Cyrene continued with obvious hesitation. ‘‘He said that he could use your services, and that if I didn’t get you to agree to do what he asked, he’d see to it that I went to mortal prison. Mayling, I don’t want to go to any prison, let alone a horrid mortal one!’’

I bit back the urge to tell her she should have thought of that before bombing the helicopters and ships, but I knew it wouldn’t do much good. Oh, it was true that Cyrene had stepped over the line—even naiads had to have limits—but it was my carelessness in being seen that escalated the situation from an annoyance to something potentially deadly.

‘‘Are you angry with me?’’ Cyrene asked a few minutes later in a soft little voice.

I clasped my arms around my knees, resting my chin on them. ‘‘No, I’m not angry. In a way, it’s kind of funny that I’m in so much demand. I wonder if the other doppelgangers get so many requests for their talents.’’

‘‘I don’t know. Could you ask them?’’ she said, seriously considering my question.

‘‘I haven’t ever talked to them, and I doubt if that’s a suitable reason to contact any of them,’’ I pointed out gently.

‘‘You don’t talk to them?’’

I shook my head.

‘‘I can’t believe you don’t ever talk to them. I’m always in contact with the other naiads.’’

I was well aware of the fact that the naiads, all forty-eight of them, had banded together in a sisterhood that resembled a sorority more than a collection of elemental spirits, but that was neither here nor there. ‘‘There are six doppelgangers in the world, Cy, and we’re spread out all over the place, so I’m afraid getting us together isn’t very likely. Back to the problem at hand—or one of them—what sort of a deadline did this blackmailer give you?’’

‘‘A week. That was three days ago.’’

‘‘Which gives us four days . . . hmm. I wonder if he knows about the connection to Mei Ling?’’

‘‘I don’t think so. He’d mention that if he did, wouldn’t he?’’ Her expression held a faint flush of hope.

I sighed again. ‘‘I suppose that’s one small blessing to be thankful for.’’

‘‘What are you going to do?’’ Cyrene asked, watching as I took out a small notebook and made a few notes about the blackmailer.

‘‘Nothing right now. I have to take care of this situation first, then we can decide what to do with your blackmailer. We have a little bit of time to figure out what we’ll do.’’

‘‘All right. I feel much better knowing you’re going to take care of things for me,’’ she said with a sincere smile.

‘‘Do you have the original letter he sent you?’’

She nodded. ‘‘It’s in my room.’’