operating magic."
He was right. I sucked at magic.
But Inanna wasn't.
"What do you mean there's no need to make one?"
"Because Rhonda Orly has one, remember? When that weird cult guy disappeared…oh what was his name…" he snapped his fingers.
Rhonda…Orly? Rhonda had one of those wands? I looked at Daniel and he looked as surprised as I felt.
"Oh right. His name was Francisco Rodriguez. Worked for the Society…kinda. He kidnapped those kids to experiment on them? Nona told me he used one of those wands to find the ones with magic. So I know that wand works. Nona said Rhonda had it."
Yikes! I knew him! In fact, Rodriguez had been fried from the inside out by TC. He exploded in my mom's bedroom. It was really tragically…messy.
Rhonda… oh great. Not that I really cared if we saw her again, but if she had something I wanted, there was no way she was going to give it to me, much less hand it over to Inanna parading around in my body.
Manuel keyed into this as well. "But you know she's not going to give it to you."
"Then we take it." She stood up and the motion from where we were was a bit dizzying. "Do we know where she is? I'm pretty sure the Society kept up with her."
"Nona does." Manuel stood and was looking at me kinda funny. "You okay? I mean…you're acting kinda of…"
"Kind of what?"
I smirked. Careful there, you First Born freak. Your voice is gonna bleed through mine. Manuel is a Revenant same as we are. And he was smart. Damn smart.
"Geist," I looked at him. "Can't Revenants sense other Revenants? Won't Manuel or Morgan sense that I'm not in control?"
"Revenants sense each other—but there is no way to tell if one or the other in control of the body unless the First Born wishes to be seen. Morgan sensing Inanna's presence is acceptable, since her bonding with you is well known."
Dammit.
Manuel was talking. "I'm pretty sure her address or her whereabouts are on record at the Society House. I don't have access to them."
"Who does?"
"Zoë, let's wait till Azrael gets back, okay? He'll know what step to take next."
Geist moved suddenly at that time and disappeared. Daniel and I glanced at one another. "I wonder what that was about," Daniel muttered.
TC appeared again and faced me—Inanna—and Manuel. "I have to go. Something's happened. Something… " He looked a little panicked.
"What is it?" Manuel stepped toward him, but TC backed up.
"I…you make sure the Society doesn't find or take Zoë. If what I fear has happened, then we're going to need her, and the Guardian." And just like that, he was gone.
Manuel ran his fingers through his hair. "What was that about?" He looked at me and I felt my shoulders rise. "I don't like seeing the Phantasm worried. So, whatever it is, it's probably going to put the brakes on whatever it was he was going to have us do to find Joe."
"Manuel please," Inanna reached out to him. "If there's something so wrong it's got the Phantasm preoccupied, then this is the perfect opportunity to find where Rhonda has that wand and find Joe. It means the Society's also going to be preoccupied. So, why not be the ones to present them with Joe when the crisis is over so the Revenants can stand down and not worry about me…or the Guardian?"
Oh she was good.
Really good.
And I wanted to slap the shit out of her.
Up until now I'd always considered her my friend, my companion, someone that was going to help me get past Daniel's death and Dags's rejection. But now it was becoming glaringly clear that she wasn't there to help, she was there to manipulate. But… "How is finding Joe going to help Inanna get what she's after?" I didn't realize I'd said it out loud until I heard Inanna answer.
The wand is the way to find anything Ethereal. Witches like Joe Halloran, like Rhonda Orly once was, all bear the blood of the God Mother. And when she lived, she bore the bloodline of the Ethereal