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.But she hadn't.She'd taken them up to the Park.Where there hadn't been anything.Where Jeanette had said Eric had been, and wasn't now.And that didn't make any sense either.Because Eric wouldn't just go wandering off.Not when he was trying to figure out how to get Magnus to come home with him.Reluctantly, Kayla closed the e-mail client, her message unsent.Maybe she'd try a couple of other things before she scared Kory and Beth half to death.I wonder how I find out if somebody's been arrested? No time like the present, Girl Detective.If Toni was home, she'd know.* * *Hosea had several stops to make that day—no matter what else was going on in his life, he still had to cover rent and groceries, and that meant meeting his obligations.But there was no reason why he couldn't earn the rent at the same time.Now that he knew what to listen for, he was getting more of the Secret Stories, tiny fragment by tiny fragment.Today, from the girls, it was more about the Blue Lady; how she not only protected children from the demons, but from the humans that demons had gotten to.Physical protection, that meant—which sure fit in with those murders he and the Guardians were looking into.But you had to be a Special One to call her in that way, and you had to be in the worst fear and pain of your life, because she didn't come for little things, and when she did come, there had better be something there for her to protect against, or she turned back into Bloody Mary.Kind of like calling on Elbereth Gilthoniel, except that she'd turn into Shelob if you called her for no good and urgent reason.From the boys, however, he heard about the angels and their ongoing guerrilla war against the demons.They had a base camp in a secret place in the heart of a tropical swamp, and from there they mounted their ongoing campaign to drive the demons out of Heaven and the strongholds they'd made on Earth.Fighting beside the angels were the good ghosts, who actually could not do much except serve as scouts, spies and messengers to the living, because they had no angelic powers.Oddly enough, the entire campaign, down to the camp in a tropical swamp, had a familiar sound to it; when one of the boys named Julio described the archangel Michael as dressed in fatigues and a beret, bearded and carrying a rifle, Hosea realized why.He kept an eye out for Ace while he was down at the shelter, but didn't spot her, and that worried him, knowing what he knew now.He wondered who was after her to make her as skittish as she was, and if Eric had managed to get himself tangled up in that, too.He'd been in on the whole Threshold thing; what if there was another black ops project that was using kids instead of adults, and Eric had stumbled into them?He called Kayla in the middle of the day from the shelter phone, to find out if there was any news."I don't think he's Underhill," Kayla said."I was thinking about it, and if he was, wouldn't Lady Day just have followed him?""Maybe," Hosea said cautiously.He had to admit it sounded reasonable, but the amount he knew for sure about elvensteeds could be engraved on the edge of one of his silver banjo picks and still leave room for a couple of Bible verses."So I thought maybe we ought to look for him here first before we bothered a bunch of elves," Kayla said tentatively."Are you real sure about that?" Hosea asked."It don't seem to me like it would do any harm to ask the Good Folks if they've seen him.""And have Beth pitch spinning kittens all over Eric's apartment with Kory along to sing tenor?" Kayla asked crossly."The weird thing is"—there was a very long pause—"elvensteeds can track their riders.Eric told me that once.Over hundreds of miles in the World Above.And across Gates in Underhill.I remembered it when I was thinking about how funny it was that she didn't just take us Underhill afterhim."So if she can track him anywhere he goes, why doesn't she know where he is? Hosea thought.The unspoken question hovered between them."Why don't you have Toni help you check the hospitals?" Hosea said, very gently."Ah'll be home as soon as Ah can."But it was several more hours before he could fulfill that promise.On his way into Guardian House, Hosea ran into Caity coming out."Oh, there you are!" she said cheerfully."I was just up knocking on your door." Her smile faded a little as she inspected him."You don't look like you've been having the best day in the world.""Ah might have lost track of a friend," Hosea admitted cautiously, not wanting to spoil her mood."But Ah'm sure he'll turn up.""I guess this isn't the world's best time to invite you to a party, then," Caity said, drooping a little."But there's one at Neil's place tonight.He's going to be there, and he said I could bring you, so."Hosea had never felt less like going to a party in his life, but the only person he could possibly be was the mysterious True Guardian Caity had talked about, and getting a closer look at the fellow was important.And Hosea suspected that if he turned down this chance, there wouldn't be another one.So he forced a smile, and said: "It sounds like just what Ah need to take my mind off my troubles.What time?"Caity beamed."I'll pick you up about eight." She hesitated."Wear something nice, okay?""Ah'll turn up in my Sunday-go-to-meetin' best," Hosea promised firmly.Caity stood up on tiptoe to bestow a quick kiss on his cheek, and hurried off.Hosea went on into the building.He left Jeanette in his apartment and went down to Kayla's.She opened the door at his knock."Well, he hasn't been arrested," she said without preamble."And he hasn't been committed—I called his shrink.She said she'd check the hospitals for me, too, but that I probably wouldn't hear back from her until tomorrow." Her face twisted.Hosea held out his arms.Kayla flung herself into them, burrowing fiercely, choking on strangled sobs."Hush, now," Hosea said."Wherever he is, Ah'm sure he's just a mite tangled up, is all.You know that boy's got himself a way with trouble.That's all it is.He'll be back in a day or two and apologize for givin'us all such a powerful fright, and everything'll be as right as rain.You'll see.""You don't believe that," Kayla said, sniffling and pushing herself away.Hosea fished out his pocket handkerchief and handed it to her."Ah do believe that we don't know," he said firmly."And until we do know something for sure andcertain, there's no point to borrowing trouble.Now, Eric's got a lot of enemies.But he's got a lot of friends, too, and he's got a powerful shine on him [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]