This was worse, way worse, than watching Sloane manipulate Billy's parents into believing their son was going off to golf camp when he was really passed out in the back of Dad's car with the bone protruding from his arm. It was worse than erasing the entire memory from Billy's mind.

Because Jax knew what was happening to him and was fighting it with all his strength.

"Sloane!" Aunt Ursula called sharply.

Sloane went to assist her grandmother. She laid her hand on Jax's head, and when her strength was added to the attack, he stopped kicking and went limp in their hands.

When Dad showed up, he looked annoyed to be kept from his bed. But at his first glimpse of Dorian, he stumbled over his own feet and glanced over his shoulder in a double take. Dorian realized his father had left their apartment completely certain that all three boys were there.

We probably were, Dorian thought, remembering his father's voice on the radio before he and Jax snuck out.

Dad's eyes passed over Dorian to Jax, sitting on a sofa next to Sloane with an ice pack on his chin. "What's going on?" he asked, his eyes darting between Jax and Dorian and his aunt.

"The boys have been on an adventure," Aunt Ursula said.

Jax looked up. "Sorry, Uncle Finn. We shouldn't have, but when Dorian told me about the brownie tunnels, I couldn't resist."

Dad licked his lips nervously. "Aunt Ursula, we agreed-"

"We tried it your way, Finn, and nearly had a disaster on our hands." She tossed him his keys. He caught them and stared at them, flabbergasted. "Jax is seeing things our way now." Aunt Ursula smoothed Jax's wavy hair. "Aren't you?"

Jax didn't pull his head away or glare at her or anything he would normally have done. "I'm sorry I caused so much trouble," he said. "I didn't trust you when I first came, but that's because Riley lied to me."

"We understand," Aunt Ursula reassured him.

"He didn't want me to know I had a decent family I could be living with instead of him," Jax said. "And she didn't want to lose her vassal." He spat out the word like it meant the same as slave.

"You realize how dangerous it is for her to be running around loose," Aunt Ursula said.

Jax dropped the ice bag into his lap. "You bet I do! I was there when the world nearly ended. We were that close!" He held up his thumb and finger a quarter inch apart. "Can you get me free of her? And Riley? He's got custody papers, but he must've forced Dad to sign them."

"Yes, Jax," Dad said. "Of course, we'll get your custody away from him. It's what we've wanted all along. But you've got to help us with your liege lady first." Dorian stared at the floor. Dad had said he didn't want this, but he was going to use it anyway, now that it had happened.

"I want out of my bond," Jax said. "She forced me into it."

"Do you know where she is?" Aunt Ursula asked.

"She's here, and so is Riley!" Jax said triumphantly. "I saw them earlier."

Dad grunted. "On the motorcycle. I thought so."

"Yeah, the motorcycle," Jax repeated bitterly. "Riley loves that thing almost as much as-" He faltered as if trying to remember how he'd planned to end that sentence. What did Riley love more than his motorcycle?

Sloane picked up the ice bag, put it in his hand, and guided his hand back to his chin.

"Loves that motorcycle more than anything," Jax finished.

"Do you have a way to contact them?" Dad asked.

"Yeah."

Dorian cringed as Jax blabbed the twins' meeting place, helpfully providing descriptions of them and ratting them out for stealing his uncle's keys and wallet. "Sorry about that," Jax added with a sheepish grin. "Like I said, I didn't know any better back then."

Dad gave him a false, forced smile. "It's all right, Jax. At least you know where your loyalties lie now."

Jax's face fell. "Still with her. I don't like it, but I'm bound to her. I can't-"

"What about him?" Sloane asked. "Pendragon or Pendare or whatever he calls himself."

"Him? I have no bond with him." Jax bared his teeth. "I hate him. Always have. Tell me what you want me to do."

Dad hauled Dorian into the elevator by the back of his shirt. "I don't know what's gotten into you," he growled. "But I'll deal with you in the morning."

"You mean give me my lesson on loyalty?" Dorian surprised himself with the tone of his voice, but he was shaken. Aunt Ursula's parting words to them had been: Dorian needs a lesson on loyalty. The or else had been implied. "Are you going to let Aunt Ursula change me into a different person too?" Dorian was sure the only reason he'd escaped tonight was because Jax had drawn all the fire, making Dorian look innocent so he would be spared.

"Don't be ridiculous. Jax isn't a different person."

"Isn't he? She made him hate his friends."

Dad stabbed the elevator button for the fifth floor. "His friends are, in fact, a rival clan lord and a very dangerous, high-ranking Kin lady."

