“I have enough power if I save my energy for a few days,” Eloise explained. “Hugh never tried to cultivate his teleportation ability. I did.”
The same way she—but not he—had cultivated their inborn empathic talent.
Eloise’s smile was sad. “Being told I couldn’t or shouldn’t dosomething didn’t dissuade me the same way it did him. Which isn’t meant to be an insult. Just…the truth.”
In Gwen’s experience, some people were rule followers, either by nature or by training. Others weren’t. Her main conclusion? One category wasn’t necessarily better than the other, as long as the people in question were following or breaking the right rules for the right reasons—and apparently the same held true for demons.
That said, it was long past time to get this conversational train back on track. “Thank you for explaining how you got here this morning. But now that you know where I am—where all the kidnapped oracles are—what do you intend to do?”
“I hadn’t planned that far ahead, honestly.” Eloise’s dark brows drew together. “I don’t want to endanger my progress toward a new life, and I’m definitely not supposed to be in contact with anyone from my old life. I miss my brother terribly, though, and until now, all I could do for him was love him and hope he felt it, the same way I feel his love. But here we are—hereyouare—and I want to assist both of you however I can, so…”
This was the moment when Gwen should really beg Hugh’s sister to intervene further on behalf of the kidnapped oracles. If she didn’t, several of those oracles wouldn’t survive another twenty-four hours. Including Gwen herself.
If Eloise broke the rules of her current Realm assignment and got caught, however, the consequences for her afterlife could prove steep and irreparable. And how could Gwen put Hugh’s beloved sister in that kind of—
“Fuck the rules,” Eloise declared, preemptively halting all of Gwen’s tormented dithering. “I need to save my brother and all you poor kidnappees!”
Gwen’s shoulders slumped in mingled relief and worry.
“Thank you,” she said with feeling. “But what can you do within the next twenty-four hours? As of tomorrow morning, Josiah is probably—”
The demon’s entire body stiffened at the sound of the fae’s name.
Oh, shit. Eloise didn’t know. Of course she didn’t.
“Josiah?” Hugh’s sister spoke slowly. “JosiahGoodling? Please tell me that pompous jackass demon isn’t somehow involved with this shit show.”
“Unfortunately…” Gwen winced. “He is. And he’s not actually a demon. He’s a glamoured, silver-winged fae insurrectionist who wants to murder all the other Supernatural species and every Enhanced human, in temporary cooperation with conspirators inside the common human government.”
After a fleeting moment of drop-jawed shock, Eloise waved the new information away. “Doesn’t matter right now. We can deal with conspiracy shit once we get everyone rescued.”
And that brought them back to Gwen’s earlier question. “But how? Josiah intends to kill some of us first thing tomorrow, so we don’t have much time to plan anything.”
As if summoned by the discussion of time constraints, Matilda reappeared in the bathroom doorway. Raising a forefinger, she made the samewrap it upgesture as before, only with a new bug-eyed intensity to her pleading stare.
“Okay.” Eloise contemplated the situation for another moment. “Okay, here’s the plan: I’m going to leave soon. Once I do, I’ll tell Dottie what I saw this morning, because I need to get word of what’s happening to Hugh, and she’s the only one aboveground who can hear meandhas an actual body. I’ll have hercontact him and tell him where you are, although I don’t know whether he’ll believe her.”
Gwen wasn’t certain about that either—and she also doubted whether he’d make time for a conversation with a random elderly werewolf to start with, given how much political and personal turmoil he was currently experiencing.
“Thank you, Eloise.” Gwen blew out a shaky breath and sent an apologetic wince in Matilda’s direction. “Uh, just so you know, I think the guards might—”
“Hugh will have to find a demon powerful enough to teleport him in, then teleport both of you back out,” Eloise interrupted, her frown deepening. “There’s no way you’re escaping the Realm Below unscathed by any other means.”
Gwen’s gaze swung back to Eloise. “What about the other seers? Is there any way they could leave with the same demon?”
From what she understood, the energy required to teleport other beings exhausted demons’ power reserves very quickly. But maybe there were exceptions?
Unfortunately, Eloise was already shaking her head. “One demon can carry two non-teleporters, max.”
“But…the other oracles…” Gwen swallowed over a dust-dry throat. “Could Hugh recruit additional demons to help them?”
“Without incontrovertible evidence of fae perfidy, very few demons would agree to intervene in another species’ affairs. Even fewer would be willing to risk Death and the Fates’ wrath by trespassing into the Realm Below.” Eloise’s voice had turned gentle, but she didn’t try to sugarcoat the matter. “There won’t be enough teleporters for everyone.”
Gwen’s mouth rounded in a soundlessoh, and she stared sightlessly at the sink.
How would it feel to escape but leave all the other oracles behind? Could she even make herself do it? For the sake of her unborn child, if nothing else?
Sudden motion in Gwen’s peripheral vision punctured her gloomy thoughts.
