"Well keep in touch physically, then," she said grimly. She checked her watch. It was almost nine. "And well get her out of here in an hour. Ten o'clock. Just to be safe."
"Good idea," Galen said.
Winnie and Nissa said, "Right, Boss."
Keller stuck close to Iliana, telling herself that they were taking every precaution and that all she had to do was stay cool and they could get out safely. But as time went on, she only got more and more uneasy.
The dragon was going to attack.
She was certain of it.
But how? What form would the attack take? Was it going to be a battering ram of dark power like the one that had brought down the roof of the safe house? Or something tiny and sneaky, some clever way to get past the wards?
A mouse? Or an insect? No ordinary shapeshifter could turn into a bug, but it was a kind of animal, after all. Could something like that slip through the wards undetected?
What was it she was missing?
Nothing to do but keep her senses, open, search every face for enemies, and be prepared for anything. As it turned out, though, she was entirely unprepared when it happened.
Nissa and Galen were the two wandering the house at that point. Keller and Winnie were sticking with Iliana. Keller herself didn't plan to leave Diana's side all night.
But as she was watching Jaime and Iliana laughing and chattering by one of the food tables- which offered everything from barbecue to shrimp to exotic fruit-Brett walked up chewing his lip. He was heading for Iliana, but he looked undecided and genuinely unhappy.
Keller headed him off reflexively. She preferred to keep him away from Iliana just on principle. "Anything wrong?"
He glanced at her with something like relief in his dark blue eyes. For once, he didn't look arrogant or patronizing or even well groomed. "Uh, there's something... I need to tell Iliana about... I guess." He gulped, his face twisted.
"You guess?" Keller herded him into a relatively private niche beside a video game. "What do you mean, you guess?"
"Well, I do have to tell her. I just hate to." He lowered his voice so that Keller had to lean closer to hear him. "Her mom's on the phone. And she says that her little brother is missing."
Ice water sluiced over Keller. For five seconds, she didn't breathe at all. Then she said, "What?"
Brett grimaced. "He's missing from his bedroom. And, I mean, I hate to scare Iliana with it, because he's probably just crawled out the window or something-he's that age, you know? But her mom wants to talk to her. She's sort of hysterical." He wet his lips. "I guess we should all go over there as a search party."
He's really worried, Keller thought dazedly, while another part of her mind, a clear, cold part, clicked through possible solutions. So there's something under that brand-name facade after all. In spite of the "he probably crawled out of the window" crap, he's worried about the kid-and he's worried about telling Iliana, too.
Because Diana's going to go ballistic, the cold part of her mind put in. She's going to get as hysterical as her mom and insist on rushing back there. And a search party-that would mean all of us outside the wards, crawling around between houses in the dark...
No. It couldn't happen. It was undoubtedly just what the dragon wanted.
But how had he gotten to the baby? With all those wards and the agents watching the house-how?
It didn't matter. Right now, she had to deal with the situation.
"Brett-don't tell Iliana."
"Huh? But I have to."
"No, you don't. Ill talk to Mrs.-to Aunt Anna. I'm her niece, remember? And I have an idea where the baby might have gone. I think he's safe, but she has to know where to look."
Brett gawked at her. "You have an idea?"
"Yeah. Just let me talk to her. And don't say anything to Iliana just yet." Keller glanced toward the game room bar, which was set up like an English pub. There was a phone, but a girl with red hair was talking animatedly into it, while eating nuts from a bowl.
"It's the other line, Jaime's line," Brett said. "She said she called on that one first, but it was busy."
"Okay, where's the other line?"
"Jaime's room."
Keller hesitated, looking at Iliana. Winnie was on one side of her and Jaime on the other. They were the center of attention, something like the heart of a rose, with other people surrounding them like petals.
At least she was in full view of everyone. And
somebody trying to get to her would have to go through all of them first, and that would alert Winnie.
But I wish Nissa and Galen were here to take over from me.
She glanced at her watch. Fifteen minutes before they were supposed to come back to the game room.
The baby couldn't wait that long.
She forged through the crowd and touched Winnie's shoulder.
"I have to run for a minute-a phone call. Nothing to worry about yet. I'll make it fast," she murmured in Winnie's ear.
Winnie glanced at her, surprised, but then she nodded. "Problems?"
"Maybe. Stay alert." Keller said it through a smile for Iliana's benefit.
When she got out of the throng, she said to Brett, "Take me there."
Actually, she knew where Jaime's bedroom was from the plans. But she didn't want Brett hanging around Iliana. His face alone would give away the show.
They hurried up the wide staircase. Keller's mind was racing, making plans.
I can calm her down, at least. And I can call Circle Daybreak and tell them-if they don't already know. They'll make a much better search party than humans. Iliana doesn't need to know about it at all until after the ceremony. And then...