"How… how could this happen? How could I fail you this badly, Molly?"

"Harry, this wasn't your fault."

"You were my responsibility. And I didn't protect you. I didn't teach you - "

"Harry! This was my choice."

"Barely! You were dealing with the Fae."

"Yes, so, technically, I had a choice." She hugged herself, and seemed to shrink. "Even if that choice was between 'become the Winter Knight' and 'be hunted down like a fox.'"

"And now you're Mab's errand girl!"

"Harry, please, calm down."

"I'm trying, kid." The way my voice rose, you might have thought I was lying.

"I was afraid you'd be mad at me."

"I am. A little." I got quiet. "I'm mostly mad at me." I stooped and grabbed my staff, and walked away, heading for the living room.

"Harry, please, wait!" She grabbed my shoulder, and pulled me around.

I spun like a top and hit my arm on the wall. Not my funny bone, but close enough to feel a tingling sensation. "Ow!" I stood there, stunned. Molly gasped and covered her mouth.

"Oh, I'm sorry!" She looked completely crestfallen. "I'm stronger than I was! I'm still getting used to that."

"Right. No wonder you haven't been to see your family yet." It came out a little more harshly than I want it to. She closed her eyes.

"Harry!" Murph chastised me.

"No, he's right," Molly said. "After everything I've been through, everything I've done in the last few weeks… I told myself I could handle going home." She shook her head. "But if that was true, I would have just gone straight there. I don't know my limits, yet. Or what I'm really capable of. Or what the Queen might make me do." She looked at the floor. "I might hurt them," she finished quietly.

Murphy and I glanced at each other. She made an impatient face. I sighed silently. "Molly," I said. "I'm sure it's not that bad. I mean, what's happened to you? You know, besides the whole knight thing. Which I still don't understand. Why did Mab give you the mantle?"

She leaned against the wall and slowly slid down to the floor. "There was… an initiation rite," she said in a small voice. "It… it was humiliating. And painful. And scary. I'm sorry, I don't want to talk about it."

Mouse sat down beside the kid. She looked so small, suddenly. She smiled a little, leaned against the oversized mutt and wiped her eyes on his fur.

"I thought," she continued, "after that, I could deal with anything, but… I don't think I can. I definitely can't face my mother right now." She looked up at me. "And as for the mantle… Harry, she always wanted me."

Um. What? My voice went whisper quiet. "Always? But I thought…"

"What? That she wanted you?" She snorted. "She would have taken you, sure. But she's had her eye on me since I came into my magic."

My mouth fell open. "She told you this?"

"Maeve did, after the – the rite. In plain, honest language. No wordplay, no inferences. The whole deal with Arctis Tor and the phages? She said…"

My voice got its strength back. "What? What did she say?"

"She said it was planned. The whole thing was planned to make me your apprentice. Because she had power over you, already. She knew what you would do, and she allowed it. The Denarians' attack that day actually made it easier to sell. That day, she watched you and Mama rescue me, because she knew what it would do to me, you know, psychologically."

My jaw tightened up again. I hate being manipulated. And this was all the worse because I'd been played like a fiddle just so Mab could get to someone else. Not just anyone; a child. And a woman. I get a little sensitive about both. "But how did she - The favours." My thumb and middle finger found my temples. "I still owe that bitch a favour."

Murphy looked at me. "That lets her control you?"

"It gives her a degree of influence. I'm mortal. The Sidhe can never full control mortals. We always have our free will… even if they can occasionally make us think we don't." I crouched down. "I'm sorry, Molly. I'm sorry I couldn't help you. I'm sorry you were forced into this decision." I manoeuvred myself against the wall, and put an arm around her. "And I'm sorry you're scared of yourself, now."

"Not your fault. I just… don't know what they're going to think."

"They're going to be glad you're home."

"Even my mom?"

"Especially your mom."

Molly looked at me, obviously disbelieving. "Really?"

"Molly."

"I'm just… I've always been afraid of disappointing them, you know? And now I've been turned into this… thing. This walking weapon. All because I was scared." She shook her head. "I wanted to be brave, Harry, I really did. But Winter is a scary place."

