Darkling

The woman smiled then, faint but with a twinkle in her eye. "You may call me Morgaine. I'm a Daughter of the Moon, like your sister here."

Morgaine? My jaw went slack and I hastily backed up a step. "Not the Morgaine?"

She let out a low chuckle. "The one and only."

One of the greatest sorceresses to ever live, Morgaine was half-human, half-Fae like we were, although it seemed she'd managed to avoid the short circuits in her wiring that afflicted most half-breeds. Morgaine had chosen to stay behind during the Great Divide and it was thought she'd faded into history. From her appearance, it was obvious that the rumor mill had been working overtime. She was as alive as any of us. Well, as alive as Camille and Delilah.

I glanced at the men. "Then these must be…"

"Mordred, my nephew, though many make the mistake of thinking he's my son. And this," she motioned to the older man, "is Arturo, my mate from the Golden Wood."

Her eyes flashed with the same violet as Camille's. Maybe a connection because of the moon magic, maybe something else. I glanced at Arturo. He looked FBH, but there was something about him that didn't quite track. Mordred, on the other hand, was obviously part Fae.

Camille gazed at Morgaine, totally playing the fan girl. "My teacher taught us about you. You were the greatest sorceress that ever lived. We are honored by your presence."

Morgaine reached up to caress Camille's face, lingering on her cheek gently. "So you have returned to our world. Why, might I ask?"

Her question seemed innocent but something tripped an alarm. "We have our reasons," I said before Camille or anyone else could respond. "We're here to find out about our mother's heritage. We wanted to know more about her." A blatant lie, but I had an uneasy feeling that wouldn't leave me alone. "So what brings you to our meeting tonight?"

Mordred stared at me, impassive, but I had the feeling he didn't buy my story. "It's time to wake the great powers. Time to reclaim what is ours."

Wake the great powers… reclaim what is ours… That didn't sound friendly. I turned to Morgaine. "And by great powers, you mean… ?"

Camille gasped. "The Merlin? Are you searching for the Merlin? Is he even alive?"

Morgaine shrugged, and her glamour fell away. She suddenly looked tired and wrung out. "Yes, we're looking for the Merlin. We hoped you might have heard something about him. I don't know if he still lives or not, but Mordred, Arturo, and I are doing our best to find him. If the crystal caverns still exist, then we'll do whatever it takes to wake him up. And the Lady of the Lake, too."

"You are attempting to bring Avalon back from the mists and shadows?" I wondered, Just how powerful were these three? Or how powerful did they think they were?

"No." Morgaine shook her head with a wry grin. "Avalon is long drifted from this realm. And Arthur, my darling Arthur, if he woke, he wouldn't be able to adapt to the modern age. But we can still reach through the veil and call our allies from ages past."

"Don't count on Titania. We've met her," Camille grumbled.

Morgaine raised her head. "Don't be so quick to judge. It's not easy to be overthrown and cast out of queenship." She glanced around. So far it seemed that nobody else had noticed her and I began to see that she'd woven a glamour around her that she'd only lowered for a few of us to see.

I shrugged. "What's your purpose? You say you want to reclaim what's rightfully yours, but what are you talking about?"

Camille gave me a nasty look. I knew I was bordering on outright rude, but I didn't care. I didn't like glib platitudes from humans, and I didn't like it when the Fae offered them either.

The sorceress tapped her nose. "You'll know in good time. Meanwhile, if you hear word of the Merlin, let us know."

"And how are we supposed to do that? You settling in around here?" I asked, wary now. If they were going to become permanent fixtures in the area, we'd have to keep an eye on them.

"I apologize for my sister," Camille broke in, her voice edging on pissed. "You'll have to excuse her; she's forgotten a lot of her manners since she died."

"No matter," Morgaine said. "We'll be in touch. Trust me." She glanced around. "Your meeting's about to start, so we'll be off. You may not hear from me for some time. Don't bother hunting us out. Look to ravens and crows for word from me." She paused, then patted Camille's cheek again.

