“Toadstools?” Josh yanked on his clothes awkwardly with one hand. “Why do you keep talking about mushrooms?”
“Every place, from desert to glacier, has some fungus, mold, lichen, or moss spore that will sprout into phae gateways. This circle led back to the phaedrealii.”
“Why would she go back?” Josh scrabbled for a lost boot under the bed. She had lied about where he put the charms last night, so that he had inadvertently left a gap. That was the only way she could have sneaked out. “Why would she leave?” He hated the plaintive sound of his own voice.
Vaile said flatly, “Because, like the imp, she came to betray us.”
Grabbing his wayward boot, Josh rocked back on his heels. His gaze went to a strange lump next to the dresser. “So the mushroom ring is how you phae travel?”
“Yes. The one here looks a couple days old. She must have sown it before you found her.” Vaile’s voice was grim. “I think she meant to bring our enemies through.”
“But she didn’t.” Josh clung to that fact.
“Or hasn’t yet. Stay in your valley, Josh. Get the wards and bring them in close and then don’t come over the ridge until daybreak.”
Josh swallowed. “Will you and Imogene be all right?”
“We can’t fight with iron, but we have other tricks.” Vaile’s voice softened. “I’m sorry the musetta played them on you.”
After they disconnected, Josh stomped into his boots and then went to the living room to collect his pistol and a spear. He thrust one of the iron-bladed knives he had assembled into his belt loop. The decorative curlicue from the log rack wasn’t exactly sharp but it was pure iron, and the black spiral looked wicked as hell.
Which was how he felt.
As he passed his work table on the way back to the bedroom, a rainbow shimmer caught his eye. He paused to touch the gemstones, each one more precious than the last. At the center was the emerald. She had left him a small fortune. He could feed the cows on caviar and Champagne with the jewels she’d left behind.