The Undead Pool

Trent was shaking his head. “Bancroft, I see your reasoning, and I agree the information would be invaluable, but Rachel is right. I’ve been there after sunset, and if you’re not prepared, it is like, well . . .” He looked at me. “Like summoning a demon without a circle. It can wait until morning.”

“Twelve hours might make a huge difference,” Landon said, undeterred. “You have two meters. One team could travel through the ever-after, the other in reality. We’d take readings all the way, determining natural levels, her levels, and if the mystics will cross realities to find her.”

Bis’s grip on me had tightened, and I touched his foot again.

“Whoever is doing this is unable to collect one hundred percent of them,” Landon said persuasively. “The entire Cincinnati area is simmering with untapped energy. If nothing else, it would give a tremendous insight into how the Goddess sees, ah, magic practitioners.”

Yes, I was a demon, but a slow slog home through the ever-after wasn’t my idea of fun.

“I volunteer to be on the ever-after team,” Landon said, and Trent looked thoughtful. “If we go by horse, we can outdistance a surface demon, and if the team in reality is on horseback, they can evade the roadblocks.”

It was starting to sound marginally reasonable, and Ellasbeth made a sound of negation as I looked at Trent for his opinion. “Trenton, this is not acceptable,” she said firmly. “You have a family, children, responsibilities.”

A fiancée, I added silently as he grimaced.

“The risk is minimal if I’m on the reality-based team,” he said, and Landon’s green eyes brightened in the dimming evening. “This has merit.”

“Quen can go,” she protested, and Trent took her hands, forcing her to look at him.

“Ellasbeth. This is my job. This is what I do. Let me do it.”

My lips parted as his words fell from him, firm as he pleaded for understanding and acceptance. It was exactly what I had told Kisten, Pierce, and Marshal.

She dropped her head, defiance in her as it lifted. “Ellie, this will foster goodwill if nothing else. And I’m curious myself.” Letting her go, Trent turned to me, and my heart seemed to skip at his look of anticipation. “Rachel?”

The ever-after? On horseback at night? With Landon? I looked at Bis, and he lifted his wings in a shrug.

“Sure. Why not?”

Thirteen

The cheese was tangy, rich with flavor and clearly minimally processed. The bread was even better, with a crackling crust and the body textured and soft. Leaning against the rack of saddles, I wiped my mouth with a pinkie, the last bite of the sandwich still in my hand. I didn’t think I’d ever had a cheese sandwich until just this moment. “You sure?” I said into the phone, and Ivy’s sigh came back to me.

“It’s easier at the safe house,” she said, the background noise unfamiliar. “Nina’s condition is common enough to have people who know what to do. It’s okay.”

She was already there, which made me feel both better and like I’d let them down. “I should be there,” I protested, but there was little to nothing I could really do.

Landon, dressed now in jeans and borrowed boots, walked by with Ceri’s old horse, and I felt a twinge of sadness. She’d been happy that morning. I was glad my last memory of Ray’s real mother was of her in the dappled sun, content and crabbing at me to be true to myself.

“We’ll be fine,” Ivy said, and I stifled a pang of guilt. “Rachel, they just put Felix in charge of the I.S. The sooner you get someone else awake, the better.”

“Felix?” I yelped, and Landon looked up from where he’d tied off his horse, brushing the animal out as he waited. It might be to give Felix enough rope to hang himself with, but he could hang the rest of us in the meantime. “The I.S. isn’t coming after you, are they?”

“Not with everything else going on, but that’s one of the reasons for the safe house.”

This sucked. I really needed to be there, and I tugged my borrowed coat tighter about myself. I was eating gourmet cheese sandwiches and gearing up for a midnight ride when Ivy was hiding from the I.S. with an emotionally compromised woman. “You want me to send Bis back?” I said, looking at the last bite of sandwich glumly. He was waiting for us out on the cupola, snagging bats for his breakfast.

“Rachel, stop,” she said loud enough that Landon could hear her. “Do what you need to do. Get someone else awake before Felix makes himself king of the world.”

I sourly ate my last bite of sandwich. Trent went past, an English saddle in his arms. “I’ll call you when I get back to the church.” I chewed and swallowed. My eyes narrowed as I realized Trent was in with Red. He wasn’t riding Red, was he? The horse had been trained for the track, not field. “Be careful.”

“You too,” Ivy said, and I looked away from how Trent’s shoulders moved as he brushed the horse out. “If I don’t hear from you by sunrise, I’m summoning you home.”