"Or any bullets," Tom said, wryly. "And before you ask, I brought the Pearl with me to Goldport. And it's stashed in water. They want it back. To be honest, I wouldn't mind giving it back, but I can't. Because I think once I give it back to them, they kill me."
Rafiel made a face. "There has to be a way of giving it back." He was quiet a while. Then he said, "But I guess it doesn't have anything to do with the beetles, then?"
Tom shrugged. "I didn't know about the beetles till tonight."
"What would you estimate the percentage of shifters in the population is?" Rafiel said. "From your travels?"
"I don't know," Tom said. "Not very high. Considerably less than one percent. Even if we go on legends."
"Even if we go on legends . . ." Rafiel said, as an echo. "But you know, we know three at least, in our immediate sphere, and then there's the beetles, at least two. From their size, there's no way they can be nonshifters. And there's one of their victims who smelled like a shifter—though I only caught a bit of blood. And another that was definitely a shifter. The corpse in the parking lot." He nodded at Tom. "His wife said he was a coyote shifter."
"Lucky bastard," Tom said feelingly. "A coyote would be much easier."
Rafiel laughed and for a moment there was a bond. "Tell me about it," he said. "Here's the thing, though, Tom, why so many of us? And why is all this activity around the Athens?"
Tom shook his head. "I have no idea."
"Except," Keith said, "except maybe there's something like the Pearl of Heaven? Something that calls shifters there? That works on shifters?"
"Perhaps the Pearl?" Rafiel asked.
Tom didn't think Rafiel was working for the triad, but you never knew. "Not the Pearl," he said. "At any rate, where I have the Pearl, it's submerged. So it's not exerting influence on anyone. If the dragons who know what it feels like can't feel it, then neither can anyone else."
"Um . . ."
"Speaking of the triad," Tom said. "How come we're driving their car, and they're not hot on our trail?"
"Well . . . you flamed them pretty thoroughly," Keith said.
"Yeah, but . . . come on? No one has checked? And don't forget they have aerial transportation."
"Well," Rafiel said. "Two things. While you were in the bathroom at the station, I called some friends in New Mexico and told them the old station was a triad hangout and I'd heard from a friend that it had just gone up in flames. At a guess, any of them that got out is in too much trouble to talk, much less count the car wrecks in the parking lot. It's genuinely possible they think you burned."
Tom nodded. "And the other thing?"
Keith chuckled. "We bought three cans of spray paint. While you were in the restroom, we spray painted the top of the car. Just the top. So that aerial surveillance . . ."
"Painted? What color?"
"Mostly bright orange," Rafiel said. "It was what they had. The front is still black. We ran out of paint." He grinned at Keith who was still chuckling. "People did look at us like we were nuts."
"I bet."
"So what do we do now?" Keith asked.
"Well, first we get to Goldport," Rafiel said. "I'd like to change clothes . . ." He frowned down at himself. "And I probably should call in and figure out the news on the case. Also tell them I didn't drop from the face of the world, since I was supposed to be at work a few hours ago."
"And then?" Keith said.
"And then I think Tom and I, and Kyrie should get together and figure out what we're going to do. Both about the Pearl of Heaven and the triad and about the beetles." He looked back at Tom. "They attacked Kyrie's house, you know, after you left."
"Damn. Is she okay?"
"She's fine."
"My fault," Tom said. "I shouldn't have stayed there. They were probably after me."
"Don't be a fool. I think they were after her. She had seen them in the parking lot, dragging a corpse, and it was clear they knew she saw them."
"Hey," Keith said. "Why you and Tom and Kyrie? Why am I being left out of this? What have I done wrong?"
Rafiel frowned. "Well, you're not . . . one of us, are you? I mean . . . we have to police our own and help our own, because if one of us is discovered, the others will be too. But you don't have to help us. You're not . . ."
"Yeah, but I want to help," Keith said. "Can I like be an honorary shape-shifter or something?"