It wasn’t enough, but it was something. Good. That’s good. What about when they brought me here? Did you see which way—
“No. When you go in cars, I can’t…” He looked embarrassed, as if she were making him admit to something vaguely shameful. “I tatter. I can’t hold together at all. So I don’t know how the hell you got here. Not the route. They loaded you in the back of a gray 2007 Honda CR-V, California license 5FLT230.”
You got the license plate! Lily itched to write it down. Nothing to write on or with, so she wrote it with one finger in her palm to help her remember. “Did you see who was driving?”
“Sure. Pointy-ears drove, furface rode shotgun.”
Lily jerked, startled. One of the elves could drive a car? But the sidhe delegation had only been here for two weeks. How…but Alycithin had spoken English to Lily, hadn’t she? American English, and that hadn’t come from her translation charm because those didn’t work on Lily. Lily reached out absently and touched one of the walls that were currently playing Mozart’s Piano Sonata in C Major. They’ve been here a lot longer than two weeks, haven’t they? Long enough to learn the language, learn to drive, and set this place up.
“Looks like it. Listen, if you want to…” He gestured at the shower, which was filling the little room with steam. “Go ahead. I’ll wait in the other room, keep an eye on that guy. Friar’s brother, right? I caught some of what the two of you said. Snatches. I, uh…” His scowl tightened a couple of notches. “I was just yanking your chain before about watching. I don’t do that shit.”
She hadn’t intended to shower, but maybe she would. It might clear the last of the drug-induced headache. Might help her think. Okay. That would be good. No, wait. You said ‘they’ loaded me into the Honda. Did you see her clearly? The halfling, I mean.
“The furry woman? Yeah, of course I saw her. You want to be careful if you go up against her. She’s strong. Lifted you up like you didn’t weigh anything.”
Now that was interesting. Lily was pretty sure no one but her and Drummond had noticed Alycithin at all. Okay. Thanks. I’m going to take a shower while I’ve got the chance.
Drummond faded back to mist, which made him blend in with the steam from the shower. Well, either he’d left like he said he would or he hadn’t. Being seen naked was not the biggest problem on her plate. Lily stripped quickly and stepped into the tub.
It felt ungodly good. For several moments she just stood beneath the stream of hot water, blessing plumbers everywhere. Who needed magic when you had indoor plumbing and plenty of hot water? Then she let her hands go through the automatic stuff with the shampoo while her mind got busy.
When Mike and Todd and everyone else went tumbling down, Lily had felt a wall of magic smack into her. The thing was, she’d felt that kind of magic once before. Not as strong, but the same kind. That time it had been Arjenie Fox standing with her hand on a car’s windshield while everyone around her passed out.
Glass, Arjenie said, did weird things to her Gift. One of those things was the way it knocked out everyone within twenty feet if she pulled strongly on her Gift while touching glass. That “everyone” included Arjenie herself, but the halfling had probably had training not available to a part-sidhe woman raised here on Earth. Training that let her shield herself from the effect.
It didn’t make sense that Cullen’s prototype could block the mate-sense…because it wasn’t the prototype doing it. It was her. Alycithin. The halfling. Who had a Gift like Arjenie’s, only a lot stronger. A Gift that allowed her to go unnoticed by everyone but ghosts and touch sensitives—and which could baffle wards, too. And, apparently, confuse the mate bond.
The mate bond was magic, after all. Not wholly magic—there seemed to be a spiritual component—but Cullen could see it, and he didn’t see the spiritual stuff, so part of it was built from magic. That would be the part the halfling’s Gift messed with.
Gifts were always stronger than formed magic, Lily had been told. Still, the mate bond came from the Lady. Who was an Old One.
Alycithin must have one hell of a strong Gift.
Lily finished rinsing her hair, turned the shower off, and grabbed a towel. She frowned as she dried herself off, frowned harder when she realized she’d forgotten to get some of the clothes the sidhe had provided. She padded over to the closet.
If the halfling was baffling the mate bond with her Gift, what was blocking Cullen’s Find spells?
That had to be the prototype itself, she decided as she fastened the bra that was such a creepy perfect fit. Alycithin didn’t have the prototype, or why bother grabbing Lily? Either Friar had it, or there was yet another group or individual in this mix who did.
Say Friar did have it. Lily simply didn’t believe the prototype could confuse the mate bond the way Alycithin’s Gift did. So if Sean was right and the halfling did intend to trade Lily to Friar, then once Lily was in Friar’s hands, her mate-sense should start working again. So should Rule’s.
Lily stood stock-still in her underwear as a really stupid idea seized hold of her. Stupid and crazy. Sure, she wanted Robert Friar, wanted him badly. But aside from the risk she’d be taking, she had a civilian here. Sean Friar wasn’t likely to escape on his own, and she didn’t buy whatever soothing platitudes the halfling had fed him about her code. Sean was too big a liability.
But there was another civilian. Another hostage, one held by “the other group.” The easiest way to find Adam King was to find Robert Friar. And Lily had someone who wanted to take her to him.
She pulled on her clothes slowly, thinking hard. Then stood and thought some more. At last she moved in front of the sink, where she stared at the fogged-up mirror without seeing it. She reached for that place in her mind…
It was like a dial. The default setting on her personal dial was set to the frequency where she talked to Drummond, and that was downright annoying. Why would her personal dial be set to him? But maybe it had nothing to do with him, being more about whatever weird thing tied them together. That was why she could mindspeak him so easily now that she’d gotten the knack of it, she’d decided.
But she’d mindspoken Rule on purpose a couple of times now. She had a sense for where he was on her dial. Changing that dial was tricky, and she didn’t always get it right. It was probably pointless to try. She had no idea how far away he was, but distance mattered. She’d never tried to mindspeak anyone who wasn’t with her. And she was behind warded walls, her mate-sense baffled by the halfling’s Gift—which might not affect mindspeech, but still. There was no reason to think this would work.
And no reason not to try. Lily took a slow breath and hunted for Rule on her dial. Rule, I’m okay. I’m being held by the halfling, who has a Gift like Arjenie’s, but stronger. She brought me here in a Honda CR-V, license plate 5FLT230. I’m on the third floor of a seven-story building in a residential area that’s not near the water. Sean Friar is here, apparently a hostage. I haven’t seen Adam King or Robert Friar. I’m told they’re not here. I think there’s another group of elves. I think the halfling intends to trade me to Friar, who may be with the other elves, who may have Adam King. I think I should let her. The mate bond will work again when I’m not around the halfling, and you can find me. And Robert Friar and Adam King.
Lily took a deep breath. That was tiring. She had no idea if she’d done it right, but if it tired her out, she’d done something. She told herself she’d have no way of knowing if she was reaching Rule. She hadn’t learned how to receive, just how to send, and that only a little bit. But her gut was clenched and unhappy. Her gut was sure she hadn’t reached him at all.