Ember shrugged when he looked at her. “You understand why we can’t just take your word for it without checking.”
“Absolutely. You guys go do what you have to do. I’ll deal with this on my end too.”
“By doing what?” Corian took his phone back and slipped it into his pocket.
“I can shut the whole thing down. Scrap the project. At the very least, deactivate the whole thing and archive it.” Matthew lifted both hands and shook his head. “I don’t want anything to do with it at this point.”
“That’s good to hear.” Cheyenne nudged her fist against his shoulder and nodded. “Thanks for not making this as hard as it could’ve been.”
He glanced at Maleshi’s claws and swallowed. “Uh-huh.”
The general chuckled. “Oh, don’t look at me like that. I’m not the one you have to worry about.”
“Yeah, it’s a good thing we didn’t bring Lumil along,” Cheyenne added. “She would’ve been so disappointed.”
“Thank you for your time, Matthew.” Corian nodded and stepped away from the table to summon another portal.
Cheyenne and Maleshi walked with him and waited for the doorway of dark light to open. Matthew glanced at Ember and finally got the guts to slide off the chair. “Ember, I had no idea.”
“Not right now. I’m waiting to find out whether you’re lying about it all over again.”
“I didn’t know it was this serious.”
“We already had this conversation.” Ember wheeled toward the other magicals and didn’t look back. “I don’t wanna have it again. Ever. If we don’t show up in your living room in the next few days, it’s pretty safe to say we got everything we needed. Thanks.”
Corian’s portal opened, and the nightstalkers stepped aside to let the fae girl wheel through and back into her apartment. Maleshi looked at Matthew and gave him a quick wink before disappearing. Corian didn’t bother to say anything before he stepped through, and Cheyenne paused to point at her neighbor. “You can keep that video, but I’d be careful about letting anyone else see it. We can call a truce if you want.”
“Yeah.” Matthew nodded vacantly. “I’m cool with that.”
“Sweet.” The halfling stepped through the portal behind her friends, and the dark light shrank in midair.
Matthew stared at the empty space in his living room where they’d all just been standing and ran a hand through his hair. “I’m done taking clients on family recommendation. That’s for damn sure.”
Chapter Seventy-Nine
“Okay.” Cheyenne spun to face the nightstalkers and spread her arms. “So, we wait for Persh’al to tell us where to go next, and then we hit hard. How long does that usually take?”
“Persh’al’s fast, so we’ll know where to start by the end of the day.” Corian chuckled. “He’s not happy that you cracked that tech from the last machine in less than twenty-four hours, but it won’t stop him from getting the job done on his end. But you need to wait for my call, got it? We have to be careful now.”
“Right. I’ll wait for your call, and then I’ll go in with you.”
“No. I’m talking about the call when it’s time to make the crossing again.”
“What?” Cheyenne frowned. “When’s that gonna be?”
“No clue. Waiting for L’zar.”
“So, I’m out of the game now with these war machines? Just like that?”
The nightstalker shrugged. “Sorry, kid.”
“No, no. That’s not how this works.” She snatched the activator coil from behind her ear and shoved it into her coat pocket. “I’m not the drow puppet who gets to fight off all the things coming after me just so I can wait around for everyone else who thinks they’re smarter than me to get the rest of the job done afterward. I’m in this, Corian. I signed up. Made the crossing and everything.”
“Yes, you did.”
“And you’re the one who told me not to keep sitting on the sidelines and to get involved.”
He dipped his head. “I did. And now I’m telling you to wait for my call.”
“Unbelievable.”
“L’zar’s almost ready to move. I can’t tell you exactly when, but I know it’ll be soon, and when he is ready, we need to make sure you’re not busy fighting off something else coming for you. As far as we know, the loyalists controlling those machines aren’t yet aware that you and Ember live in the same apartment. The wards we put up keep their systems from tracing anything back to you as long as you’re here inside those wards. We need you to stay put.”
“’Stay put.’ What does that even mean?”
Corian was too busy conjuring another portal to answer her immediately. When he did, he raised his eyebrows and shrugged, one tufted ear twitching. “It means you stay in your apartment until you hear from me. As I understand it, you don’t have any other obligations until Monday morning—assuming your school is up and running again after today’s little incident, of course.”
Cheyenne glared at him. “And what happens if L’zar’s not ready to move before Monday?”
“Well, if that’s the case, we’ll reassess things when we get there. This is the safest place for you right now. Just get comfy.” Without another word, Corian walked through his portal and disappeared.
Maleshi paused and gave Cheyenne a sympathetic smile. “You know he’s right, and no, that doesn’t mean you have to be happy about it. We’re almost ready, kid. This close to the final step, things have a tendency to get dicey. So be ready.”
“I’ve been ready.”
“I know.” Maleshi nodded at Ember and vanished through the portal two seconds before it popped out of existence.
Cheyenne clenched her fists and leaned against the back of the couch.
Ember rubbed her forehead. “I didn’t expect them to put you on house arrest after what happened this morning. I mean, at least it’s a great apartment with a giant TV.”
Shaking her head, Cheyenne stepped around the couch and headed for the stairs to the mini loft. “I didn’t spend the first eighteen years of my life cooped up on Bianca Summerlin’s estate just so
