He smiled, but there was a strained and worried edge to it.

“Mzatal? What’s going on?” I asked. “The destruction stopped when I was summoned, didn’t it?”

“Yes,” he said. “There are still residuals. But the unraveling ceased.”

I didn’t need my cop-vibe to know that something was seriously wrong. Unraveling of the world ceasing sure sounded like a good thing to me, but Mzatal wasn’t exactly jumping up and down about it. Tension hung over him like a cloud.

“Mzatal,” I said in a low, urgent voice. “Tell me what’s wrong.”

“They have Idris.”

I felt as if I’d been doused in ice. I didn’t need to ask who They were. The Four Mraztur.

I reached for Mzatal’s hand and gripped it tightly. “Let’s go home, Boss,” I said, lip curling. “We have work to do.”