“I think, at the moment, we have a mutually beneficial relationship. I hope my sharing more of the truth will only strengthen that relationship.”

  Waves put his fist to his mouth and cleared his throat. “I’m going to be straight with you, Princess. Is the US the only human government you’re dealing with?”

  “At this time, yes,” Zaena replied. “My interest in the nexus and my public activities have been drawing people to San Francisco. Eventually, I will need to leave the country for reasons related to my mission, and I hope at that time, the US government will assist me.”

  “We can’t promise anything at this time,” Lyle noted. “It’s above—”

  “Above your paygrade,” Karl interrupted. “We can worry about that later. She’s being honest. We’re not working secret deals with the Chinese if that’s what you’re worried about. I wasn’t sure this was a great idea, but she wants to be more honest with you.”

  “I appreciate that,” Lyle replied. “Nothing has to change for now. Proceed as normal, and we’ll let you know if our boss decides she doesn’t like how things are going down.”

  “Then why don’t we end this for now?” Karl replied. “I want to grab a bite to eat before we drive back home.”

  Lyle opened his door. “Sure. It’s a good place to stop until we have direction from above. Just keep doing what you’re doing. We’ll contact you if anything needs to change.”

  Karl waited until both agents were back in their car and had driven off before pulling out of the lot. “That went better than I thought it would, but it does raise some questions.”

  “They alluded to already knowing about the Creeping Azure.” Zaena looked down and rubbed her chin. “Perhaps I should have pressed them on that.”

  “There’s no way they were going to give you much else,” Karl replied. He checked his mirrors. No one was following them. “We have to be careful. Whoever’s calling the shots might know a lot more about elves than the lackeys do.”

  “They haven’t tried to harm me,” Zaena replied. “That at least suggests a lack of inherent hostility.”

  Karl’s hands tightened on the wheel. “Maybe. Or it could mean they’re sizing you up.”

  “We can do nothing other than be careful.”

  “True. I might just be paranoid.”

  “We live in a web spun from the secrets of both the government and the elves. I no longer know if there’s such a thing as being too paranoid.” Zaena cupped the Ruby of Tarilan in her palm. “We’ll need their aid soon, I suspect, to track down other elves who might help me with my mission.”

  “What if they refuse?” Karl asked. “I know I was the one who suggested this to you originally, but I want to make sure you’re doing it for the right reasons.”

  Zaena stared at the ruby. “As long as they don’t stand in my way, I have no concerns. Though, if I can free the nexus and attune myself to it, I might not need them.”

  “Don’t get ahead of yourself. From what you told me, you need more elves before that’s safe.” Karl glanced her way. “You’re ahead of schedule, so don’t do anything stupid.”

  “If there’s one thing living among humans has taught me, it’s that stupid is relative.”

  Karl scoffed. “I’ll make sure to inscribe that on your tombstone.”

  Chapter Seventeen

  “It’s as if this city is conspiring to deny me something noble to do,” Zaena complained over her headset.

  She’d been flying, invisible, for a good hour. Today Karl, not Grace, was working with her. That might have been part of the problem. He lacked Grace’s social media and internet skills, but she was busy with a family matter.

  “Wait, I see.” Zaena sighed. “Never mind. A police officer has appeared and is taking the purse snatcher into custody.”

  “A purse snatcher?” Karl chuckled. “No offense, Princess, but you going after a purse snatcher is like using a rocket launcher to take down a mosquito. Stick to stuff that only you can do.”

  “Crime is crime,” Zaena insisted. “This is my weekly patrol.”

  “The world’s not going to end if you don’t bust up a robbery or save a baby from a burning building today. There’s something else going on here. You’ve been tense all morning.”

  The words struck deep. There was a gnawing in her heart she couldn’t shake. With no dangerous magical threats or criminals overrunning the Bay Area, she should have been satisfied. The main threats were more subtle.

