"I think she's coming around," a female voice said, issuing from somewhere above and to the right of me. I couldn't say for sure without opening my eyes, but I was going to hazard a guess that we were in Mexico or the very southernmost portion of the United States. The new voice was speaking Spanish and yet, somehow I understood her perfectly.

I was lying on a cot, burritoed in a blanket made of coarse fibers. A single fluffy pillow had been pushed beneath my head as I slept. That much I could tell without opening my eyes.

I cracked my eyes blearily, blinking hard as sunlight canted in from the east and stabbed me right in the eyes. It was morning...wherever we'd ended up. So either I'd spent absolutely no time at all in the Nevernever, or I'd managed to sleep clear through one day and wake the next morning. I was willing to bet it was the latter. The sides of my eyes were almost sealed shut with crusties, and I brought up a hand to knuckle the stuff away.

A sigh of relief issued from my left and I turned to see Anna Ash perched on a stool by my bedside. she had her hair pulled into a small but tight knot at the nape of her neck, which only served to make her appear even more drawn and worried than she'd been in recent weeks. Her clothes hadn't been enchanted, and so hadn't fared as well as mine during our trip through La Llorona's marshy home. Someone had loaned her a dark brown blouse with a scoop neckline and a dozen embroidered roses on its front. It was paired with a loose, flowy skirt of the same color.

Hovering at Anna's shoulder was a short Hispanic woman. If it weren't for the pinched look on her face, she'd be rather pretty. Her dark, curly hair fell loose around her shoulders, and the white dress she wore hugged a full figure.

"You're awake." Anna's voice was choked, barely above a whisper. "Thank the Goddess. I thought that ghost might have killed you."

"M'fine," I said. "Where are we?"

I propped myself up on my elbows so I could get a good look at the room I was in. It was small, barely seven by seven feet. The only furnishings seemed to be the cot I was currently on, a small end table with an old-fashioned lantern, complete with candle, and a bookshelf with a handful of creased paperbacks on its top shelf. There were no windows. The flood of morning sunlight was coming from an open door.

"We're in Oaxaca. Do you know where that is?"

Vaguely. Middle-school geography classes seemed like a distant memory after all the stuff I'd gone through lately. That Molly had been an innocent (okay, perhaps not pure as the driven snow, but still.) I doubted that Molly could have ever dreamed of doing the things I'd done, seeing the things I'd seen. But most of all, that Molly could never have imagined accepting a fallen angel into her head. Could never have imagined getting along with it, casting magic with its instruction.

I nodded, unwilling to admit that I was a little flummoxed and too tired to ask Lasciel to elaborate. Why was I still so tired? I'd gotten a full day of sleep. It should have replenished at least some of my energy.

"Your mind still needs time to heal from the glimpse you stole of me," Lasciel said tartly. "What were you thinking? It could have seriously harmed you."

"It wasn't like I meant to do it," I grumbled. "How did I do that, anyway?"

"You unwittingly used your sight to see me as I truly am. Or at least, as much as the human mind can perceive an angel."

Anna's lips pursed into a line as she read my distant expression. I wondered how she always seemed to know when Lasciel and I were talking. No one else in my life had seemed to notice, except for the residents of Rosie's building. And at that point, I hadn't known I was speaking to an illusion.

"It may be her ability, modest as it is," Lasciel said offhandedly. "Perceptiveness that goes beyond the norm. Not prescience, but near it."

Anna chose not to comment on it and continued; "We're in the home of Maria Reyes. In her back room to be exact. This is a safe house for the Fellowship of Saint Giles. A few more who are sympathetic to the cause spotted us emerging from the Nevernever and brought us to her home. She's made some calls and we may be able to make contact with them soon."

My eyes narrowed. "No tricks this time?"

Anna flinched, then dropped her eyes. "Molly...I...I truly meant well. I didn't know..."

I raised a hand, cutting her off. "Just save it, Anna. I'm too tired to hash that out right now. Is there any chance of breakfast?"

Anna flicked her gaze to Maria and repeated the question in shaky Spanish. Maria nodded and gestured for us to follow her through the half-opened door. I swung my legs over the side of the bed and swayed. My body felt like a cooked spaghetti noodle. Like I'd slither to the floor at any second. Anna shot out an arm to steady me, bracing my waist before I could fall. I was too churlish to say thank you. Lasciel and I had saved her life twice. Three times, if the kerfuffle with the wardens counted for anything. Was there a wizard equivalent of aiding and abetting? The White Council probably had people executed for that too. The least Anna could do for me at this point was to give me some damn support.

