I gestured to the map. “Did you find something?”

“Great disruption in the flows here,” he said as he traced a wide circle around the Austin area. “Precipitated by an event that occurred the same day you arrived back on Earth.”

“Idris was near Austin when he called me,” I said, narrowing my eyes in speculation.

Mzatal nodded. “I sense an echo of his arcane signature amidst the tangle of flows, yet I have not yet located the cause or point of origin of the event.” Frustration darkened his eyes, and I reached for his hand to give it an encouraging squeeze.

“It’s still huge progress,” I told him, then smiled. “You’re too used to having the world at your fingertips in your plexus.”

He exhaled, gave my hand a return squeeze. “Yes. Here, it is as if—” A whisper of amusement pierced the frustration. “It is as if I am forced to use a mere calculator after utilizing the full scope of the Internet.”

I blinked at his use of such an Earth-centric analogy, then laughed. “You have been talking to Paul.”

Mzatal’s mouth twitched in a faint smile. “He sought me out during one of his breaks when no others were awake, and I spent a pleasant hour conversing with him.”

“Sounds like you needed the break as well.”

“I did, though I knew it not at the time.” He touched the map before him. “Yet it was after I returned to my search that I found the trace that eventually led me to the disturbance.”

“Excellent. I’m adding ‘Make Mzatal Take a Break’ to his job description.”

The screech of a power tool had us both wincing. Mzatal glanced toward the mobile home and the workers then back to me. “Tell me of the events of the morning,” he said, expression serious again.

“Farouche killed the trigger-happy security guard from the warehouse and dumped the body on Jill’s lawn a little after four a.m.,” I told him with a scowl. “He’s letting me know how tough he is and that he knows where my people are.” Anger swept through me again, but I didn’t pygah. I wanted to be mad about this crap for a while. “On the plus side, Jill’s finally agreed to move in.” I gestured toward the mobile home. “Of course now I’m worried about Tessa. Shit!” I smacked my forehead. “It’s been so crazy around here I totally forgot to tell you. I’m almost positive Tessa’s been manipulated.” I proceeded to fill him in on my odd visit with her and the way her responses felt programmed. His expression darkened as I spoke and was positively black by the time I reached the bit about Zack’s micro-nod confirmation that Tessa had spent time in the demon realm with Rhyzkahl.

Though the anger on his face pretty much told me what I needed to know, I still had to ask. “Do you remember her being in the demon realm?”

“No,” he replied. He stood, body stiff with tension. “However, with Katashi’s associations at that time, she could have been brought in undisclosed.”

In other words, Katashi had been betraying Mzatal for over twenty years, at the very least. It made a sick sense. The other lords wouldn’t have been content to sit back and let Mzatal have full access to Katashi—the one summoner who pretty much controlled all the other summoners. Perhaps Katashi had been utterly loyal and well-intentioned at one time, but that wouldn’t have stopped the Mraztur. They would have found his weakness, his price, and done everything possible to swing his loyalty and cooperation to them.

Not that it made a difference now, except to remind me that the Mraztur were playing a long game, and treachery could come from any direction.

“Will you assess her and help me figure out what the hell happened?” I asked him.

“Yes,” he replied, muscle in his jaw twitching. “We must go to her.”

I put a hand to his cheek, gave him a reassuring smile as I silently willed him calm. “I’ll call her now.” I pulled my phone from my pocket as I stepped a few feet away.

Tessa answered on the second ring. “Hello, sweetie!”

“Hello, yourself,” I said, smiling at the buoyant sound of her voice. “Are you at home? I’d like to swing by for a bit.”

“Nope,” she said, sounding a bit breathless. “I’m at the airport boarding my plane.”

Worry spiked. “Airport? Why? Where are you going?”

“Aspen with the old man for a few days,” she told me. “He surprised me with a trip. It’s been a whirlwind to get ready, but I’m not complaining!”

“Why Aspen?” I asked, baffled. “Ski season is over. And why didn’t you call me?”

She laughed. “No skiing, sweetling. Perhaps some hiking instead. Aspen is beautiful this time of year. Hold on,” she said followed by scuffling noises that sounded like her getting situated in her seat. “I haven’t had a minute to call between packing and getting the staffing sorted out at the store. I was going to call as soon as I got to Colorado.”

I silently cursed. “Will you still do that, please? I want to know you made it there safely.”

“Are you okay?” she asked. “You sound frazzled.”

“Yeah, I’m okay. Just a lot of shit going on. You don’t need to worry.” There was no point ruining her vacation. The manipulation had been around for twenty years. A few more days wouldn’t make a difference. Besides, it was turning out to be a decent scenario. No way would I be able to convince her to move into the relative safety of my house any time soon, and she’d be safer in Aspen—away from home and the crap going down here in Louisiana. “Mzatal’s here and I wanted you to meet him. When are you coming back?”

More scuffling around. “Next Sunday. Will he still be there?”

She asked it as casually as if he was a visitor from Miami rather than the demon realm. “I honestly don’t know.”

“I’ll hope for the best. Gotta hang up now, sweetling.”

“All right, be sure to call me when you get there.” I made my goodbyes and hung up. “Crap,” I muttered, then sighed and looked back at Mzatal. “At least she’ll be out of town and away from Farouche.”

“I would prefer her to be close, though it does indeed remove her from this area,” he said. “When she returns, do you intend to insist that she move here?”

I let out a bark of laughter. “Yeah, right. I don’t think I could pry her out of her house with a—” I fumbled for a cool analogy and failed. “—a big frickin’ lever. She’s worse than Jill.” I sighed, dug at the grass with the toe of my shoe. “With any luck all this crap will be over with by the time she gets back.”

He reached and touched my cheek in a gesture of understanding. “Are there others for whom you worry?”

“Not really.” I stopped and thought through my meager-yet-awesome circle of friends. “Jill, Zack, Ryan, Tessa. That’s about it. A few people like Cory Crawford from the police department. Right now I’m mainly worried about Jill and the baby.” I took a deeper breath. “Which brings me to another big question: Is it okay with you if I summon one of your syraza?”

“You need not ask this, beloved,” he said, gentle understanding in his eyes. “Who do you have in mind?”

I smiled, relieved. “Steeev,” I said. “Zack told me I should talk to you before summoning him.” I angled my head, brow creasing. “I was kind of wondering why I needed your permission.”

“You do not,” he confirmed, though a questioning frown curved his mouth. “Why do you require Steeev?”

“Jill needs protection,” I stated. “I already knew that but after the body showed up on her lawn, that need got a whole lot more urgent.”

“Ah.” His expression cleared, and he gave a nod of comprehension. “You intend to ask Steeev to remain for an extended period. That would be why Zakaar advised you to speak to me.”

“How does that make a difference?” I asked, curious. I hadn’t realized there were mechanics and protocols for this sort of thing.

“Because it requires potency support for a syraza to remain on Earth and would be a direct drain on me,” he explained. “Do you consider Steeev’s presence here to be necessary?”