"How are you, Mas?"

"Better, now you're here. I suppose you've heard," said an even more gigantic man, he had arms like barrels, and the ground thudded when he walked. "Tricky things, the Supernaturalsand when one's on the loose...."

"So you think it is someone in the community?" said Lennox.

"Definitely. It's definitely a player. Hi, how are ya? What's with the hoods?" said Ma.s.simo. "Look, you shouldn't be here, Lennox. They're looking for you. Marek too. Spies all over. Menelaus, why are we standing around?! Find us some chairs!" he shouted.

"But sir! You said I was never to letand these were your words, sirthat b.l.o.o.d.y vampire in here ever again! Not after last time..."

"About that," said Mas, disregarding the bartender and throwing his arm over Lennox's shoulder, who buckled with the weight; he led us to an out-of-the-way booth where we could talk; "I really must thank you. If you ever need anythinganything at allnow's the time. Tell me, Lennox, what do you need?"

I wouldn't be surprised if he and Lennox exchanged a series of secret handshakes there and then. I caught the whiff of something criminal about Ma.s.simo. He had a skullduggerous mind, with an eye for any advantage. But what did that say about Lennox? Or me, for that matter?

He clapped his hand over his mouth. "Too much generosity will kill me, but a promise is a promise, Lennox. How is the old devil, anyway?"

"Occam? He's fine. He's in Paris."

"Good. That's good, Lennox. Who is this, anyway?" he said, pointing to me.

"A friend. Someone with power, Mas. So you best be careful. She isn't to be trifled with."

"No, of course not!" said Ma.s.simo, winking at me. I returned the gesture.

Menelaus was back.

"Your drinks!" He was off again, irritated with us. I was still not sure whether or not I should be angry with Lennox. He slipped me the mickey, after all. I wondered what the aftereffects would be? Currently, I was sort of tingly. Everything seemed far away, like it was doable. Like nothing phased me. Or maybe that was just because I was happy. Which I guessed meant Lennox was off the hook. Still, I wanted another drink.

Ma.s.simo raised his gla.s.s. "Welcome," he said, "to Tungleskins! That's what we call it, when a beast of unknown origin is on the loose, a tungleskin. What I want you two to do is find it, and then, if you please, kill the monster, do you think you can do that for me? In return, I'll do you a favor."

He sang the last part.

"I'll look into whatever you wantbut no promises, Lennox! They're too easy to make!" said Ma.s.simo. "What do you want, anyway? I know you didn't come here for the company, Lennoxlove."

"His name's Selwyn. Halsey will fill you in on the rest?"

"Ah, so that's your name, is it! And a good one, too. Well, my dear, tell old Mas."

It was a moment before I could respond. "The Dioscuri grabbed him from me, in Rome," I said. "He can turn into a black cata panther; and he's Eclectic."

Ma.s.simo rubbed his hands together. I was uncertain how much I should reveal, but if it meant saving Selwyn's life... "Good, good, that's good," he said. "But, did you say Dioscuri? All right, all right. A deal's a deal. I'll see what I can do. But I'll want a pelt. Something I can hang over the bar, Lennox. It would be nice to have this place filled up again. I have debts, you know. Not that that matters. Do you remember Barney? Eaten. They found his mackintosh. Blood all over it. You stop this whatever-it-is, and I'll find your friend. Do we have a deal?"

Lennox and Ma.s.simo left off with business, and after several toastsnone of which I drankthe meeting was concluded.

Maybe it was the aether, but it didn't seem to hit me, until just then: We were going into the forest to find this creatureto kill it, if we couldas soon as possible. I unzipped my bag and pulled out the Everything book. It was never too late to become Adept.

Chapter 12 Quintessence.

Could it be? Was the tungleskin doing these killings the grey wolf? What else could it be? Yet, I had always imagined the grey wolf as a kind of sangoma. My therian. Somehow made corporeal.

But then I remembered the snow and thought, It can't be; the grey wolf made no paw prints... So how it had eaten anybody....

The following night (because Lennox was a vampire, so naturally the best time of day would be to creep in the woods at night) we left our hotel room, and made our way to Letna Park. It was past the Hunger Wall, all the way to Lookout Point, from which we had a stunning view of the Vltava as it flowed past Prague Castle. It reminded me of Rome, in a way, with the many bridges crossing the river, and how the Tiber sparkled at night.

An Englishman, pa.s.sing by, warned us to be careful. "It's not safe after dark," he said.

A small restaurant and cafe were closing. Tourists were heading down the stone steps, abandoning Letna Park, which led to the embankment below. We were soon alone.

I had flipped through the Everything book back at the hotel room, learning some quick spells. The Grigori section was full of hard-R words. Words like noranveror and smaskitligr. Lennox had watched me studying, lost in thought. It wasn't until I hit upon an especially potent spell called a feiknstafir, that Lennox said, "I'm Marked too, you know. My scars."

He was focusing on my orchid as he said so; it hadn't pained me in a while, my orchid.

His "scars" were a collection of silver bite marks at his throat and both of his wrists.

