Seanan McGuire - One Salt Sea

“Yeah.” Marcia walked back over, handing me the plate with my sandwich. The strawberry juice leaking around the edges looked uncomfortably like blood. “He removed his human illusion as a courtesy when he came into the knowe. He had to put it back on before he could leave.”

“Do you remember what his magic smelled like?”

Her cheeks reddened. “You know I’m not very sensitive to that sort of thing.”

“I know. I just want to know what his magic smelled like to you.” I’m good with magical signatures, but I’d only been around once or twice when Dugan was actually casting spells. I wanted outside confirmation.

“It was . . . I don’t know. Spicy, I guess. Like cinnamon.”

“Cinnamon and cardamom?” I asked.

Marcia blinked, once, before she smiled brightly. “That’s exactly it! Cinnamon and cardamom. He smelled like Finnish sweet bread.”

“Uh, I guess so. I’ve never smelled Finnish bread. What he does smell like, definitely, is spices.” I took a bite of strawberry-and-chicken sandwich—a surprisingly tasty combination, despite the fact that the bread still looked like it was bleeding—and swallowed before glancing to the door. “Where are they?”

“Knowing May? Possibly at the bottom of the Pacific by now. You have to give them time to get here.”

“Time is something we don’t have enough of at this point.” Rayseline wasn’t working alone. Rayseline couldn’t be working alone, because she didn’t have the skill for it—and someone hit Margie from behind. I put my sandwich down, pulling out the phone.

“Who are you calling?”

“Walther.” I raised the phone to my ear, and waited.

I didn’t have to wait for long. “Professor Davies speaking. How can I help you?”

“Hey, Walther. You alone?”

“Toby? What’s going on?” He sounded surprised and tired. I felt a small pang of guilt. I wasn’t just running myself ragged—I was doing the same thing to my allies.

I’d apologize later. When we weren’t dead. “Have you had a chance to look at that needle I gave you yet?”

“Not in any detail. I’ve been trying to figure out the base for that sleeping potion you found. I think I’m almost—”

“Was it brewed by a Daoine Sidhe?”

He paused. Then, slowly, he said, “It could be. What makes you ask?”

“I don’t want to say until I’m sure. Can you check?”

“Normally, I’d say no—if it were one of the standard apprentice recipes, it could have been anyone with a little skill for alchemy. But it’s unusual enough that I may be able to deduce the nature of the brewer from the compounds that were used. How soon do you need to know?”

“As soon as possible. It’s important.”

“ ‘Life and death’ important, or ‘it would be nice’ important?”

Dugan had access to all the Queen’s resources. To her dungeons, her guardsmen, anything he could take control of while her back was turned. “Life and death,” I said, without hesitation. “I think I know who Rayseline is working with. But I have to be sure.”

“I’ll get right on it,” Walther said. “Call if you need me.”

“Don’t worry. I will.” I closed the phone, sliding it back into my pocket before meeting Marcia’s wide-eyed stare. “What?”

“You think Dugan is working with Rayseline?” she asked.

“I didn’t say that.”

“You didn’t need to.” She shook her head, looking profoundly uncomfortable. “If he is . . . Toby, he’s got a lot of pull at Court.”

“Yeah, he does, as long as he stays on the Queen’s good side. How happy do you think she’s going to be when I tell her he’s been trying to instigate a war she can’t possibly win?” The “can’t possibly win” part was really the important thing. I was pretty sure the Queen of the Mists would be more than happy to get involved with a war if she thought she’d be leading the winning side.

“Not very,” admitted Marcia.

“Exactly my thought. All I have to do is prove that he’s the one who’s been providing Raysel with magical support. She can take things from there.”

“So why not tell her now?”

“Because if I’m right, and he’s behind all this, he could lead her to the children. I don’t want that to happen.” I shook my head, reaching for the coffee. “I’m supposed to stop this war, not give the Queen a bargaining chip she can use to force Saltmist to surrender. I don’t want anyone to surrender. I just want this whole thing to be over.”

“You and me both,” said May. I turned to see her standing in the kitchen doorway. Quentin was behind her, looking a little green around the edges, like he’d just taken the worst roller coaster ride of his life. “Your car’s out front. You should probably get your brakes checked.”

“The brakes would be fine if you ever drove under seventy,” muttered Quentin.

“What was that?” asked May.

“Nothing,” he said quickly, and pushed past her into the kitchen, staggering over to collapse on the bench next to me.

I gave him a comforting pat on the back with my free hand, asking, “Where are Jazz and Raj?”

“Jazz had to go to work, and Raj decided to take the shadows,” said May. “He didn’t want to ride with me for some reason.”

“Lucky jerk,” said Quentin.

“I’m not that bad of a driver,” said May. She lobbed my keys to me, underhand.

I caught them and stood. “Yes, you are. But that’s okay, because you won’t have to drive again any time soon. Call Danny when you want to go home. He can come and pick you up.” I glanced toward Quentin. “You want to come with me?”

“Yes,” he said fervently, scrambling to his feet. “Please.”

“No,” said May, just as fervently. I raised an eyebrow. She glared. “You’re not going anywhere until you tell me what happened. Where’s Gillian? Is she here? Is she . . .” She stopped, no more capable of finishing her sentence than I would have been.

“I don’t know where she is, but I know who has her,” I said. “Raysel took her. Just went right into the house, and took her. I have to get her back.”

“So what, you’re going to drive all over the city?”

“Not quite. There was a Selkie named Margie. Raysel took her captive down at the docks. I’m hoping there might still be a blood trail for me to follow.” And while I was down there, I could pay Bucer a visit—there was no way he’d skipped town already. Maybe he’d be able to tell me about a stone room in a shallowing where redwood trees grew. He might not want to tell me, but I can be very convincing, when I have to be.

“ Was a Selkie?” asked May, slowly.

“She’s dead. Raysel killed her. It was an accident.”

“The Law doesn’t care about accidents,” said Quentin.

May, on the other hand, was staring at me with a new type of fear in her wide gray eyes. “If you haven’t already found the blood trail, how do you know about the Selkie?”

“I called the night-haunts.”

She stiffened. Only a bit. I probably wouldn’t have noticed, if I didn’t know her so well. “What did they say?”

“That Gillian isn’t with them. Neither are the Lorden boys. There’s still time, but that doesn’t mean that we should be wasting it.”

“That’s a relief,” said May.

“Yeah. It is.”

May was trying to keep her expression steady. It wasn’t working. She’s at a disadvantage when it comes to hiding her emotions from me—I grew up with her face, after all, and I know it better than I currently know my own. Her face held an odd mixture of fear and resignation, like she expected me to start yelling at any second. That look hadn’t been there before I told her I was meeting with the night-haunts.