“You’ve brought this evil here to us!” Mercy screamed. “If you’d never come to the sanctuary, if you’d stayed away…”

“You would be dead,” Judah told her. “Greynell would have killed you.”

“Why did you stop him from killing me?”

Judah hesitated, a look of anguish in his cold, gray eyes. “No other Ansara has the right to kill you.”

Mercy couldn’t breathe. Her pulse pounded in her head, and for a millisecond she thought she might faint. “I understand. Dranir Judah had already claimed me as his kill.”

Sidonia’s screams echoed up the stairs, down the hall and through the open door to Mercy’s bedroom.

“Eve!” Mercy cried as she ran past Judah on her way out of the room.

Judah followed her down the backstairs. When they entered the kitchen, they instantly saw what had frightened Sidonia. Levitating several feet off the floor in the middle of the kitchen, Eve hung in midair, her mouth open, her little body stiff, and rotating slowly around and around. Her long, willowy hair floated straight up, parting in the back to reveal a glimpse of the blue crescent moon birthmark that branded her an Ansara. Her eyes faded from Raintree green to shimmering yellow-brown, then back to green. Soft, golden light twinkled on each of her fingertips.

Mercy rushed toward her daughter but couldn’t touch her. A barrier of some kind protected Eve, sealing her off completely from everything around her.

Judah shoved Mercy out of the way, and he, too, tried to breach the shield around Eve. “It’s impenetrable.”

“This has never happened to her before,” Mercy said. “Is Cael doing this? Are you doing it?”

“No, I don’t think this is Cael’s handiwork. And I swear to you that I’m not doing it.” He stared at their child, who was deep in the throes of some unknown type of transformation. “Maybe it has something to do with Sidra’s prophecy.”

Grabbing Judah’s arm, Mercy demanded, “What about the prophecy?”

“He’s trying to change her.” Sidonia pointed a bony finger at Judah. “He’s drawing the Raintree out of her. You see the way her eyes are going from green to gold.”

“Hush, Sidonia.” Mercy looked at Judah, her gaze imploring him.

“Sidra says that Eve is a child of light, born for the Ansara.” Judah focused completely on Eve. “As her father, I’d die to protect her. And as the Dranir, I am sworn to protect her for the sake of my people’s future.”

Mercy wasn’t sure what to believe. Was Judah telling her the truth, or at least a half-truth? Or was he lying to her? “We have to do something to stop this.” She tried again to penetrate the force field surrounding Eve but was thrown backward from an electrical charge the shield emitted. “There has to be a way to break the barrier.”

“I don’t think that will be necessary,” Judah said. “Look at her. She seems to be returning to normal.”

Eve floated down to the floor, landing easily on her feet. Her hair fell about her shoulders, and the light on her fingertips disappeared. She glanced from Judah to Mercy, her eyes once again completely Raintree green.

“Eve? Eve, are you all right?” Mercy asked, choking back tears.

Eve ran to Mercy, her arms outstretched. Mercy lifted her daughter into her arms and held her possessively. Resting her head on Mercy’s shoulder, Eve clung to her mother. When Judah approached, Mercy gave him a warning glare, all but snarling in her protective mother mode.

Suddenly Eve lifted her head and gasped. “Oh, shit!”

“What?” Mercy and Judah asked in unison.

“Where did you ever hear such an ugly word?” Sidonia, ever the grandmotherly nanny, scolded.

Eve looked at Sidonia. “I heard Uncle Dante say it. And Uncle Gideon.”

Mercy grasped Eve’s chin to gain her attention. “When did you hear your uncles-”

“Just a minute ago,” Eve said. “I heard them both say it. Uncle Dante said it when he found out that the bad Ansara caused the fire at his casino. And Uncle Gideon said it when he found out that the person who killed Echo’s friend was a very bad Ansara.”

“How do you know about the fire?” Mercy asked. “And Echo’s roommate?” She hadn’t told Eve anything about either incident.

“I heard what Uncle Dante and Uncle Gideon were thinking when they said ‘oh, shit’ right before I said it.”

If Eve had heard her uncles’ thoughts correctly, then that meant only one thing. “They’re trying to kill us.” Mercy realized the horrible truth. “The Ansara went after each of us-Dante and Gideon and me and…oh, God-Echo!” Holding Eve tightly, she started moving backward, away from Judah. “You knew what was happening, didn’t you? Has it all been a lie? Are you and your brother really allies?”

“Don’t jump to conclusions,” Judah said. “Everything I’ve told you about Cael is the truth.”

“Just like everything you told me about you was the truth?”

Judah took several steps toward her.

“Stop!” Mercy shouted. “I mean it. Don’t come near me or Eve.”

“Mommy, don’t be mad at my daddy.” Eve gazed into Mercy’s eyes.

Suddenly the telephone rang.

“Answer it, Sidonia,” Mercy said.

Sidonia scurried across the room and picked up the portable phone from the charger base. “Hello.” She sighed. “Thank God, it’s you. Yes, she’s here.” Sidonia brought the telephone to Mercy, all the while glaring at Judah as if she thought her evil stare could keep him at bay. “It’s Dante.”

“Dante?” Mercy said as she took the phone.

“Don’t talk, just listen,” he told her. “We’re under attack from the Ansara. They were behind the fire here at the casino, and behind the attempt on Echo’s life. Don’t ask me any particulars. Just believe me when I say that I know it’s only a matter of time before they strike the sanctuary. It’ll be soon. Today would be my guess since-”

“Today is Alban Heruin.” Light of the Shore, the summer solstice, lying between Light of the Earth and Light of the Water, the equinoctial celebrations. “The height of the sun’s power.”

“I’ve just boarded the jet, and we’re leaving Reno. I’m on my way home. Gideon has already left Wilmington. We should both be there by late this afternoon.”

“Dante, there’s something I need to tell you.” How could she explain to him that this was all her fault?

“Whatever it is, it’ll have to wait.”

“Please-”

“Just hold things together until we get there. Understand?”

“I understand.”

“And if a woman named Lorna tries to contact you-she’s mine.”

The dial tone hummed in Mercy’s ear. “Dante?” She flung the phone down on the kitchen counter, then turned to confront Judah.

“Daddy’s gone,” Eve said.

Mercy visually scanned the room. Judah was gone. When had he left, and where was he now?

A couple of seconds after Dante called Mercy, Judah heard Claude’s telepathic message. You’re not answering your cell phone again. Damn it, Judah, all hell’s broken loose and you’ve left me no choice but to-

All hell’s broken loose here, too, Judah told his cousin. Mercy knows that I’m the Dranir.

That’s the least of our problems right now.

Judah ran up the back stairs. Look, if you’re about to tell me that Cael not only sent someone after Mercy but after her brothers and her cousin Echo, too, don’t bother. Dante just called Mercy, and I listened in on their conversation.

Then they figured it out just about the same time the council did, Claude said.

Don’t say anything else. Give me a minute. My phone’s upstairs.

We don’t have a minute to waste.

Judah rushed into Mercy’s bedroom and searched for his cell phone. He finally found it lying on the floor next to his shirt, covered with one of his socks. He picked it up and called Claude.

“What do you know that I don’t?” Judah asked.

“We received information that Cael is somewhere in North Carolina,” Claude said.

“That’s no surprise.”

“We suspect that he has up to a hundred warriors with him, and they’re somewhere between Asheville and the Raintree sanctuary.”