However, getting him caught up wasn’t going to be easy. “You missed a lot of stuff after you and Zack vanished with Ashava,” I said. “For starters, Idris killed Katashi. Except it wasn’t really Katashi. A syraza was masquerading as Katashi for who the hell knows how long. And the syraza ended up dead-dead because about eighty percent of the killed demons aren’t making it through the void. Right after the blast, an Earthgate popped up in the Ruthie’s Smoothies parking lot. Kadir came through it yesterday, but we don’t know where he is now. Rifts have been opening—” I stopped, frustrated. Every event intersected with a buttload of other important points without respect to chronology. “This isn’t working. There’s no way I can give you a coherent and comprehensive summary before we both die of starvation. Just read it from me.”
Szerain tore out the page of diagram sketches, stuffed it into my hand then sent the notebook back to its interdimensional hidey-hole. “I can’t,” he said matter-of-factly. “You’ve shielded yourself.”
“Shielded myself? No, Zack and Helori did it to protect sensitive info.”
“Yes, but it’s more than just demahnk tampering.” His eyes went distant as he seemed to ponder the concept, then they flashed with fierce amusement. “I bet it chaps Xharbek’s ass that he can’t read you.”
I grinned at the very Ryan-like remark. I couldn’t imagine ever hearing those words from Rhyzkahl or Mzatal. “My shielding definitely frustrated the hell out of Xharbek at Fed Central when—” I shook my head as his gaze sharpened on me. “See? There’s way too much to tell. Can’t I let you in somehow?”
“Possibly, if you open to me. It’s worth a try.” He placed his hands on each side of my head and leaned down to touch his forehead to mine. “Xharbek can’t read me either. None of the demahnk can without my consent. I chose submersion and exile to Earth rather than put myself at their mercy again.”
Great. He’d dropped yet another snippet of info, but I was still missing the meat of the story. “Why can’t you go ahead and tell me everything?” I asked somewhat petulantly. “If I can’t be read, then you don’t have to worry about the demahnk finding sensitive info in my brain.”
Szerain lifted his head and blinked at me. “That actually makes an enormous amount of sense.” The golden light dimmed like a flashlight with a weak battery. He cursed under his breath. “We don’t have much time. We’re well shielded, but Xharbek is seeking.”
“Then hurry up and find out what you need to know.” Fortunately, I had plenty of experience with mental touch through my connection with Mzatal, and I drew on that familiarity to relax and open. Ghost images of rifts and demons, DIRT teams, giant crystals, Pellini, and more flashed in my mind as Szerain scanned months in a moment. Sudden worry hit me. What if he discovered something that triggered a lord headache?
“No need to fret,” he said. “I’m free of those fucking headaches.” He paused. “And I already know my parentage.”
I exhaled in relief, but then I winced. His own father was after him. That had to suck.
“No, Xharbek isn’t my—” His grip spasmed tight on my head. “Elinor! Xharbek has her.” He staggered back, eyes wide with shock.
“See, I knew I’d forget to tell you important shit! Yeah, she’s on Earth and so is Giovanni. Trust me, I was just as shocked, but we’re already working on rescue plans.” So what if they were all shitty. “Maybe Zack could teleport you in as soon as we get y’all home? Snatch her and poof—” I shook my head. “No, forget I said that. Zack’s probably too weak to do any teleporting.”
“You’re right. It would destroy him.” Szerain’s forehead creased as he stared off over my head. “Even so, we can’t return to Earth while Xharbek has Elinor.”
“Why? What difference does that make?”
“She has a strong connection to me. He’ll use that like a tracking device, with an alarm set to go off the moment I leave interdimensional space.” The weariness in his face deepened. “He’d be on us—on Ashava—the instant we arrived on the nexus.”
“Why does he want Ashava so badly?”
“She’s a free demahnk-human hybrid, and he can’t allow her to remain free.” He shook his head. “It has something to do with the demahnk codes of conduct.”
“Why didn’t he just teleport in and kidnap Jill when she was pregnant?” But then I scowled. “Wait. He tried but had flunkies attempt to nab her rather than doing it himself.”
“He couldn’t intervene directly,” Szerain said with a nod. “Not until after Ashava was born.”
“Zack tiptoed around ancient oaths and agreements made with entities he referred to as ‘the others.’” I made a face. “They sounded more like ‘the enforcers,’ to me.”
“The demahnk constraints are a mystery to me, but I do know Xharbek is the least restricted of their kind.” He drew a deep breath and focused on me. “One step at a time. You must get Elinor. What are your rescue plans?”
I made a face. “Nothing workable yet. See for yourself.” I gestured toward my head.
A tremor shook the bubble, and the golden light flickered. Szerain scanned the darkness surrounding us then seized my head and dove into my mind with no subtlety. “Mzatal. No. Helori, definitely no. Conventional assault. No no no.” He went still. “Dekkak. With the gimkrah and a graphene net? Yes!” He released me. “Kara, that’s genius. And the full moon is only—”
“Whoa whoa whoa.” I stabbed him with a glare. “There’s the teensy issue of me having to learn the lost art of summoning a Jontari imperator—in a matter of days—without instructions.”
“You can’t learn the summoning in such a short time,” he said. “Not even with months of training. But with your innate gifts and the gimkrah and the nexus at your disposal, you have what’s needed to know it.”
“Know it,” I echoed, then peered at him. “Do you have any idea how much sense you’re not making?”
“Be lordy,” he said as if that answered all. “Be the summoning.”
I made a strangled noise. “That didn’t help! What the fuck does that even mean?”
“You’ll understand,” he said with annoying calm. “I have the utmost faith in you.”