Sighing, I went back to Madisyn and led her into the house. I turned on Sesame Street for her, then hurried upstairs to find Zion. I told her about Ghosteater and what he had said about the scent of fragment. She looked at me like I was losing it, but she did sit down on Ben and Justine’s bed and give it a try. After a few minutes, a look of surprise and comprehension washed across her face. She spent a minute just soaking it in with her eyes closed. Then she nodded, satisfied.

Just then, Ben got home, so I hurried downstairs with Zion following behind. I apologized again and took my leave. He nodded and patted me on the arm, clearly too worn out to keep chastising me, even though I deserved it. I left him trying to cajole Madisyn into taking off her PJs, the feet of which were now all wet. Hopefully he wouldn’t notice and realize I couldn’t even watch one of his kids for twenty minutes without muffing it up.

Chapter 12

Ghosteater watched the she-pup and the other female drive away. Then he slid back into the silence and began moving east. He wasn’t the fastest of beasts, but he could run a very long way without tiring. He knew the place the she-pup had mentioned — the ancient rock. His nose would tell him if the one called Graham had gone there twice the day before. If he had, there was the interesting question of why.

Chapter 13

Zion and I headed back to the cemetery to pick up my car. The Porsche growled grumpily through Dorf’s little streets. I could almost hear it muttering, I’m a supercar, not a golf-cart, damn it! What did Zion do that she could afford a car like this? I’d never been in anything so nice.

“So, what do we do now? Get the others and go find Justine?”

“Yes. Then we take her to Lord Cordus.” She glanced over at me appraisingly. “Her and you.”

Great. That’s just great.

“Where does he live?”

“His court’s in New York. He has an estate north of the city.”

Dread washed through me. I didn’t want to take Justine to Cordus. Who knows what he would do to her? And more importantly, I didn’t want to see him myself. Meeting that man, or whatever he was, and spending time in his home was at the absolute bottom of my to-do list.

Damned if I could see a way out of it, though. If I tried to run, Williams could easily overpower me, and if I did manage to slip past him, Zion could find me. She’d already found me once — I hadn’t told the others I’d be at the cemetery.

We reached St. Mary’s, and Zion pulled in behind my car.