The rest of Maria's house was just as modestly furnished as her back room. It seemed to be by choice, though, not because she didn't have the money to make it ritzier. The breakfast spread laid out on the table was truly enormous. I wasn't familiar with half of the dishes, and still, my mouth watered. I hadn't seen fare like this since leaving home.

There were five people seated at the table already. A man I judged to be in his mid-to-late forties, with dark, wavy hair that he kept cropped close to his head and a bushy mustache that any b-movie cop would have been proud to sport. Three children, at around five, eight, and ten, if my seasoned experience with the Jawas served me. They were all waiting patiently, not touching their food. A pang of guilt twisted in my stomach. Had they been waiting for me all this time?

Anna and I sat on the opposite side of the table from the children and everyone dipped their heads. The man spoke in a gruff baritone, in Spanish that I still somehow understood.

"Bless us, oh Lord, and these, Thy gifts, which we are about to receive from Thy bounty. Through Christ, our Lord. Amen."

I followed along automatically, crossing myself on instinct. After so many years saying Grace around the Carpenter kitchen table, it was almost muscle memory at this point. Doubt and guilt seized me almost the instant I'd done it. I hadn't said Grace before mealtimes in a while. Lasciel's doing? Or did I know, on some fundamental level, that the taint of Lasciel's coin made me somehow unworthy to talk to God anymore?

If Lasciel had any insight on the matter, she didn't share it. Food was passed around the table, and I was distracted from my anxious thoughts by the insistent rumble of my stomach. The plate passed to me contained a bread roll cut down the middle and topped with refried beans, cheese, pico de gallo, and chorizo. It smelled like cheesy, meaty Nirvana, and it was a real effort not to shovel the whole thing into my mouth at once.

From the moment the first bite hit my tongue, I was too preoccupied with filling my cavernous stomach than trying to parse out the depressing question of whether I was still capable of speaking with God. By the time I'd been offered a glass of café de olla, coffee garnished with the coffee beans themselves, cinnamon and piloncillo, I was feeling more like uncooked pasta, instead of a limp noodle. Brittle, like I might still break, but at least I wasn't about to turn into a puddle of starchy goo on the ground.

The bustle of morning activity was familiar to me. Maria chivvied her children out the door, clad in their uniforms, to go to the local Catholic school. She kissed her husband Miguel before he set off for work, and cleaned up the remnants of breakfast.

Anna had remained silent most of breakfast, but her guilt was still palpable, a squirming thing that made my guts dance in empathetic feeling. I was really beginning to hate this whole sensitive BS. Why couldn't I go about like a normal person, oblivious to other people's feelings? It was beginning to get so bad that I could practically guess what people were going to say or do before they did it.

"Would you like me to shield you, my host?" Lasciel offered. "I am capable."

"Would you? That would be fantastic."

"But of course," Lasciel purred. And just like that, the haze of remorse evaporated, disappearing almost entirely.

I turned to her at last, finally able to have the conversation that had been brewing for days. Now I could properly hold onto my anger, without Anna's emotions clouding my feelings on the matter. I really should care about what she was feeling, but the petty part of me won out. I wanted my righteous fury. I wanted to ream her for bringing the wardens in, knowing damn well what could happen.

"I'm going to rest up here for a day or two, and then we're going to the bank," I said in a short, clipped tone.

Anna blinked in confusion, brows drawing together as she stared at me. "What?"

"We're going to find a bank that can give me access to that offshore account and I'm going to withdraw five thousand dollars. It should be enough to cover your flight back to Chicago and leave some leftover for your trouble. I'm sure you've lost your job by now. Possibly your apartment as well, since rent was due on the first of the month. There should be enough for a deposit on a new place if you spend frugally. You taught me as much as you could and you've been there through all this insanity. I owe you at least that much."

Anna blanched. "Molly, no. I'm not going."

"Did it sound like a suggestion?" I bit out. "I can't trust you anymore, Anna. Maria will put me in contact with the people I need to talk to. It's time to go our separate ways."

Her jaw set and steely resolve entered her eyes. "No. I'm not going. You want me to apologize? I will. I'll apologize a thousand times if that's what it takes to make you believe me. But I'm not leaving you alone, Molly. You're powerful. Goddess knows that you're powerful, and with that angel in your head, you're probably damn near unstoppable if you put your mind to it. But you're young. Impressionable. And she's already changing you. I can tell."

