Before Dani could contemplate it further, she grabbed her purse and ran for the door. Ultimately, the library attack didn’t matter nearly as much as more important questions—did Ivy have something to do with the damage to the rift? Or with Maureen Sherman’s death? What if the person investigating Maureen’s “heart attack” was the person who caused it?

Dani jogged toward her car, dialing Zed’s number. Before the call could connect, a glowing orange sphere, like a small sun, came flying over the lawn and struck Dani right in the belly. Dani’s legs flopped forward as she slammed into the ground like a rag doll, her breath knocked clear out of her lungs. Her hand hit the ground with a thwack and Dani heard the crunch of breaking glass. She assumed that was her cell phone, which wasn’t good.

“Ow . . . Fuck.” Dani wheezed, attempting to force breath into her lungs. Lara Gershwin’s face floated over her. The weirdly focused receptionist from Jillian’s office grinned down at Dani, waggling her fingers. She stomped on Dani’s phone, shattering it completely.

“Shit,” Dani mumbled before losing consciousness.

Dani woke in a wheel-barrow, her legs flopped over the sides, ferns smacking her in the face as Lara pushed her through the underbrush. She wasn’t sure why, but being hauled through the swamp in the same conveyance her Grandad used for cow manure was incredibly insulting to her wobbly sensibilities.

“What in the fuck!” Dani attempted to sit up, but found she didn’t have the motor functions to make that happen. Her central nervous system seemed to have yelled “nope” and shut down. “What in the hell did you hit me with?”

“Oh, just a little construct I’ve been saving, just for you.” Lara chirped.

Dani flopped back into the metal bucket, watching the foliage pass overhead. The smell of honeysuckle was unmistakable. “I’m assuming you’re taking me out to the rift?”

“This can be the one time that you don’t make an ass out of you for assuming!”

“Why? Why would you do this?” Dani asked.

“Same reason as you. I’m being paid to. Not by the League, of course, but by outside parties invested in opening up the rift for their own purposes.”

“What outside parties?”

Lara shrugged. “I’ll be honest. I don’t really know. They’d heard of my work, sent me a deposit, instructed me in how to apply for a job with the League. It was easy enough once I was hired. Once my reputation for being competent was established, I just had to wait for my opportunity to get assigned to the Mystic Bayou project. Not that many League employees were fighting for the chance to move down here.”

“Why would outside parties be interested in opening the rift?” Dani asked.