  Alas, there was little she could do as the Crimson Wind against white-collar criminals. Her past problems with Amanda Morton had demonstrated the limitations of a strength-first approach when dealing with humans with vast resources.

  “I don’t know,” Zaena admitted. “You’re right. I feel, for want of a better description, antsy. It’s like there’s something happening out there that I should know about, but I’m not seeing it.”

  “You’re sensing magic?” Karl asked.

  “No, nothing like that. It’s my mission. With the opening of the Sleeping Dragon out of the way, the work crews can finish preparing things for my nexus clearance, but it’s as you said. I shouldn’t take foolish risks.”

  “Patience, Princess. Shouldn’t you be the one telling me that? I’m the baby compared to you.”

  “I find my patience challenged when I consider my people have already waited thousands of years,” Zaena replied. She skimmed a nearby grocery store rooftop. “If it’d taken me years to find my first elf, I might have thought differently, but now I can taste the success. It’s coming. It’s been a week since I spoke to the agents, and they haven’t sent a strike team or attempted to blow up my building with a missile. They must know I’m staying there since we can safely assume they have us under surveillance.”

  Karl grunted. “Yeah, it’s a pretty safe assumption.”

  “This means their superior understands my intentions and doesn’t find them threatening. If they believed my plans were a risk, they’d kill us and take over the building.”

  “I don’t know about all that, but it’s not a crazy conclusion.”

  “The existing awareness of elves also complicates matters,” Zaena noted. “I can’t spend decades on this mission while the governments of the world operate with limited information. It could lead to disaster. It’s fortunate that the US government considers me an ally rather than a threat right now, but we both know that might change in the future.”

  “Okay, I see your point.”

  A loud horn sounded. A screech and a crash followed.

  Zaena stopped and hovered over an intersection. A car had rear-ended another.

  Both drivers quickly got out. She dropped lower to better overhear them. After a brief, calm exchange about insurance, she flew away. Elven princesses weren’t insurance adjusters.

  “Zaena, are you still there?” Karl asked.

  “I was checking on something, but there’s no problem for me to solve.” Zaena flew straight up, letting the buildings and people grow smaller. The traffic was flowing lines that stretched out beneath her. “I was hoping the DIA would provide me with more aid after my revelation.”

  “Ah.” Karl chuckled. “That’s what this is about.”

  “They’ve had nothing to offer me since the UFO incident before Christmas,” Zaena noted. “I assumed that situation would lead to them working harder to find sources of magic for me to investigate.”

  “Unless they’ve got an elf on staff, which they don’t, they have no easy way to detect magic. They can look for weird stuff, but that doesn’t guarantee anything.”

  Zaena shot toward the bay, enjoying the caress of the air on her face. “You’re a better judge of humans than me. Do you think they are aware of magical activity and not sharing it?”

  “It’s not impossible,” Karl admitted. “But I don’t see what they’d have to gain by it. They know they can point you at magical trouble and you’ll take care of it without too many questions. If they’ve run into another elf, there’s no advantage in trying to keep them away from you. Between the nexus and your Crimson Wind patrols, the elf will figure out you’re here and come anyway.”

  “Vokasin and his kinsmen were not from America,” Zaena noted. “Lae’yul traveled here from deep in the ocean. You’re right, my efforts are attracting attention, but there could be elves who pay no attention to such things. I harbored a vain hope that my destruction of two wicked Mountain Elves would somehow facilitate the rapid arrival of one with more honor. That hasn’t happened, and the Ice Elves remain a problem.”

  “Are you sure you have no idea where to look?” Karl asked. “You said you didn’t, but maybe you forgot something, or you noticed something online when you were looking through Google Earth.”

  “No. It’s not as simple as checking icy environs,” Zaena clarified. “For example, my ancestors built our arboreal kingdom beneath a mass of ice and snow.”

  “You probably don’t have Ice Elves in Antarctica,” Karl replied. “From what you’ve told me about nexuses, there wouldn’t be another major one close enough.”

