Chronicles Of The Keeper - The Long Hot Summoning Part 80

"Fair point. Claire . . ."

No time to argue. Claire reached up, noted somewhat absently that much of her left hand seemed to be purple, and grabbed the lower edge of the carved and gilded wood. "I've got it."

Jack was a lot heavier than he looked. They dragged him past the writhing box of rubber snakes, past the toppling display of scented candles, and reached the concourse just as the windows started to shatter. As the first triangular piece of gla.s.s whistled past, Claire spun him around, his back to the store, and pushed Diana down behind him.

"Claire, we haven't time . . .!"

"To get cut to ribbons? You're right."

"Hey!" Jack's eyes were as wide as Claire'd seen them. "Get me farther away! I'm breakable here!"

Barely enough room for them both but barely was better than the alternative. "Calm down. You've got a wooden backing."

"Calm down? That's gla.s.s breaking! Lots and lots of breaking gla.s.s! Do you know how that makes me feel?"

"Do I care?" Claire snapped. As Jack's eyes fled to the far corner, two tiny blue pinp.r.i.c.ks deep in the gla.s.s, she sighed. "I'm sorry. I do care. We've just had a ... bad time."

"Sort of winning?"

"Yeah."

Sort of ... Diana lifted her head out of the shelter of her arms and stared into the mirror. She didn't look any different. She should have looked different. Wasn't that the sort of thing that changed a person?

It took her a moment to realize that the mall was totally silent. No more cras.h.i.+ng. No more breaking. No more dying. Apparently, this was as far as it went. "Claire?" She almost didn't recognize her voice. She sounded about seven. "Why did she do it?"

Carefully brus.h.i.+ng aside broken gla.s.s, Claire sat down cross-legged on the floor. It wasn't quite a collapse. "I don't know. I guess she didn't want you to die."

"Yeah, but it's part of the whole 'saving the world' thing. It's in my job description. Our job description."

"And it seems that saving you was in hers."

"I didn't want her to."

"She didn't ask you." Claire reached out and wiped away a tear with her thumb. "We'll get her back."

"Because you promised?"

"Because it's part of our job description."

"Right." Diana dragged her sleeve under her nose, leaving a smear of darker pink across one cheek. "Time to sit around and sob about things later! Let's get Sam and . . ." She paused, half standing, and c.o.c.ked her head. "Is there a reason you're flipping me the finger?"

Swelling had moved the second finger on her left hand out from the rest. "It's broken."

"It's what?"

"Broken."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"When?"

"Before!"

"During our copious amounts of spare time? While we were running for our lives, saving Jack, or trying not to be julienned?"

"Yeah, then."

"Sorry, next time. Don't touch it!" She leaned back away from Diana's questing fingers. "I'll fix it as soon as we cross back."

"Does it hurt?" Jack wondered, coming out to the front of the gla.s.s.

Did it hurt? There were a number of things Keepers weren't permitted to say to Bystanders. But since Jack was a metaphysical construct . . .

"Diana!"

Claire closed her mouth, words unsaid, watched Sam race toward them, and sighed. Probably for the best.

". . . and then, he just vanished!"

"You accepted a challenge from the Shadowlord?"

Sam squirmed around in Diana's arms. "For the three hundredth time, I'm fine."

"You could have been killed."

"For the five hundredth time, I wasn't!"

Continuing to ignore the post-fight metaphysical a.n.a.lysis going on around her, Diana buried her face in Sam's fur and held on tight.

"Ow, that was a rib."

"Sorry." She loosened her hold just a little and drew in a deep breath of warm cat. He smelled like safety and comfort. Okay, sc.r.a.ping the clump of shed cat hair off her soft palate wasn't exactly comfortable, but still . . . She didn't know what she would have done if she'd lost him, too.

Too.

Right.

As they reached the stairs, the whole procession moving at the snail-like pace of the most seriously wounded elves, she tucked Sam back under one arm and grabbed Claire's sleeve. "Let's go."

"Diana, you have no idea how much I wish we could. While you were gone, I found out that Dean is in danger of . . ."

"Overfeeding the cat? Stepping on a hairball? Austin's with him, how much danger can he be in?"

They were facing off at the bottom of the stairs, Arthur's army breaking into two streams around them. The two elves carrying Jack set him down and leaned on the top of his frame.

"There's a three-thousand-year-old life-sucking mummy staying at the guest house."

"A three-thousand-year-old life-sucking mummy?"