What was happening to me?

I swung my pack off my shoulder. Still holding the stone, I unzipped a pocket of the pack and flung the stone into the opening.

Relief made me weak and I dropped to my knees in the snow. My breath came hard and fast and my sight blurred again, as if I had just gone through the transference.

Rodan. I got to my feet I had to see him now.

I ran.

My breathing would never have been so fast if I wasn't so spooked. The way the stone had made me feel had been so creepy.

The Pit was dead. It was the middle of the day and the only beings in the open area of the nightclub were part of a Shifter cleaning crew.

I ran past them, through the mist curtain in one wall, down a long hallway, straight for Rodan's chambers. The huge dungeon-like door opened the moment the identity monitor recognized me.

"What's wrong, Nyx?" Rodan came toward me, concern on his features.

I held out my arm, barely holding the strap of my bag with my fingers. "It's inside."

"What's inside?" He took the bag from me, then frowned.

"Do you feel it?" I asked Rodan paused, then nodded. He set the bag on the floor. "Tell me what it is."

"You're not going to look at it?" I asked.

"No." He glanced at the bag and back at me. "Something is very wrong with whatever is in there.

Very wrong."

If Rodan wouldn't even touch it-that thought alone was enough to magnify the chills that had been causing me to shiver ever since I touched the thing.

"It's some kind of stone." I explained to him everything my father had told me. "They got them from the bodies of Zombies during the same kind of attacks in Otherworld, when I was a small girl. I thought it might help us fight whatever it is we're facing here. A clue." Rodan studied me, obviously taking in how affected I was by everything that had just happened.

"This stone," Rodan finally said as he looked at my bag, "needs to be examined by those who can tell us more about it. I sense the strength of its magic, magic that should not be explored by either you or me."

"Really?" I could feel the lines on my forehead furrow when I frowned. "You're not even going to look at it?"

He switched to the formal language of the Elves. "I cannot. This stone would harm me as it would harm you should you touch it again. It is not of our worlds. It is not meant for our hands." The way Rodan spoke the words and the language, with such formality, chilled me.

"Whose hands then?" I responded in the same language. While I spoke, I felt the magic of the language and I understood why he had used Elvin. A barrier seemed grow around me like a cushion between me and the bag with the stone. "Where should I take it?"

"To the Magi."

The word "stunned" did not define how I felt the moment he said "the Magi." Not even close.

"No one sees them." Perhaps incredulous described my emotion. "Only the Magi-Keepers and they report solely to the Paranorm Council," I said. "And no one asks the Magi anything. They come forward if they have something to say."

"Rare circumstances arise where they will take audience, Nyx." Rodan's voice was calm. "This is one of those circumstances."

If they didn't help with Demons or Vampires, I sure didn't know why he expected them to help with Zombies. But I hoped he was right.

Rodan went to a wall with a huge framed oil painting of a Faerie, titled "Take the Fair Face of Woman," painted by French artist Sophie Anderson in the 1800s. Rodan mentioned knowing the artist personally and had introduced her to the Fae, thus encouraging her amazing pieces of art relating to our Otherworld.

The painting's entire name was "Take the Fair Face of Woman, and Gently Suspending, With Butterflies, Flowers, and Jewels Attending, Thus Your Fairy is Made of Most Beautiful Things." Right then I wasn't thinking of beautiful things or paintings and I wondered why Rodan was taking a moment to look at it. Then without his touching it, the painting swung away from the wall, as if hinged on the left side. Behind the door was a rectangle shape with a seamless surface. He said a word I couldn't hear and then a portion of that rectangle swung open like the painting had. A safe.

He reached inside, rummaged through whatever was inside the safe and drew out a plastic card.

It was about the size of a credit card and I wondered what he would need with a credit card.

The safe door and the painting each swung back into place and Rodan returned to me and handed me the plastic card. I saw that it was actually a hotel room key. "I'll let the Magi-Keepers know you're on your way," Rodan said, switching back from the Elvin tongue. "Use the card rather than knocking. Loud sounds are difficult for the Magi."

I gripped the card before sliding it into the front pocket of my jeans. I started to lean over to grab the strap of the bag, strangely feeling let down by Rodan. I'm not sure why ... maybe because he had never pushed away something so important as he had the stone. He had refused to look at it.

"Nyx." Rodan's voice was soft as he called to me.

When I faced him, his features seemed different than I'd ever seen before. He looked almost ...

vulnerable.

The thought shocked me more than his refusal to look at the stone.

"The stone is dangerous." He came within inches of me and cupped my face with his palm.

"Very, very dangerous. I wouldn't have you carry it at all if you hadn't already been in contact with it."