  “Perhaps, but that still leaves much of the world to explore. There’s a higher chance of them being in a cold environment because it means less strain on the nexus and more freedom of movement for those who can leave the enclave, but it’s no guarantee.”

  “Right now, for all you know, there’s some Ice Elf sitting on top of a frozen mountain, trying to decide how they’re going to get to America to explore what’s going on.”

  Zaena dived toward the road, screaming past a traffic camera. She was invisible, but from what she’d learned from the DIA, they had methods of picking her up.

  She didn’t mind. The general public already knew invisibility was one of the Crimson Wind’s powers. Let anyone who detected her wonder.

  “I have a plan,” Zaena noted. “One I don’t think you’ll like.”

  “I’m not the shot-caller, but I will call you out on BS.”

  “The DIA has been reactionary and slower to respond to incidents,” Zaena explained. “They might not be my best option for gaining information.”

  “Slower than who?” Karl asked. He groaned. “You’re talking about Morton, aren’t you? Damn it. I should have never suggested it. I’ve been regretting it ever since, which is why I haven’t brought it up again. The government is one thing, but she’s another.”

  “She’s also become aware of incidents even before us and the government in the past. That means whatever methods she’s using to look for magic might be more effective.”

  “You can’t trust her,” Karl insisted. “She doesn’t see you as an ally. She doesn’t see you as anything more than an anomaly she wants to use to make her magic pills.”

  Zaena dropped to the ground on a sidewalk. Other than a baby craning his neck her way, the pedestrians didn’t notice the odd distortion in their midst.

  She summoned a sound curtain rather than whisper. “We can make a deal, something that will give her part of what she wants in exchange for her aid. Win-win, as Judge Jorge would say.”

  “You don’t make a deal with the devil and expect to get out unscathed.”

  “She’s no demon,” Zaena insisted. “She’s an overly ambitious woman, one the government is also watching. We can manage her. On some level, you agree with me. As you noted, this was originally your idea.”

  Karl grunted. “Damn it. Okay, how about this, then? You don’t worry about talking to Morton until you’re done cleaning out the basement,” Karl suggested. “There’s no reason to be antsy because you have not freed your people after a week. You yourself told me you expected this task to take decades or centuries, and you’re less than a year in.”

  Zaena sighed. “True enough. There’s wisdom in what you say. Having access to the nexus, even if I’m not attuned, will give me further negotiating leverage with any Mountain or Ice Elves I encounter.”

  “There you go.”

  Zaena’s eyes widened. “Hot dogs!”

  “What?” Karl asked, his voice thick with confusion.

  “There’s a hot dog cart. Do you want one?”

  “Zaena, by the time you flew it back to me, it’d be cold, and you’re going to do what, appear out of nowhere in your workout clothes and ask for a hot dog without any money? Or what, you’re going to use your armor to score a free dog?”

  “No, that wouldn’t be honorable.” Zaena lifted back into the air. A man passed underneath her, his head missing her feet by inches. “I should bring cash on future patrols.”

  Chapter Eighteen

  Amanda glared at Dr. Meyers. She’d hoped calling him to her office would communicate the seriousness of her displeasure with his lack of progress, but the smug look on his face told her she’d failed.

  She’d met few men so impervious to critique, and she’d spent most of her adult life among the stratospheric egos of Silicon Valley. It was almost impressive.

  “Am I not making myself clear, Doctor?” she asked. “You’re receiving an obscene amount of money—my money—for your research efforts, and you’re telling me you can’t do anything more? I sought you out because you’re one of the best in your field.”

  “No, not one of the best. The best.” Dr. Meyers snorted. “Don’t act like you’re the one doing me a favor. You understood I was the only scientist on the planet who could achieve what you wanted.”

  An antisocial personality didn’t need to accompany genius, but the good doctor was doing his part to uphold the stereotype.

  “Then what’s the problem?” Amanda asked.

