out to her mom's SUV, chattering the whole way. She'd pause every so often to reach up on tiptoes to kiss Will's cheek and once, to my surprise, mine.

"That's from Ella. She's upset that she's not here. If they hadn't already left, her parents would have cancelled the trip," Penn said. "They would've wanted her to be home to meet you."

"You mean her parents aren't ready to banish me forever for endangering her-and you-in D.C.?"

Penn rolled her eyes. "Are you kidding? You two are national treasures. Ella's dad was in the Navy-wait, did you know that?"

I shook my head as I loaded my gear into the trunk. "I've had exactly two real conversations with him, both about the Broncos. Mostly he just grunts in my direction, glowering."

"Well he's former military, and trust me, you won't get glowered at anymore. He's so impressed by what he found out about you, I think he'll marry you if Ella won't."

We laughed, and it felt good. G.o.d, I'd missed Montana. Deep autumn was here and the nip in the air, punctuated by the scent of cedar smoke and the tang of pine, formed a knot in my chest. Even buying out half the cookie aisle, along with four cartons of ice cream, at the grocery store was a treat. Something so simple, yet so amazing. This was what I had to protect. A world where people lived, worked, got married, had kids, all without fear of demons and monsters.

When we got back to the car, I unpacked my knife. It buzzed brightly as I settled the blade into its sheath on my thigh. I think Tink was as glad to be home as I was.

My phone rang on the way to my house. It was Dad. "Hey, have you landed yet?"

"Yeah, we're on the way home. Finally."

"Good, because your mother called. Her car won't start and everyone in her office is already gone for the day." A car door alarm dinged in the background, then the door slammed shut. "I don't like her staying up there after dark by herself, waiting for a jump. How soon will you be here?"

"Five minutes," I told him.

"Good, because Mamie's anxious to show you something, but she won't tell us what it is until we're all home, so I'll go pick up your mother to make sure the audience is ready."

"That's interesting," I said. Had she translated the riddle?