Alexy and Kris didn’t even notice him slide sideways and pick up the egg. He handed it to Mila. It was when she started to put it in her pocket when Kris finally noticed. “What’s that?”
“It’s—” She paused and looked at Tal for guidance. “An egg? I dye eggs as a hobby.” She held up her fingers to show the mottled colors decorating them.
Kris nodded and smiled, her face showing the same calm reverence it had when she and Mom used to return home from Blessing Ceremonies. “That’s a lovely offering. I’m glad your parents taught you the proper values, even so far away.”
Offering?
Well,
that
had some possibilities. “Yes, Mila has always wanted to make an offering at one of the Trees, haven’t you?”
She caught on immediately. “Oh! Yes, that’s why Tal brought me down. He thought there wouldn’t be as many people worshiping at this Tree.”
Alexy stroked the bark like you would a sick pet and sighed. “A shame, that is, but you’re right. I only wish someone could figure out why they’re doing so poorly.”
He nudged Mila, hoping it was enough of a hint to hold her tongue, and she gave him a look that nearly spoke words—
do I look like I’m stupid?
“We’ll leave you to your worship. I’ll go around to the other side so I don’t distract you. Tal, could you come with me?”
“We’ll just be a minute,” Kris agreed and then turned back to stare at the trunk. “We need to get you home and back to normal before Tal joins us to catch Vegre.”
Mila stared at him and spoke from the corner of her mouth. “
Back to normal?
What’s she talking about, Tal?”
Tal’s breathing stilled as the realization came home to him. Alexy must have explained to Kris how they came to meet Mila. Naturally, his sister’s first thought would be the security of Agathia, as it should be, but that would mean … she intended to wipe Mila’s memory of the entire event—from seeing the gate to living with Sela and …
meeting him.
He needed time to think. Things were happening too fast for him to both deal with the moment and imagine all the possibilities and implications that might occur. “Which branch is left?” He spoke softly as he pulled her away from them.
“What is
back to normal?
” Her voice was likewise a whisper, but a tense one. Still, she followed him and pointed to the branch that was farthest from the others. They shouldn’t be able to see her craft, and he could stand watch to make sure they didn’t get too close.
“We only have a few minutes for you to finish. We can’t let them see.” Because he
had
noticed the sky over the park, the
entire
park—when just yesterday it didn’t extend beyond the farthest branch.
She stopped and shrugged off his hand on her arm. “No. Not one more step until you explain. What does that woman intend to do to me?”
Bile rose into his throat as he stared at her face, filled with a mix of anger and worry.
It was just one night. Just one. It shouldn’t matter
.
She’ll go back to her life and I’ll go back to mine.
No, it shouldn’t matter.
But it did.
He felt his muscles unclench as determination filled him. He squared his shoulders and put a solid hand on her arm. “
That woman
is my sister, Kris. And I don’t care what she
thinks
she’s going to do, she’s not. Nobody is going to lay a hand on you or do
anything
to you. Okay?”
She looked at him for a long moment, searching his face and eyes. Finally, she nodded. “Okay. I said I trusted you, so I will. Let’s finish this egg and then we’ll start planning how to capture Vegre.”
He held his tongue on that one. Just like he had decided that Kris wouldn’t wipe her memory, he’d decided that he couldn’t risk her being involved with Vegre any further.
Nobody
will lay a hand on you or harm you. Not while I live.
“Oh, hell. We left the gloves over there.” She started to turn around but he stopped her.
“No gloves. I hadn’t considered how sacrilegious it might seem to others. Can you perhaps place the egg just under the surface, rather than deep inside the branch? Then we can pull you out easier.”
“
Sacri
—” She paused and then winced. “Crap. You actually worship the
Trees?
I thought it was the spirit you worshiped and the Trees were like … I don’t know … like
churches
. Places to worship.”
He motioned her forward frantically, continuing to speak in low tones. “It’s both, and the gloves were like kicking over an altar. I didn’t think about it, but I understand why they’re upset.”
She nodded and hurried to the branch. The egg was a pleasing mix of blues and yellows, bearing the wave symbol of the illusionist guild among the dots and circles and tiny, precise diamonds. Mila closed her eyes and the little egg began to glow and hum. He’d forgotten about the shrieking hum. He heard the voices and footsteps of the others, hurrying toward them.
Craters!
There’ll be no hiding that sound. “Just hurry. I’ll do what I can to stall them.”
Blue light began to fill his peripheral vision as he hurried toward Alexy and Kris. But by the time they rounded the corner, both the sound and light were gone. He stumbled to a stop and turned. Mila was sitting under the branch with a racoon-ate-the-corn look on her face—full of guilty innocence. She wiggled her bare fingers, without a trace of bark on them, and smiled at him.
“What was that? I heard a noise from over here.” Alexy and Kris both had their gloves on, and looked around frantically, their postures battle-hardened, prepared to take on Vegre himself.
“What noise?” He tried to look calm and curious.
“Bloody hell,” Alexy said. “You
must
have heard it.”
He shrugged and looked over at Mila, who was the picture of calm indifference. “Did you hear anything, Mila?”
She was patting the ground where she’d apparently dug a small hole and then filled it in. “No. Just you two saying your prayers. Maybe the spirit was speaking to you?”
It was the perfect thing to say, for Kris and Alexy both blinked and stared at each other—awe plain on their faces. Alexy couldn’t seem to quite grasp the implication, but Kris did right away. She clutched his upper arm with an amazed light in her eyes. “Don’t you understand, Alexy? We were
chosen
. The Tree
spoke
to us … rewarded us for our faith in this trying time.” She looked at Mila with warmth but then noticed her cleaning the dirt from under her fingernails. “Why have you been digging? Didn’t Tal tell you not to dig near the Tree?”
