“Where will you be?” Kenzie asked.
The Thin Man waved an airy hand.
“I will be close,” he said, gesturing back to the meadow. “Do not worry, I sense no danger in this pocket of reality. Leanansidhe, it appears, has a firm grasp on her territory. So, you go ahead, and when you are ready to leave, I will rejoin you.”
He turned away, and as he did, vanished from sight.
Walking up the long gravel path to the steps, I figured out what was bothering me before. The meadow made no sound. There was a breeze; I could see grass stalks and branches waving in the wind, but there was no sound whatsoever. Not even the stream running along the edge of the forest made any noise. Staring at the grove was like looking at a very surreal, lifelike painting or a movie with the sound on mute. It was eerie, but then again, I’d take creepy quiet meadow over creepy killer carnival any day.
But that was still no reason to lower my guard.
With Grimalkin ambling behind us and Razor perched on Kenzie’s shoulder, we walked up the large marble steps to the huge double doors waiting for us at the top, and Kenzie rapped on the wood with the brass lion knockers in the center.
No answer.
“Try again,” I told Kenzie, after a few minutes had passed in silence. She did, knocking a little harder this time, the raps echoing sharply in the complete stillness. Still, there was no answer.
“Well, that’s not very encouraging,” Kenzie said, staring at the mansion. “Do you think something’s happened to her, or that she’s just ignoring us?”
I frowned. No, something was definitely wrong. Leanansidhe might’ve been fickle, dramatic, unpredictable and prone to turning people into guitars when they annoyed her, but she’d always welcomed exiles and runaways into her home. Granted, she used them for cheap labor and to further her own ends, but she wasn’t known for turning people away. Especially if she thought she could gain from them. “Let me try,” I said, and walked up to the door as Kenzie stepped aside. But instead of using the knocker, I raised my sword and banged the hilt against the wood, making a hollow booming that vibrated up my arm.
This time, the door swung back with a whoosh, making me blink and step back. And Leanansidhe herself, the Dark Muse, Queen of the Exiles, towered over us. She wore a sparkly black gown and elbow-length gloves, and a bright mane of copper hair floated around her head. She stood in the door frame, regal, beautiful and looking dangerously pissed off.
“Well,” she announced, her cold blue eyes fixed on me. “Ethan Chase. Haven’t you made a mess of everything.”
* * *
Uh-oh. Now what had happened?
“Well, don’t just stand there, darlings,” Leanansidhe snapped. “If you’re going to come in, come in. I have better things to do than watch you gape at me like frightened deer. Chop chop, doves. Move.”
Kenzie and I shared a confused look, then stepped into the foyer and gazed around warily. At first glance, it looked the same—tile floors, marble columns, a huge fireplace against one wall and a baby grand piano in the corner. But there was something different about it, too. Something I couldn’t quite put my finger on...
Leanansidhe shut the door with a bang that made me jump. She turned to face us, beaming a bright, brittle smile in my direction. “Ethan, darling,” she said in a voice that made my insides shrink. “How good of you to stop by. I was just thinking about you.”
Well, that was all kinds of ominous. I shared another glance with Kenzie and saw that she still looked just as baffled as me. I also noticed that Grimalkin had conveniently disappeared, and that Razor was hiding down Kenzie’s shirt and making no noise whatsoever.
“Uh.” I faced the Exile Queen again. “Something wrong, Leanansidhe?” I asked, trying to be diplomatic.
“Oh, why don’t you tell me, darling?” Leanansidhe raised her arms, indicating the whole room. “You’re a smart boy. Why don’t you take a look around and see if anything comes to mind? Does anything seem wrong to you?”
I scanned the foyer again, trying to figure it out. Everything looked fine to me; nothing was broken, cracked, burned or damaged in any way. But Kenzie suddenly drew in a sharp breath and glanced at the Exile Queen.
“It’s too quiet,” she said. “Where is everyone?”
Of course. That was the thing that was bugging me. Leanansidhe’s mansion was a haven for outcasts, and they were usually here in droves. Exiles, half-breeds and runaways alike, this was a last resort for those who had nowhere else to go, and the mansion was always teeming with fey. Not to mention a number of gifted humans Leanansidhe had “collected” over the years. All brilliant, musical or artistic in some fashion, and all completely nuts from living in the Between so long. The mansion seemed empty, devoid of life. Now that I thought about it, it was weird that Leanansidhe herself had opened the door; she usually had servants do that sort of thing for her.
“Where indeed?” Leanansidhe said, smiling down at us. “That is the million-dollar question, isn’t it? You’ll have to forgive me, doves, if I seem distracted. I’ve been rather busy of late. You see—” she fixed me with a piercing stare “—not long ago, I was out and about in the mortal world—on a business trip, mind—when there was this...oh, how should I put it...this pulse that went through the air like an electrical charge. It nearly knocked me down, it was so strong. Naturally, I was startled and started to ask this nice young lady if she had felt it, too.
“Do you know what she did, darling?” Leanansidhe asked, though she obviously had no intention of waiting for an answer. “She screamed. In my face. Right in the middle of a busy street. I had no idea what she was going on about at first, but you can imagine my surprise when I realized she could see me. Really see me. In fact—and here is the hilarious part, darling—all of them could see me, the entire squealing, bumbling human crowd. The barbarians surrounded me, talking all at once, screaming, taking pictures, attempting to touch me.” Leanansidhe gave a dramatic sigh. “It was a rather trying afternoon.”