"Don't let anyone," she added, glancing at me with a baleful stare, "make you jump to conclusions."

Then, with a brief nod and before Camille or I could say another word, they turned as one and swept out the door.

I cleared my throat when they vanished up the stairs. "What do you make of that?"

Camille snorted. "I don't know, but you sure were Miss Pissy. Although, I have to say, they really didn't tell us much, did they? I wonder where she's been keeping herself all these years. She certainly seems in better shape than Titania, I'll give her that much."

"Something about the encounter doesn't ring square to me. Are you sure she's actually who she says she is? That she's on the up and up?"

Camille let out a long, shuddering sigh. "As starstruck as I am, to be honest, I'm not entirely sure. Let's ask Grandmother Coyote," she added, and before I could protest, grabbed me by the arm and dragged me across the room.

I managed to catch a glimpse of several members of the Blue Road Tribe—werebears—entering the room before, once again, I found myself face to face with Grandmother Coyote. She'd ensconced herself in a chair in the corner and was observing the room as it filled up.

Camille brought her up-to-date on Morgaine's appearance. "So, we want to know, is it really her and what does she want?"

Grandmother Coyote motioned for us to sit down. At her feet. Camille dropped to the floor and I wasn't far behind. When one of the Hags of Fate told you to sit at her feet, you sat.

She looked around to make sure we weren't being overheard. "Morgaine she was, indeed. Remember: Not all help can be trusted, even if it does not run in evil paths. There are few who can rival the sorceress, but she carries a great thirst for power. That thirst has been her undoing in the past. I doubt if she's learned much over the years."

At least Grandmother Coyote wasn't being cryptic this time. I frowned, wondering just what this little jewel of information was going to cost us. With the Hags of Fate, there was always a price.

"Then we shouldn't trust her?" I glanced at Camille, who stared at the floor, crestfallen.

Grandmother Coyote held my gaze. "There are few you can trust in this world. Even those who mean well can crumble under pressure. The more people who know your secrets, the more the chance for betrayal. That's why I'm here tonight. A warning: Think twice before you spill secrets about the Demonkin, because once you push Humpty off the wall, you're left with a mess of scrambled eggs." With that, she stood and made her way over to the buffet.

Camille and I sat, staring at one another.

"I'm sorry," I said. "I know you wanted to hear something different."

"My teacher regarded Morgaine as a heroine. I feel like one of my role models just fell off the pedestal. I wonder what all that talk about reclaiming what's rightfully hers is about. If she's going around mucking with ancient powers, then we'd better keep our ears open until we figure out just what the hell she's trying to do." She smacked her hand against the ground, then pushed herself to her feet. "Damn it, I hate this. There are so many variables, so many unknown factors at play in the balance now."

"Maybe she won't find the Merlin. Or maybe she'll go somewhere else. The Merlin can't be around here," I said, a nasty thought creeping in. "You don't think she knows about the spirit seals, do you? That she's looking for them in hopes of using them herself?" Surely someone like Morgaine would refuse to play second fiddle to a demon. If she were after them, she'd want them all for herself.

Camille flashed me a stricken look. "I hadn't thought about that. Well, hell in a handbasket, as if we didn't already have enough to worry about."

"Well, push it to the side. We'd better grab Delilah and the boys and have a quick discussion about the rest of what Grandmother Coyote said. I'm not so sure this meeting's a good idea after all," I muttered.

Camille nodded. "Me either."

Just then, the Hag of Fate returned, an incongruous Harry Potter paper plate filled with cookies in her hand. "One last thing, girls."

If she had one more discouraging word to say, I was going to bag it and take off for home. But she just gave us one of her steely grins that would have sent shivers down even Dredge's back.

"My payment for advice…"

Camille cringed. The last time she'd owed an I.O.U. to Grandmother Coyote, she'd had to play chop-chop with a demon's fingers to pay her debt.