"He's still out there, my Maker. I'll know it when I find him," he said. "We'll be connected."

I hadn't realized it before, but Lennox and I were on the same kind of quest. We were both searching for our parentsand our pasts. What was it, I wondered, about needing to know where you came from?

I thought of Lennox traveling the world, searching for his sire. It seemed lonely. Perhaps.... Only, I didn't say so.... Maybe he should let it go...?

Would I? Could I, now that I was on the trail of my parents? Was this what they would have wanted for me, to be in Prague with a vampire?

"You know, at some point the doors stop opening for you," said Lennox, "and then you have to start opening them for yourself."

The problem was, I didn't know where to begin. I put my hood up, concentrating hard. Were the non-magicals aware of the thing roaming their forest?

I thought of Ballard laid up, and Lia and Gaven out of commission Rome needed Lennoxand, okay, me, toowhich was another reason for scolding myself for neglecting my studies.

But there was something else, at work: It just seemed right that a vampire, witch and werewolf should get along... It sent a message.... That we were strong, united... whatever... that Lennox, Ballard and I could lead the way.

Without meaning to, I put my arm through his, when something ahead of us snapped.

I was still so full of the aether, it made my pulse pound. Who was out there? I hadn't forgotten the Dark Order. Perhaps this tungleskin was one of them.

I could feel Lennox tense beside me. I shot the Light ahead of me, whereupon it flew into the trees like a meteor. "Ow!" said a familiar voice. "Halsey? What did you do that for?" said Manon, stumbling out of the trees.

She stepped from behind a spruce tree, clutching at her head, dressed in a traveling cloak, her midnight-black tresses tumbling down her backside. "And why are you with a vampire?" she asked me, incredulously.

I made the introductions: "Lennox, Manon, Manon, Lennox. She's a witch," I said to Lennox.

"I'm only Fledged. The Magister Equitum sent me to find you. It's not safe to be in Prague at THIS TIME. Remembr," she said. She formed her Wiccan W and shot it at me; I flinched, involuntarily. What was it with people thinking they could just do magic on me, whenever they felt like it?

"The Dark Order is mobilizing," said Manon. "They'll get you, if they can. The moon is in the Fourth House."

"So?"

"So," said Manon. The spell had taken over and I suddenly found myself in her dreamsin her memories...

I didn't know where I was. Marsh, bog, or fen. There was a house, a manor, in the distance. I came to the edge of it, and there, in the background, I saw them.

"I'm not an Eclectic," said Manon. "I used to belongto have a Houseuntil they came. This is what happened to my Family. And why I joined the benandanti."

I didn't know what I expected. The Lenoir?

But these weren't vampires. They weren't even humans. They were Grigori. How long ago had it been since her Family had been attacked?

"They came and destroyed my House, and I-I've wandered ever since," said Manon.

It was ringed in fire, the House. Wizards and witches appeared, coughing, from the smoke, brandishing their marks, and were struck down by the Grigori, who tore at their flesh. This rage was filling inside of me. Not for myself, but for Manon. "I was number twelve," she said, "until they were destroyed. I came home, and then I hidI was too scared to fight..."

I watched as the Grigori blocked the wizards' spells. They looked like Rayven, only worse; huge and intimidating with ma.s.sive clawstheir upper torsos malformed and twisted, packed with muscles. Their skulls wolfish, to fit all their teeth.

Had my parents misbehaved? Was that why they were destroyed? Had these things been sent to kill them? Somehow I needed to learn everything I could about the Dark Order and the Master House; but that would mean Prague, and the Grigori She cut off the image playing in my headyanking it from methe way Manon's whole life had been taken from her.

"The Grigori were wiped out, slaughtered, but they're back now," she said. "They're back. And n.o.body cares, Halsey. My House was destroyed, and no investigation was ever begunI think the Master House covered it up. The Grigori were never good about thinking for themselves. Cruel and inhuman, almost their only pleasure derives from killing. It would have taken somebody to unite them. Somebody sent them to my House. Someone powerful."

Lenoir... It had to have been... Only, why? What did he want? They didn't just attack of their own accord, did they?

Lennox cut in. "It wasn't us, I can a.s.sure you of that. The Grigori and Our House split after the First War. We're leaving this fray. Paris is withdrawing."

"Then who is it?" said Manon, a questioning in her eyes that would never go away.

In Manon's memory, the Grigori had fought wellblocking spells, sending their own in retaliation. They had a visceral claw-and-tooth approach. They also fought in numbers.

I perused House Rookmaaker in my mind. Where was it, and how did I get there? There were no obvious signposts. Willow trees? Where were those? I felt directionless, delirious, and deciduous.

The Grigori and someone else had taken over and were destroying Houses. I thought of the story I had heard about the Dark Lord. Perhaps Lenoir's idea of redefining magic was making everyone an Eclectic. Destroying authority? It sounded like something I would do.

If so, maybe only the Big Three were immune (Houses Harcort, Coven, and Ravenseal) and, okay, the Master House, itself. Should I have gone to Ravenseal? It would be safer, I thought.

