The wards were unset but unbroken—May hadn’t had any unexpected company. I was fumbling for my keys when the doorknob turned under my hand and May tugged the door open. Her newly-long hair was skinned back into an untidy ponytail, and Spike was cradled against her chest. Its eyes were closed. It didn’t look like it was breathing.
My own breath caught. “Is it—”
“It’s alive,” she said. Taking my wrist, she tugged me inside, kicking the door closed behind me. “The cats woke me up just before I called you. They wanted to be fed.” A brief, all-too-bleak smile crossed her lips. “No matter how bad the world gets, you still have to feed the cats. I filled all three dishes. Spike didn’t come.”
“Oh, sweet Titania.” I scooped the rose goblin from her arms. It never weighed much, but this was like picking up a dried branch; Spike’s narrow body seemed to weigh nothing at all. “When was the last time you saw Spike awake?”
“I don’t know.” The admission seemed to pain her. “It’s the middle of the goddamn day. We’re lucky I was awake enough to notice at all. I fed it when you dropped us off, but then my hair grew and I got distracted … ”
Spike had been sleeping on the couch the last few times I’d seen it. That was longer than I liked to consider. “Well, was it okay when you got home from the Ball?”
“It was quiet. It didn’t eat much—” She stopped in mid-sentence, staring at me. I stared back, realizing what she was about to say. It was so
“Spike was fine before the Ball, but it wasn’t fine afterward,” I said. “It was listless. Tired.”
“Wilting,” she said, in a small voice.
“Oh, oak and ash.” I pulled Spike back against my chest. “I’m an idiot.”
Luna Torquill was Blodynbryd, a Dryad of the roses. The rose goblins are her children, created before she changed her face. Their health was probably somehow connected to hers; Faerie likes that sort of small, vicious irony. As for Luna …
Luna was connected to the roses in her fiefdom. The signs were there all along, if I’d just been paying
“You’re not an idiot, you didn’t know,” said May. The reassurance rang hollow. I should have stopped to think, not gone haring off after half-leads and possible answers.
My head was throbbing. “It doesn’t matter now. Come on.”
“What?”
“I have to get back to Shadowed Hills, and you’re coming with me.” I shoved Spike into her arms. It chirped softly. “Someone needs to be with Spike.”
“Why can’t I stay
“Because Sylvester should see it, and it might be stronger on home ground.” Spike’s roots ran through Shadowed Hills, just like Luna’s. I wasn’t going to count on anything saving it at this point, but I had to hope.
May sighed. “I should stay with you anyway.” She didn’t need to say why. She was my Fetch. She’d be with me when the end came, whether she wanted to or not.
“You’re right,” I said, touching her shoulder. “You should.” Then I turned away, crossing to the phone as I rummaged through the pocket of my jeans.
“What are you doing?”
“Calling for help.” I balanced the phone between my cheek and shoulder, dialing the number off Walther’s business card with my free hand.
Jack answered. “Professor Davies’ office, Jack Redpath speaking, how can I help you?”
“Jack, hi. This is Toby Daye. Is Walther—I mean, Professor Davies—in?”
“Oh, hi!” He sounded positively gleeful. “He’s in the lab working on that project you gave him. Hang on, I’ll go get him.”
“No problem.” May was staring at me. I put my hand over the receiver, saying, “Walther’s Tylwyth Teg. He’s doing some toxicology work for me.”
“You have weird friends.”
“I know.”
There was a clatter from the phone, and Walther said, “Toby? Are you there?”
“I’m right here, Walther. How are those antitoxins coming?”
“I’ve finished the serum for the Cat’s Court. It needs to mature for about an hour, and then it should be ready. Yours is more complex. I need more time.”
“That’s fine.” I doubted he’d have time to cure me before the end. That didn’t really matter. Rubbing my temple with one hand, I asked, “Did you test the cup?”
“I did.There’s no poison.I found a lot of Phenobarbital—a sedative that probably helped with the whole ‘passing out’ thing—and some salt, but nothing that should have made her seriously ill.”
“Would it make the drink taste bitter?”
“That much Phenobarbital would make sugar taste bitter.”
“Can the antidote for the Cat’s Court travel?”
“There’s no reason why not.”
“Good. I want you to bring it with you, and come meet me at Shadowed Hills.”
“What?” He sounded taken aback; apparently, random women didn’t usually call his lab and ask him to drive to Pleasant Hill. Well, he’d learn.
“I may have some leads on Luna Torquill. Listen.” I outlined the situation with Luna and the roses, giving a quick explanation of Luna’s heritage. This was too important to confuse with polite falsehoods. The only thing I left out was my encounter with the Queen’s guards—there was nothing he could do about it, and he’d find out about my pending arrest soon enough.
Walther was silent when I finished. I paused before asking, “Well? Will you help me?”
“What are we going to do? Why do you need a chemist? They’re not going to let me take blood samples from the Duchess.”
“I don’t want you to take blood samples.” I’d been trying to approach things too linearly; that was my problem the whole time. Faerie
“Why would we—oh. I see. Yes, that makes sense.”
“Do you know how to get to Paso Nogal Park?”
“Yes.”
“Good; meet us there, in the parking lot. We’re not going into the knowe. Bring whatever you’ll need to get a quick answer on what’s in the dirt.”
“All right. See you soon.”
“Count on it.” I hung up briefly before dialing again. This time, the phone only rang once.
“Hi, Auntie Birdie,” said Karen, skipping the unnecessary “hello.” “I don’t know anything else. I’m sorry. I’ve been trying. I even tried dreaming for the mean girl, to see what she knew, but … ” Her voice faltered. “I don’t like her dreams.”
The mean girl? She had to mean Rayseline. “What did she dream about?”
“Only the dark.”
I winced. Definitely Rayseline. “Okay. If you think of anything else, no matter how small, call May, okay? She’s going to be with me.”
“I will … but you need to be careful. Something’s coming. Someone’s dreaming you a new dream, and whoever it is, I can’t quite see them.” On that encouraging note, she hung up.
“Great,” I muttered, hanging up the phone. “Okay. Come on. Walther’s starting from Berkeley. We need to get moving if we want to beat him to Shadowed Hills.”
“Who’s Walther again?” asked May.
“Tell you in the car.” We crossed the living room together. The sky outside was that ludicrously cheerful blue that seems to haunt California summers. It should have been raining. Considering everything that was going on, the sunshine seemed unfair.
I locked the door, pressing my hand against the wood and reciting, “Ring around the rosies, a pocket full of