"What do you want, old witch?" I asked, deciding that I'd had enough bullshit for the night. Camille gasped, but Grandmother Coyote just laughed.

"I like you, girl, but mind your manners." The cautionary tone was unmistakable and I swallowed, acknowledging her warning with a nod. "I'm giving you a particularly delicate assignment."

"Just me or Camille, too?" It didn't seem fair. Camille had been the one to ask the question. But fairness wasn't par for the course in the world of the Immortals. Any which way it worked out, I wasn't going to whine about it. No sense in ticking her off any more than I already had. Walking a thin line in the playground of the gods required both balance and timing, and I wasn't at all sure I mastered either when it came to diplomacy.

"Both, though the lion's share will fall to you. It will be up to Camille to convince you to go through with it."

Uh oh. Camille and I looked at each other.

"This can't be good," I said. What the hell was going to happen now?

Grandmother Coyote let out a long, low breath. She squinted, laugh lines creasing the corners of her eyes. "Menolly, you're going to have to do something you have vowed never to do. When the time comes, you'll know what it is, and you'll balk. But do it you must, regardless of your aversion to the idea. A long thread of destiny hinges upon your action… or inaction. Don't fail me. If you shy away, you'll upset a critical balance."

Before I could ask her to elaborate, she turned and vanished like a wisp of cloud under the glimmering sun.

I blinked. "Things are spinning out of control."

Camille shook her head. "I hate to tell you this, but things spun out of control the day we decided to accept this assignment from the OIA." She glanced at the front of the room. "Come on, we've got to put the skids on our original plans for this meeting. And we have to come up with something to replace it with in less than ten minutes."

As she hurried to the podium where Wade was conversing in quiet tones with Sassy and Delilah, I couldn't help but think that we'd already set in motion the wheels to a very big, very dangerous machine.

CHAPTER 9

Trillian and Wade stared at us like we were crazy.

"You want us to cancel the meeting?" Delilah said. "Listen, we have a room filled with Weres, vamps, and other assorted Supes here, many of whom don't like each other. Do you really want to tell them they came all this way for tea and cookies?"

"What's going on?" Trillian asked as he closed in behind Camille and wrapped his arm around her waist.

"I didn't say to cancel the meeting, but we have a problem." I nodded toward the crowd. "Grandmother Coyote warned us to keep our mouths shut about Shadow Wing. I'm not keen on going against her advice, especially when I've apparently got some whopper of a job coming at me in order to pay for it."

"Not only that," Camille said, "but we have another problem. Morgaine and Mordred showed up here—"

"Wait a minute," Trillian broke in. "You mean to tell me that Morgaine was in this room? As in Morgan Le Fay?" He glanced around, looking all too interested. Camille elbowed him a good one in the stomach.

"She was," she said. "Don't get too interested. She's not your speed. Apparently she and her little retinue are out to find and awaken the Merlin. We don't know why, but according to Mordred, it involves some plan to 'reclaim what is ours.'"

"Whatever that means," I said, interrupting. "Problem is, Grandmother Coyote warned us not to trust them—Morgaine is up to something and we better be cautious in any future dealings with her." I let out a little hiss of irritation. This was turning into a nightmare before it even began.

Wade, who had remained silent until now, cleared his throat. "You trust this coyote woman?"

"She's not a woman, she's one of the Hags of Fate. The Hags of Fate watch over the threads of destiny. Occasionally—when it suits their purposes—they intervene to right the balance." Camille rubbed her chin. "Believe me, if she gives advice, pay attention. She doesn't offer her help to everybody, and her advice doesn't come cheap."

Morio, who had been listening quietly, spoke up. "Camille's right. Ignore Grandmother Coyote at your peril. She's on our side, even if it doesn't seem like it at times. I have an idea on how to bail out of this mess. May I?" He gestured to the podium.

Wade cleared his throat. "Go ahead," he said. "I'm drawing a blank."