Jenna hung up. “That’s done.”
“Good,” Birdie said.
Jenna went back to her food. She cut into her pancakes with her plastic fork and knife. “Birdie, do you think you can do more of your computer magic and find out where Sola is staying? She never told me. Which brings me to the matter of Ingvar.”
Bridget reached for the little packets of salt and pepper. “That’s the woman you met at Howler’s?”
“Yes. At least on the outside.” Jenna stared at the triangle of food on the end of her fork. “I don’t know what it takes to possess someone the way Sola has possessed Ingvar. What kind of damage it does. Sola must be a very powerful seer.” She had a terrible sinking feeling about the whole thing. “I hope my friend is still alive, but I’m not sure.”
Bridget’s eyes held a world of sympathy. “We’ll find out. We’ll get Hank on this as soon as Birdie figures out where they are.”
“You know…” Jenna put her fork down and pulled out her phone again. “I was texting with Ingvar before I knew what was going on. So really, I was texting with Sola, I guess. Birdie, let’s get that cell number tracked.”
“On it, so long as she hasn’t turned the phone off and pulled the SIM card.”
“Let’s hope. But first, let me give this a shot.” She took a moment, formulated her thoughts, then dashed off a quick text to the number she’d thought was Ingvar’s. What happened? Are you okay? We need to talk.
She set her phone down next to her food. She hated playing dumb, but it was worth it if it got her a response. “Let’s see if she replies and, if she does, what she says.”
“The sun is barely over the horizon,” Birdie said. “Do you think the evil get up this early?”
Jenna chuckled. “I know it’s a long shot.”
“I bet she doesn’t reply,” Bridget said. “For one thing, she knows you’re not stupid. That you’ve by now figured out she’s not only gone to the dark side, but she married it. Even if she thinks you still believe she’s Ingvar, at this point you’d have some serious problems with Ingvar’s behavior.”
“We all do,” Birdie said around a mouthful of home fries.
“That’s the other thing.” Bridget pointed at Birdie with her fork. “Sola saw us all there last night. Not only didn’t Titus keep his distance, he brought three other wolves along with him.”
That gave Jenna an idea. “Hey, wolves have highly attuned senses of smell. Could you guys track Sola down and figure out where she’s staying that way?”
Bridget glanced at Birdie before answering. “We already tried that. Birdie and I went back to the circle as soon as we knew Titus was going to be all right.”
“You did? The runes are still open. Did you see the wraith? Or any wraith?”
Birdie sighed. “No wraiths, but the site is so saturated with wolfsbane, we couldn’t get closer than twenty feet before our sinuses started burning.” She frowned, and her eyes lit with the golden wolfy glow that Jenna had come to appreciate. “We’re going to have to do this the old-fashioned way. Research and police intuition.”
Jenna’s phone vibrated. She flipped it over and read the new text.
You’re right. We do need to talk.
Jenna stared at her phone screen in disbelief. “You guys. She answered.”
“Who?” Birdie asked. “Sola? Or Alice.”
“Sola. As Ingvar.” Jenna chewed on her lower lip. “I don’t know if I should take that to mean she doesn’t think I know who she really is, or if she’s fishing to see what I know, or maybe even trying to set me up, but I can’t let this opportunity pass by.”
Bridget looked confused. “How are you going to do anything about it? You can’t be more than a hundred feet away from Titus, and he’s not going anywhere for a while. And even when he gets out of here, he’s still not going to be in fighting shape.”
“Yeah, that’s definitely a problem.” Jenna thought out loud. “If I learned anything from last night’s experience, it’s that Leif’s wraith form continues to get stronger. Wraiths generally can only exist in dark places until they get stronger, but Leif’s got Sola working with him. As badly as he wants my sword, there’s a very good chance they could hunt me down here at the hospital. They won’t care what collateral damage they cause.”
“Great,” Bridget said.
“Exactly. I’d much rather control the location where that battle happens.” Jenna ate a bite of pancake. “Wolfsbane takes twenty-four hours to clear a wolf’s system?”
“Typically,” Birdie answered. “It may not take quite as long with him since he didn’t ingest it. He probably inhaled some, though, so it might be six of one, a half dozen of the other.”
Jenna’s brows rose. “Any way to speed that up, other than the fluids he’s getting?”
“Not really.” Bridget put her fork down, picked up her OJ, and looked at Birdie. “Unless you know some ancient wolfy secrets about dealing with wolfsbane that I don’t.”
“I wish I did,” Birdie said. “But we need to think about this. If we’re going to run some kind of sting on Sola, deal with this wraith, and try to save Ingvar, we have to find a way to at least make Titus mobile.” She glanced behind her at the other people in the visiting area. “We do not want some kind of magical showdown happening in the hospital.”
“No, we don’t.” Jenna frowned. “Especially not with the havoc a wraith can cause.”
Birdie looked at Bridget. “You think your brother will help?”
“Titus? I’m sure he’ll do anything to go home.”
“I meant Hank.”
Bridget shrugged. “He might not be happy about it, but I’m sure he