"I know, kid."

"I wanted to be like you, or Dad… or Mama. But I couldn't."

"Molly, they really will be glad just to have you home."

She smiled at me, relieved, but still unhappy. She'd probably be that way for a while. But she was alive. Getting her out of her deal… well, I'd work on that.

That was the first time I heard the horns.

"What is that?" I asked, looking up. Mouse did, too.

"What's what?" Murphy asked back.

"The horns," Molly said.

"What?" Murph looked to the front of the house. "No one's honking."

"No," I said, getting to my feet. "Not car horns. Hunting horns."

I walked to the front door, Molly and Mouse at my heels. Murphy brought up the rear, looking confused. "What are you talking about?"

I opened the door, and we all spilled out onto the snowy front lawn. The sound of horns, long, deep notes, was louder, and coming from everywhere.

"You guys are worrying me," Murph said, arms wrapped around herself.

"Have you ever heard anything like that before?" Molly asked. She seemed unaffected by the cold.

I turned to her, and got a shiver. Not a cold shiver. "Once. During the Darkhallow."

Her eyes hardened. "The Erlking?"

I'd expected her voice to get small and worried. Instead, at the mention of one of the most powerful Fae in all of Faerie, she looked ready for a duel. Huh. She really was the Winter Knight. I nodded.

She took a deep breath and lifted her left hand. She was reaching out with her arcane senses, the same ones I'd used to read my own wards. The thing is, Molly's much stronger when it comes to subtle and mental magic than I am. After a moment, she lowered her hand. "There are no Fae nearby. Maybe some of the Little Folk, but they're everywhere."

The horns had stopped. I glanced up the street at a dark sedan. I couldn't see them, but I knew that inside, there were two confused and rumpled agents of the FBI. "Let's get back inside," I said.

Molly went first, and Mouse, after a last look around, followed her. "Harry?" Murphy said.

"Yeah?"

"What's going on?"

I glanced up into the dark sky, but saw nothing. "I have no idea."

An hour later, we sat around some pizza, watching the news. Mister, my unusually big-boned cat, sat atop the TV. Molly had begged us to not call her parents. Murphy and I had agreed, on the condition she talk to them herself tomorrow.

The horns that only magic users seemed to hear bothered me, and I had left a message with Andi, Elaine's temporary roommate, to jiggle the wires of the Paranet, our supernatural, world-wide neighbourhood watch. Then the pizza came, and it occupied all my thoughts, like a normal red-blooded American.

The phone rang in the kitchen as Murph was about to take her first bite, and she sighed as she got up to answer it.

"So," Molly asked, "how do you like having a water heater?"

I scratched my chin, looked at the ceiling, and generally used my mulling face. "You know, I have to admit, it's pretty freaking sweet. Though, it did break down last week. Murph was unimpressed."

"Lame."

"Like, seriously."

She giggled like a school girl. Which, in an odd way, she was.

"You glad to be back on Earth? Even if it's only a visit?"

"Oh, God, yes!" She said it with all seriousness. Molly, like all her family, and unlike myself, doesn't vainly take names. "I really missed everyone." A flashy car commercial came on. "And TV."

"So, dare I ask? What brings you home?"

"The Queen just told me to go back to Chicago. She didn't offer a reason, and I don't question her."

The fact that she didn't question authority, even a little, worried me, but I said nothing.

We listened to the TV for a bit. I heard Murph hang up the phone, and start tromping back to the living room, when it rang again. She muttered something. From around the corner, it sounded like she said, "Oh, f-fudge cakes," but I knew that wasn't right.

Molly hid her smile. I did not.

The news came on. The lead local story: Mass Exodus! The anchors very seriously told us about the unusual number of people leaving the city in the last month or so; seasonal workers heading south, college kids headed home, and people taking long vacations. The city was oddly under-populated. On the other hand, they told us much more happily, the morning commute had been great lately.

Finally, Murphy returned to us. She sat down, grabbed her slice of Sicilian, and munched.

"Telemarketer?" I asked.

"Butters."

