"No, that's not a problem for me where I am."
"I understand," I nodded slightly. I was almost afraid to blink—afraid that he'd disappear.
"I brought something for you," Rolfe was smiling again. I didn't understand; he couldn't carry anything from where he'd come. In fact, I could see through him now; he was fading away from me already.
"What's that, honey?"
"Libadia." Rolfe vanished before my eyes.
* * *
While carrying my juice back to Norian's office, I went over and over what Rolfe had said. What did he mean? I had no idea. I had to go Looking eventually to see that the word he'd given me was Greek—it meant meadows. When I walked inside my study, Norian and Lendill were still no closer to our goal than they'd been when I left. I sat and listened while they bounced ideas off one another, still going through lists and lists of cities, towns and villages on Mazareal.
Erland came to sit beside me as he yawned. It was likely we wouldn't puzzle this out before daybreak, the way things were going. Wylend had gone home while I'd been gone. I didn't blame him—if I weren't personally involved in this, I might go looking for my bed, too.
"I saw Rolfe," I leaned against Erland.
"What?" Erland woke at my words.
"Sorry, honey, forget I said anything," I mumbled. I was nearly asleep when Lendill's voice penetrated my brain.
"That's not it—that's in the middle of a poverty-stricken area. I don't know why they call it The Meadows, there's nothing green there for clicks."
* * *
Night had fallen on that portion of Mazareal as we prepared for our attack. "Lissa Beth, tell me you're not sending us on an imaginary duck hunt." Norian blew out a breath as I dressed in the black leathers Drake and Drew had gotten me for our stint on Falchan.
"Norian, you have permission to tease me unmercifully about this for the rest of our lives if I'm wrong," I said. "And we say wild goose chase where I come from. Do we need all these people?" He'd hauled in thirty ASD agents, some of whom I was sure weren't completely humanoid.
"We have to locate the building, Cheah-mul. We can't be everywhere."
"I can cover quite a bit of ground as mist," I grumped. "And take them too, if you want." Norian stopped dead in his tracks.
"How many can you take at once?" He looked at me speculatively.
"Honestly, Norian, those records you found were worthless," I snapped. "Didn't you get that information from Refizan?"
"No, I did not get that information from Refizan," he mimicked me while wiggling his hips.
"I don't wiggle my hips like that," I poked him in the chest.
"I'd like it better if you did."
"Norian, we're about to go looking for Black Mist and the head honcho for Solar Red, and you're joking around?"
"Yes. I want them dead. Orders are shoot to kill, except for Black Mist's leader. I want to question him personally."
"Honey, you're not going to take vampires out that easily. Or the warlocks. I can't imagine that the reptanoids or the shapeshifters are going to go down any faster."
"But we have these." Norian lifted a pistol from the holster he wore.
"Uh-huh." I gave him a skeptical look.
"Breah-mul, only the ASD is allowed these legally. Ranos pistols."
"Holy crap, Norian!"
"Now, tell me again how many troops you can carry."
"How many do you have?"
"Can you set us down where I say?"
"As long as you listen to what I have to say too, Norian Keef."
"I'll listen."
"Sure you will. Like every other male I know."
"Lissa Beth, are you going to argue with me for the next thirty years?"
"Norian Keef, how long do you plan to stay married to me?"
"Well, there is that," he shrugged slightly, mischief showing in his green eyes.
"Honey, do you always get this excited about things like this?"
"Most of the time."
"Great. Are you ready?"
"We all are."
Lifting thirty agents into my mist, in addition to Norian and Lendill, I went flying over the tops of buildings in what was referred to as The Meadows near Mazareal's capital city. The area was large and overpopulated—more and more of Mazareal's residents were relocating there for various reasons, most of it having to do with failed crops, dying businesses and the economic instability that followed. The fate of the planet was affecting the fate of everything. My skin doesn't itch while I'm mist—but I feel a twitch of some kind, indicating the wrongness. I homed in on that—it was near the eastern edge of The Meadows.
Lissa Beth, are you getting something? I could feel the discomfort of Norian's thirty agents—they were ready to become corporeal again. Some of them were frightened out of their wits. I wasn't going to point that out to Norian.
On the northeast side, I sent back to Norian. Moving faster, streets and buildings blurred beneath us. Something was wrong. Something was very wrong. When I found the gray stone building Pearlina described to me, I hesitated, although Norian, who'd seen it too, was shouting at me to get inside. If I'd been solid, my skin would have itched furiously. I rose higher, even as Norian's mental shout became louder. Get us down there! Norian's mindspeech hurt, it was so full of anger.
* * *
"You're sure about this?" Viregruz trusted Zellar.
"Oh, yes. They're close. Very close." Zellar was smiling. He'd set up a perimeter spell around the gray stone building they'd previously occupied, and then ordered everyone moved to the warehouse across the street, leaving their former headquarters empty. The warehouse across the street had become a temporary home and hasty preparations were made; the vampires had to have their underground accommodations built and light-sealed first. The warehouse's upper floors were currently under renovation; Viregruz planned to stay there until a new home on another world could be located.
"They've gone past the perimeter spell," Zellar nodded grimly, satisfied that the last of Mazareal's power could do this for him—that the last gasp of core power enabled his perimeter spell to detect anything that moved past it, including something obviously invisible. It worried him, though, that it was invisible. Until then, he'd imagined that only Viregruz held that talent. A shiver raced down Zellar's spine.
"Then set the time on the destruction spell—thirty ticks." Viregruz had a front row seat, watching through a wide window from a distance far enough that he wouldn't be affected, per Zellar's estimation. Zellar hadn't led him wrong yet. Viregruz was going to enjoy this.