Dominion: Zoë Martinique Investigation, Book 6 (5 page)

"Did it work?"

"I don't think she bought it. But then
something happened, and Dags got sick. Rhonda stormed into the
kitchen and threatened Jason and Nona with her mojo—" He grinned,
and the expression was a little creepy. "And then something really
awesome happened. Joe actually stopped her in her
tracks."

My jaw dropped. Luckily I'd swallowed.
"What? Joe stopped Rhonda…you mean stopped her from coming at Mom
and Jason?"

"He stopped her magic.
Just…shut it
down
."

Joe? Joe's magic stopped
Rhonda's?

Nick continued. "Rhonda admitted Dags
was sick, and Nona took over Dags's care. Had him brought to the
infirmary, and locked Rhonda in her room."

"Oh, I bet that went over
well."

"Not really. But that's when Joe
started asking about that ugly dragon statue—the one Nona kept on
her fireplace."

I knew the one. "What made him
suddenly ask about that statue? Joe was there. He knew I broke that
sucker—that night he rescued me from those body snatchers." That
was also the night Joe'd kissed me—a kiss I realized I was never
going to forget.

And I didn't want to.

"Nona asked Joe about it later and he
said it just came to him. He kept seeing it in his dreams. And if
you recall, it'd been sitting on Nona's mantel most of the year. I
remember it there while you were missing."

"No…I broke it. It wasn't—" But then I
had a very clear image of it sitting there that day Dags came back
into my life, the day I'd tried magic and it nearly bit me in the
ass.

He'd saved me from the Coyote
Flame.

And the dragon had been
there.

"Oh…this is eff'd up."

"Yeah. Joe went to Nona's and found it
wasn't there. When he brought Tim to the House, the ghost said
Rhonda had been at the shop a few days before, getting things. Joe
got Nona to let Rhonda see Dags to get her out of her room, and Joe
found it in her closet, Azrael broke it, and Morgan was
released."

"Which is why Manuel came with you to
get him away from Rhonda."

Nick licked his lips. "Here's where it
gets…weird. I wasn't there, so you'll have to get the story
directly from Joe. But apparently Rhonda magically attacked your
mom. There was an explosion. Joe made it to Dags's room and Dags
had somehow stopped the battle in mid-attack."

Yeah…jaw on the floor
again.

"Dags told Joe what to do—like how to
take over the spell—and Joe did it. But then, according to Joe,
Dags ran at Rhonda, grabbed her, and the two
disappeared."

The hamburger turned to lead in my
stomach as I grabbed my water and took a big swallow. I wanted
another whiskey—but that would just make me throw up.

"Zoë?"

"He…he ran
to
Rhonda?"

Nick shook his head.
"No,
he
didn't.
Maureen did."

Blink.

Wha—?

"Maureen? Maureen Lafferty?" I rubbed
at my face. "Wait…you either skipped a page or I blanked it
out."

"Ask Joe when you see him, but he said
Dags told him to get you back home and work with Nona." He sighed.
"That was it. They vanished."

"And Maureen fits in how?"

"She was the one directing Dags. Joe
thinks she was in control."

"And…there's a Dominion living in
Rhonda's Veil."

"Yes. Rhonda'd been walking
around talking to herself for a while. We figure she was talking
to
it
."

I chewed on my lower lip. I'm a sap at
heart. A softie. Weak and mushy on the inside. And knowing that
Rhonda was being Overshadowed sparked a bit of hope in me at that
moment. "How…how long has she been Shadowed?"

"Probably a week or so. That's how
long Zacharel's been in custody. Since you and Manuel caught
him."

That small glimmer of hope—that idea
that Rhonda had done this to me and Dags because of an outside
influence—exploded. Rhonda had the idea to take him away from me
without any help from anyone else.

Except from Geist. And I refused to
communicate with that bastard unless I had to.

I rubbed at my eyes. Needed
to get myself together. "So, the assumption is that Ethereals have
the
Grimoire
." And
they have Dags. I couldn't help but remember my dad's words while I
was in that Throne—of how he'd planned on killing Dags to get to
the book.

"We don't think so."

I sat back. "You don't?"

"The
Grimoire
possesses the spell to
destroy all the Revenants." He held out his hand. "It's been three
days. Nothing's happened."

"Maybe they're waiting—you know—being
all evil villain and biding their time."

"You really think the Ethereals would
wait to destroy one of the things they believe is preventing them
from ruling the Inner Planes?"

He had a point. "So…what's
going on? You think they can't open the
Grimoire
?"

"Not sure. They have Rhonda—and she's
the only one who can. So why the delay?"

"No…" I shook my head. "She's not the
only one who can open that book. Maureen can."

Nick looked confused.
"Maureen?"

"Remember when she took Jason? And she
had Dags in Between? She opened the book and took out the pages.
She knows how to get into it."

"Holy shit…" He started to stand up,
and then sat back down. "That's right. But I wonder if Maureen even
remembers that."

I was thinking she did remember it.
She just wasn't talking about it. If Maureen really was back,
having not made an appearance since her role in that fiasco that
got me locked into the Abysmal Throne, then I was pretty sure she
wasn't going to bring up anything that'd dredge up bad memories of
bad behavior. Yes, Maureen had been Overshadowed.
Controlled.

But I was sure it still bothered
her.

I felt it had while I took her place
in Dags for those days.

Remembering that made me feel sad, and
my appetite crashed. I pushed the food away.

