Pounding on the other side of the door slowly returned awareness to me. I pulled my face from the crook of Gabriel’s neck, smugly pleased that he was breathing just as heavily as I was.

‘‘That was . . .’’ Words failed me. He slowly slid me down his body until I was standing on my own again. ‘‘That was . . .’’

‘‘That was something to remember me by while you’re shadow walking,’’ he said, his eyes as molten as mercury as he bent to retrieve my clothes.

Chapter Twenty-two

Chapter Twenty-two

By the time I finally stood in front of a small office tucked away in a dark street of used bookstores near the British Museum, two hours had passed, I’d been spotted by—and successfully escaped from—three thief takers, and nimbly avoided a demon that suddenly appeared out of nowhere and tried to grab me.

‘‘The demon left after I slipped into the shadow world. Thank the gods demons can’t go there. I’m hiding in the alley behind the portal shop right now. I think I’ve given everyone else the slip. How fast can you get here?’’ I asked Gabriel.

‘‘With the afternoon traffic? Probably half an hour,’’ he answered, the sourness in his voice evident even through the cell phone. ‘‘Stay in the Dreaming, Mayling. You are safest there.’’

‘‘The thief takers can follow me if they know how,’’ I reminded him.

A muted sound of conversation followed before Gabriel’s voice spoke into my ear again. ‘‘Savian is with me. He does not know how to access it, so it is quite likely the others will not as well. It is an uncommon thing for a mortal to be able to enter the beyond.’’

‘‘Uncommon, but not unknown. I’ll go back there as soon as I hang up. What happened with Porter’s body? Did Savian tell the watch about us being there?’’

‘‘Unfortunately, he had to, yes.’’

I made a face at the blank cement wall of the building against which I was crouched. ‘‘I suppose it couldn’t be helped. Do you trust him, Gabriel? Savian, I mean?’’

The silence that followed was hard to interpret. ‘‘As a matter of fact, I think I do.’’

‘‘All right. We’re counting a lot on him not setting us up for a big fall. I just wish I knew why Cyrene went to a portal shop. What if she wasn’t taking a portal to Paris? What if someone else grabbed her and forced her to who knows where?’’

‘‘You have no reason to believe that anyone else is with her, although I agree with your assessment that she was not responsible for the death of the thief taker. Someone else must have done it, but it doesn’t follow that he or she coerced your twin into leaving.’’