"I haven't changed a whit, Anna," I argued stubbornly. "It's you that's changed."

She pursed her lips. "You can't see it. You're too close. But you've changed a lot from the girl I met in August. You're angrier. Suspicious. Bitter. You don't talk much anymore, except to her."

I paused, considering that for a second. Anna might have a valid point. Lasciel had deceived or betrayed me before now. Her illusions, her refusal to help during a time of dire need, burying me after I took up her coin. She'd already proven she could alter my perceptions. Maybe Anna was right. Maybe I was changing.

Anna took my hand, squeezing it gently. "I know it's a little saccharine, Molly, but...I love you like a daughter. If I'd ever had a child, I'd want her to be like you. And I care too much to let you go off into the world alone without someone to look after your best interest. So please, allow me to make things up to you. You need someone to tell you when she's manipulating you. You're too close to the situation to spot it."

I couldn't fault her logic. She was probably right. I removed my hand from hers, still too bitter to admit it out loud. Her betrayal had cut me deep, deeper than a mere friend's. Sometime during our time together I'd almost come to regard her as a second mother, as I'd once considered Huber a fatherly figure. Both had betrayed me. I wasn't sure I could take it if I was bitten a third time.

I sat thinking about it for a long time, downing at least three cups of coffee before I made a decision.

"Fine," I said finally. "We'll stick together. You call me out if Lasciel is twisting me around like a pretzel. But I still won't trust you. Not until you earn it."

There was a flinching around Anna's eyes, but she nodded. "I suppose that's fair."

"And if things get too dangerous with the Fellowship, please promise me that you'll get the hell out of Dodge. I can't lose another person I care about."

The memory of her unbreathing and pale on the surface of that rickety boat in the marsh flashed before my eyes. I shuddered. There had been so many bodies. I refused to let Anna be one of them.

A tiny smile tugged the edges of her mouth and she nodded.

"Deal."

It took another week and a half for a member of the Fellowship to get in contact with Miguel and Maria and give us coordinates on where to meet. We were on our way to a cabana near the base of Sierra Juárez. I'd used the time to learn the other applications of verisimolmancy. I'd mastered veils thoroughly, but after my encounter with La Llorona, I was now interested in trying to master the power of illusion. Disturbing as it had been, I couldn't deny it was effective. Illusion magic was only limited by magical staying power and the imagination of the caster.

So far I'd been able to entertain the Reyes children with illusions of their favorite cartoon characters and their respective theme songs and project my mental image of Lasciel into reality, so she could speak to Anna. It was a little bizarre when other people could hear and see her as vividly as I could. It did make communicating with her easier though. Less time spent in my head and I didn't look like a crazy person if I tried to speak to her out loud.

She cast a disparaging look at the pendant nestled between my breasts. "This is just cruel, my host."

Anna snickered as we made our way up the bath toward the cabana. "I think it's great."

It was a faux gold necklace I'd fashioned during our downtime at the Reyes house emblazoned with the visage of Saint Jude. I'd made it a little overlarge and hollow so that it could hide Lasciel's coin. I didn't like the idea of leaving it in my pocket, where it could be easily snatched by some unwary pickpocket or lost in the commotion of the seemingly endless fights I found myself in. It was preferable to the common method of actually ingesting the damn thing and continually recycling it, so to speak. This method was unlikely to raise eyebrows anywhere we went in Mexico. In most of the rest of the world, for that matter.

The illusion of Lasciel smoothed her ankle-length skirt rather than respond to Anna. The pair had been rather snippy with each other since beginning to speak through the medium of my illusions.

Anna and I were dressed for function, not style. My blouse was plain, the pants light and breathable, which was useful. Even in winter, the weather was warmer than I was used to. Chicago would be bitterly cold by this point, and possibly so clogged with snow that getting to school might be impossible for the Jawas.

I frowned. It had been beginning or mid-November when I'd had my confrontation with Huber. We'd spent three weeks and change in the Omni Hotel and then another week and a half here. Were they home for the holidays? Or was Christmas already over? God, I really needed to keep better track of the time. My chest tightened as I pictured my family gathered in the living room, decorating the tree. How were they doing now? Was my absence still being felt?

Something rustled in the foliage to the right of our path. I paused, straining to hear what could have made it. I slipped my wands from my pocket slowly. It might be an animal, but something told me to be wary all the same. Anna took three more steps before she noticed I'd paused.

