With that, she dismissed me, secured the lids on the tins, and set aside the one containing the gold sequins. Unnerved as I was by Maritza’s proclamation, I let her know to call me if she needed help. I repeated the same to the teenagers piling their plates high with rice and stir-fried vegetables and pocketed my cell phone before stepping outside.
The sun had set behind the hill that shaded my property and the sky was filling with gray clouds. The rain I had been sensing all day inched closer. Walking to the northerly side of the house, where I had once hidden Tanner’s pouch in a hollow in the foundation, I listened for men tromping about in the darkening woods.
I heard nothing and decided it was time to look for the men. I started with phoning Tanner. When my call went to voicemail, I tried River. Same thing. I trudged back inside and shrugged into a rain slicker.
Walking clockwise around the house again, still hearing nothing coming from the section of the woods abutting Flechette-owned land, I discovered Airlie had fallen asleep in the garden chair. “Hey,” I said, knocking at the gate, “do you want to go inside? You’re welcome to finish your nap on the couch or on my bed.”
Airlie popped up to sitting and palmed her forehead. “I—I was resting and sensing into the waterways in the area and the coming rains, and I guess I fell asleep. What time is it?”
“Five thirty,” I said. “River and the others aren’t back and they’re not answering their cells. I’m a little concerned.”
She stood, stretched, and took the few steps to the gate. “I’ll go with you. Give me a couple minutes to use your bathroom?”
“There are jackets and sweatshirts in the closet by the front door if you want another layer.”
While I waited for Airlie, I walked away from the garden, closer to the heart of the open space. I found it curious that the Flechettes owned the properties to the north and south of mine, and the ones to the east and west were in mystery hands. The water I tracked earlier ran in a lazy flow from the northwest to the southeast.
The map I copied from my mother’s book was stashed with the gardening tools. I found and unfolded it. Airlie arrived as I was deliberating where to start.
“I brought my phone, too,” she said. “We might need the light. There’s no message from River.” She zipped up the sweater and leaned over my shoulder. “I wonder if we should begin with the section to the east. I feel a pull in that direction.”
Airlie’s admission reminded me I could reach Tanner using the wolf pin. “I’ll be right back.”
I ran to my bedroom and opened the little square box. The white wolf blinked its eyes as I slid my nail between the top and bottom halves of the pin. Milky quartz, striated with black lines, waited for my cue.
What was my cue? Crap. Tanner had said I should sing a lullaby to the pin to deactivate it, but I wasn’t sure how to fire it up. “Dammit, Tanner, where are you?” I rubbed my thumb over the quartz and was rewarded with an answering tingle. I hustled down the hall, noting Lei-li and Maritza working side by side at the dining room table.
“I think we can use this to locate Tanner,” I said to Airlie as I uncurled my fingers and showed her the pin. The quartz’s faint glow held steady. “But I have no idea how. We got distracted before he could finish explaining to me how object-based magical communications work.”
“Druids can be very distracting,” Airlie agreed. “I’m not keen to rush things with River. The saying ‘Still rivers run deep’ is triply true with that man.” She took hold of my wrist. “Let’s find them before we start comparing notes on what it’s like to date a druid. I’d suggest placing the pin, opened up just like you have it, in your palm and then straighten your arm in front of you.”
I did as she suggested. Airlie put one hand on my hip and pushed me toward a more central spot in the open yard. “Now, start to turn in a circle—slowly, Calli, slowly—and watch for any changes in the color of the stone or the intensity of its glow.”
The quartz cooled to the south and west and brightened as I passed through the north into the east. Airlie urged me to repeat the circle once more. The stone gave us the same results.
“Okay, looks like we’re walking thataway,” she said.
We passed to the left of the bunkhouse and entered the woods. As gray seeped over the washed-out blue sky, I had to rely more and more on feedback from my feet and ears. “I’m turning on my flashlight app, Airlie.”
“Me, too.”
We kept the phones pointed down and our gazes ahead. When I looked over my shoulder I could see the lights inside the house. I didn’t want to go so far that we’d get lost. “Let’s try calling them again,” I suggested.
Airlie nodded and dialed River. He answered right away. “Hey, where are you guys?” she asked. “Hold—hold on a sec, River. Calliope’s with me and I’m putting you on speakerphone.”
The connection was crystal clear and there was no mistaking the excitement in the druid’s voice when he said, “We found another underland.”
Heavy wings swished overhead and brushed the bent tops of the fir trees. I looked up, spotted the two bats who were hanging around the house regularly now and another larger flying form with a wider wingspan. “Christoph,” I whispered. This was only the third time I had seen him in flight, and both other times he had been coming in for a landing or taking off. He dipped to one side, circled, and headed toward home.
“Wait there,” was the
