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"So when you said war, you meant a war?" I asked, my voice ss were serious, and I knew people would die--I’d already seen a an’s actions But that had been one person--albeit in the shape of a dragon I couldn’t begin to fatho overwhelmed, I turned to Anyan

"I think I’ravely Even if eren’t going to have sex in it, it wouldto happen," Blondie interrupted "This changes everything"

It speaks to the depths of my discomfiture that I did not call her Captain Obvious for that last statement

"What do we do first?" Anyan asked, all business

Blondie pursed her lips, clearly thinking Then she nodded to herself

"Webackwards down the outcropping, so that we didn’t stand up on the ridge for all to see

"Our ohat?" I asked, following her ot to help"

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

Blondie didn’t waste any tihton to London, she’d been on the phone--cajoling, threatening, and bribing various supernatural leaders to get them to meet with her And there were a lot of phone calls In fact, the only reason she didn’t bother wasting her energy apparating us directly to the capital was that she needed this er than the one we’d had before

She wasn’t dredging up a few extra soldiers She was creating our own army

When we did finally allabout We were back in Bloorave had stood, at the London Welsh Centre It was a stout, grey-stone building, housing a huge, second-floor social club with space for dances, weddings, and the like But even in that large space ere packed to the gills Despite the number of people, however, everyone seeh I could tell they weren’t necessarily all friendly In fact, there was a lot of posturing, posing, and sizing one another up

Speaking of sizing everyone up, I couldn’t help but gawk at the spectacle of all the Great Island’s rebel leaders contained in one rooht that the parties thrown at the Alfar Co could prepare s had been kept toned down for delicate Alfar sensibilities, I foundat, confused by, or in awe of the costuans pulled by the various halfling and pureblooded rebelsabout the rooine that if every fetish in the world were represented in one rooht

To be honest, the sight scared the shit out of me Not because I was intimidated by the sexiness, but because of e’d just seen at Morrigan’s co how to kill with vicious efficiency Ours were dressed like leather daddies And those ood protection

Hoere these creatures going to become our army?

So I tried to stay out of the way as I watched our satyrs toss their horns flirtatiously, and our harpies compare the feathers--as in the human fashion trend--in their hair, and our nahuals try to out-naked each other with their creative costu hard not to think about those other satyrs, harpies, and nahuals Luckily, dressed as I was in my very vanilla jeans and black T-shirt, at first, I’d beenany power, and I was used to blending into the background, so everyone ignoredan eye on Blondie or Anyan