"What's going on, Mo-" She caught herself with difficulty. We'd agreed that I'd go by Catherine in the Reyes house and when meeting the Fellowship. "What is it, Catherine?"

"I'm not sure," I muttered, scanning the treeline. "Maybe nothing."

Something moved in the shadow of one of the trees. Then a dark shape leaped out, arms flung wide to snatch one of us. Fortunately, he'd chosen Lasciel's illusion to pounce on and he fell through her, catching himself just before he could impact the ground face first. I leaped away, half-sprinting to reach Anna, letting Lasciel's image fizzle out.

Two more shapes emerged from the trees. All three were clad in black, cowls shrouding their faces. One was huge, as tall as Harry, but with a lot more bulk. I guessed him to be a man in his prime. The second was also a man, but one of average height, which made him look shrimpy, compared to his companion. The third was smaller still, almost childlike.

They all moved with incredible speed, moving to surround us on every side.

"Really?" I shouted, rolling my eyes to the sky. "Again?"

My little moment of indulgent hysteria was short-lived. I channeled power into my wands and my shield bracelets. I didn't see any guns, but that didn't mean they weren't armed. I held it at the ready so I could bring the cross-studded shield to bear at a moment's notice.

"I need to balance a few spells at once," I hissed to Lasciel. "Do you have my back?"

"Of course."

I drew a veil over myself and held it in place, quickly working to build the next spell before our attackers could leap at the place I'd disappeared. Yanking Anna backward, I brought my wands up. Illusions had worked on the first attacker, so it was what I leaned on now. With one wand I brought forth sound and strobing light, and the pulsing beat of Burning Down the House filled the clearing. With the other, I projected a vision of Anna and I running the opposite direction.

They took the bait. Two of them took off after the illusion. The third was smarter, starting forward at a trajectory just a little to the right of us. I rushed her and she barely avoided my first swing. The second connected with her cheek and she staggered. I bit back a little whimper. In the action movies, they didn't let on just how much punching someone hurt. I didn't even have the satisfaction of watching the girl fall to the ground.

She took a swipe at me, which I barely escaped. Damn it, how were they so fast?

"Not fast enough to be red court vampires," Lasciel mused. "I'd say they are infected with the taint but have not given themselves over to it. They have many of the advantages of vampires with few of their weaknesses."

Great. Just great.

The girl came for me again and I dropped into a crouch, executing a move I'd seen a million times in movies. I braced myself on the ground and kicked one foot out, connecting solidly with the girl's knee. It popped audibly out of the socket and she went down with a wail of pain. It was enough to draw her companions away from my phantasm and back to the scene of the fight.

They rushed us again, and I dropped the illusion and my veil, instead opting to channel all my will into a blast of force that lifted them off their feet. All of them went flying back about six feet, tumbling ass over teakettle until two of them smacked into the trunks of trees.

I was preparing another blast when fire erupted at my feet and formed a ring around Anna and I. It burned so hot that every hair on my body tried to curl away from it. Anna scooted as close to me as possible, putting inches between herself and the flames. The flames didn't advance, just formed a heated barrier between us and our attackers, who were climbing shakily to their feet.

"Enough!"

A fourth figure stepped out of the woods, clad in the same black getup as the others. This one was definitely a woman. Her curves strained the fabric.

"Enough," she repeated. "I think we can safely say she's as promising as the Reyes family promised."

The bunched muscles in my back relaxed as realization dawned on me. If these half-vampires knew the Reyes family, they had to be our contacts. I lowered my wands slowly, even as they lowered their hoods. The three who'd attacked me were an eclectic bunch. The smallest of the bunch was a girl. Ivory pale, with huge blue eyes, and white-blonde hair. She looked about twelve, just starting to blossom into womanhood. The bulky giant reminded me a little of Sanya. He was a black man, but I was used to that in Chicago. He was darker than average, with a long face and an impish twinkle in his dark eyes. The man of average height looked biracial. Korean-American maybe. His dark hair had been spiked into pointy disarray.

The fourth woman threw back her hood as well. I blinked a little in shock. She had movie-star good looks. Long and rangy, with a curvy body. Long, intensely curly dark hair framed a compelling face. Sharp chin, intense dark eyes, and a full mouth painted crimson. It quirked up into a smile as she regarded me.

"I must say that was impressive magic to do on the fly," she said. She stepped forward, extending a hand to me. "I'm Hannah, by the way. Hannah Ascher. Welcome to the Fellowship of Saint Giles, Catherine."