No Humans Involved

JEREMY HAD Karl take Hope and me to her apartment, then he returned to help Jeremy finish the cleanup. During those two hours we spent alone, Hope didn't say a word about what had happened. Instead she worked to make a big meal, as if feeding the men when they returned was mission critical.

When the men did arrive, Jeremy ate, but it seemed more out of politeness than hunger. Then we left. On the way to the car, I said, 'So you could follow my trail from the house? I wasn't sure you could.'

He hesitated, and I knew he was considering whether to lie, then shook his head and said, 'There wasn't a trail. They must have driven you over.'

'So how did you know…?' I let the sentence trail off and dug the rune sketch from my pocket. 'This?'

'A magical homing device?' He smiled. 'I wish it was that simple. I sensed you, as I do sometimes with the Pack. I could tell you were in trouble, came back, found that you and Hope were gone. Then I found you. Somehow.'

I fingered the rune.

He shook his head. 'Clay and Elena don't carry the ones I did for them, and I've never done any for the rest of the Pack. 'Whatever let me find you, it's not a piece of paper.'

'Well, then, you won't mind if I have it made into a necklace, right? Or, all things considered, maybe a tattoo.'

He smiled and pulled me into a kiss.

THE ROAD HOME

THE GROUP MEMBERS REMAINED AT LARGE, but the council would convene to discuss that. What remained now was the resolution of my primary goal: freeing the children's spirits. Eve and the Fates had 'interrogated' May Donovan and now understood what had happened. As for whether it was a fluke or the start of some evolutionary change in the supernatural world… that remained to be seen.

As for what had happened, Eve said only that the children's spirits had been drained by the magic, which was pretty much what we'd already suspected. If there was a more complex explanation, I wasn't getting it. Maybe Eve didn't think I'd understand, not being a spell-caster. Or maybe the Fates didn't dare go into detail, hoping that if no one in our plane understood, then it couldn't be replicated.

The explanation didn't concern me. All I wanted to know was could we undo it? Could we set the children free? The answer was yes.

Returning to the Brentwood garden wasn't easy. While I had a good reason to return-I was still in residence- I'd likely find myself taken aside for questioning the moment I appeared. I hadn't been anywhere near Angelique's body so we weren't too concerned about the police investigation. Was it safer, then, to plod through the interrogation, then slip out and release the spirits? Or should we sneak back and conduct the ritual right away?

Jeremy, Eve and Kristof debated the options. I acted as 'translator,' but didn't enter into the discussion. My mind was made up. I had to free those children. No one else could do it for me, and I wasn't taking the chance that I would be prevented from doing so, or even delayed.

I readied my arguments, but didn't need them. No one wanted to wait.

EVE HAD Kristof scouted the garden recruiting and organizing Tansy, Gabrielle and the other ghosts to stand guard. We mapped out all police activity and devised a route that would take us into the garden from the neighbor's yard, and keep us away from the crime scene.

Then Jeremy Changed. Even in human form, he'd be quicker to pick up approaching officers than the ghosts, but if seen on a crime scene, he'd be in trouble. A canine, on the other hand, was just a nuisance-warranting a call to the dogcatcher at most. And, if I needed a distraction, a huge black dog would be just the thing.

THE SPOT Eve had chosen for the ritual was ringed with ghosts, most of whom I'd never seen before. They said nothing, as if they feared distracting me. A smile here, a nod there, then they returned to their solemn vigil.

I walked along the path, down the gauntlet of guards. My kit was in the house, but I didn't need it. My role here was simple. I was the magnet to draw the children from wherever they were hiding.

'Are you here?' I whispered.

Silence. Something moved to my left and I looked over sharply, but it was only a breeze rippling the rose bushes.

'Hello?' I said, as loud as I dared. 'I'm back. Are you still here?'

No one answered.

'I haven't been around much lately. And maybe, what's been happening here, it's scared you. But it's over now and I can help.'

A sigh. My skin prickled. The wind rustled through a tree and the sigh came again, a loose branch creaking softly.

I talked some more, aware even as I did that they almost certainly couldn't understand me even if they were close enough to overhear. Yet I kept talking, hoping the sound of my voice would draw them in.

The garden stayed silent and still.

I closed my eyes and thought of Rachel Skye, the girl Eve had contacted. A child I knew only as a body in a garden. A young girl, taking a shortcut home from school to see her favorite show, murdered and dumped in a garden. I thought of the others, all the children whose touches and pokes I'd felt, whose voices I'd heard, those who didn't have names and stories and maybe never would, not for me.

I thought of Brendan, little more than a child himself, stoic in his fate, as if it was the price one paid for following a dream. I thought of the young teens I passed on the street in L.A. and Chicago and every other big city, all the lost children. And, just for a second, I thought of myself, of my own child, lost all those years ago.

Something grazed my arm. I opened my eyes to see Jeremy. Drawn by my thoughts, concerned. He glanced at me. Then his attention was snagged by something to the left and he tilted his head, confusion in his eyes. I followed his gaze, but saw only the ghosts standing guard.

Fingers tickled my cheek. More brushed my hair. The whispering began. I went still, straining to hear, convinced I was imagining it. Then Eve stepped through the rosebushes.

'They're here,' she said.

WITH THE arrival of the children, my role ended and Eve and Kristof's began. They knelt on the path and prepared to conduct the ritual the Fates had given them. Kristof set up the materials. Eve recited the incantation. Jeremy stood silently at my side. The children patted me and whispered. I don't think I breathed through the entire thing.

When Eve finished the incantation, the touches and whispers of the children stopped. I swear my heart stopped with them. I looked around frantically, trying to catch a glimpse of them, praying something hadn't gone wrong.

Then I saw a faintly shimmering form. Then another. A third. A fourth. As faint as Brendan had been.

Slowly the tallest form materialized. A boy about thirteen. Dark eyed, probably Latino, with hair that fell into his face, reminding me of J eremy. I instinctively smiled, and the boy's gaze went to me, head tilted, as if trying to figure out what I was looking at.

'Hello,' I said.

He smiled. 'Hi.'

Another of the forms materialized. A girl about eleven, with lanky dark blond hair held back in butterfly clips.

'Rachel?' I said.

My voice caught as I remembered what I'd done to her, seeing those bony fingers frantically clawing the air.

'Rachel, I-'