The basajaun broke through the trees. He didn’t even pause to sniff the flowers, something incredibly rare for him, instead jumping over them in one awesome leap and landing on the grass. He slowed as he neared, no human disguises on his hairy body.

“They are amassing,” he said, lifting his hands, fingers splayed, indicating both sides of what Austin could only assume was the woods. “They are moving slowly but in perfect synchronization. Their master is very organized. Can you feel them?”

A muscle pulsed in Jess’s jaw. “No. They all have the potion, clearly. It’s fine. We’ll handle it.”

Jess stopped in front of the gathered crew and Austin took his place slightly behind—this was her territory, her authority. Only when she gave him the floor would he step in.

“Hey, everyone, thanks for joining us.” Jess walked in front of the waiting line, and Niamh—still in human form—filed in at the edge of the gargoyles with Edgar. The basajaun filled in the gap between the shifters and gargoyle, making Logan, on the end, jump. He held his position, though. Good sign.

“There are too many for me,” the basajaun said. “Sixty or so. I came to ask for my orders.”

Jess blew out a breath. “Sixty.” She shook her head, about-facing and walking back down the line, thinking.

The shifters looked from her to Austin. They weren’t used to lag time. Most alphas would have started barking orders by now, whether they were ready or not, to avoid showing any uncertainty in front of their underlings.

The gargoyles stared straight ahead, wings fluttering and arms at their sides, waiting patiently. They were familiar with Jess. They knew that she liked to have all her ducks in a row before settling on a plan of action.

Austin let the moment ride—the seconds ticked by, turning into a minute, and the only thing that happened was that Jess paced back the other way, muttering to herself, and bent and looked at the ground. He wouldn’t step in yet. They could spare a little more time. He needed to see if she would rise to the occasion on her own.

Metal clattering on wood stole his focus for a moment, coming from the front of the house. A rhythmic beat. Thunk. Thunk. Thunk.

“Edgar, go see what that is,” Jess barked, not looking in that direction. Instead, she peered out into the wood. “Basajaun, what are the positions of the back army?” she asked.

“They are spreading out in a line. If I had not left my position, they would be herding me in toward the house. The image in my mind is like when someone goes lost in the wood and the townspeople go on the hunt. Sometimes they lock arms so that no area is missed. The enemy forces are not touching, but they’re within sight of one another.”

“They want to herd everyone to Ivy House.” Jess turned to look off in the direction of the front of the house, her eyes distant.

“It’s the enemy to the front,” Edgar said, loping back. “They are in a haphazard sort of mob, banging swords and weapons against their shields. They have a couple of magical creatures on chains, but nothing to worry about. I’ve had a lot of experience. There was a portion of time when my clan tried to kill me off by sending me after fearsome creatures. All you need to do is scale them from behind, dangle down in front, and rip out their throats. Nothing to it once you get the hang of it.”

Jess pointed at Edgar. “Obviously that is your job. Not because I want to kill you off, but because you can save the lives of others while doing something you excel at.”

“Yes, of course, I didn’t doubt that for a moment.” Edgar nodded.

“You probably should’ve,” Niamh murmured.

Jess pointed at her next. “Get into your horrible gremlin form. We have enough fliers. We need someone to skirt through the underbrush and start taking out the enemies in the back on the sly.”

Niamh sighed, clearly not loving that form—one of two a puca could change into—but nevertheless she stepped away, shed her clothes, and changed.

“Two different organizational setups can only confirm that these are two factions,” Austin said.

“Let’s hope that means only one group has the potion. Regardless, end game is the same—we need to fight for our freedom.” Jess pointed at the shifters. “Austin, I don’t know what they excel at. You’ll work with them, obviously.” She glanced back at him to make sure the command landed, like a natural, and he nodded once and stepped that way.

“Gargoyles,” she said. Their wings fluttered harder in anticipation, but otherwise they didn’t move. “I’ll give you cover until nightfall. If you feel an updraft that doesn’t make sense, that’s me. Stay in the air, because I’m probably doing something with Ivy House. Otherwise, use the darkness to swoop in and grab whoever you can. We are hugely outnumbered, so we’re looking for swift kills. If you hear random screaming, it’s probably from my efforts with the defenses of this property. Just…pretend it doesn’t send a shiver down your spine.”

