"Shh, we don't want to wake them."
Lizbeth's brown eyes widened at the sight of the two older women, one a giantess with a halo of wispy, strawberry-blond hair and the other small and gray-haired, her no-nonsense attitude apparent in the rigid set of her posture and her granite countenance. The Tall Lady, as Lizbeth had referred to Hessika when she was a child, had cast the shadow. Her companion, Eleanora, knelt down so that she and Lizbeth were at eye level, and Lizbeth noticed that the long brown shift she wore was too big for her small frame. That, and the contrast of the towering giant of a woman beside her, made Eleanora look elfin.
"You're here . . . ?" Lizbeth said, her voice full of confusion as she shifted in place, trying to stand up.
"Take care," Eleanora said, smiling down at the sleeping girls. "They need their rest."
Lizbeth nodded, careful not to disturb the two sleeping beauties as she climbed to her knees. The next moment she was in Eleanora's arms, clinging to the smaller woman the way Ginny and Marji had clung to her earlier that day.
"I was so scared," she whispered.
"I know," Eleanora said, stroking Lizbeth's long hair. "But you did what needed doing. As hard as it was."
They must've made a sight: two sleeping girls, two giant women-Hessika and Lizbeth were both tall as trees-and Eleanora, the no-nonsense, birdlike creature who bound them all together.
"Sorry," Lizbeth murmured, and pulled out of Eleanora's embrace, embarrassed by her outburst. She wasn't a child anymore, yet she'd gone to Eleanora like one, wanting the older woman to make everything better.
As if she could read Lizbeth's mind-and maybe she could-Hessika said: "There's no weakness in needing folks, ma chère. We are born alone, but we mustn't stay that way." Her voice was soft and lilting, with strong brushstrokes of the Lower Alabama accent that had made her seem so exotic to Lizbeth as a child.
The leader of the Echo Park coven before Eleanora, Hessika had been long dead by the time Lizbeth was born. But she'd chosen to stay on this plane of existence as a Dream Walker, her ghostly presence a part of Lizbeth's life since she was small. Like Lizbeth, Hessika had been a Dream Keeper, her dream prophecies kept in journals that Eleanora had hidden away until Lizbeth needed them most-because Hessika, alone, had dreamed of The Flood and knew that their ultimate goal was to destroy the covens. These Dream Journals had led Lizbeth to Italy, where she'd separated from her coven mates Lyse and Daniela and her brother, Weir-compelled to do so by magic. This had set into motion a series of events that, she hoped, would stop The Flood.
"So you found us then, did you?"
Thomas stood near the entrance of the fairy garden, lounging against one of the glass spires. His pose may have been casual, but there was a rigid set to his jaw and his eyes flashed with warning.
"What have you done?" Eleanora said, lips pursed in anger. "Bringing them here-"
She gestured at the sleeping girls.
"They're safer," Thomas argued, as he stood up straight. "I had no choice after what happened."
Eleanora got to her feet, shaking her head as Lizbeth tried to follow.
"Stay, this is between him and me," Eleanora said to her, the words coming out in a low growl. She strode across the lawn, the hiss of grass crunching under her bare feet.
Thomas met her halfway, moving with a feline grace that belied his anxiety. He was trying to intimidate Eleanora, but she was having none of it. She marched right up to him and jammed her finger into his chest.
"How could you do it? You sold them out and now they're all gone."
Thomas held his ground, but his shoulders slumped.
"I didn't do it. I know it looks bad for me, but you have to believe I would never harm a hair on the head of a Montrose woman."
Eleanora was like a pit bull with its teeth locked on its prey.
"How dare you plead innocent," she said, her voice tight with rage. "You bound all of them to the house and then you burned it to the ground. You would have done the same to Hessika and me, but unlike the others, we didn't belong to the house. We exist in the dreamlands like your brother."
"Speak of the Devil," Thomas said, turning around and indicating that Tem should join them. "Come in, brother. No one here will bite you."
Tem ducked his head so he could fit through the entrance cut into the hydrangeas.
"I don't expect to be bitten, brother."
He moved toward Thomas and Eleanora, but then he bypassed them and made a beeline for Lizbeth, kneeling down beside her.