Dragos leaned back, stretched out his legs and crossed his arms and ankles. He stared at the ceiling. “What I don’t like about that idea is that it appears they can affect things on our plane, but that doesn’t mean we can affect things on theirs.” He said to Pia, “I’m not saying you’re wrong. I’m saying I don’t like it.”

“Apparently, you don’t like anything about the seraph,” Bel murmured, sounding amused. He lifted his head to glare at the Elven woman.

“We don’t even know yet if that’s what it is,” Pia said, suppressing a smile.

“According to our lore, the Elves were sometimes able to see and speak to the seraph,” Bel said. “But we only just arrived in Rhyacia a few days before you did. Tomorrow, I would like to send some of my people out in teams to see what they can discover.” She glanced at Graydon. “Maybe we can join them. If there are seraph here, I don’t believe they would do anything to harm a child.”

Dragos said, “We shouldn’t relax any precautions until we know for certain one way or another.”

“No, of course not.”

While they talked, Dragos received a hand-delivered report that the construction crew at the concert hall had cleared the site and had begun digging below the foundation. They were using telekinesis to shift away soil and planned on working through the evening to take advantage of the cooler temperature, and the foreman would let Dragos know if they discovered anything.

The group lingered for a while longer but came to no further conclusions. Finally, Dragos and Pia gathered up Niall and headed home to be greeted with extreme ecstasy by Skeeter.

“You have no dignity,” Dragos told the dog.

Not only did Skeeter have no dignity, he clearly didn’t care as he leaped and pranced about. Laughing, Pia went to the kitchen to discover what Jocasta and Ramone had made them for dinner. She discovered a large pork roast cooked to perfection for Dragos, along with fresh baked bread, and a salad for her made with grilled strips of jackfruit and avocadoes.

Mmm, grilled jackfruit. Her mouth watered. She was still wearing the leather pants and half armor, and she’d slung her bow and quiver of arrows on her back for the walk home, so she left Niall with his father and went to change.

Partway down the hall, the floor began to shake. Pia flung out a hand to brace herself against the wall. Skeeter howled.

“Dragos?” she called out.

“Don’t panic,” he called back. “It’s an earthquake. Get outside.”

The closest path to outside was through the master suite. Staggering through the bedroom, she stumbled onto the deck just as Dragos loped around the corner of the house, the baby on his shoulder. “Are you all right?”