Chapter Six

Jason was the first one out the door
to meet the car when we pulled up in the drive of the Society
House. He scooped me up into his arms and gave me a tight,
breath-taking hug. He felt so good and comforting. "Geez…from the
way Nick talked about you, I figured you were in bad
shape."

"I'm a fast healer," Jason said as he
gave me another squeeze.

It is good to see you're
okay, Zoë.

"Thanks, Old Man," I said aloud. Since
Jason could hear his First Born speak to me, I rarely tried to hide
it. And after losing my voice for several months, I now spoke
whenever I could. "It's good to be okay." When he put me on the
ground again, I saw Mom step out from the side door near the
garden.

She looked tired. And all business. In
fact, she looked a little pissed.

Her shoulders were straight, her
voluptuous bewbage up and elevated, and her lips were drawn into
that thin line that parents do—where they don't have lips at
all.

I didn't try to hug her as we
approached each other. I was afraid I'd get smacked.

So I was a little surprised when she
moved past me and went straight to Nick, who was still by the car.
She reached up, grabbed his ear, and pulled him down to her level.
I had no idea what it was she said to him—I was trying not to crack
up at the sight of Nick at my mom's mercy.

Jason stood nearby, watching. He was
smiling, but it wasn't part of his face. I figured if Mom did
anything to harm Nick, Jason'd be on her like cute on a
puppy.

"What gives?"

He leaned over to me. "Nick took
something he wasn't supposed to. Apparently Joe's a little
irritated."

Mom released Nick, who rubbed his ear,
then bent inside the car and handed Nona the folder he'd shown me
in the limo in Montreal. Mom took it, glared at him, and then
marched back toward us.

"Zoë, Jason, come with me. Nick will
be along in a minute." She flicked her wrist at us as she passed by
and marched right back into the door she'd exited.

I looked at Jason. He looked at me. He
winked.

I filed in behind Jason and stepped
through the door and into the mudroom, the small anteroom just
before walking into the ultimate chef's kitchen. Everything was
silver and sparkly. I noticed several cakes under glass on a far
butcher block as we walked through and made a mental note to come
back for cake and milk later. Past the kitchen was a hallway that
ended at the lower-level service elevator.

Mom, Jason, and I waited on the doors
to open just as Nick joined us. He and Jason nodded to one another.
I heard an echo, like someone was playing a radio in the distance,
and figured Mephistopheles was speaking to the two of
them.

Once in the elevator, we all turned
and faced the doors as Mom stuck her key in a slot.

Two floors down and then off the
elevator into a brightly lit hallway to a set of wooden double
doors.

What was this? I hadn't been down in
this part of the House before. And since it required a key and
nobody had given me one…

The moment we stepped through those
doors, two things happened. First, my ears popped and a low, dull
buzz set up shop in the lower part of my skull. It didn't hurt, but
too much of that and I was going to get one hell of a headache.
Second, we were in the infirmary.

How…did that happen?

Nick touched my arm. "This is the back
door to the infirmary. Actually, it's the level just under
it."

Oh.

Sure.

A bubbly looking lady in faded
teddy-bear scrubs rushed to us and held her hand out to Mom's.
"Nona, I'm so glad you're here." Then her gaze slid over Mom, past
Jason and Nick, and landed on me. "Zoë! You're just the person we
need!" She moved past everyone else, grabbed my wrist, and yanked
me with her.

"Hey—" was about all I was able to get
out as we hurried down that hall, turned a corner, and came out
into what I could only describe as Nurse Central.

The room was built like a wagon wheel.
In the center was the control hub—a round desk with women and men
seated inside looking at monitors and talking into headsets. There
were five people in all, none of whom I recognized. What branched
off from the wheel's center were six pie-shaped rooms. The whole
thing looked like an ICU setup. Three of the rooms were lit up, the
others dark.

"Lucy." Mom caught up with us and put
a hand on the woman's shoulder. "Is he awake?"

"Yes." Lucy made sure I was looking at
her. "My name's Lucy Mullhaly. I'm more of an expert on Revenant
physiology. I understand the physics involved in what you—and he—"
She nodded to the farthest lit room on my right "—are. Did someone
brief you on what's been happening with—"

"Nona!"

That was Joe.

I frowned at Mom, and she sighed.
"I'll take her in. These two can stay out here."

Confused, and a little worried, I
followed Mom into one of the rooms branching off the Nurse Central.
The door wasn't locked so Mom pushed it open—

Something smashed into the wall to my
left. I yelled out as a paper airplane flew at my head and then
ducked as another zeroed in between my eyes. "What the—"

"Close the door!"

I thought we were going to step back
out, but Mom pushed me on in. When I heard the door close, I looked
at the room.

Joe Halloran stood in the
middle of a whirlwind of
stuff
. Books, papers,
pencils—

He was dressed in faded jeans, a
T-shirt and nothing else. Barefoot, and with wild hair, he turned
and faced Nona with a grin. "I think I'm getting
closer."

My jaw ached from dropping so much
today. I'd seen Joe work magic here and there—but never a lot of
it. Not like Mom and Rhonda. So this was…this was…. "What the hell
is he doing?"

"Hey, Zoë!" He waved at me. "Isn't
this cool?"

Yeah…I was looking at the
scene out of
Poltergeist
in the kid's room. Whirling maelstrom
of…stuff.

WTF?

Chapter Seven

I waved back. Sort of. Then
I gave Mom my best
confused-as-hell
look.

Mom sighed. "He's learning the Veil
spell."

He's—
eh
?

I'm not dumb. Really. I mean, I'm not
stupid, but I don't have a genius IQ So me not quite understanding
what Mom was talking about shouldn't surprise me.

But it did.