I looked around the glade at those we would lose. “We would be weak,” I said. “A shadow of what we were. That’s what the Grove and the creatures they’ve joined are counting on, but I’m not going to let that happen.” I squeezed Liz’s hand and leaned closer to tell her what Frank had told me about the nephilim, but then there was a loud rustling in the trees above us. Even my grandmother and all the members of the Grove looked up nervously. All except the two blond twins who were striding through the glade, parting the crowd with the same preternatural force I’d witnessed before in Beckwith Hall, coming straight toward me. Angelic looking, Frank had called the members of the Seraphim Club. These creatures had the features of angels, but there was a feeling of cold emanating off them that no one could ever call angelic.

Liz stumbled backwards, pushed aside by a disturbance in the air that arrived with the blond twins. I felt it now, too – pulsing gusts that made the hair on the back of my neck stand on end. Then the two blond twins turned to flank me and the disturbance was around us, and I felt instead a strange vacuum, as if the air had been sucked out of the glade. They each tried to grab one of my arms, but I shook them off and walked toward the rest of the Grove members who now moved aside to reveal an arched doorway in the thicket. The Grove members had been guarding the door – but why? It wasn’t like anyone here was anxious to get through the door to Faerie. Could they be worried about what might come out of the door?

“You’re late,” my grandmother said by way of greeting.

“I had some things to take care of,” I replied, refusing to sound apologetic. “I see the Stewarts have brought Lorelei,” I added noticing now the plaid clad group. The Stewart men stood around her protectively, fierce looks on their broad faces, more like an honor guard at her service than jailors now. She had managed to work her charms on them on the journey through the woods, but at least she hadn’t made a break for it.

“I thought we’d start with her,” Adelaide said. “What are you waiting for? You can open it, can’t you?”

“Of course I can …” I began, but then hesitated. If the Grove were working their spells to close the door why did they need me to open it? “Can’t you open the door?” I asked.

A look of annoyance crossed over Adelaide’s face. “That’s not the kind of magic we do, but if you like we’ll destroy the door before you open it. Your friends will be trapped in this world forever without Aelvesgold …”