Chapter Six

SIX

Mabel

––––––––

please wait while your video chat host admits you to the room.

I don't know what I was expecting when I was ordered to join a video call, but a screen full of dragons wasn't it.

"Er ... hello," I said, counting two female dragons, one male, and a Dark One and his Beloved. "I'm Mabel. Is one of you Aisling Grey?"

"That's me," a woman with long, curly hair said. Next to her sat a big black dog who seemed to watch the screen with an intensity that made me slightly uncomfortable. "I'll do the introductions, shall I? Ysolde and Baltic are here to lend their support."

A woman with blond hair waved. In another window, a man sat half-hidden in shadows, making no sign that he was even aware of the video call, but I had the feeling that, like the dog, he was paying close attention.

For some reason, that worried me.

"Also present are Allie and her husband, Christian."

A woman with dark hair also waved, while her vampire gave a nod of acknowledgment.

"And this is Jim, my demon," Aisling finished, gesturing toward the dog.

"Hello to all of you," I said, taken aback by the presence of a demon. I didn't often have call to work with them. "It's a pleasure to meet you, but I feel obligated to point out that although the Broker told you I was available for the guiding of your deceased's spirit, I am, in fact, busy at the moment, and have limited time to do reaper work. It's not my main job, you see."

"That's all right," the blonde named Ysolde said, making a vague gesture of dismissal. "This shouldn't take very long. It's more a retrieval situation than anything else."

"We would like you to bring someone out of the Akasha," Allie said with a glance at her mate. He, like the dragon half in shadows, had said nothing, but I was willing to bet he was thinking a whole lot of things.

Now, that was odd. "Really? I'm sorry, I thought the Broker said you were a Guardian, Aisling. I must have misheard."

"No, I am one," she answered with a flash of a smile. "And yes, I am fully able to summon people out of the Akasha, assuming that's what you were going to ask."

"The problem is that the man we want you to escort out isn't in the normal part of the Akasha," Ysolde said.

She was evidently sitting in a living room, because behind her, a door slammed and a lanky young man stormed through the room, trailing a waist-high blaze of fire behind him.

Ysolde said nothing, but the man in the shadows heaved a sigh, and without warning, his square disappeared off the screen.

"I'm not sure that I'd consider any part of the Akasha normal," I said, a sudden worry gripping my gut.

"So very true," Aisling said, nodding. "But in this case, it's definitely ultra-superstrength Akasha."

"The man we want guided out of there is in the Thirteenth Hour," Allie said.

The grip on my insides seemed to be made of steel, and I started shaking my head as soon as she finished speaking. "No, I'm sorry, that's impossible. The Thirteenth Hour is basically a prison."

"If you're worried about getting in there—" Aisling started to say, but I stopped her.

"The problem with the Thirteenth Hour isn't getting in. ... It's getting out. That's kind of the whole métier of prisons," I told her, praying they'd accept that fact and move on. I really didn't have time for it, not now when Papi had me by my metaphorical short and curlies, and I was desperate for a way out of what he wanted.

Two more people appeared in the video chat screen, a dark-haired man and a woman who wore a T-shirt with a silhouette of a line of small buildings, with the words Axegate Walk: The Next Generation underneath.

"Good afternoon," the man said in what I thought of as a plummy British accent. I realized he was also a vampire, and wondered what on earth two of his kind were doing mingling with dragons. "Our apologies for being late. We have been interviewing stewards, and one of them got away from us."

"Literally," the woman said, giving the man a wry smile. "He ran off to another Hour."

"This is Finch and his wife, Tatiana," Aisling said. "They are the leaders of the Seventh Hour of the underworld, and they agreed to join us in brainstorming."

I murmured something polite, and tried to frame a statement about finding another reaper—although there were only three of us in the world at the moment—because I simply didn't have the time or energy to help them, but before I could, Ysolde spoke up.

"I thought the whole point of being a reaper was that you could take people out of one form of afterlife and shepherd them to another," she said with a slight frown. "I don't see how it works if you can't do that for us and the man in question."

Behind her, the lanky young man reappeared and once again stormed a fire path across the room, loudly pronouncing his general unhappiness with the world, but this time he was accompanied by another man, one who I thought was Ysolde's silent watcher. He followed behind, stamping out the fire. I couldn't help but notice he was carrying two swords, and wondered what on earth was going on.

