Kayla set the bag of take-out Chinese food on the picnic table and began to unpack it, one knee braced on the seat. Riley had cleared away all the odd equipment she used for divination, with the exception of one set of coloured glass drops in a small black velvet bag—apparently they would now work only for Kayla. One other thing remained, a rectangular mirror maybe eight inches by ten including the elaborately-carved wooden frame inlaid with metal and set with small coloured stones, which she'd used to send a message to her wizard friend. Hob's modular small-animal cage, all molded plastic with wire sections, rested at one end of the table still, with the door open. Inside, Hob and her two sisters, who also wore tiny harnesses, were industriously doing something with some crumpled paper left from one of Riley's techniques, which made the colouring of all three ripple in surreal patterns.

“If those mice take off, you'll never find them,” Kayla commented.

“They won't go anywhere. They probably wouldn't even try, but each harness is linked to one of my rings, the harness and ring can't go more than five feet away from each other.”

“Um, right.”

Riley gave her a smile with a tired edge to it. “Magic leash. Doesn't tangle. There's a highly reliable charm on the cage and the not-so-portable maze as a whole to keep the temperature inside within a safe range, too, so if I need to I can leave them in the van to play without the usual horrible risks. I don't take chances with their safety.” From what Kayla had seen, when not home with her sister Riley mostly lived in a surprisingly comfortable-looking, if very simplified, converted van, which was currently parked in front of their house. It had clearly been a priority to have a secure and substantial network of tunnels and rooms for the mice to run around in, to which the cage could be easily attached, so they weren't going to get bored while Riley was busy. “That smells good. You're sure you won't let me pay for mine?” She slid a narrow silvery ring off one finger and hung it with two that looked similar, each on its own small hook wired securely to the cage. The mice paid no attention.

“Don't worry about it.”

Kayla hadn't realized until she was paying for it that she'd automatically placed the order that she and Theo and Max always got, and added Riley's on top of that the way she would have Des' if he were joining them.

We've got to get them back. We're going to get them back. I just can't face a future of Max and I not having Theo there.

Max had texted back with no more than, «Ok. Be careful.» She wanted to tell him what was going on, that there was hope, but she really had no idea what she could put in a brief written message that would both be true and sound even remotely plausible.

She settled for, «Still okay, nothing concrete yet but think we might be on the right track. We're all going to need seriously open minds. Hang in there, news soon I hope.»

“So how long do we wait?”

“It doesn't usually take Arctos all that long to get back to me. That I can ask him for help at all is a privilege I try not to treat lightly and he knows that. On the other hand, he does have things to do beyond listening for me and a few other mediums when we get stuck, so who knows? As for this Xeno who lives in the area, I have no idea.”

“And we're stuck until we hear from one or the other?” Kayla rubbed at her forearms restlessly. “Brr, cold breeze.”

Riley gave her a quizzical look. “I didn't feel anything.”

“Must be my imagination.”

“Maybe. Or side effects from my wake-up trick, possibly. Everyone's a bit different.”

Kayla slid onto the seat properly, pulling a container of pork fried rice over to open. Ramses loved stealing bits of pork and egg from it; she'd have to make sure to save him a bit. She glanced towards the house to see whether he'd come back to the kitchen window after getting bored earlier.

He was back, and watching something intently, gaze never wavering, even his ears barely flicking. Oddly, he wasn't watching Kayla or Riley or even the mice, who were investigating Riley's egg rolls; the line of sight was wrong.

Puzzled, Kayla abandoned her rice to try to work out exactly what Ramses was looking at.

The closer she got to the patio chair that she concluded was exactly in the cat's line of sight, the cooler the air felt.

She studied the chair, certain that there was something there, certain at the same time that it was just an empty chair. The sensation was highly disorienting and rather unpleasant, since her eyes were unequivocally telling her one thing, and Ramses and that inner sense that normally let her read people just as unequivocally told her something contradictory. But then, her eyes didn't really want to stay focused on the chair anyway; they kept sliding away like two matching magnetic poles refusing to touch.

“Hey, that ring that lets you see tree-people...”

With no sense of motion or change, more like just finally noticing something that had been there all along, she finally saw the man sitting in the chair, as he completed the gesture of removing something on a black cord from around his neck.

“Very interesting,” he said thoughtfully, regarding Kayla speculatively. “Fae can typically see right through it, but it's unusual for a human to be aware of anything out of the ordinary. Paying attention to the cat was a clue, but that wasn't all.”

Dark-haired, with no hint of grey, and with skin fair enough that he probably didn't get much sun, he was moderately but not notably fit; in his black leather jeans and black T-shirt, he would have drawn little or no attention on any local street. At his feet was a black leather or vinyl backpack.

“Xeno, I presume?” Riley said, and the man inclined his head in acknowledgement.

“What are you doing hiding in my yard?” Kayla demanded.

Xeno shrugged. “We do have a common goal. And while I know who you are and that you'd do anything to get your friends back, I wanted some idea how far to trust your new friend here.”

“How long have you been sitting there?”

“You left the gate ajar when you went to get food,” Riley said. “Opening it would have been hard to disguise, but with it already open...”