"Waldo?" Molly asked.

Murph and I both gave her confused looks. "Waldo?" I asked.

"That… that is his name, right?"

"I'm pretty sure only his mother calls him that, kid," Murph said.

"Oh," Molly said.

"What's up with our favourite medical examiner?" I asked.

"He's leaving."

"What?"

"Relax, he didn't get fired, or anything. He's just heading out of town. Said he cashed in all his vacation, and is getting out."

I looked at the TV. "Not the only one. Who was the second call?"

"Rawlins."

"Something weird with SI?" There was usually 'something weird' with Special Investigations. They handled all the odd goings-on in Chicago, and made it appear less strange. At one point, when Murphy had been running that show, I'd been a regular face there. But now, she was out, and so was I. Goddamn politics.

"Animal desecrations. He was wondering if you could take a look into it, his plate's full."

I took a breath, about to tell her such a case would be a waste of my time and powers, when something clicked.

Lash? What do blowing horns, desecrated animals and weird weather all have in common?

Individually, nothing, though taken as a group, they are all portents of the apocalypse, she answered, her voice just a little worried.

Great.

Four hours later, Murphy was in her bed, Molly was in mine, and I was on the couch. I couldn't speak for the girls, but I was wide awake. Mouse was lying beside me, breathing deep and putting out warmth, but almost constantly lifting his head to look out the window, his ears swivelling.

I rolled over, facing the window. The phrase 'Portents of the Apocalypse' danced in my vision.

I rolled over the other way, facing the back of the couch. The question of why Mab had sent Molly home was waiting for me there.

On my back, I kept seeing Molly being inducted into Winter's service, in a ritual, and me unable to do anything about it. A ritual that, if I knew the Sidhe, was one she would never, ever talk about, due to the pervasive, possibly sexual nature of it…

I sat up before my mind could head down that road, turning on a lamp. I put on my jeans, my duster, my boots. I grabbed Mouse's lead, and took him out the front door, quiet as I could. Normally, I would have gone out the back, but for some reason, I wanted a look around the neighbourhood. It was chilly, but I wanted to be awake, alert.

Instead of making use of the facilities, my dog kept looking around, obviously uncomfortable. Then he did something he never did: he whimpered. I ducked down to pet his neck. "Hey, buddy. What's wrong? You never act like this." The motions of his neck seemed to grow more agitated. "Hey, come on, calm down. What's wrong?"

Mouse had proven himself sensitive to the dark side quite a few times, but my wards weren't tingling. I focussed on my arcane senses, stretching them out as far as they could go, but I didn't get even tickle of supernatural force. Normal evil, then?

Okay. So what would a normal dog sense that a normal human wouldn't? I closed my eyes, focussed all my attention on my sense of hearing, and Listened. I heard wind blowing; I heard snow falling off trees and landing on the ground; I heard a snow plow roving among regular traffic a block and a half away. The hum of electricity. Nothing else.

So what else could a dog pick up on that a person wouldn't?

I shook my head, looked through the front window of Murph's house, and saw Mister in a state of equal agitation.

Okay, so what would animals in general sense that a human wouldn't –

Oh, Hell's bells!

I pulled open the door, not bothering to stay quiet. "Ladies, I think we're going to have an - "

The first tremor hit then, and it was big. I fell against the wall of the spare bedroom, bounced off, and rolled down the hall, landing on my back in front of the bathroom. Picture frames dropped from the walls, dishes rattled, and the light I'd left on flickered, fell over, and went out. Mouse hit the floor, not moving. I saw a shadow of Mister dash under the couch.

The shaking continued, and I heard the creaking of wooden frames, then the cracking of glass. In the faint light from the street lamps, I saw the front windows to Murph's house develop lines, then shatter from their frames. The TV fell over, face first, exploding.

The bedroom doors opened at almost the same instant, disgorging twin, silhouetted Knights, wielding swords, just as the shaking subsided. "Harry? Molly?"

"I'm here!" I shouted from the floor.

"You guys okay?" Molly's voice asked.

"Yeah," I said. Murph helped me up, then hit the light switch. "I'm – ah!" I threw an arm up over my eyes.