"Mabel?" Ysolde asked, ignoring the commotion behind her when the two men exited the room.

"Sorry," I said, pulling my attention back to where it should be. "Unfortunately, even reapers have limits to our abilities. Under normal circumstances, we can guide spirits from wherever they are to whatever afterlife they wish to visit, but the Thirteenth Hour?" I shook my head. "I don't have that sort of power."

"Who would?" Allie asked.

I hesitated a second before saying on a sigh, "It would have to be someone very powerful. A demigod, for instance. I'm afraid that I'm going to be useless in this situation—"

"But he is a demigod," Aisling said.

"I'm afraid that doesn't matter," I said, holding up a hand when both Tatiana and Ysolde started to speak simultaneously. "Even a demigod in the Thirteenth Hour would require someone of his own ilk to help free him."

"And the First Dragon is being stubborn," Ysolde said, looking disappointed.

"Maybe if we talked to this Dr. Kostich that Aisling and Ysolde told us about," Allie said to her husband, who looked momentarily horrified.

"The Committee has little love for the Moravian Council," he answered, his bright silver eyes almost glowing in the dim light of their room. "Even if we would accept such a thing, we have no idea if he has the sort of abilities needed."

"An archimage wouldn't do," I said with another quick shake of my head. "I'm afraid it's a demigod or nothing. That said, I'm very sorry I can't be of help to you."

Aisling tsk ed audibly. "Don't be so quick to assume you can't. After the Broker raved about how talented you are, I'm sure you're just the person for us. We'll simply have to get someone else, someone demigod, to kick-start the shebang. Let's see. Who do we know other than the First Dragon?"

"There's the Entity," Finch said slowly. Tatiana thinned her lips. "Two of them are definitely in the demigod or related category, but they've made it very clear that they will not give us help with our problem."

"They said it was out of their purview," Tatiana added with something that sounded remarkably close to a snort. "It was their fault that we ended up blasting ourselves out of the Hour, which meant the thane got out, too, but heaven forfend they should help."

"Heaven forfend?" Allie asked, her lips twitching.

"I've been reading Georgette Heyer while Finch is working on his book," she answered. "But other than the Entity, I'm afraid we've drawn a short stick."

"What about that anime girl ... what was her name? ... Sasha! What about her?" Ysolde asked.

Silence fell. I badly wanted to click on the Leave Meeting button, but knew that I'd hear from both the head of the Akashic League and the Broker if I severed the connection without permission from the client.

"Oooh, that's a good idea," Aisling said, pulling out her phone. "I think Thaisa gave me her number. I'll shoot her a fast text with the link to this chat."

I said nothing but, mindful of the clock, moved my tablet to the floor, so I could stretch and warm up my muscles.

Ten minutes later, after the discussion in which various persons of power were considered and dismissed, I decided that I'd given the potential clients enough time to escape without censure from my higher-ups, and, pausing in the act of rolling out my leg muscles, shifted the tablet from where it had just caught my head in the camera. "I'm afraid that I'm going to have to—"

"Hello! I can't imagine what you think I can help you with, but yes, of course I remember you dragons. Oh, but I see we have some Dark Ones here, as well. Hi! I'm Sasha. Do you know Thaisa and Archer, too? Are you all planning for a surprise party for them? Is that why this is so secret? I can recommend a chocolate fountain if you are. Also, if you want me to ask a few of my sisters, they'd love to come. Well ... Bree would. Clover isn't any too fond of Hunter —they dated for a few months. She's gone off to find herself until another needy dragon hunter comes around. Put me down to bring the chocolate fountain. When is the party?"

I will admit that I stopped rolling out my thigh muscle to gawk at the screen. Unlike many of the leaders of the Court of Divine Blood, Sasha had no qualms revealing her identity, which made it all that much odder when you considered that she was the head of the whole organization. "Er ... " I said. "If there is a party, I'm afraid I know nothing about it. And speaking of that, I should be running—"

"Hang on just a few more minutes, please," Aisling said, and asked Sasha, "Would you be willing to help us get a man out of the Thirteenth Hour?"

"Whoa. I didn't expect that," she said, blinking rapidly. "Who are you after?"