“They’ll be good,” Austin said.

She huffed out a laugh. “So you say. Basajaun, I’m going to need the people in the front to actually cross the threshold onto this property. Is that in your wheelhouse?”

He scratched his hairy chest, watching her watch him. “I think I could get them pushing that way.”

“If you can’t, head around to the back and work with Niamh to take out people on the sly, if you can.”

“Why not both?” he asked.

“Indeed.” She grinned, but anxiety edged into her expression for a moment. “Okay, everyone, stay safe. If the tide turns against us, retreat into the house. I can combat the intruders from there if I need to. Thank you for showing up, thank you for helping me, and let’s all get out of here in one piece, okay?” She snapped. “Oh, and if you see a bunch of dolls running around, don’t mind them. They’re on our side. Same goes for skeletons and dead bodies.”

All eyes found her for one solid beat, most of them rounded.

“You’ll see.” She put her hands into the sky. “Say goodbye to the sun.”

The mistress of Ivy House was about to unleash her magic.

Twenty-One

“Pete, this can’t be right. It feels like we’re preparing for battle or something.” Martha lifted the bolt handle of the rifle and slid it back, checking to make sure it was loaded. “I mean, look what we’re doing. We are in second-story windows with deer rifles looking out on…derelicts, it looks like. That’s a battering ram, Pete. Why haven’t we called the police?”

“You’ve never lived in the slums during a riot. Things can get crazy, Martha. Police would take too long with all their gear and shields. We need to defend our home. That weird butler showed you how to access the secret tunnels if you can’t handle it.”

“See? That’s the other thing. All this time I thought the house was coming apart, but the doors to the tunnels just weren’t properly latched. That’s kind of a cool feature, though, secret tunnels. But we aren’t in a riot, Pete. And people don’t walk down the street with battering rams during a riot.”

“Some do. These guys are just a little more prepared than most, that’s all.” He hunted through his pocket. “I wish I had my chew. This calls for a little chew. Go ahead, honey, put your foot on this property. Go ahead. Make my day.”

Martha rolled her eyes. Pete was getting a little too into this. It was like he’d lost hold of his faculties.

The muzzle of her rifle tapped the glass. “Oh, for heaven’s sake.” She put it down and opened the window, drawing the attention of a few people clad in black leather or dulled and scuffed metal mail, waiting for God knew what, tapping their swords against their battered shields like in some sort of gladiator movie. Back in her seat, she stuck the muzzle out of the window a little, and the people who’d noticed her shifted in place, probably nervous.

She hoped they were nervous. She really was a good shot, and the law was definitely on their side. Plus, that lovely older lady with the fantastic skin had joked about unmarked graves. That might come in handy if all these people surged at once.

What they were doing wasn’t normal, though, and neither were the people waiting to rush the property, with their spiked weapons, swords, shields, and what on earth were those dog-looking creatures that were as big as elephants? She’d never seen anything like that in a zoo before. It felt like she was dreaming, which was probably why she was going along with it.

“Pete, Jessie said something about magic. Do you think it could be real? This would make more sense with magic. Anything makes sense if you just call it magic.”

“Hogwash. Magic is about as real as flying pigs.”

“Well, now, didn’t you say you saw some sort of flying creature the other day? Maybe not a pig, but…”

“You’d like to think that, wouldn’t you? It’s all that”—he made bunny ears around his rifle—“‘sleep aid’ stuff you give me. You’re just looking for an excuse to ship me away like your friend Denise did to her husband.”

“Oh, don’t be ridiculous. Her husband had… I can’t think of the name. He needed medical help. He needed to be in a safe place for his condition.”

“I know what the term is—tired of the ol’ ball and chain. Well, I’ve still got all my faculties, thank you very much. Aside from that sleep stuff you give me, I’m right as rain. We’ve seen animals like that a million times in the magazines.”

She affixed her glasses to the end of her nose, squinting down on the animal in question. It had what looked like a dog snout, front legs longer than the back, and enormous teeth. It was literally the size of an elephant, but it lacked a trunk, so it wasn’t an uncommonly ugly elephant.

“No, Pete. My vision isn’t great, but something is wrong with that animal. It looks like a drunk came up with it.”

“That’s just because you don’t go to the circus.”