Dreamwalker (Stormwalker #5)(68)

“Thanks,” I said dryly. “My thoughts exactly.”

Cassandra frowned at me. “You misunderstand. You have done wonders here—you are the perfect hotelier. You hire people like me to make it work and you don’t get in our way, but you’re generous and understanding. Plus, your magic and Mick’s is what keeps this hotel safe. You’ve made a place where the supernatural can relax and not have to battle for every second of their lives. You have a Nightwalker watching movies with a witch, and neither is worried about killing the other. And goblins now have a place to celebrate their two-hundredth wedding anniversary without fear.”

I glanced across the lobby to the ancient couple. “Is that what they are?” I whispered.

“Yes. It’s an old earth-magic race, like dragons, but different.” Cassandra waved this away. “I suggested the hotel to them, and they are having a blast. I could never have provided a setting like this. You need to stick around and keep this haven as it is.”

Cassandra was not one who lavished praise indiscriminately—she was like my grandmother in that regard, though much more polite about it. If she thought I was doing a good job here, then maybe I was. I warmed.

“Elena thinks we should bring Emmett here,” I said. “That would end the haven real quick, if we can’t defeat him.”

“I think she’s right,” Cassandra said, her eyes snapping. “Time for the Ununculous to end his reign, in my opinion.”

My friends were extremely confident we could take down Emmett, or at least that I could. But I was ready to take the fight to him, as I’d already decided.

Meanwhile … “The magic mirror,” I began.

Cassandra’s cheeks tinged pink. “It’s in the basement, near Elena’s storage room. I thought it would be safer there, and Flora is anxious to get started.”





Chapter Twenty-Two

Elena’s “storage room” was what we called the place where a vast well of shaman magic she’d inherited from her ancestors pooled. Cassandra’s assessment that the mirror would be safe from thieves near it was a good one.

“Do you truly believe Flora can fix it?” I leaned my elbows on the counter, already tired though I’d not been awake long. “When I contacted my mage friend in Oklahoma, she said it would take magics far more powerful than hers to put it back together. And she’s pretty good. I didn’t sense that kind of ability from Flora.”

“Earth magic is tricky.” Cassandra’s embarrassment faded as she explained. “Its magic rooted in bedrock, in mountains. Slow but so very strong. Look how strong Mick is, or your storm power, or your grandmother. Pamela … Changers also have earth magic. I’m fire and air, which is different. My magic is faster, and possibly more destructive initially, but try arguing with a mountain.” She gave me a wry look, as though she found arguing with Pamela a futile effort.

“I get that.” Both Mick and my grandmother could be rock-stubborn. “But a mage gifted enough to fix the mirror might try to take it from us. This is why I haven’t scoured the world for someone to repair it.”

“Which is why I think Flora is perfect,” Cassandra said. “She has no interest in talismans she can’t handle. She likes reading tarot and palms and casting simple spells. I doubt she’ll be in the running for Ununculous soon.”

I hadn’t felt an evil vibe from Flora, it was true, but powerful mages were good at hiding themselves. “I’m fine with her trying, but I’d like Mick there, and you and Pamela, in case she does turn out to be evil incarnate.”

“Very wise.” Cassandra gave me a nod. “Shall I schedule it for tomorrow morning?”

“Sure,” I said, and she typed it into her scheduling software. Ten a.m., Magic Mirror Repair.

I bade her a good night and turned away.

Pamela was coming down the stairs as I crossed the lobby again. She fixed me with a gray, wolflike gaze. “You have her working too hard.”

I looked right back at her. “Sweetie, if you can convince Cassandra to shut down her computer and go to bed, you have my blessing.”

Pamela studied me narrowly. She was Native American, with a finely shaped, oval face and brown eyes that changed to gray with her wolf. We’d met when she’d burst in here one day and attacked me. I had no doubt about her strength.

“Hmm,” she said, her gaze softening. “Good night, then.”

I left them to it.

***

I returned to bed well after midnight. When Mick looked in on me, I patted the mattress beside me, but he only leaned down and kissed my forehead.