"You mean a girl. Like the girl you have locked up in the basement." Dorian had never talked back to his father like this before. I sound like Jax. For a wild moment, Dorian wondered if his aunt had changed him after all and he didn't remember it. But she would never have made him more like Jax!

"I won't even ask how you know that," his father snapped. "But the girl you're talking about almost killed me and several of your clansmen during her capture. She and three Kin kids traveling in a luxury Hummer-none of them older than fifteen-nearly defeated us. And that was the week before Kin with an American aircraft attacked Oeth-Anoeth in Wales and released the Llyrs and Arawens. I don't think that's a coincidence."

"But it's convenient for Aunt Ursula's plan, right? It gives her an excuse to eliminate the eighth day and all the Kin while cornering the market on magic with our tunnels."

Dad had given up showing any surprise over what Dorian knew. "Perhaps you've forgotten why the Llyrs and the Arawens were imprisoned in the first place," Dad said as the elevator stopped on their floor. He opened the cage door. "I thought you were smarter than that. Those Kin will be bent on warfare, and outside Oeth-Anoeth they're free to exercise their full powers. Life as we know it on this planet could be over if they aren't stopped. That's why the girl is locked up in our basement. That's why the other one needs to be in our custody too."

Llyr was a power of darkness in Welsh mythology-a god of the wind and the sea. For those who knew better, the Llyrs were a family of Kin with magic controlling the weather, formidable enough to be remembered as gods and ambitious enough to want to be gods. And the Arawens-they had power over death itself.

Dad steered him into their apartment. Dorian didn't fight. He let himself be directed through the living room and down the hallway. Dad yanked the bedroom door open and pushed him in. The door slammed closed, and a key turned in the lock.

Billy sat up in the bottom bunk, just a dim shape in the dark. "What happened?" he demanded. "Where's Jax?"

Dorian stared at him, his brain mired in the question of whether ending the life of two girls and destroying the eighth day was better than seeing the world enslaved by Kin lords. "Jax is gone," he said.

25.

THE PATH THROUGH CENTRAL PARK was deserted at midmorning on Grunsday, even though there were more Transitioners in New York than Jax could ever have guessed. He suspected there was a lot of stuff about the eighth day Riley had never told him-or lied about.

His head hurt, and not just from slamming his chin on a concrete floor. After his adventure in the basement last night, Aunt Ursula let Jax get a couple hours' sleep in the penthouse before sending him on this mission. But he still felt dog tired. He hadn't slept much the past two nights-the past three nights, actually, although at the moment he couldn't recall what he'd been doing on all of them. But tonight he could sleep like a stone.

In his new home.

With his family.

There'd be no more cramped little house for Jax, with nothing to eat in the broken-down refrigerator and Riley forgetting to pay the gas bill . . .

Oh wait, Riley didn't live in that house anymore. He'd forgotten that. But it didn't matter. Jax was going to live with Uncle Finn and Aunt Marian from now on.

The Grunsday sunlight filtered through the trees, casting a mottled pink pattern on the path. He passed under a bridge and spotted the statue of the Alaskan sled dog perched on a large rock. He slowed his pace, looking left and right-and then up. Those awful Donovans had to be around here somewhere, maybe waiting to jump on him from the bridge.

At the sound of a shoe scraping on pavement, he froze, and then somebody appeared from behind the Balto statue.

Not a Donovan. Riley.

Jax grinned. He couldn't help it. Jackpot.

Riley grinned back. "Jax, you idiot. Are you all right?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." His own smile wavered. Was he supposed to be glad to see Riley?

"I should smack you upside the head." Riley reached for him, and Jax flinched, expecting the promised smack. Instead Riley tipped Jax's head back to look at his chin. "What happened?"

"Nothing. I fell. It was dumb."

"Look at me," Riley ordered. It was a command. Jax had to meet his eyes.

But he didn't have to be happy about it. "I don't have time to gaze into your eyes, Riley. Knock it off."

Riley laughed and let go of him. "You seem okay to me."

Jax stepped backward, thinking quickly. "Look, I can pretend I got lost in the park for a minute, but any longer than that and they'll come searching for me." He had a prepared script, but he'd expected to deliver it to the twins. He needed to alter it-and stall. The Ganners were watching, and if he'd met the Donovans, they would've kept their distance. But Aunt Ursula had planned for this possibility. If Riley or Evangeline showed up, the watchers were supposed to take action.

