a8eb54fe2a7e7ca192cef2761fb9d6c0

“Austin and I have an understanding.”

“Yeah, that he runs your life.”

“A reconnaissance mission has merit,” Arthur announced suddenly. From his tone, Diana assumed he’d done some thinking about it while she’d been dealing with Sam. “But are either of you well enough to go? Both of you were injured in the recent battle; perhaps two of my scouts…”

“No.” Claire was using her don’t-even-bother-arguing-with-me voice. “It has to be one of us. Your people can’t see what we need to know.”

“And I’m fine,” Diana broke in. “Headache’s mostly gone, I had a nice nap, I have two working arms…it has to be me.”

Claire nodded agreement.“You’re right.”

“And Claire obviously got hit on the head and we never noticed.”

Arthur turned an anxious expression on the older Keeper, but she waved him off.“Diana’s just trying to be funny.”

“Now is not the time.”

Apparently a sense of humor was not a requirement to be an Immortal King.“Sorry.” The apology slipped out before Diana remembered that Keepers never apologized.

Still suitably serious, Arthur nodded.“Then, as you request, Kris will accompany you. She has been into enemy territory many times and is therefore your best chance to not only get in but get out again.”

“Out again, that’s the tricky part,” Kris muttered.

“When should this…” He stumbled a bit over the shortened word. “…recon mission take place?”

Claire held out her good arm. The hands of her watch continued to spin wildly.“As soon as possible.”

Kris rose fluidly to her feet.“I’m good.” She raked a critical gaze over Diana’s clothes as the younger Keeper stood. “You’ll have to change. Dark colors, nothing to catch the light.”

“I brought jeans.”

She gestured back into the store, her rings glittering in the firelight.“We’ll find you something better.”

*

“You should have been there last night, Austin, those guys kicked tall ass!” Dean stepped back from hanging a signed picture of the team on the wall of the office and turned to grin at the cat. “You missed a great game.”

“I also missed being smuggled into the arena in a gym bag,” Austin muttered without lifting his head from his front paws. “Pass.”

Before Dean could answer, the phone rang.

“If it’s three bears,” the cat announced as Dean’s hand closed around the receiver, “tell them we’re full. That one only ever ends well for the bears.”

*

Black leggings, black tank, black zip-up sweatshirt, black socks, black canvas fanny pack, black leather driving gloves—Diana wore her own hightops and drew the line at using a black lipstick as camouflage paint. The line stayed drawn for about fifteen seconds.

“So you’re not as pale as your sister…” Finished wrapping the last of her dreadlocks up into one long tail, Kris reached for the tube. “…you’ll still show up in the shadows.”

“I’m a Keeper…”

“And I know what I’m doing. Hold still.”

*

“I’m sorry, Sam, but you can’t come.”

His eyes narrowed, flaying Diana with amber scythes.“You’re ditching me so you can bealone with your newfriend, aren’t you?”

“No!” She dropped to one knee and beckoned him closer. “Look, I’m really worried about Claire. She’s not used to being without Austin. I mean, one of those meat-minds actually hit her with his little concrete bag thing. How weird is that? Claire never gets hurt. I’m afraid of what mighthappen to her if there’s no cat around at all.”

Sam snorted.“What a load of crap.”

“Fine; I need someone here who can remind Claire that she’s not always right, that this was my Summoning. I’d rather you were with me, but I don’t want her screwing things up from this end.”

He thought about it for a moment.“Okay, that one I’ll buy. Be careful.”

“You, too. Remember, she gets cranky when she’s crossed.”

“Please, if Austin can handle her, how hard can it be?”

*

They took the first set of stairs down to the lower level, past a pair of elves standing guard who might have been fifteen in the outside world but here were becoming ageless.

“It’s sort of neutral territory between these stairs and the next ones,” Kris murmured as they descended toward the lower concourse. “The meat-minds never go much farther than the stairs they chased you and your sister up, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t some nasty shit hanging around. There’re a few storefronts you don’t want to get too close to.”

“In a way that’s a good thing.”

“Yeah? I doubt you’ll think that when the pieces start rolling out of the Body Shop.”

Pieces. Body Shop. Evil was remarkably literal-minded at times.

“You smell something like a seaweed emulsion,” Kris continued, “you haul ass. You hear me?”

“What’s a seaweed emulsion smell like?”

“Dead fish and seagull shit.”

“Okay.” Diana took a vigorous sniff but could only smell the perfume/plastic mix of the lipstick smeared all over her face. And maybe, just maybe something warm and spicy and slightly intoxicating rising off Kris which she was going to work very hard at not thinking about until they were safelyback in King Arthur’s Court.