"I understand." Prickles erupted up and down my spine at the thought of picking up my bag again. "And because you are a male, you can't go to the Magi yourself. I'm the only one who can carry it."

"The only drawback to being male that I've come across," he said with a slight smile. His smile faded. "I'm certain you'll be safe with it in your bag. Keep it in there and don't allow it even to brush against your skin, understand?"

"Don't worry," I said. "I have no intention of ever touching that thing again." Rodan clasped my head in his hands and kissed my forehead. "Go now," he said when he stepped back. "Don't stop for any reason. You must get that stone to the Magi." I tried to smile. It didn't work.

What felt like an electrical charge ran up my arm, causing me to jerk my hand away.

"Are you all right?" Rodan rested his hand on my shoulder. "Perhaps we can find another way to transport it."

"No. I've got it." I grabbed the bag's strap, and gritted my teeth against the buzzing feeling running up and down my arm.

"I'll have Angel meet you there." He caught my hand before I could leave. "Be very, very careful," he said as his gaze held mine.

I turned and left his chambers, and headed out of the Pit toward the Mandarin Hotel.

EIGHTEEN.

Fifteen minutes after I left Rodan's office, Angel met me at Sixtieth Street and Columbus Circle.

The Mandarin Oriental, a fabulous five-star hotel, was where we hid our most precious paranorms. And we hid them in luxury.

What was inside my bag had such a strong feeling of wrongness that it made my head ache. I don't know why it bothered me now. It was like something had been triggered in the stone when I returned to the city.

"Wow." Angel put her hands on her hips and tipped her head back to look up at the hotel. "So this is where the Magi are kept."

"The Magi-Keepers and Magi have the Presidential Suite on the fifty-third floor and the Oriental Suite on the fifty-second." I wished I'd had time to change. In my jeans and sweater I felt underdressed, but I had to take the stone to the Magi as soon as possible. "Magi ... Magi are extraordinarily special," I said.

"I'm new to a lot of this." Angel pushed her long corkscrew curls away from her face. She was dressed much the same as me except she wore black jeans and a short blue coat, and she wasn't carrying any kind of bag or purse. "All of this Peacekeeper and Paranorm Council secrecy."

"You do know that all Magi are females and they are Dopplers, like you are, right?" I asked.

Angel was a squirrel Doppler with human pinup girl looks and body, and a mind like Einstein. We started toward the front entrance of the Mandarin. "But you also know that they can't change into an animal form like all other Dopplers?"

"Yes. They're very, very rare and born with a special birthmark that lets the midwife know that the baby is a Magi," Angel said as we walked. "I have no idea what that birthmark might be and I don't know much else about them."

"Magi-Keepers are notified right away by the midwife when they see that mark," I said as we neared the Mandarin entrance. "The babies are whisked away from the family before the world overwhelms them."

"Overwhelms them?" Angel looked at me with curiosity. "How?"

"They literally would never survive the real world because their senses are so much more heightened than any other being we know of." I spoke a little quieter as we came up to a bellman.

"They'd be bombarded by the six senses and gradually go insane, beyond the help of even the Magi-Keepers."

"That's incredible." Angel and I walked through the entrance of the Mandarin as the bellman held the door open for us.

"Magi need to live somewhere quiet where they can learn to use their senses and abilities," I said. "Especially their sixth sense."

The interior of the Mandarin was beautiful but neither Angel nor I paid much attention to it as we went toward the elevators.

"There's real danger for those poor girls." I pushed the UP button.

Angel looked at me as we waited for an elevator. "How's that?"

"Magi can foresee the future," I said. "Far, far into the future. They could tell you every winning lottery number you desire." I lowered my voice even more as a couple with three children approached the elevator from behind us. "They can look into the past and even know where a ship sank hundreds of years ago that contains incredible treasures," I said. "They can locate almost any object or person the asking individual wants them to."

"I can see how that talent could be exploited big time." Amazement was on Angel's features.

"Right." The bell dinged for an elevator stopping at the lobby level and I glanced to see that it was going up. "Against their will," I continued, "the Magi can easily be put under control or the influence of other beings."

"Their abilities would definitely be very dangerous in the wrong hands." Angel and I stepped back and waited for people to exit the elevator.

"Yes." I nodded. "Elections could be rigged, lotteries won, the finest gemstones and paintings stolen."

We got into the elevator and stood to one side as the family of five came on behind us. I pressed the button for the fifty-third floor. One of the children, a boy with freckles and a devious gap-toothed grin, started pressing all of the buttons until his mother slapped his hand. He'd had time to press at least fifteen floors.

