“I don’t remember that part very well,” I said truthfully. “But I do remember that you asked me if I had anything I wanted to do. I want to build batey courts in Europa so we can have our own batey leagues and tournaments. Isn’t that a good idea? And in a few years we can go to the desert and destroy any of the ghouls that were caught on the other side of the gate. Without blood, no more will ever fall into the mortal world. If the last of them are hunted down, there is a chance the salt plague can be eradicated. Wouldn’t that be something?”

Bee pressed the back of a hand to my forehead. “Is she still feverish?”

“No, that’s exactly the sort of adventure I would expect her to undertake.” Vai flicked a finger along my cheek. “However, there is one thing we’ve all been waiting for you to explain, Catherine.”

Rory had been leaning against the wall, arms crossed. He sighed as might a long-festering boil when it is at last punctured. “You may as well tell the truth, Cat. When you called the coach and four and the eru into this world to help you hunt down and kill James Drake, you had to make a bargain with them that you would allow them to live in your household for as long as they wished.” He opened his eyes wide and raised his eyebrows, head jutted forward aggressively, in warning.

Blinking was all I could manage. “Oh.”

Vai said, “You can imagine our surprise when we brought you home from Tanit’s temple and found the coach, the horses, a heavy bag of gold coins, and the two of them in the stable.”

Bee leaned into my shoulder. “In the hay, indulging in a most ardent embrace. I thought it was sweet, although Andevai did not find it as amusing.”

“Did you not, my love?” I asked.

“We found them a room,” he said. I hadn’t known the man could blush like that!

“Do they bide here still?”

“They do,” said Vai, “and in truth, it is convenient to have them, for we could not otherwise afford to house a coach, much less stable four horses. I just find it a little odd.”

They both stared at me with the expressions of people who suspect the worst but feel you are not quite yet up to being accused of perfidy.

In the end it wasn’t just that I could wind shadows about me and sneak around where people didn’t want me to go. It was that I understood the importance of misdirection.