Dreamwalker (Stormwalker #5)(97)

“Like the dragons,” I said.

Like the dragons. Arrogant shits. But don’t beat yourself up, Janet. You are stronger than you know. It’s that strength that’s let you survive a lot of crap, including having messed-up magic fighting a war inside you. That strength is why your mother is afraid of you, why Emmett is afraid of you, why the Dragon Council is afraid of you. You’re stronger than all of them put together. Remember that … but don’t let it go to your head.

I didn’t know whether to laugh or groan. “I hate this. I so need a vacation.”

So take one. Coyote gave me an enigmatic, tawny-eyed stare. Relax, Janet. The world isn’t coming to an end every day.

Sounded so nice. I stretched my arms … and yawned.

I woke to dawn on the horizon. My body was still sore, but the mattress beneath me felt soft and comfortable. I basked here for a time, thankful to Mick and his magic that let me sleep, but eventually I pried myself out of bed.

My hotel was a ruin … again. After my ablutions and my ritual greeting of the morning, I perused the damage.

Saloon roof gone, courtesy of Emmett and Mick. Saloon walls blown apart and ruined on three sides, courtesy of Emmett and me. Kitchen—a smoking ruin, again courtesy of Emmett. The mirror was cracked all over, and bore a hole in the middle that looked exactly the same as the one put there by the original shotgun blast.

“It was that way when I came down,” Cassandra told me as I stared at the mirror. Cassandra was dressed in a blue silk skirt suit, her hair perfectly combed, her face pink and lovely as usual, as though she hadn’t been caught in a terrible magical battle last night. “My theory is that it couldn’t take the strain of the intense magics dumped into it over the past day or so and reverted to its previous state. Kind of like a computer reversing to its last clean backup.”

“As long as it’s all right.” I went close to the mirror and peered into it. One of the shards moved, as though it winked at me, but all was silent.

“Hey,” I said. “I want to ask you questions. Like—how did you show me the stuff you wanted to show me, when you couldn’t have known about most of it?”

The mirror made a sound of taking a sleepy breath. Well, I guess it was tired too, after our ordeal. “I showed you what was in your head,” it said. “When you had others with you—Micky, Drake, your grandmother, even Emmett, you could see things they knew. Like your childhood. That was interesting. Your grandmother has learned all she could about Gabrielle, so you could find out more about her too. Some beautiful moments, I thought. You were a cute little kid.”

I leaned closer. “Keep it to yourself, all right?”

The mirror moved a little, glass tinkling. “Sugar, your secrets are safe with me. What happens in your head … stays in your head.”

“Thanks,” I said. “We’ll get you fixed again, soon as we can.”

The mirror made a growly noise. “Mmm. Looking forward to it.”

I stepped over bricks back to the lobby, stretching again, trying to remove the kinks from my shoulders.

“Nash arrested Emmett,” I said to Cassandra as she made her way to the reception desk, heels clicking. “And took him where? The county jail looks even worse than this place.”

“Hopi County is sharing facilities with the Flat Mesa and Magellan town police,” Cassandra told me, brushing gravel from her desk. “But Emmett was transferred, courtesy of Colby and Drake, to the dragon compound in Santa Fe.”

My eyes widened. “Nash let him go?” I couldn’t imagine Nash handing over a prisoner of any kind to anyone, especially not to the dragons.

“Nash had nothing to charge him with. The murders Emmett committed were well covered up—no evidence—and Emmett wasn’t about to confess. If Nash charged him with destruction of property, he’d have to charge you, Mick, Drake, and me too. The dragons, on the other hand, don’t care about evidence. They’ll confine Emmett until he’s rendered harmless. Or, until they decide to kill him.”

Thinking about Bancroft, Aine, and the third member of the council, Ferrell, whom I’d met at Mick’s trial, I knew the dragons would do just that. When they decided a being was a threat, especially a threat to dragons, they dealt with it in a final fashion.

“Where’s Gabrielle?” I asked. “She all right?”

“She left earlier with your grandmother. She wanted to go back to Many Farms and make sure your dad and Gina were okay. Gabrielle said to send you her best, and that she’d call. She was quite subdued.”

I’d have to check on her, have a sisterly talk. Later, though. For now, in spite of my decent sleep of several hours, I was beat.