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organs.”
    “You were covered in ice .”
    “I was working .”
    I smacked his arm, irritated. “You say working. I say, three seconds away from calling an undertaker. You’re lucky you didn’t wake up in a body bag.”
    “If you ever think I’m dead again, get that verified by a doctor before you do anything irreversible. Like with a stethoscope and an EKG machine.”
    “You’d better not ever do this again, okay? My heart can’t take it.” And then I smacked him some more.
    “Owww. Stop beating me, woman. I had to go there. It was the only way I could negotiate with the Winter Queen. Besides, you got me back.”
    “Barely. You scared about three years off of my life span.” Finally, curiosity got the better of me. “So, what was it like?”
    Gus grinned and sat up. “A lot like outside, but without roads or houses. Just acres of land, covered in snow and ice. Massive forests, but it’s perpetual winter, so the only green comes from pine trees. All the rest of the trees are bare, their limbs covered in snow. And her castle… is this glorious monument to winter, made entirely of ice. But it’s like a living thing. Even in the moonlight, it sparkles like you wouldn’t believe. It’s gorgeous.”
    “Let me guess—you got handsy with it, didn’t you? That’s why it started converting you into an ice sculpture?”
    Gus looked so guilty, I knew I was right. That’s the nature of the Otherworld. When you reach out and touch it, it can reach out and touch you right back. Although, usually not quite so dramatically. But it has its moments.
    “I have to say, since we moved out here, the magick has been—in general—off the charts. Color me impressed. The weather may suck, but the leylines are buzzing with power. We’re both evolving to something that’s way beyond normal. It’s an owl, it’s a broom, it’s SuperWitch! ”
    “It’s not us. It’s Themselves.” I said, pointing at the sky. For witches, the term ‘themselves’ covered a lot of territory, from deities to faeries to fallen angels. “I don’t know what’s going on, but the Veil between worlds seems to be pretty non-existent out here.”
    “It’s this place,” Gus agreed. “I love this place. If we could pick it up and move it to Los Angeles, it would be absolutely perfect.”
    “Preaching to the choir. I was thinking that this morning.”
    “Do you think you could talk to the Goddess of the Crossroads about that? You seem to have a good relationship.”
    “Are you kidding? I’m sure She’s racking up some kind of scoreboard, every time I have to call on Her to help. It’s not going to be so good when She calls in those chips.”
    The lights flickered and came back on. Gus stretched and sat up. “Do we have any whiskey left? I could use a drink.”
    “You?” I snorted. “I’m the one you put through hell.”
    “You have a point. Consider it payback for the hell you put me through when you moved out here.” He looked at my belly and raised an eyebrow. “Chocolate milk?”
    I sighed and nodded. “Extra chocolate. Double marshmallows.”
    Gus walked into the kitchen, while I sat next to the fire and fretted. He had really scared me. Especially after the visions I had been seeing lately. When I checked the Web (of Wyrd not the Internet), that black cloud that had been dogging him, was covering more and more of his light.
    I could feel that he was getting deeper and deeper into something dangerous, but I couldn’t quite see what it was. The only thing I knew for certain, was that whatever it was, it wasn’t good.
     

Chapter 11
    B y the time Gus came back with a hot cocoa for me and a hot toddy for himself, the puppies had finally crawled out from under the couch and were laying down next to me.
    When my heart rate returned to normal and I could sip my drink without feeling like I was going to drown, I was ready to talk.
    “So, after everything you just put me through, how did your negotiations turn out?” I