I nodded, walked toward the stone fountain against the far wall.
“Big fight over the bridal bouquet,” I said to the parents, with the only hint of a smile that I could manage, and hoped that would be enough to soothe their fears.
Water trickled from a lion’s head mounted to the wall in a quatrefoil base. I sat down on the edge, watched koi dart across the water toward me, probably hoping for breakfast.
; Mallory nodded. “Besides, she’s an alchemical witch. This doesn’t feel like alchemy.”
Pulaski held up his hand. “I’m not interested in the magical mumbo jumbo. I’ll leave that to you. What I want to know is what, exactly, happened here. In detail.”
“I’ll walk you through it,” Catcher said, and led him a few feet away, pointing at the spot where we’d rounded the corner some unfathomably long time ago.
My grandfather followed them but looked back at us, circled a finger in the air. He wanted us to keep going, to keep talking it through.
“So it’s someone else’s magic?” Ethan asked.
“It has to be,” Mallory said. “I just don’t know whose, or at least not yet. Although there is that weird metallic thing.”
“Yeah,” I said, turning back to Mallory. “I sensed the same thing after seeing Winston. I thought it was because of the delusions. Like, he’d been sick, which gave his magic a weird scent. But maybe it’s a signature of some kind. Is it associated with a certain kind of magic or creature?”
She shook her head. “Not that I’m aware of, but I’ll have to check the books.”
“Paige is out of town,” Ethan said, “or I’d have her look, too.” Paige was a sorceress who practically lived in Cadogan House, mostly owing to her relationship with our Librarian. “The Librarian’s at an ALA conference in New York,” Ethan added. “She’s with him.”
Paige had been bummed about missing the wedding. The Librarian had been too excited about the conference—and the books—to be overly concerned.
“I can look,” Mallory said, glancing at her husband, who stood with my grandfather and Pulaski. “He’s going to be tied up with this for at least the short term.”
“The mayor’s going to blow a fuse,” I agreed.
“Yeah. Probably.”
Amit walked over to us. “Not the trip to the States I had in mind,” he said, and glanced at Ethan, concern in his eyes. “There is something about Chicago, isn’t there?”
“Something in the damn water, I’m beginning to fear,” Ethan said.
“Or in the air,” I said, and looked at Mallory. “Gabe’s had the same sense of dread. So whatever you’re feeling, you aren’t alone.”
She looked understandably relieved and concerned by that information.
A reporter had found us, was busily snapping pictures of the carnage, the remains of the wedding party.
“Take this picture,” Mallory said to him, moving aside so that Ethan and I stood alone.
“If you want the real sense of Cadogan House, get Merit and Ethan after battle. Get the shot of them together, bloodied because they tried to make a difference. Those are Chicagoland’s vampires.”
With a somber expression, the reporter nodded and aimed his camera at us.
CHAPTER NINE
BITTERSWEETNESS