“An ambulance has been called, Ms. Graves.” The detective cocked his head and put a bloody bit of … something into an evidence bag. “There’s no need to call a second one.”
I raised my brows and put a hand over the speaker. “This is a little faster than an ambulance.”
There was a pause on the line and I knew the receptionist was probably contacting someone telepathically. “Of course, Princess. She’ll be right there. I have a caller ID on your location. Please don’t leave that immediate area.”
Okalani was a teenager from the Isle of Serenity—pretty, insecure, troubled. She wanted nothing more than to visit the mainland. I’d have to keep watch over her pretty carefully to avoid angering Lopaka any more, assuming, of course, that was even possible.
Okalani managed to avoid not only every bit of furniture but me and the demon remains as well. And she wasn’t alone. Adriana released the light grip she had on the teenager’s arm and smiled thinly at me. Okalani didn’t seem very happy, but I couldn’t tell if it was because she had a chaperone, regular teen angst, or something more serious.
More serious would be a problem. I needed to be able to trust her with Emma. I smiled at the girl whom I’d first met on her back with a knife at her throat. She’d snuck into my room and I’d considered her … gee, an intruder. Go figure. I had to shout over the screaming: “Hi, Okalani. Thanks for coming so quick!”
She opened her mouth to respond, but Adriana spoke first, holding out her delicate hand like I was supposed to kiss her ring or something. Fat chance. “Good afternoon, Celia. May I ask what the crisis is?”
I looked around the room, wondering what dimension she was in that it wasn’t completely obvious. “Can you not hear the screaming, Adriana?”
Okalani raised a tentative hand. “Princess, is that woman injured?”
Maybe I needed to just talk to Okalani. Adriana seemed really … distracted. The detective stepped over, his eyes a little wide at the sudden appearance of a dark-skinned teen in camo pants and a black tank top and a woman who would put pretty much every movie star to shame. “Ms. Graves, I can’t let these people—”
I knew what he was going to say. He didn’t want them to contaminate the crime scene. I understood that. I didn’t want there to be any question I was the good guy. “They’re only here to take my screaming friend to Birchwoods. Is that okay?”
He looked confused. “There’ll be additional footprints.” I could understand how he would think that.
“Okalani, could you and Adriana pop out to the hallway? My friend’s name is Emma and she needs to go to the Birchwoods. Do you have any idea where that is?”
Now Adriana finally joined the conversation: “I will touch your friend’s mind and see where the place is. Okalani will take us there.”
Oh! That’s right. They’d done that before. “Great. I appreciate this. Really. You won’t be able to teleport her inside the barrier, but if you deliver her just outside the gates they’ll bring her inside.”
Adriana nodded once, sharply, and shifted her black shoulder bag in a way that made me realize she was carrying something significant. “Please remain nearby. We must talk. It’s important.”
They were gone before I could respond, and the screaming cut off abruptly before either I or the detective could move around the bed enough to see out the door.
Dawna was standing in the hall with shock written all over her exotic features. She was staring down at the two maids who were getting to their feet and likewise looking confused. “What the heck just happened?”
I dusted my hands together. You couldn’t ask for a better resolution. “Emma’s back at Birchwoods. I called in a favor.”
Dawna looked confused. “What do you mean … back at Birchwoods? You mean, like … now?”
I nodded. “If you call the front gate right now, they’re probably just letting her inside the shield.” In fact, I probably did need to call Gwen to let her know what had happened.
I was betting it wasn’t going to be a happy call.
* * *
“I know it wasn’t intentional, Celia. I do. And the situation at the prison couldn’t have been predicted by anyone.” I could hear a big “but” in Gwen’s voice. “But—”
Yep. There it was.
“It would have been better if you’d brought her down last night rather than having her go back to the spa.”
I wasn’t trying to argue. Truly. But that just didn’t make sense to me. “I was accompanying Mr. Creede, who was driving a two-seater car at over a hundred miles an hour for four hours. Wouldn’t that have been just a bit stressful by itself? Yes, I made the mistake of presuming the spa’s security barrier matched the place’s five-star rating. But I think anyone else would have done the same thing. If not for that, this wouldn’t have happened.”
There was a long pause and I could hear whispering in the background. “Emma is back in her room. She’s calm now that she’s been given a sedative. But we’ll have to restrict her movements until we can evaluate her.” Gwen let out a long sigh and I could imagine her eyes closing while she centered herself. “This whole situation has been unfortunate, but I certainly can’t find any reason to blame you for the events. We’ll just have to chalk it up to bad luck.”
I let out a sigh and shook my head. Dawna, sitting beside me with a sad expression on her face, reached over to touch my hand and then pat it, offering what little comfort she could. Yeah, I suppose a demonic death curse could qualify as bad luck. Damn demons were apparently drawn to me like honey.
“Celia, we must speak now.” I looked up to where Adriana was now standing over the couch in the lobby. I held up a finger to shush her while I finished the call.
“Gwen, we’re going to have to talk about this later if that’s okay. They need me back upstairs.”
“Of course. I understand. We’ll discuss it after your therapy session with Dr. Hubbard next Thursday.”
Crap. I’d forgotten about that. It was probably on my calendar, but I’d intentionally not looked at it except to cancel things for the weekend. “Fine. That’ll work. Bye.”
I pressed the end button and scooted over on the couch to make room for my cousin. Her elegantly arched brows rose just a fraction. “Might as well have a seat. I know teleporting always makes me dizzy. Where’s Okalani?”
Adriana didn’t sit. She stood there with obvious discomfort, clutching the black zippered bag for dear life. “I sent her back home. I’ll call when I need her again.”
Aww. Poor kid. Fifteen minutes on the mainland and she has to go home. “Couldn’t you at least have taken her to a water park or a movie or something?”
But she wouldn’t budge. “We’re already having difficulty keeping her from clandestine visits here. Having enjoyable experiences would only validate her behavior and make her want to disobey more.”
“See, I have just the opposite opinion. If you let her have a taste now and again, she won’t be as likely to disobey because she’ll know there’ll be a next time.”
Adriana shrugged carelessly. “But you aren’t her mother. Nor am I.”
True. It wasn’t my place to say how she was raised.
“Um … Celia?” Dawna’s voice cut in. “Were you going to introduce us or something?”
Oh. Oops. “Dawna Long, this is Adriana, high princess of the Pacific siren clan.” Then I looked at Adriana. “Adriana, Dawna Long. Although pretty soon it’ll be Queen Adriana, huh?”
That raised Dawna’s eyebrows. “Whoa. You’re getting the throne? Sweet.”
Adriana’s face flushed just a bit and her tone took on an impatience tinged with panic: “There will be no wedding unless we speak. Now. And this is not the place for the discussion.”