Dawnkeepers

As the king’s sister stood and moved to the front of the tables, Nate glanced around, making sure he knew where Alexis was, checking that she looked okay.

She looked better than okay, sitting at the far end of the table in a soft sweater that made him want to touch her. The sight of her kicked his body from tune-down to overdrive, and it only got worse when he realized she wasn’t meeting his eyes, was looking everywhere but at him.

But although he might not like it, he couldn’t blame her for having decided she was better off done with him. More, he didn’t know what he was going to do about it. He had, however, just bought himself some time to think it through. Then again, it wasn’t as if he’d managed to rationalize their relationship in the months they’d been together or apart. Why did he think he’d have any better luck now? If anything, adding the Godkeeper issue into the mix just made things worse. Alexis was the sort who would want—and deserve—a commitment. She would want to be mated, want all the marks and ceremonies that went with it. All the promises . . . and the constraints. And Nate didn’t do constraints.

“Okay, people,” Anna said, interrupting his mental log-jam. “Here’s the deal. Last night my grad student, Lucius, showed up here, having followed starscript directions left by Ambrose Ledbetter in the haunted temple where I was attacked by the nahwal last year. Lucius had followed Ledbetter’s daughter—or possibly goddaughter—to the temple, where he found a great deal of blood, along with Ledbetter’s skull. He followed the directions, hoping to find her here, and found me instead. Based on his description of the tracks in the dust near where he found the skull, and our inability to track down Sasha, it seems reasonable to think that Iago and a female accomplice snatched her from the tunnel.

Strike has been unable to lock onto her for a teleport, so we have to assume she’s either being held underground . . . or she’s dead.” Anna’s rapid-fire delivery was clipped and flat, but Nate could hear pain beneath it, and guilt.

Jade said, “Did he see any other starscript while he was there?”

But Anna held up a hand. “Let’s wait on the questions, please. There’s more.” She paused, grimacing. “Lucius’s search was being funded, unbeknownst to me, by a woman named Desiree Soo, who is also my immediate boss . . . and my husband’s ex-mistress.”

A collective wince went around the group at that one, and Alexis made a soft sound of sympathy.

“I’m sorry.”

“Thanks,” Anna said, but her eyes were dull when she continued, “Anyway, the upshot is that Lucius checked in with Desiree before he came here. He told her about the temple, about the signs of a struggle he’d found there, and about the starscript directions he was convinced had something to do with the Nightkeepers.” Anna looked from Strike to Jox and back. “I don’t know what, if anything, Desiree will do with the information, but she knows how to find Skywatch if she wants to.”

Surprisingly, because he sure as hell never said anything during group meetings under normal circumstances, Rabbit said, “Why does she care about the Nightkeepers?”

“Lucius is pretty sure he saw the quatrefoil mark on her wrist,” Anna answered. “She always wears a silver cuff, so I never noticed it. But he described the Xibalbans’ mark without knowing what he really saw.”

There was silence after that one, broken only by Rabbit’s low, “Oh, shit.”

Nate cursed under his breath as things suddenly got a whole lot more complicated. Oh, shit, indeed.

Anna nodded, expression grim. “She’s been at the university for five or six years now, having come over from a top Egyptology position at another school. It was a bit of a shocker, actually; she took a demotion to come to UT and head up our section of the art history department. In retrospect, and with no false modesty, I can only assume that the Xibalbans somehow learned that I wear the jaguar glyph, and Desiree put herself into a position where she could watch me closely and see if there were other survivors. She must’ve tapped into my e-mail. That would explain how Iago knew to start searching for the missing artifacts—Jade and I have exchanged a few messages. We kept the conversation general, but it could’ve tipped him off, told him what to look for and where to start.” She paused. “I’d apologize, but what would be the point? We didn’t even know we had an enemy besides the Banol Kax until a few days ago. All we can do is go forward from here.”

There was a murmur of agreement, and Nate found himself nodding along with the others. But at the same time his mind was racing, trying to use his gamer’s strategies to figure out what the Xibalbans’ next move would be. Iago now knew where to find them. Question was, what would he do with the information?

Rabbit sat on the outskirts of the group, practically vibrating with impatience. He wanted to get going, to get moving, to do something, anything. He was pissed that while Strike was busy worrying about what Myrinne might do if he brought her to Skywatch, Anna had screwed the pooch with her own human contacts.

Yeah. That was fair.

Continuing the meeting, Strike moved up the plans to send Alexis and Michael to Belize, and fast-

tracked the timetable for the group heading to Boston. “Leah and I are going to ’port to Germany.

Carter thinks he has a lead on the artifact linked to the seventh demon prophecy, and we’re going to go check it out.”

On the other side of the picnic table, Nate frowned. “All due respect, but are you sure that’s a good idea? None of us is expandable, but we sure as shit can’t do without you two.” Nate looked like hell: His knuckles were scraped and swollen, and his face looked like it’d run into someone’s foot a few times. From the look of Michael, sitting next to him, Rabbit could guess whose foot. He could also guess what they’d been fighting over.

Strike’s glance at Alexis and Jox suggested that the royal council had already had a similar debate about the advisability of his going after the seventh prophecy.

After a moment, though, Strike answered, “The seventh demon prophecy involves Camazotz himself coming to earth, and there’s some suggestion that it trumps the other six. If we can get our hands on the altar stone that bears the prophecy, we might be able to figure out how to block all seven of the prophecies at once, rather than screwing around dealing with them for the next seven cardinal days in a row.” He paused, but held up a hand when Nate moved to speak. “And you’re right, that doesn’t mean it needs to be me and Leah going after the seventh prophecy. In fact, given that there’s a pretty good curse associated with possession of the altar stone, logic might suggest that someone else should go after it. Except for two things. One, I’m damn well not sending one of you on an assignment because I consider it too dangerous to do myself. If I’m not willing to take the risk, then we find another way, period. And two, the altar stone is dedicated to Kulkulkan.”

There was a beat of silence after that, before Nate said, “Okay. Even I’m willing to admit that the god connection trumps logic.”

“Glad you approve,” Strike said, his tone making it clear that he didn’t really give a shit whether Blackhawk liked the plan. “Moving on, I wanted to let you all know that we’ve decided to send the twins away for the next few months, until we have a better handle on Iago’s power and how much of a threat he poses to Skywatch.” The king nodded to a pair of winikin at the end of the table. “Hannah and Woody are going to take them someplace safe.”

Rabbit straightened at the news and sent a quick look over at Patience and Brandt. But they weren’t reacting, which meant they knew already. Hell, it might’ve been their idea. Brandt hadn’t wanted the kids raised in the compound in the first place. Acid gathered in Rabbit’s stomach, both because the rug rats were leaving and because nobody had told him to his face. Up until a month or so ago, Patience and Brandt had treated him like part of their family. The more the two of them had argued, though, the less they’d seemed to want him around. Now the twins were being sent away. What the hell was going on? Were Patience and Brandt breaking up for real?

“Don’t do it.” For a second, Rabbit thought the strangled words might’ve come from him. Then he realized it was Jox who’d spoken. The royal winikin stood and stared at his king, looking wrecked.

“Don’t send them away.”

Strike grimaced. “It’s for the best. You know that.”

“Please,” Jox said, just please, as though having the twins leave were the worst thing he could think to have happen.

Rabbit didn’t know what that was all about, but felt sorry for Jox when Strike just shook his head, like the decision was already made. Gods knew Rabbit had been on the receiving end of that look about a zillion times before. Welcome to powerlessness, he thought. How’s it feel?