  “You keep sending your thugs. I tolerated it before, but I see no reason to continue and also have you complain at me. You’re contributing to the problem.”

  “Am I now?” Amanda looked angry. “Do you understand what you’re saying? I want you to achieve the research goals, not give me excuses.”

  “They are not excuses.” He scoffed. “Of course I can do my research, but that doesn’t mean I can produce miracles. I understand research into these anomalies might border on what some consider magic, but that doesn’t mean I’m a wizard.”

  “Do you have a point you’re trying to make?” Amanda narrowed her eyes. “Be mindful of your failures. There’s only so much I’ll tolerate.”

  “Even ignoring your thugs and how they’re breaking my concentration, I’m only failing because I’m being asked to do too much with too little. I need more samples.” Dr. Meyers crossed his arms. “The limited samples we’ve collected often defy conventional scientific analysis tools. This means everything takes far longer than normal. Given your education and knowledge, you should understand this.”

  “What I understand is that it sounds like more excuses.”

  His mouth twitched. “If it were easy to reverse-engineer these techniques and abilities, it would have been accomplished a long time ago. I guarantee that you could fire me tomorrow and replace me with ten other researchers, and you still wouldn’t achieve your goal. Or you could do what I want and have a chance of success. The choice is yours.”

  Amanda clenched her fists in her lap. For all his smugness, he wasn’t wrong. They were pursuing the frontier of human knowledge.

  There was one annoying reality. The problem had been solved by whoever was supplying Selene D’Arcy, but none of Amanda’s investigations could pinpoint any relevant scientists working on projects for the Department of Defense.

  How was Selene making the pills? Who was making them for her? The more Meyers pushed in his studies, the more Amanda wondered.

  “This is only being exacerbated,” the doctor continued, “by the delivered state of the samples. Each cell in a living organism is a complicated biological machine, far more impressive than the toys your company makes. Imagine you were trying to develop your technologies without fundamental knowledge of how they worked, only based on destroyed and damaged samples blown apart in battle. I’m dubious about how much you could achieve.”

  “I understand your point, Doctor,” Amanda replied, “but there are limits to how we can collect samples. The anomalies won’t come along quietly simply because we ask, and you’ve made it clear that a few blood or fluid samples are insufficient for your work.”

  “That’s true.” Dr. Meyers sighed like he was dealing with a child. It made her want to slap him. “What about the Mojave samples?” he continued. “You said Zaena might have traveled there, and you were investigating it.”

  She regretted giving him so much information. The failure of her field operations people weighed on her. Everything was falling apart.

  Her entire life, she’d been able to blow past any challenge and any wall in her way. Now she clung to luck rather than talent to guide her to her desperate hopes.

  “She did travel there,” Amanda admitted. “I’m certain something is there because the government not only lied to cover up what happened from what we can find, but they’re going out of their way to protect it with the help of active military assets. The level of protection far exceeds what would be necessary for leftover ordnance in the middle of nowhere, but our long-distance pictures suggest no live specimens at the site.” She snorted. “I doubt those soldiers even know what they’re guarding, but that’s not what bothers me.”

  She ground her teeth. Damn the government and damn Zaena for defying her. They were standing in the way of progress.

  Amanda wasn’t greedy. She was willing to share, but they didn’t care. All they needed to do was cooperate with her.

  Dr. Meyers raised an eyebrow. “It’s rare to see you so flustered. I think I like it. It’s good to be humbled on occasion.”

  “You’re the last person I want to hear that from.”

  “Is there something you’re not telling me?”

  “It’s like they know what I’m going to do before I do it,” Amanda explained. “Before, I was ahead of the government and their pathetic field agents at every turn, but my investigative assets sent to the Mojave were taken out far from the site, and they were competently disguised.” She didn’t need to hide the truth from the man. He had no leverage over her other than his talent. “That’s not the only incident recently. It’s as if something has suddenly changed. It goes beyond Selene’s expressed irritation.”