Well, shoot!Who could’ve known the old leech would actually break his face and smile for once? There’s no way she won’t guessnow.
Sure enough, Mira spun her head to look at me and her eyes lit up with satisfaction. I made an ugly face at her, which made her laugh.
Zick walked out of Mammoth’s with us, then stopped us when we would have gone our separate ways.
“Why, Harker?” He gave me a look that made my guts squirm around. “You said you planned to give this to me either way. Why? That’s not the Harker I know.”
“Yeah, well, let’s say I can understand your situation now in a way I couldn’t before.” I rammed my fists into my coat pockets.
“This,” he touched the box, “is worth more than I paid. I owe you. I hesitate to ask, lest I find myself even more indebted to you, but what was the cost?”
“I had to kill Caturix.”
He blinked, then burst out laughing.
“Then perhaps Idoowe you two favors. Take this as one.” He shook back his sleeve and held his free hand out to Mira. A dozen silver charms hung from a chain bracelet. “Think of a place as you crush a charm and you’ll arrive there in a blink.”
“Whoa!”
I knew Zick had hoarded some amazing artifacts during his long life, but this was truly a treasure. When Mira looked at me, I nodded, and she unlatched it from his wrist.
“How many can one charm transport at a time?” I asked.
“Two alukah or three nephilim or four humans. Other beings or combinations, I am not sure. Maintain contact with each other, crush the charm, and focus on your destination.”
He explained there was no limit on distance, but the charms could not go to an imaginary place, travel through time, or enter a warded location.
“This is too much,” I started to say, but he cut me off.
“For your heart, would you not give all?Thatis a trinket compared to what you have restored to me.”
“One last thing, Zick. As my second favor.” I lowered my voice and leaned closer. “Who has the peri queen?”
“Any other day, Harker, I’d make a fortune off that knowledge.” He narrowed his eyes for a second, then shrugged. “My debt to you, however, is greater. Og has her.”
Oh, good.I fingered the long scar that ran from my mouth to my jaw.Very good.
Then he was gone, scurrying down the sidewalk a little faster than would pass for normal, but none of the humans seemed to notice.
Mira pulled off one of the charms and held it out to me, and my pulse sped up.
“I know you wanna try it. I would, too. But I don’t like the idea of you going alone. You could end up in a nest of goblins with no ally or stuck somewhere you can’t escape. At least take the bracelet with you so you can beam back.”
She pooled it in her palm and held it out to me, and I frowned, but took it.
I knew this was probably a waste of a charm, that my enemies would certainly have Gemma warded, but hope rose in my chest and wouldn’t die. So I shut my eyes and pictured Gemma. As I smashed the charm, adrenaline jolted through me, but I knew instantly it hadn’t worked. I could still hear the sounds of traffic and smell Mira’s distinctive scent of taint and metal filings and courage.
I kept my eyes closed and took a deep breath.
“I’m sorry,” I heard her say. “But we’re gonna find her, Kerry.”
“I know. I won’t stop until I do.”
“Oh, crap! We shoulda asked Zick what the avatar looked like! Do you think we can catch up with him?”
“No.” I opened my eyes. “But don’t worry. We’ll know the avatar when we find him.”
“How?”
