And Adrian sounded as if he didn't care about the people we drove away from. Was that by practicality since there was nothing we could do? Or was it another indicator of the coldness that resided in him from spending the first hundred-plus years of his life as a demon prince? He cared about me, sure. And he cared about Costa, I believed. But when push came to shove, did anyone else matter to him? At all?
"You're right," I said at last, depressed by the thought. "It still feels wrong, though. They don't know where they are, what's going on, or what's coming for them."
That was the worst part, because I did know what was coming for them, if we couldn't get them out. Then again, if we didn't find the gateway, we'd be worse off than any of them. We'd been number one on the demon's most-wanted list for months, and how ironic if they ended up nabbing us after something as random as a new land grab...
"Wait, why would demons want to absorb a desert?" I asked abruptly. "They use their realm absorbing for showing off, but there's nothing out here except sand, more sand and rocks."
Adrian gave me a thoughtful sideways glance. "They might not want the repercussions of swallowing a populated area. They've gotten away with that for millennia, but it's the information age now. Thousands of people suddenly disappearing would make worldwide headlines and cause mass panic. Still..."
"Demons don't much care about freaking people out?" I supplied. "In fact, it'd probably amuse them to see governments scrambling to come up with an explanation as to why entire cities became ghost towns in a blink. Plus, if demons get their way and the realm walls crumble, then everyone will be able to see those dark, icy realms spill out into our world, and then they'd know for sure that demons exist."
Adrian began to slow the car. "Then, the only other reason they'd use their power to absorb a hunk of desert is if they thought there might be more here than just sand."
"The staff," I whispered, the pieces falling into place. "You said yourself that they've been looking for it so they can use it to tear down all the realm walls, but they can't feel it. Only I can, so what if their new tactic is to absorb places with natural phenomena to force me to look for it on their territory, just like I had to do with the slingshot?"
He parked the car and got out, taking the manna with him. When he came back, the bag was empty but when we started driving, the thump-thump-thump from the flat tire was gone.
"Then they'll be coming for this realm sooner than I expected," he finally answered, his tone hardening. "In fact, they might already be here."
* * *
OF ALL THE things I least expected to see in the middle of a desert, a castle had to top that list. Yet there it was, sprawling across a couple acres, with a watchtower that loomed majestically over one corner. The fact that I could see it at all meant the castle had battery-powered emergency lights, and they showed off white walls, Spanish-style tile roofs and multiple curved archways. With its size and opulence, it would be the first place that demons picked to set up their headquarters. Say what you will about evil fallen angels; they weren't a pitchfork-and-brimstone crowd. Instead, they liked to live in style, and the fancier, the better.
Which begged the question, "Why are we here?" I asked.
Adrian killed his headlights, using the faint illumination from the castle to drive off-road. The sand was much softer here, with the peaks and valleys you'd expect from a normal desert. It was slow going, and I thought we'd get stuck a few times. It took almost twenty minutes to go a hundred yards, but Adrian finally parked the car beneath a Joshua tree jutting out from the hill. We'd be invisible here, unless you went trekking through the sand, which must be what we were about to do.
"The gateway's here," Adrian replied. "Makes sense. Whoever absorbed this realm would want it by the castle so they could keep pulling in tourists from the other side."
Anger burned through me. That's similar to what had happened with Jasmine. She and her boyfriend had stayed at a bed-and-breakfast that had a realm gateway in the innkeeper's office; a place no guest would feel wary about entering, and one they'd rigged so that select guests wouldn't be able to leave.
I chased the memory away as we got out of the car, closing our doors quietly. We'd seen other cars parked in front of the castle, but who knew if they all belonged to innocent tourists? One of them might be from the same demon that had dropped this realm onto this place. He or she had to be here somewhere. It took incredible power to make a realm, Adrian had told me, and that power couldn't be harnessed from long distance.