Xeno nodded again. “Precisely.” He reached down to tuck the black cord and whatever was on it into a small pocket on his backpack; Kayla, curiously, glanced at the window, and saw Ramses's interest drift towards the table and the mice.

“Cats have a very odd relationship with aether,” Riley commented to Kayla.

“And not just with fae mice,” Xeno said drily. “So. You are?”

“Riley Cunningham.”

“I've encountered your family before. What was her name, Brenda, Brianna... something like that.”

“Brandy, if it was in Ontario.”

“Brandy, yes. There's no point asking her, I was using a different name then. I remember being extremely impressed by her dedication and her professionalism.”

“And you felt a need to be someone different between now and then?” Kayla asked. All right, that was a concept she could relate to, but there were a lot of reasons for wanting to do so, some better than others.

Xeno regarded her patiently. “Wizards do not use real names.”

“Wizards? Really?” That was still hard to swallow.

Riley shrugged. “It's as good a name as any for people who devote their lives to a rather esoteric energy's laws and applications. And it's what they call themselves, generally.”

“Right. Wizards.” Why not? “Who don't use real names.”

“There are a number of reasons for that,” Xeno said, as if there'd been no interruption at all. “One reason for those of us who do not isolate ourselves is that it keeps those we care about out of the line of fire if there's trouble—like a superhero's secret identity, if you will. For another... some years ago I had a bad experience with a pair of wizards who are much more single-minded and therefore more powerful than I am. It was better to drop off their radar. Different name, different face. I haven't been worth tracking down as long as I've stayed largely out of sight. Theirs, at least. Other wizards don't care either way.”

Different face?

“This may bring you back into sight,” Riley said.

“Emphatically so, since it was Nestor and his so-called student Phrixos I tangled with. If it were strictly a matter of them intruding in my territory, I'd probably overlook it. However, I have a strong personal reason to want this particular group of faelings home safely and free to resume their lives as much as possible.”

Kayla frowned. “Should we assume that if the pair who kidnapped them figure out that they can get to you by hurting them...?”

“That would be very bad, yes.” Kayla got the distinct impression that behind the closed door of his cool dispassionate facade, something raged fiery and fierce, and touching it would burn. “So let's try to make sure it doesn't happen. That said, while I'm several thousand levels below Arctos, I do have both some useful tricks and some knowledge.”

“And this personal reason you have...?”

“At least one is a friend, but not as Xeno,” Riley said.

Xeno nodded. “I would prefer, for their safety as much as mine, not to get into it any further currently. At least one matters to me quite a lot. I'm aware of events at the blackout barbecue, and was in the process of extremely careful bargaining for the resources I needed to create a safe environment for them for immediately after they first changed. I do have an island but it's very small. I have some things that I'd prefer not to part with that others would like to have, but under the circumstances, I've been offering them. Carefully, in an attempt to prevent the wrong person from hearing only 'faelings about to become active' and creating exactly this situation, but as quickly as possible given the ticking clock. Despite some bumps, by Friday afternoon I at least had a safe place for them to adapt to midway, and I could have had more extended facilities by the time they needed them. I had intended to talk to... one of them today, and from there start on telling the rest. Obviously, my plan was thoroughly derailed, but I did have one in hopes of protecting them and everyone else. Kayla, I promise, you have met me, several times, and I would not do anything to hurt our seven lost faelings for any reason. And shapechanging should not be able to interfere with your ability to read people.”

That wasn't something she discussed often; she regarded him narrowly, then shrugged.

“All right, fine. So, somehow, the three of us are supposed to save Theo and the rest from bad wizards who are holding them in a place that doesn't even properly exist. My brain hurts.”

The largest stone in the mirror frame, a hemisphere of what might be amber, began to flash; Riley reached over to touch it.

A male voice, apparently from nowhere, neither so deep nor so high as to be notable, nothing striking about the accent. “Be very careful how you handle Nestor, Riley. I've been seeing indications for some time that he's losing touch with reality, but he's still dangerous. I'm not sure whether he even remembers that he's putting us all at risk of another feud, and I'm not sure he cares if he does. His so-called student Phrixos cares about nothing and no one except his own best interests, and has been studying with him more than long enough that he should be considered a wizard in his own right. A threat, or even the perception of one, might be enough to make Nestor do something stupid and hasty too quickly for us to figure it out and intervene, and he effectively has seven hostages. I'll do a Gate hack for you, so you can tackle the pair of them directly, because I know you're going to one way or another. I strongly suggest you point out that if you don't come safely home, I know where you are and I'll be holding them accountable. Thirty minutes, I'll be there.”

Riley moved her hand away. “Good,” she said calmly. “That gives us time to eat. I almost had days of negotiations in a custody conflict fall through once because my stomach growled. A dog fae thought it was an insult or a threat. There could have been half a dozen fae and human psychics killed or injured just because I skipped breakfast. Come back and eat, Kayla. We now have the local wizard working with us and a response from Arctos and we have our next step, and there's nothing we can do until Arctos gets here. I'll try to answer more questions for you. Xeno, come join us?”