"Anything a person wanted," I said, "they could have if they had control of a Magi." The man and woman who got into the elevator with us were arguing. I didn't think we could be overheard considering how loud their conversation was and the chattering of their children. Still we kept our voices low.

Angel shook her head. "I don't think there's a power out there that can match a Magi's."

"I'm sure you're right." I looked up at the digital numbers flashing by as the elevator went up. "It wouldn't take long to break a Magi, though," I said. "To overwhelm them entirely."

"How does that work?" Angel asked.

"Ask too much in too short an amount of time, and it's like they short-circuit." Angel was a Harvard graduate and former NASA intern and could easily relate to technological examples.

"If the Magi are pressed beyond where they short-circuit, it can mean death to her because she can't handle all of the data that would bombard her," I said. "For a Magi that includes all six senses." I thought about the cruel part of the gift. I wasn't sure that what they had was a gift at all. "What would happen to them is beyond a norm's version of a nervous breakdown."

"That would be unbelievable in the real world." Angel and I scrunched a little back as the elevator came to a stop and the doors opened for other passengers. "Of course you and I don't live in the real world, at least as far as norms are concerned." Two businessmen in tailored suits, both of whom were carrying briefcases, stepped through the sliding doors and crowded the elevator even more.

As I thought of how delicate the Magi are, I glanced at my own hands and turned them. Such physical strength that was a part of me had always been there. I thought about the power in my body and my ability to battle, to kill, and to save lives. The fact that I could live a normal life-for a half-Drow, half-human warrior slash Private Investigator.

"They're like prisoners," Angel said. "And the Magi-Keepers their jailers."

"I like to think of the Magi-Keepers as their protectors." The elevator stopped again and the family got off. Suddenly it was a lot quieter in the elevator. The two men stood side-by-side without speaking. "The Magi are completely unable to protect themselves," I whispered.

"They can't even be trained?" Angel's forehead wrinkled as she frowned. "Have someone come in and teach them basic fighting skills?"

"The Magi are delicate and frail." I glanced at the businessmen then back at Angel. "In no way are they fighters or ever could be."

Angel looked thoughtful. "So they can't even meet someone and raise a family." The elevator stopped again and the businessmen got off. It was just Angel and me now. "All Magi must remain chaste." It was an old-fashioned word but seemed to suit the Magi. "If they have sexual relations, they'll die."

Angel shuddered. "None of that is any way to live."

"I agree," I said. "But it's all they know." I paused as I met her gaze. "Few know the details I am giving you. Rodan trusts you, Angel, or you wouldn't be here."

"It's a privilege to be told this information and to actually meet them." Her expression was contemplative, serious. "I'm honored."

"Rodan believes it is essential to visit the Magi in twos," I said, "so that there is a witness who hears every detail. When he and the Great Guardian called you to be a Tracker, you took an oath of confidentiality."

Angel nodded. "Of course."

"According to Rodan, the Magi can immediately sense any plot against them." I glanced at the flashing digital numbers. Almost there. "If someone attempts a plan to take them down or exploit them, there is a whole series of emergency steps that are taken and that threat would be immediately terminated."

After several stops, thanks to the boy who had pushed several buttons, the elevator finally stopped at the fifty-third floor. We left the elevator to go to the door of the Presidential Suite and I hesitated a moment, then slid the card in. A soft chime accompanied us as I entered the room and Angel followed me. We let the door close quietly behind us.

The sophisticated interior had an Asian theme. Four cans of Pepsi, a bowl of tortilla chips and salsa, and four small green plates seemed out of place on the dark wood table in the center of three couches that were arranged in a U shape. Embroidered cream throw pillows were tossed on the green couches and the room had dark red, green, and cream accents. All of the rich wood furnishings were hand carved, the lighting soft. The Asian pieces of art and the huge chandelier over the dining room table gave the room a graceful, elegant appearance.

It wasn't the furnishings or decor that captured my attention, though.

One of the most ethereal beings I had ever seen reclined on a couch. Looking at her was like studying Rodan's painting of the fairy, but seeing it through a shroud of misty gold.

Brown hair highlighted in shades of autumn leaves, eyes that reminded me of polished Dryad wood and features that looked almost Elvin. She was petite and dainty, as fragile-looking as a tea rose.

But a rose with no thorns.

"Hello, Nyx." The girl, who couldn't have been more than sixteen, had a sweet, lovely voice with an Irish lilt. The sound was what I'd truly call musical. She looked fascinated as she studied me. "You are quite pretty as a human. I would so like to see you after sunset as Drow. What I vision of you is very beautiful."