“Meanwhile Valeria is in hell.”
“If you want a priest we’ve clergy of most faiths cleared to serve our personnel. I can bring one here if you like.”
The red head shook. “No, thanks. Ask them to pray for her. It can’t hurt. I doubt it’ll help much, either. Certainly none of them can help us two. What we want is a chance to go after our daughter.”
My heart sprang. The numbness tingled out of me. I rose.
Shining Knife braced himself. “I can’t permit that. Sure, you’ve both accomplished remarkable things in the past, but the stakes are too high now for amateurs to play. Hate me all you want. If it’s any consolation, that’ll pain me. But I can’t let you jeopardize yourselves and the public interest. You’ll stay put. Under guard.”
“You?” I nearly jumped him. Ginny drew me back.
“Hold on, Steve,” she said crisply. “Don’t make trouble. What we’ll do, you and I, if it won’t interfere with the investigation, is choke down some food and a sleeping potion and cork off till we’re fit to think again.”
Shining Knife smiled. “Thanks,” he said. “I was certain you’d be sensible. I’ll go hurry ’em along in the kitchen so you can get that meal soon.”
I closed the door behind him. Rage shivered me.
“What the blue deuce is this farce?” I stormed. “If he thinks we’ll sit and wait on a gaggle of bureaucrats‑”
“Whoa.” She pulled my ear down to her lips. “What he thinks,” she whispered, “is that his wretched guard will make any particular difference to us.”
“Oh‑ho!” For the first time I laughed. It wasn’t a merry or musical noise, but it was a laugh of sorts.
XXIV
WE WEREN’T EXACTLY under house arrest. The well-behaved young man who stayed with us was to give us what protection and assistance we might need. He made it clear, though, that if we to leave home or pass word outside, he’d suddenly and regretfully discover reason to hold us for investigation of conspiracy to overthrow the Interstate Commerce Commission.
He was a good warlock, too. An FBI agent must have a degree in either sorcery or accounting; and his boss wanted to be sure we didn’t try anything desperate. But at supper Ginny magicked out of him the information she required. How she did that, I’ll never understand. I don’t mean she cast a spell in the technical sense. Rather, the charm she employed is the kind against which the only male protection is defective glands. What still seems impossible to me is that she could sit talking, smiling, Bashing sparks of wit a across a surface of controlled feminine sorrow, waggling her eyelashes and leading him on to relate his past exploits . . . when each corner of the place screamed that Valeria was gone.
We retired early, pleading exhaustion. Actually we were well rested and wire‑taut. “He’s sharp on thaumaturgy,” my sweetheart murmured in the darkness of our bedroom, “but out of practice on mantics. A smoothly wrought Seeming ought to sucker him. Use the cape.”
I saw her intent. A cold joy, after these past hours in chains, beat through me. I scrambled out of my regular clothes, into my wolf suit, and put the civvies back on top. As I reached for the Tarnkappe?unused for years, little more than a war souvenir?she came to me and pressed herself close. “Darling, be careful!” Her voice was not steady and I tasted salt on her lips.
She had to stay, allaying possible suspicion, ready to take the ransom demand that might come. Hers was the hard part.
I donned the cloak. The hood smelled musty across my face, and small patches of visibility showed where moths had gotten at the fabric. But what the nuts, it was merely to escape and later (we hoped) return here in. There are too many counter‑agents these days for Tarnkappen to be effective for serious work, ranging from infrared detectors to spray cans of paint triggered by an unwary foot. Our friendly Fed no doubt had instruments ready to buzz him if an invisibilizing field moved in his vicinity.
Ginny went into her passes, sotto voce incantations, and the rest. She’d brought what was necessary into this room during the day. Her excuse was that she wanted to give us both as strong a protection against hostile influences as she was able. She’d done it, too, with the FBI man’s admiring approval. In particular, while the spell lasted, I’d be nearly impossible to locate by paranatural means alone.