“I know. It’s okay. I’ll figure it out.” Cheyenne gave the housekeeper’s arms a gentle squeeze, then removed her hands and walked past her toward the portal ridge.
The pillars of black stone splitting across the pristine lawn of the Summerlin estate pulsed with waves of purple and green light. The colors mixed to give off a muddy brown glow that reflected in the FRoE agents’ eyes as they watched the halfling slowly approach.
Bianca Summerlin stood in front of the line of portal stones, her arms hanging loosely at her sides, staring blankly at the pulsing lights in front of her.
“Mom?” A cold knot of apprehension coiled in Cheyenne’s gut. “Mom, can you hear me?”
“I already told you, kid. There’s nothing there.”
She turned around and glared at him. “That’s not true, and you know it. Don’t say stuff like that.”
“I meant, no reaction.”
“Yeah, I know what you meant, but you need to work on your shitty delivery.”
Eleanor clapped a hand over her mouth but didn’t dare mention Cheyenne’s choice of words.
Now I know something’s wrong. Cheyenne turned back to her mother and swallowed. She would’ve told me to watch my mouth.
“Mom, if you can hear me, blink or something.”
Bianca’s eyes didn’t move, let alone blink. The rise and fall of her slow breathing were barely visible.
“Mom? Mom! You have to snap out of it!”
Eleanor reached toward the halfling. “Cheyenne, don’t!”
Rhynehart darted toward them. “Hey, I said—”
Cheyenne grabbed her mom’s shoulder. A bubble of the same dark, muddy light bloomed around Bianca’s entire body and blasted her daughter away from her with a zap. Cheyenne flew backward across the lawn, her skin and hair sparking. She hit the grass, slid another foot, and waited for the sting to fade from every inch of her skin. “What the hell?”
Rhynehart jogged toward her. “I know we’ve had our issues, kid, but come on. I wouldn’t lie to you about something like that.”
“Well, you definitely didn’t lie about how much it hurts. I forgot about your warning.” Cheyenne wiggled her jaw, her face feeling like it was moving all on its own, and accepted his hand.
The agent pulled her to her feet and nodded. “You okay?”
“I guess. Yeah. Does that happen every time?”
“Every time.” Rhynehart turned to look at Bianca and the portal ridge with a grimace. “Had each one of my guys take a stab at it.”
“Hey. She is my mom, not an it. Not a target.”
“Sorry. You’re right.” He shrugged. “Everybody here tried helping your mom away from the portal, and everybody got their asses launched back just like you did.”
Cheyenne brushed her hair out of her face and studied her mom’s rigid, motionless figure. “I don’t get it.”
“Right there with you, kid, which was why I suggested bringing someone else. You forget about that too?”
She took a deep breath and pulled her phone out of her pocket. “I wanted to see what was going on first. I still have no idea.”
“I seriously hope you know someone who does have an idea. She’s not gonna last much longer standing there like that. No food. No water. No sleep. And those morphing-monster things could pop out of the stones at any time.”
“Stop.” Cheyenne looked up from her phone and glared at him. “You’re the worst at making people feel better. You know that, right?”
“Still working on it.” With a sharp nod, Rhynehart walked swiftly back to his team and left the halfling alone to make her call.
She pressed the phone to her ear and stared at her mom’s silhouette, cast by the pulsing purple and green lights. Come on, Corian. Pick up. Whatever you’re doing, please pick up.
“Where are you?”
A small sigh of relief escaped her. “I’m at Bianca’s, and I really, really need your help. She needs your help.”
The other end of the line was silent.
“Corian?”
“How bad is it?”
“Bad enough that I’m calling you less than five minutes after I got here. Please, can you get here or not?”
“Yeah, kid. Hang tight.”
“Thank you.” She swallowed thickly and felt like she could breathe again. “Hey, can you bring Ember with you? I have a feeling I’ll need her too.”
“That’s usually how it goes. Five minutes, Cheyenne.”
“Okay.” She kept her phone against her ear for a full thirty seconds after he hung up. Then she blinked, slid the phone back into her pocket, and walked quickly back toward Rhynehart’s agents and Eleanor the housekeeper, who was glaring furiously at all of them.
Chapter Fifty-Five
“Who’d you call?” Rhynehart stopped beside Cheyenne and rocked forward on his toes.
She stared at her mom’s blank, unchanging face. “You’ll find out.”
“Huh.” He took a deep breath and folded his arms. “I have to ask, kid. Does this have anything to do with you running around and popping in and out of this thing?”
“No. That was one time, Rhynehart. And Bianca wasn’t a part of it.”
“Okay. If you’re sure.”
“I didn’t have anything to do with this. I wouldn’t risk anything happening to her.” Cheyenne looked up at him and shook her head. “That was why I called you guys.”
“I know. I’m trying to put together whatever pieces I can.”
“Well, I don’t have enough pieces, so you’re outta luck.”
They stood silently beside each other as the portal ridge pulsed with muddy light.
Then one of his agents shouted and stepped back, quickly followed by the others. A dark oval of light shimmered in the air behind Bianca, and Corian stepped out first. He didn’t bother with an illusion this time, and he only spared the FRoE agents a quick, sidelong glance through narrow silver eyes before he headed toward Cheyenne.
“Christ,” Rhynehart muttered. “Where’d you find that guy?”
“In a basement.” Cheyenne met Corian halfway and shrugged. “I don’t know what’s going on.”
“Show me, and we’ll go from there.”
She nodded at Bianca, then saw Byrd and Lumil standing in front of the portal, scowling at the FRoE agents. Persh’al came next, rubbing the side of his shaved head, then Ember floated through the portal.
Rhynehart rubbed a hand over his mouth
