“It’s not vandalism, or at least right now nobody thinks it is. It’s the site of the future concert hall. Every time they get the frame of the hall erected past a certain point, it collapses. They’ve gone through three builders with three different attempts. They’ve had dowsers check for hidden weaknesses in the land and found nothing. The site appears to be solid, and the plans have been checked multiple times for design flaws. Nobody can figure out why they can’t build a building on that site.”

Pia couldn’t sit still any longer. “Excuse me for a moment. I have to check on Niall.”

“Of course.”

She was too sensible to rush. But she did enter the house briskly and slip into the nursery as quietly as possible. Her heart pounded as she approached the crib.

Sprawled on his back, Niall snored peacefully, one fat fist pressed against the side of his head. Suddenly she could breathe again.

She rested a light finger on his fat, warm little belly. Precious hellspawn.

Then she found she couldn’t walk away, not after listening to the stories Bel had told. Not after knowing that something, somehow, had slipped undetected past one of the most sensitive and magical Elves Pia had ever met, along with one of Dragos’s most Powerful sentinels, to steal something off Bel’s bedside table. No wonder Graydon had gone ballistic.

Bel had said nobody had going missing, but still. Anything that had the strength to transport a mattress up into a tree could easily whisk away a baby.

Gathering up her sleeping son, she held Niall close and buried her nose in her son’s soft, sweet neck. As she inhaled his scent, something delicate and almost indetectable brushed against her awareness.

A quiet thump sounded somewhere in the empty house.

Adrenaline surged like a mule’s kick. She shot out of the nursery, through the master bedroom and onto the deck. At the same time, she screamed telepathically, Dragos, I need you!

Where are you? His reply was filled with a universe of calm.

On the outside d-deck with Bel.

On my way.

Bel had leaped to her feet, Giselle tucked into the baby carrier at her chest. “What is it? What happened?”

Pia couldn’t talk. She was shaking all over.

Within moments, a gigantic bronze meteor plummeted from the sky. The dragon landed with a crash that took out several trees, his great eyes glowing volcanic gold. A somewhat smaller golden meteor landed beside him. It was a gryphon: Graydon. A third meteor arrived. It was some kind of winged creature. Pia didn’t recognize who it was and didn’t care. She kept her attention trained on Dragos.