Of course, if the twins scented the Ganners approaching . . . "Where are the Donovans?"

"Tegan's making a survey of the area, and Thomas went to grab some hot dogs." Riley ran a hand through his hair. "Jax, why didn't you wait for us? Evangeline was upset you came after Billy on your own. Did you think it was going to matter to us, who you were?"

"Where is Evangeline?" Jax asked, feigning concern. "Is she okay?"

"She's safe. Is Billy in the park with you? I'll get A.J., and we'll snatch him."

"What about Evangeline's sister?"

"Leave that to me. I sent Arnie and Gloria to make nice with Sheila Morgan. No matter how mad she is at me, she won't like the Dulacs holding an Emrys heir. Once I've got you and Billy out of here, I'll handle extracting Addie."

"I already have a plan for getting her out," Jax said. "If you just listen, I'll tell you." He put distance between them, as if he were pacing. The Ganners had a talent for aim, but Jax didn't want to get in the way of a good shot.

"Okay, so tell me," said Riley. "Evangeline doesn't want you doing anything risky."

Dare he ask again? Was it too obvious? Jax turned away from Riley and put his hand on the honor blade sheathed at his side. "Where is Evangeline?" he asked.

"In the zoo with A.J.," Riley replied promptly. "What's your plan?"

Jax raised his right hand to his forehead in a salute. He'd gotten what he needed.

Take him.

At the same moment, Riley caught on. His voice changed as he realized Jax had used his talent on him. "Jax?"

The buzzing sound was no louder than a mosquito. Riley slapped his neck, and his hand came away with a dart between his fingers. He looked at it, then at Jax.

"Riley, you suck." Jax delivered the code phrase for all is well, which Riley had forgotten to get out of him. "And you're a sucker."

"Jax," Riley said hazily, making a grab for him. But Jax dodged, just as the second dart hit Riley in the chest where his leather biker's jacket was unzipped. He went down on one knee. "Don't-"

Jax braced himself to fight off a command. But Riley's voice didn't carry even a hint of magic. Maybe he was too weak to call on his talent, but it was almost like he was pleading. "Not Evangeline," he whispered, looking up at Jax. "Don't-"

"Jax! Hey-Riley?"

Jax spun around. Thomas stood ten yards down the path, a hot dog in one hand and his mouth full of what was probably another. He gaped at Riley, who keeled over into the grass. Then Thomas whirled and started running.

Jax took off after him. In a sprint between him and Thomas, he would normally have bet on Thomas. But maybe the hot dogs slowed him down, because Jax caught him under the bridge and leaped onto his back. They went down in a tangle of arms and legs. Thomas twisted beneath Jax and clouted him in the head with the fist that held the hot dog.

"Resting objects stay in motion," Thomas hollered, kneeing Jax in the stomach, "unless unbalanced actors force them!"

That sounded familiar, although it made no sense, and Jax had no idea why Thomas was shouting it at him. But he hung on, even when Thomas dragged himself to his feet. "Objects at rest stay at rest," Thomas tried again, "and other objects-oh heck!"

The dart hit him in the back of the neck, inches from Jax's head. Thomas yanked it out immediately, but it had already delivered its drug. He was only half the size of Riley, and it didn't take a second dart to put him facedown in the dirt.

Jax stood up and brushed bits of hot-dog bun out of his hair, then glared at Albert Ganner, who was running toward him. Two other men headed for Riley, lying motionless beside the statue.

"That was pretty close to my face," Jax complained.

"We never miss," Albert assured him. "Now, where are we headed?"

Jax opened his mouth to tell him . . . and stopped. "There's a problem."

"I can't betray her," Jax explained to Aunt Ursula. "I'm her vassal."

His great-aunt was very patient. She sat at her desk in her office in front of a large picture window overlooking Central Park and the pinkish eighth-day sky beyond. "You're not betraying your liege, Jax. She needs to be in protective custody."

"Yeah, but if she would view it as a betrayal, I can't do it. I tried!"

Jax had tried. But he'd been unable to tell the Ganners where she was. The words literally wouldn't leave his mouth. He couldn't write the name of the place. He couldn't lead them there or walk there on his own and let them follow. The compulsion of his oath wouldn't allow it.

He'd repeated everything else Riley said, including how the Crandalls were appealing to the Morgan clan. Aunt Ursula waved away that information. "I'm not afraid of Sheila Morgan."

Sloane sighed. "Maybe Uncle Finn and I should pay a visit to Pendragon."