No; I made the right call. I was sure of it. Yet, a p.r.i.c.kle of fear shot through me, causing my orchid to writhe up my arm. What if they came looking for me? What if the Grigori and whoever else came back to finish off my House and get me?

I knew Rayven was backHe was a Watchtower, after allperhaps... no... They're gone; and nothing you do can bring them back...

My parents were dead. I needed to take my own advice. Let go, Halsey girl, I said to myself, repeating Mistress Genevieve's words.

That left the Dark Orderthose evil witches and wizards and otherkin kind who had been responsible for the First War Who were they? And were they the ones trying to stop me from forming House Rookmaaker?

It was cold and wet; the sky opened up and began to pour. Manon fell in step beside me. Lennox and I briefed her on the thing which had been killing in the forest "...so obviously it's one of us," she said, "a magical... spirit... or something or other...

"We should split upno, listenHalsey and I over hereand, Lennox, you that way; we'll go twice as fast I'll watch out for her, I promise," she said.

So Lennox headed down the left fork, and Manon and I the other. Pretty soon it was pitch-black. Not even the stars peeked overhead. I decided to use one of the spells, I'd learned, which would enable me to see in the dark. It was an interesting effect. Everything went night-vision green ("Wow, you have dog's eyes," said Manon, "the way they look in the dark"); now the forest stretched before me; I could see depth and detail. I motioned to a fork in the path up ahead. Manon put her fingertips to her forehead like she had a migraine. Suddenly her aether surged.

Her eyes looked the way Rayven's had done, filled with energy. "You want to split up?" she said, mischievously, with Lennox out of earshot.

"I don't know," I hedged, stepping on one toe, then the other.

"If anything happens, just scream, I'll come find you. Swearsies."

So that's what we did. It was like the three of us were spreading out, circling. Like we were a coordinated pack. Still, what would it be like to fly? To skim the treetops, staring down? At least you're Crafting, I told myself.

I played a little game with myself, there in the trees, imagining I was breaking through the willow trees, about to find my House. I should've just asked Manon why someone would want her coven destroyed? What were they up to that the Grigori had been sent?

You're either IN or you're OUT, I suppose... A part or apart... Still, it was the first time I had ever heard anyone use the term Family, when speaking of a Houselike they were tight-knit. No hierarchy in her group, I thought. I knew when Manon said she was a twelfth, she meant it the way a child does who's the youngest in a house. She had escaped. They had protected her. They hadn't given her up. Neither had my parents.

Maybe, whoever this tungleskin was, it had just run away. Poof. Gone. The way Manon had escaped when the Grigori had come looking for her House.

Here was a problem. A fundamental curse. If I wanted to know, at what price would I begin to learn the things I needed to find out?

Ballard had helped me, and look what happened to him. He'd nearly been killed. Maybe splitting up was a good idea, or breaking up. Maybe, I dunno, I had to do this on my own, instead of leading other people astray. But that would mean starting over. Could I forget my past to find the future?

My orchid twisted alive. What did it mean? Was it a feiknstafir? A Dark curse latched onto me?

If what I thought was coming was, would I be able to handle it, or would the ones I cared about be drawn in? That was a dilemma for which there was no easy cure. I got down onto my hands and knees and crawled through the underbrush. The night vision made everything surreal. At any moment, I expected to stumble upon Rayven, so used was I to overhearing things I should not. Perhaps I'd talk to Manon about reinstating her House. She was Fledged, after all? That meant she could lead her own House.

"Blindr," I whispered.

I turned off the night-vision spell. Suddenly, the woods came alive. I thought I heard something move ahead.

"STOP IT," I hissed, slapping my orchid.

I could hear small animals scurrying for their meals. Of the two senses, sight or sound, I found hearing immeasurably superior, but there was also a sixth, magic, sense, tingling in my fingertips. Why did I suddenly have deja vu? Perhaps it was because of what I had heard back at my birthday, in December, when Lennox hadn't shown, and I had envisioned Rayven for the first time. He had kneeled down and a hissing voice had rasped: "The war is starting... Battle lines will be drawn... She and the vampire are headed towards Prague..."

Well, the war was starting; I could feel it. Lines were being drawnalliances forgedHouses hunted down and destroyedothers renewed. She and the vampire were in Prague... ME! I was her. Something fell into the pit of my stomach. Find the other one and kill him * * *

Ballard! I heard screaming. Lennox came crashing through. "Halsey, where's Manon?"

I opened my mouth to scream, but no words came out.

"B-B-Ballard," I whispered, trembling.

"Ballard's in trouble?"

"Manon, find Manon..." I said.

I felt myself fallingand then it was like I was flying, weightless through the airI opened my eyesthere were bonfires in the distancewe broke through the treessailing across the face of the moon Lennox was carrying me!

How could I have been so stupid? I wasn't special at all! It was Ballard! Ballard was differentspecialeveryone said so.The first thing Rayven had ever said to me was, "Your friend, where is he?" He wasn't interested in me at all. It was Ballard! Hadn't Gaven told me to look out for him?

Idiot. Selfish, I berated myself.