“Didn’t like the look of those, huh?” I asked Emery lightly as he stared down at the burning mess of magical creatures.
“That message was personal,” he said in a hollow voice. “They know I’m here.”
“Wait, wait.” I put out the flame, squished the creatures’ remains into pieces to make sure they were thoroughly dead, and then ushered Emery back into the house. “Darius should listen in.”
I closed and locked the door behind us. The tampering hadn’t gone on long enough to do much damage to the ward, but sometimes a lock helped people feel safer. Especially people who had tramped though the Realm without a door to lock for so long.
“Why would the elves send a personal message to you?” Penny asked as we climbed the stairs and met Darius in the hallway. Frustration and annoyance boiled within him—he didn’t like standing on the sidelines. “You’re not really one of the focal points of this thing. Also, why was it a personal message?”
“After my brother and I played that practical joke in the elves’ castle,” Emery said, “they sent those things after us. When I was on the run a couple years later, they were constantly on my heels, it seemed like. They’re easy to kill, but they can eat through a ward pretty fast. At least the kind of wards that I used to build back in the day. Ours are better and much stronger now. I’d wake up as they were eating through, sometimes almost too late. I lost a lot of sleep because of those things.”
“What were they?” Darius asked.
“Snellax, cave dwellers.” Emery ran his fingers through his tousled hair. “The elves treat them like hounds. They didn’t use illusions to hide them in the Realm, but then they didn’t need to.”
“Reagan, secure the house and then put some coffee on,” Darius commanded softly. “Penny, help her.”
I frowned and turned toward the stairs. Nothing had been left open but the back door, which was now locked, and we were religious about closing all the blackout shades and curtains before bed. He would know that the downstairs was safe for him. It meant he wanted a moment alone with Emery.
“He does that sometimes,” Penny said quietly as she followed me through the house, double-checking everything. I actually wanted to go outside and survey the grounds, as well, see if there was anything lingering in the area. Maybe something had been watching, and it would now skulk away to make its report. “He has flashbacks to those days on the run, or something triggers a memory and he loses himself a little.”
I nodded as I entered the kitchen and pulled out the coffee pot. “Makes sense. He had a hard life there for a while.”
“Yeah,” she intoned. “I don’t see why the elves would pick him out of the lineup, though. Like…why specifically mess with him, you know? Why not you? Or me? Or Roger and the fae?”
“We don’t know that they haven’t gone after Roger and the fae.” I pulled down the coffee filters. “Let’s hear what Darius has to say. He probably knows something he didn’t fill us in on yet.”
The coffee had started to percolate by the time Darius entered the kitchen with Emery, both of them with hard expressions.
“Verdict?” I asked.
Emery quietly pulled out a chair and sat next to Penny, who started rubbing his back.
“It could be the elves,” Darius said, pulling open the pantry door. “They have a history of mental warfare. They know Mr. Westbrook’s weaknesses, and it is a small thing to send a warning. But there are other creatures who would wish to unsettle Emery, and Penny with him. Vlad, for one. Possibly a mage who is dissatisfied with the new order. Without more information, we can have no way of knowing who sent those creatures, or if they were even meant for him. Someone might’ve just wanted to check the strength of the ward.”
I leaned against the counter, studying him as he pulled out ingredients for sandwiches.
“What aren’t you telling me?” I asked, crossing my arms over my chest.
He put bread onto the counter and pulled open the refrigerator door. “I have nothing concrete, but it seems it has begun.”
“It… Meaning the start of the war?” I asked.
“This is the first attack, and it was mild. There will be more, each more intense than the last. That is a guess, but…”
“It’s a good guess,” Emery said, and I pulled mugs from the cabinet.
“The elves have had watchers that Roger and Romulus haven’t disbanded,” Darius said. “They reported back, obviously. Now the elves are stepping up their game. That, or Vlad is. I have word that he is ready for Lucifer to say the word, and then he’ll move his forces to the Underworld. Goblins, trolls, some minotaurs—there are many from the Realm that have already headed down there. Vlad will pull more of them still. A great many want to see the elves torn down.”