Aisling looked to her dog and said softly, "You can speak, but no personal comments."

"Sheesh, Ash, like I am anything but Mr. Suave? Heya, peeps, how they hangin'? Respectively, that is. How come you're on the ground?"

It took me a few seconds to realize it was addressing me. "I'm stretching, and really, I do have to run. I need to be somewhere in seventeen minutes—"

"My dad's name is Desislav," Jim interrupted, obviously answering Sasha.

Her eyes got big. "You're shitting me!"

"Dude," Jim said out of the side of its mouth to Aisling. "The Sovereign swears as bad as you."

"Your father is Desislav the Destroyer?" Sasha, who must have been sitting, shook her head and stood up. "I'm sorry, furry demon, but there's nothing I can do."

"Desislav the Destroyer?" Aisling asked, her voice going up an entire octave. "Your dad is known as the Destroyer and you didn't tell us? For the love of Pete, Jim!"

I had to admit, the demon looked as surprised as everyone else.

"I didn't know, but man, that's a pretty cool title," it answered, its expression shifting to speculation. "I wonder if I inherit that as his official son? Effrijim the Destroyer has kind of a nice ring to it, don't you think?"

"No, I do not," Aisling almost snapped. "Sasha, the person in question is Jim's father, and has a history with the Court. Couldn't you see your way clear to helping us despite the destroyer business?"

"Not possible, I'm afraid." Sasha wiggled her shoulders. "The Court is more or less in charge of maintaining the security of the Thirteenth Hour. It would cause endless trouble if I were to interfere. I'm sorry, but I can't do what you want."

"But ... a demigod—or someone of your abilities—should be able to help give our reaper, Mabel, the oomph she needs to get him out of there," Ysolde protested.

Sasha shook her head. Her hair was coiled into two braided blobs on the top of her head, and they wobbled as she gestured at the camera. "I get it, but honestly, no demigod in this world is going to help."

"Well ... merde !" Aisling said with obvious dismay. "Now what do we do?"

"Would you mind repeating your last sentence, Sasha?" Christian the vampire asked, leaning forward slightly.

She gave a half smile. "No demigod here will help you. I can just about guarantee that."

"No demigod here ? Here as in Europe?" Aisling asked.

"Here in the mortal plane, I believe," Christian said slowly.

"Ooooh," Allie said, now watching her vampire. "You mean there is someone?"

Sasha leaned so close to her camera that all we could see was one startlingly bright blue eye and a bit of the bridge of her nose. "You need someone who doesn't care about living in the mortal world. Someone who is beyond our laws. Someone who has a connection to Desislav."

"Who—" Allie started to add, but Aisling whooped just then.

"Jim's mom! She was also a Sovereign." Aisling turned to her demon. "Jim, didn't you say she was in the Beyond because she was dying after giving birth to you?"

Sasha's eye closed slowly in what I realized was a wink; then her image disappeared off the call, and with that gesture, I knew my goose was not just plucked, but boiled, eaten, and the leftovers made into mounds of goose hash.

"Aw, crap," I said under my breath, and slumped forward over my outstretched legs. "Now I'm done for."

I managed to get off the call five minutes later by swearing I'd fly out to London, where I'd meet up with Aisling and her demon.

"This is beyond a nightmare," I said as I arrived at the Royal Ballet of Beck building, hurrying my way through changing and making it into the mandatory daily class that served as both a refinement tool and a warm-up for the day's activities.

Two hours after, I explained to the ballet master that my ankle injury—which had left me off the performance list the last two months while I recovered—was acting up. "I'll go to PT," I told my boss, Jean-Philippe, a wiry black man of about sixty. "It's been two months since I've danced, so it can just buck up and get with the program."

He looked suitably horrified at my cavalier attitude. "No, no! Gracious me, no, we can't have you trying to rehearse if your injury is not yet healed properly."

"Well ... " I said in an exaggerated hesitation. "Dr. Low originally said I should take three months of recovery time, and I've only taken two. Perhaps I should take that last month?"

"Another month ... you looked fine this morning, in company class," he said, making me swear mentally because I hadn't held back at the morning's exercise. "Naturally, however, if you feel discomfort with your ankle beyond the norm, you should have more time without rehearsal."

