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"No, just me"

"What about after you?"

"No one that I know of"

"I knew better than to send such an arive Kendrick a chance to lead"

"Enough" Grace kissed his cheek "We can deal with Kendrick and the other portal later Right noe need to discuss vampires and demons and this sense of doo," Jewel stated "Yet"

"You will find out" A demand, not a request

She nodded

Gray shook his head "If she has to do anything dangerous, the answer is no"

"Nothing dangerous," she pro" Without another word, she closed her eyes and blanketed heraround her

Gray watched her, ready to spring to the rescue if she even gri evened out, steady, but slow Too slow Several moments passed in surreal expectation And then she spoke, her voice layered with other voices, the sound eerie Like a legion of ghosts In the same way she&039;d spoken to him when they&039;d been chased by the Mers

"Your ene their way to the border of your land In three days, they will sneak inside this palace The demons will attack first, your fire unable to hurt them While you are distracted with theh the shadows and conquer the caves beneath us"

Darius&039;s jaitched once, twice "Do they knoe possess Dunamis?" "Not at this time"

"How can I stop the?"

Her expression never wavered, and she continued in that odd voice "Youdawns, fly into the forest and surround them, then quickly close on their ranks with fire and ice"

"I don&039;t understand" The dragon king shoved to his feet and paced "How do I use both fire and ice?"

My God, Gray thought This was exactly why erous in the wrong hands She could outline an enemy&039;s entire battle plan - and exactly how to defeat it He&039;d known, even glimpsed it before, but this

If anyone on the surface discovered Dunareedy hu her Like she was hunted here, but worse

Finding out he couldn&039;t take her to the surface with him because she was physically bound to Atlantis had been a blow he had yet to recover fro home the fact that she would never be safe, no ons breathe fire, the huaze flicked to Gray "Do you have ice?"

"No" He frowned in confusion

Grace snapped her fingers, her eyes groide "She ht in from the last human invasion The ones you have stored here, but your ons are weakened by cold"

Jewel sluht her and drew her limp body into his arms "Sweetheart," he said She didn&039;t respond Her eyes remained closed, her expression soft as if fro her to the roo all else "She&039;s had enough"

Darius nodded "Will you help us, human? Will you carry the ice e attack?"

He didn&039;t have tiht of three hts - with Jeas an incentive he couldn&039;t resist "I have two conditions"

Darius arched a brow "The first?"

"Jeas desperate to search the Temple of Cronus for information about her father, but your men stopped us Send soht find useful"

"Consider it done The second?"

"When I leave, I want you to keep Jewel here Keep her safe You lost her before, and that - "

"Will not happen again We are stronger now and no one, no one, can breach our walls She will be safe with ht past a haze of fury and sadness and relief, and inclined his chin in acknowledgement of their deal "Then considerJewel into bed, smoothed her hair froripped his transe of the bed "Santa to Mother"

Several seconds passed in silence

"Santa to Mother," he said again

"Mother here Has soe secure" He&039;d hand thee of conscience

Before he could tell his boss the reason for his call, Quinlin said, "Did you figure out that little riddle about the jewel being able to breathe?"

"It was buried under ato its lack of air" Bigger lie "Makes sense"

Bringing them back to the business at hand, he said, "I wanted to let you know I&039;ll be ho crew?"

"No" He ran a hand down his face "I&039;ve got everything under control" God, when had he become such a liar? "Over"