“Warlocks,” Rose supplied.
Virginia wrinkled her nose, as though it pained her scientific mind to have to admit to the existence of such things. “These warlocks must have been spying on him all this time. Just waiting for something
they could use against him. No wonder he was always so distant.”
“Poor Ash. It does explain a lot.” Hayley glanced round at the others. “We’re still going to beat him like a piñata, right?”
“Definitely,” Neridia said, with a dangerous gleam in her sea-blue eyes that did not bode well for Ash’s continued health.
“Well, before we can kick him as he so soundly deserves, we have to find him,” Virginia said pragmatically. “I think we can assume that the warlocks will have taken them all to the same place. If we can find one of them, we’ll find them all.”
“If he was still my mate, my swan would be able to lead me to his location,” Rose said. “But he’s not, and I can’t. None of you can track your mates?”
They all shook their heads. Rose’s heart fell, although she hadn’t really been expecting any other answer. Most mated couples could tell where each other were over short distances, but it generally only worked within a mile or two.
“Swans aren’t the only type of shifters who can find people, though,” Hayley said thoughtfully. She glanced at Connie. “Could one of Chase’s relatives help?”
“I already thought of that,” Connie said. “He’s much too far away. Even a pegasus can’t locate people over this sort of distance.”
Neridia smiled. “I think I know someone who can.”
“The Phoenix?” said the Master Shark, his image rippling on the surface of the wide silver bowl of sea water.
Rose had met the man in person once before, just after Neridia had ascended the Pearl Throne. Then, he had been a hulking, glowering, silent presence, clearly only dragged into her pub by the direct order of his Empress. Even her empathic sense hadn’t been able to penetrate the ironclad armor around his soul.
Now, however, he looked…different. The harsh, craggy lines of his face were smoother, more relaxed. His previously marble-pale skin had a faint tan. He even appeared to have put on a little weight which wasn’t entirely muscle. He was no less broad and looming, but somehow considerably less terrifying.
Of course, Rose had to concede, it would be difficult for anyone to appear menacing while wearing a neon pink Hawaiian shirt with a startling pattern of cheerful cartoon sharks.
“Yes,” Neridia said to the Master Shark. She had her fingers submersed in the scrying pool, using her sea dragon magic to talk to him across thousands of miles. “I know that shark shifters can scent power like regular sharks are drawn to blood. Could you track the Phoenix?”
“A dead shark could do that,” the megalodon shifter said dryly. “But yes, I can do so over greater distances than most. A shifter of that power, I could sense from halfway around the world.” He turned his head, his gray eyes going a little distant. “I can taste his smoke even now, though only faintly in this form. Give me a short while, my Empress, and I will find him for you.”
“Grandpa Finn, Grandpa Finn!” A young boy appeared in the shimmering image, leaping up onto the Master Shark’s back like a monkey. “Why are you standing in the lake? Abuela said we couldn’t swim straight after lunch—oh! Hi, sea lady!”
The Master Shark looked pained. “Your Majesty, Manny.”
“Your Majesty,” the boy echoed dutifully. He peered over the Master Shark’s shoulder, his dark eyes bright underneath his mop of curly black hair. “Are you and Big John gonna come see us again soon?”
“I hope so, Manny,” Neridia said, with only the faintest of catches in her melodious voice. “But first I need to borrow your grandpa for a bit. Give my love and apologies to your grandma, okay? Finn, I’m sorry to have to pull you out of retirement like this.”
The Master Shark shrugged the boy off his massive shoulders, dunking the delighted child into the lake. “I always stand ready to serve, my Empress.”
“Be careful,” Neridia warned. “Just find them, and report back. The last thing we need is for the warlocks to get you too.”
The Master Shark grinned, showing double rows of jagged, razor-sharp teeth. Suddenly he was just as menacing as the last time Rose had met him, Hawaiian shirt or no.
“They might find me a difficult catch to land,” he said. “But I shall heed the warning. I am already near the Sea Gate you created for me. I shall go through to the open ocean, and shift, and then the hunt shall begin. Expect to hear from me shortly.”
Neridia withdrew her fingers from the scrying pool. The image on the rippling surface of the water blurred back into their own reflections.
“So now what can we do?” Connie asked, her hands cradling her rounded belly protectively.
“There’s no point in making plans without information.” Rose looked round at them all. “So now we rest, while we can. And wait.”
It was agonizing.
Neridia ordered guest beds made up for all of them, but no one felt much like sleeping. Ivy paced round the perimeter of the council room like a caged tiger, arms folded and shoulders hunched, keeping away from everyone else. Virginia and Hayley drifted in and out, compulsively checking on their sleeping children. Rose made cups of tea that nobody drank. Connie constructed a nest of blankets on the floor, and lay staring at the ceiling. Neridia dozed in a chair next to the scrying pool, one hand limp on the rim of the bowl.