Molly had been naked. And I mean naked naked. Not just PG-13-type partially topless, not R-type g-strings-only, but full-on, X-type, not-until-you're-married, naked.

And she was hot. Dammit.

There are times I'm glad that I'm a trained and practised observer. There are times I wish I wasn't. This was one of those rare times I was divided on the subject.

Yeah, she was hot – tall, slim, athletic and solid, lean muscle everywhere. Legs, long. Chest, just right. Enormous snowflake-shaped brand, over her left hip.

But, I was seeing someone else, and she was the daughter of a good friend. Dammit.

I looked at Murph, instead, who was wearing boy-boxers and a tank top… and an appreciative look on her face. She was staring past me, at my former apprentice, eyebrows raised under her mess of hair.

"Oh, shoot! Sorry, I got used to sleeping this way." I heard her pad away, and the bedroom door close.

Murphy was shaking her head, still staring after Molly. "Murph?"

"Hmm?" She looked at me looking at her. "Oh. Oh, come on. I'm not switch-hitting, but… I can appreciate hard work. And that girl works hard."

I slapped my hands over my ears. "Ahh!"

"Oh, get over it." She slipped Fidelacchius back into its sheath over her shoulder. "You're okay?"

"Yeah." I kneeled down again to reassure Mouse.

"I think the TV's dead. Dig out the radio in the kitchen, try to get the EBS? I'm going to check outside if the neighbours are okay."

"Yeah, sure. Here," I said, doffing my duster and holding it out to her.

"Thanks." She slipped it on, the hem dragging on the floor, then stepped into some boots and out the front door.

Molly re-emerged from the bedroom, jeans and shirt back firmly where they were supposed to be. "Hey, Harry. Sorry about that."

"Are you? Are you really?"

She looked down at my topless form and licked her lips. "Uh, yeah. Wearing clothes to bed is… discouraged, in Arctis Tor."

"Right," I said, suddenly self-conscious. Becoming the Winter Knight had changed her, all right. I grabbed my shirt from where I'd dropped it before bedtime, and headed for the kitchen. "I'm going for the radio. Try to coax Mister out from under the couch, would you?"

Murphy came back a little while later, out of breath but smiling in her eyes; Neighbours helped, check.

According to the emergency broadcast system, the quake had registered at least an 8.1 on the Richter scale, its epicentre somewhere under the waters of southern Lake Michigan. I took note of that, but said nothing.

Information was slow to trickle in. Though there was damage everywhere within 150 miles, Chicago, it seemed, was the city hardest hit. Buildings had collapsed downtown, fissures opened in the streets.

I snapped the radio off. "People are hurt. And the things in Undertown could leak out on to the surface. Especially at night."

Molly, Murphy and I all exchanged a look, then we all wordlessly headed back to our respective rooms to get dressed and battle-ready.

We thought Something Bad had just happened. We were wrong, of course. Something Bad had just started to happen.

We took Murph's car to the end of her street and stopped. There was a three-foot wide fissure running through the intersection. We got out of the car, and a look down told us it was only about four feet deep, and 'V' shaped. Not a danger from Undertown to be had here, at least. "Well," Murphy said, "as heroic charges go..."

"Yeah," I said. "Epic fail." I turned to Molly. "Don't suppose you know a good Way?"

I said the last word with just a hint of emphasis, indicating I was using a proper noun. My former apprentice smiled and pointed. "About half a block down, back of the convenience store. It's how I got here."

Leaving the car, we hopped the chasm and set off at a light jog. The neighbourhood was mostly quiet and dark. Some of the houses had lights on, but they were in the minority. As we passed, we saw groups of people, young, old, black, white and everything in between, helping each other.

I'll admit, for a little while, I was proud to be human.

I started getting short of breath before any of my companions. That sucked. However, I managed to keep up until we got to the tiny shopping plaza. There was a corner store that did not sell Slurpees or knock-offs thereof, a video store, and a dentist. Molly led us behind the Slurpee-less inconvenience store. Once we were off the poorly lit road, I paused to catch my breath, without leaning against the building.