"That sounds very wise," I said, relieved that I had bought myself time. With luck, I could take care of this reaper business for the dragons and vampires, would escape Papi's demands to do whatever heinous thing he was plotting, and could relax for the first time in nine months. "I will let Dr. Low know that I'm off for another month."

"That wouldn't do, no, it wouldn't," he answered, giving a swift shake of his head. "We can't have you off the schedule for that long. You are scheduled to understudy Beatrix's Odette, yes? You can have an additional week for rest and recovery, but assuming you're cleared for rehearsal, we'll need you back on the schedule."

My spirits slumped at the mention of the principal dancer for whom I was understudying the main role in Swan Lake . "I understand, naturally, but if I studied performance recordings—"

"Nothing beats good practice," Jean-Philippe said with obvious dismissal. "Do whatever level of activity you and Dr. Low feel is appropriate in class for the next week, and continue your PT regimen."

There was nothing left for me to say, so I left as quickly as I arrived, texted Aisling my flight number and time I'd arrive in London—and accepted her offer to be picked up at the airport—and made it to my flight with a whole two minutes to spare.

It was only when I was in my seat that I allowed myself to relax, and feel guilty at squeezing another week of no-rehearsal from the company. "But unfortunately, my life is not my own," I said under my breath as I leaned against the window and idly watched the waves of the North Sea pass beneath us.

"Really? Then who does it belong to?"

The woman sitting next to me asked the question. I shot her a quick look, noting the short black hair cut in what I thought of as a 1920s style. Beyond her sat a man with his hair pulled into a curly blob on the back of his head.

"Oh great. Dragons," I said, my shoulders slumping. "Don't tell me—Aisling sent you."

"That's right," the woman said with a little laugh. "We thought that since your ... er ... type of person is so rare, we'd better make sure nothing happened to you on the way to find Jim's mom. I'm May, by the way. This is Gabriel. He's the wyvern of the silver sept."

"We are very grateful that you've agreed to help us. And the Dark Ones," Gabriel said in a lyrical Australian accent. "It no doubt seems strange to you that our two cultures have teamed up to tackle this problem, but the circumstances are what they are, and thus, we find ourselves working together."

"It's not like it won't benefit everyone in the end," May added, leaning toward me to say softly, "Since we need to get the thane off the street where he could potentially harm both mortals and immortals."

"Thane?" I asked, confused.

"Don't worry, that's further down in the plan," May told me.

"Is he dead?" I asked, wondering just how many people I needed to guide.

"Not that I know of. Gabriel?" May turned to her mate.

He looked thoughtful. "I'm not sure. He was in the Hour that Finch manages, but he's also a demigod, and I don't believe those actually die."

"Right now, we need to concentrate on finding Jim's parents and engaging them to help us," May said. "How long have you been ... er ..." She stopped, obviously hesitant to use my title.

"A reaper? Since I was about fourteen, although my mother wouldn't let me guide anything but pets until I was an adult."

May's eyes opened wide before she exchanged glances with her dragon. "Animals get escorted, too?"

"Of course," I said, wondering if I could squeeze in a quick nap before we landed. Due to Papi's demand to assist him with some impossible scheme, I wasn't getting much time to rest. "If they want to go somewhere else, that is. Mostly, they stay where they are, but a few—those who were taken from the wild, or pets who want to be in familiar surroundings—prefer to go to a different location."

"How sad," May murmured, shifting in her seat.

I thought about that for a few seconds. "I don't think of it that way. The animals are much happier when we get to their destination, just as are my human clients. Would you think it's rude if I put in my earbuds and listened to music? I didn't get much sleep last night."

"Of course not! You go ahead and take a nap. We won't disturb you," she promised, and she was as good as her word.

It didn't help me sleep, however. I simply leaned against the wall of the airplane with my eyes closed, and allowed free rein to the deranged squirrels I always imagined powering my brain..

How on earth was I going to balance Papi trying to involve me in something he declared was a grand scheme guaranteed to lead to wealth beyond my understanding, the demands of the dance company, and occasional reaper calls?

And when, a tiny, normally silent voice called out, when do I finally get to put my own wants and desires first, for a change?

My heart wept for the chaotic mess that was my life, and I fell into an uncomfortable doze contemplating just how hopeless things looked.