Kaylin wanted to argue. She couldn’t. Hope had said she should bring Mrs. Erickson. She hadn’t won that argument, and she knew, given Mrs. Erickson’s expression, that she had even less chance of winning this one.

“Listen to Terrano or Teela. If they shout an order, obey it.”

Mrs. Erickson nodded. “You know that I can see them. You know that I can calm them down if it’s necessary.”

Kaylin nodded, glancing at Teela. She expected Teela to argue in her stead, but Teela nodded. She, too, felt that Mrs. Erickson’s presence would be helpful. Somehow.

No. She doesn’t believe that—but Teela has never been good with children. She’s concerned that if Mrs. Erickson remains she’s in danger. Mrs. Erickson was clearly a target—but we don’t know what Azoria hoped to gain. And no one wanted Azoria—or what was left of Azoria—to gain anything.

She turned to Mrs. Erickson. “We’ll find the children.”

“I hope so,” was the soft reply.

Mrs. Erickson had never lived in a house without ghosts. They were part of the childhood she remembered, part of the childhood no mortal could remember, and part of all the rest of the various events of her life. She’d been worried about leaving them behind when she eventually passed away—but she hadn’t considered that somehow, these stalwart and often annoying companions would leave first, without warning.

There was more nervous bickering, which almost all of the cohort seemed comfortable with, the exception being Teela. It was decided—grudgingly—that Serralyn would remain behind for at least as long as it took to determine whether or not the name bond would hold across the two spaces now separated by one closed door.

Teela glanced at Severn; he nodded. She then gestured. Kaylin’s hair stood on end, but she accepted it without complaint; Teela had chosen to open the door at a relatively safe distance using magic. Kaylin would have done the same had she been skilled enough.

The door opened, and as Bakkon had predicted, it didn’t open onto the porch.

“Why Androsse?” Teela asked, as she approached the door, her movements slow and deliberate. Another wave of magic slapped Kaylin’s skin, and again, she made no complaints; she knew what Teela was now looking for.

“The Ancestors—yours, and couldn’t you guys come up with a better name?—had multiple words at their core. Whole sentences, maybe more. It’s the reason they could fight the way they fought: they can exist in multiple spaces at once,” Kaylin said.

“So can the cohort, and they’re not possessed of multiple words.”

“No, but...”

“But?”