I looked up at the old hayloft. At the top was a hay door, and the wolves wouldn’t be at that end. Another blow nearly punched through the wall in one spot.
I pointed to the ladder. “You two, up into the loft and out the hay door. You’ll have to jump and run.” I took the car keys from my pocket and tossed them past a disappointed Ari.
Liam caught them backhand. “What are you going to do?”
“Keep them occupied. Get to the car, get back to the Agency.”
Liam crossed his arms, and Ari put her hands on her hips.
Behind me, an enraged wolf nearly ripped the door off the rails.
“You,” I said to Ari. “You are my responsibility. And you,” I said to Liam, “are my fault. Get back to the car, get out of here.”
The wolf tore a plank loose and stuck his head in. “No peeking,” I said, and rewarded him with a bullet.
Ari gathered in magic. “I’m not leaving you.”
Liam nodded, and rolled up his flannel sleeves. “I think I’m done running.”
I had an idea. I hit my bracelet, since I didn’t have time for the compact. “Grimm, can that altar take us to your demesne?”
“Traffic jam?” asked Grimm.
“Wolves. They want to lodge a complaint about my hood, in my spleen.” I emptied one clip on anything that moved or tried to reach through the broken planks, and slammed my spare into the gun.
The marble began to glow. “Hold on, this will take a moment to get ready.” The runes were etched with gold and they began to pulse, slowly, then faster. With a roar, the alpha wolf tore loose another plank and pushed through the door.
I shot him twice, and he landed on his knees, laughing. He stood up and began to walk toward me as I sent bullet after bullet into him. I dodged one swipe from his claw, but he wasn’t putting a lot of effort into it. I realized why. Other wolves were climbing in behind him, squeezing through the ruined door.
Ari yelled, not a scream, but something like anger and fear in one. A bolt of lightning leaped from her to set the fur of two of them on fire. The first wolf leaped backwards.
Liam walked toward the wolf. Whatever he was cursed with, the bracelet was barely holding it in check, because I heard the curse speaking in a voice like gravel. “Bad doggie. How about playing with me?” In his hands he held a hay fork, long curved tines rusted from years of disuse.
“Grimm,” I said, “We need to be going now.”
Like the dais in his office, the altar shone like a spotlight, a shaft of golden light illuminating the barn. “Almost ready, my dear.”
The alpha wolf swung at Liam, and he ducked. Liam hit the wolf with the handle end of the fork, first in the head, then in the stomach. Liam raised the pitchfork with both hands and gave a guttural shout. He slammed it down, ramming the tines through the wolf’s leg, clean into the dirt. The wolf howled in pain and backhanded him. As Liam rolled up, I saw blood leaking from three slices on his head.
“Come,” said Grimm. I grabbed Ari and pulled her toward the altar, which now shone a rainbow into the darkness of the barn. With a howl, the alpha wolf ripped the tines from his leg, tearing loose a tendon.
We ran, Liam and Ari and I, straight for the altar. As the light engulfed me I looked over my shoulder. The alpha wolf came for us, loping on four legs. He gathered himself and flew through the air, fangs bared. Then we were nowhere.
Twenty-Eight
ONLY A MOMENT of blinding light separated me from the wolf. I landed at a run, stumbled onto the carpet, and smashed my thigh against a table. Ari slammed into me, giving me another bruise, and I could only hold my breath as Liam repeated it. We landed in the back room of the Agency. Filing boxes, plaster statues, and lava lamps from the sixties covered the floor. “This is your demesne?”
“Of course it is.” said Grimm. “Where else would I need to exercise my power? Mr. Stone, those wounds on your head require stitches. Princess, you may clean up in our wardrobe department, and Marissa, I’d like to see you in my office.”
Grimm waited in his office for me. As I limped in, he looked over me with concern.
I figured a preemptive strike might get me out of trouble for disobeying him. “Where’d the wolves go?”
He gave a small laugh. “Empowering the portal takes time and effort. Changing where it goes is trivial.”
“So where exactly did they wind up?”
“Have you ever seen the inside of an active volcano? They have.” Grimm gave me a wide grin. Maximum effect for minimum magic was his modus operandi.
That’s when the building started to shake. At first, it felt like a minor earthquake. The building began to sway ever so slightly.
Grimm shouted, “Marissa, into the Visions Room, immediately.” I ran as fast as I could, through the halls, and locked myself inside. The crystals began to shiver and hum.
“Grimm? What’s going on?” Inside the room, everything glowed an eerie purple.
I heard his voice from outside. “My dear, I told you your blessings would object to being separated from you. The portal took you, but not them.”
The crystals rattled like wind chimes, then one split, and another. A fountain of white light shot through the wall, two orbs of that rocketed toward me. They blew through me, leaving my hair standing on end, and circled me so quickly it looked like I stood in a tornado of white.
“Beatus, Consecro, calm down.” As I spoke their names, the white glow intensified. Another set of crystals shattered, but they slowed down, becoming visible as distinct orbs of white. At last they hovered in the air, out of my reach. I couldn’t tell if the expression on their sharklike faces was fear or anger. “It’s all right. I’m not trying to get away.”
I opened the door to the Visions Room and stepped out. Most of the fluorescent lights were broken, and the agency looked like a typhoon had blown through.
“I just had the Visions Room repaired,” said Grimm. “That is why I prefer that you drive. Though you seem to have trouble navigating.”
“I was supposed to go to Kingdom.” There was no point in avoiding it.
Grimm gave me that wry smile of his. “My dear, I trust you. Though the matter of Clara’s death is not one I’ll wait to resolve.”
“The Seal came through wolf town. I think the fae child followed it, or maybe he was near where it was and they grabbed him too. That Fairy Godmother must have it, Grimm. What would a fairy want with the Seal?”
He nodded in agreement as I mentioned her. “Seals generate more magic when safely in place. Killing one would be of almost no value by comparison. Help me find out who killed Clara, and I will take care of this Godmother, no matter the cost.”
“I can take her.”
Grimm had almost no sense of humor on a normal day, and it was clear from the way his eyes went narrow he thought I’d actually try to take her on.
“I’m kidding,” I said, “I’ll leave the scary fairy to you.” I could have broken Grimm’s mirror a thousand times and not earned his wrath. Maybe his annoyance, but not his wrath. If I’d ever seen Grimm like this before, I’d probably have thought more about my words at the funeral ball.
“Fairy Godmother talked to me through Clara’s body. I’m sure she had to do with her death.”
He didn’t respond. He closed his eyes and exhaled.
I pulled up my pant leg to get a glimpse of my latest bruise. “I have a theory about how they meant to get Liam out. Ask Evangeline if you found anything painted with silver. Fleshing silver. Would’ve been close. The troll was meant to deliver him to it.”
Grimm disappeared, so I headed down to Wardrobe and cleaned up. I kept three sets of black pantsuits at the office, just in case. In case of the normal things, like getting bitten by a wolf or clawed by an imp. Using a fairy portal to escape a pack of wolves out for vengeance was unusual even by my standards.