Mila was a wonderful actress, for she put on a sad face, but filled with hope. “I buried my offering. So many things have been taken from here and it’s so fragile.” She held up her hand and spread her thumb and first finger just a bit while squinting her eyes and looking pathetic. “It’s only a
little
beneath the surface. I hoped it would be okay.”
That caused Kris to look around at the mangled, scattered offerings and sigh. “I can’t argue with that. It was a pretty thing. Someone was bound to take it if left out in the open.” She shook her head. “Such a shame so many have lost their way—like Mom. I fear for her, Tal. I haven’t heard from her for days. Not since that …
cult
came and befuddled her mind. I’ve looked
everywhere
in Rohm but she’s nowhere to be found.”
“She’s here in Vril. I saw her yesterday. But you don’t want to find her, sis. She’s not …
herself.
”
Kris nodded, her face filled with both sadness and anger. “I know, and I can’t believe it’s natural, even though every spell trace I did on her was negative. But she was a
gatherer,
Tal—one of the church leaders, since I was a child. I just can’t imagine she would betray the Tree for a false goddess who’d never even been mentioned in ancient texts.”
They’d started walking back toward the gate. “Well, they certainly turned her into a harpy,” Mila said with obvious distaste. “I’m sure she’s normally a lovely woman, since I can’t imagine someone with that temperament could have raised people like you and Tal. But I’d imagine that Vegre has methods the average crafter
couldn’t
trace. Otherwise he probably would have been caught before he started the plague. Right?”
Kris and Alexy looked at each other with wide eyes and then at Mila. It was Kris who spoke. “What does Vegre have to do with Mom?”
Of course, that made Tal and Mila look at each other before he responded. “He’s the leader of Demeter’s Children, sis. Didn’t you say that King Mumbai called King Kessrick?”
Mila nodded. “That’s why Dareen went to Shambala to see the king in the first place. She went undercover into the cult because she recognized Vegre as the cult’s leader, Reilly.”
Kris stopped cold and waved her hands in front of her, green eyes confused and frustrated. “Wait, wait. When did this happen? How could Vegre, who just broke out of prison two
days
ago, be leading a religion that’s been around for two
years?
”
Well, this complicated things. “What exactly were the details
you
heard about the call from King Mumbai?”
She’d crossed her arms over her chest and was tapping her boot on the cobbled brick. “I was
there
when the call came in, Tal. He said that a dirtdog from Vril, mother of one of the O.P.A. agents—which we later figured out was Jason—had come to him with a wild tale about Vegre attacking Buckingham Palace on New Year’s Eve, to assassinate the queen. Mumbai asked for at least a squadron of our best agents to infiltrate the palace and capture him before he could get to her. He said his own guard was too stretched keeping the peace there, because of all the evacuees. So, that’s what we’re doing.”
Tal sat down on a small stone wall that surrounded what used to be the pretty flower garden of a residential building. “No mention of the Children? Nothing about the volcanoes, or sacrifices? Nothing?”
Mila was shaking her head and reached out to touch his shoulder. “Something must have happened to her, Tal. That’s not the message she went there to give. She was so
adamant
about what was happening here.”
“Or,” he mused, in total agreement, “Mumbai wasn’t as innocent as we hoped.” He looked at Kris and raised his brows. “The call was from the king …
personally?
”
She shrugged and rolled her eyes. “His defense minister. Same thing.” Apparently she noticed his immediate suspicion and anger because she let out a frustrated breath. “The kings
never
talk directly to each other, Tal. That’s
why
they have staff. But it’s the same as talking directly to the kings—the ministers have all taken oath spells of allegiance and truthfulness.”
He nodded and let out a small, bitter laugh. “So had Commander Sommersby … and Sela.”
Mila let out an exasperated breath and threw up her hands. “But if the kings don’t know about the plot, they’re not going to send people to the right spot. It’s not Buckingham Palace. We already know that. It’s the
Palace Hotel,
right in downtown Denver.” She paused and the realization of the gravity of the situation came home in her face. “Geez, if all the
best agents
are halfway around the world, Vegre’s going to be able to do anything he wants before anyone can stop him.”
Alexy frowned while Mila was speaking. “That doesn’t make any sense. Why would Vegre attack a
hotel?
” He shook his head, revealing another long cut on his forehead that his hair had been hiding. “No, I’ll buy him attacking Buckingham. After all, it was King Charles II who insisted that the guilds intervene and capture him when the red death spread to the humans.”
“It
is
the Palace Hotel. We worked it all out—how Vegre has been getting out of prison off and on for decades. He even has a human identity up there, and
owns
the Palace Hotel. Tell him, Tal.”
He kept his eyes on the ground, trying to work things out in his head. It had sounded so good last night when they were all sitting around the table. But this morning … he was inclined to agree with Alexy and Kris. It just didn’t make sense that Vegre would raise a volcano in Denver. “We never did come up with a reason
why
he’d pick that location, Mila. And, too, we don’t know if Mumbai got independent information after Dareen left. I can understand why you’d worry, considering the documents you found, but—” He hooked his thumb toward Kris. “I’m going to have to go with them on this. I think he’s after bigger fish … whether it’s a seat of power to rule from, mass chaos among the world’s rulers, or some other reason. Denver just doesn’t seem … well,
vital
to anything.”