The snow was starting to come down again.

Molly approached the trash bin resting behind the building, took a deep breath, closed her eyes, lifted her right hand, and murmured, "Aprio." As she did this, she moved her hand in a straight line downward. Then up to the right, then to the left.

The symbolism was not lost on me.

As she was doing this, a line formed in the air, thin and purple. It widened with her touch, becoming a large oval, hovering against the side of the dumpster.

On the other side of the oval, where there should have just been trash, there were trees covered in thick snow. Molly reached up and drew her sword. "Come on in."

Mouse followed without hesitation. Murphy and I exchanged a glance, then I followed her through the doorway to the Nevernever.

The Ways are paths, routes through the realm of spirit and imagination that provide shortcuts for the travel-weary wizard. Since the Nevernever is shaped by thought, emotion and will, rather than tectonics, one point in the Nevernever linked to another point in the real world, can be only feet away from a point miles off in the real world.

I've found it to be the single best way to avoid customs. $700 limit, my ass.

Opening a doorway to the Nevernever takes concentration, practice, and a certain minimum level of talent. Or, in Molly's case, an open invitation.

The Ways of Winter were open to wizards of the White Council and their companions, but Tom Cruise help those who wander off the paths. We emerged from the dumpster door onto a pathway leading out of an enormous, frozen tree.

The air was cool and twilit, a slight midnight blue reflecting off mounds of icy snow. The trees seemed innocuous enough, but I'd been here often enough to know that appearances aren't worth the space in your memory they take up.

There are times I think an alliance with Summer would have been much more palatable for the Council. Or at least more comfortable for travelling. If only Titania, the Queen of Summer, hadn't turned out to be possessed by evil. And a little nutty.

I pulled my duster a little tighter and started walking, following Molly. I kept an eye out for danger – in the Nevernever, just as in certain real neighbourhoods, it's only smart to do so – but nothing crossed our path. That was probably Molly's doing. As the Winter Knight, she was automatically granted some respect by the denizens of Winter.

After a few minutes of hearing nothing but the crunch of snow and the huff of our breath, Molly suddenly stopped walking, head to one side. Mouse made the same gesture at the same moment, and I followed their gazes. My dog let out a short, low growl.

"Knight," a mewling, cat-like voice said in the darkness.

"Grimalkin," I said. The voice was attached to a hairy, Corgi-shaped creature with an oddly articulated mouth that only half-emerged from shadow atop a snowbank.

"Wizard," he said. "And Knight of the White God," he added, looking at Murphy.

Molly stepped forward and addressed the creature with a degree of formality. "Are you here on the Queen's business, Messenger?"

"I am her Majesty's eyes." Then he blinked, vertically. It was a little creepy. "She wonders why you have returned. Yet, I see you accompany the Wizard Dresden. That is well. Her Majesty commands that you remain with the wizard, at all times."

"All times?" I said. "She's not coming in the bathroom with me."

Molly gave me a sharp look. She clenched her jaw and barely moved her lips as she said, "Harry, please."

I took a breath and closed my stupid mouth.

Molly turned back to the creepy little Mouth of Sauron – er, Mab. "As the Queen commands," she said.

In Molly's voice, I heard a slight tremble, a hesitation between syllables. She was scared. Compared to her reaction when I mentioned the Erkling…

I'd seen that kind of change before; I know a woman named Lara Raith. She's my brother's older sister, and the functioning head of the White Court of Vampires. She's in that position secretly, of course, because she was able to psychically beat down her father into submission in a contest of sexual will.

And yes, it's just as yucky as it sounds.

But before Lara was able to break his mind, he'd held her under his thumb for centuries, as with all her sisters. He did it by raping them, mentally. It left them broken, unable to assert themselves, and constantly afraid of him. I'd heard the sound of the usually confident Lara's voice shaking when in her father's presence.

Molly sounded exactly the same. My hatred for Mab reached an all-time high.

Grimalkin nodded, then turned and vanished back into the shadows.

My apprentice took an unsteady breath. Murphy put a hand on her shoulder. "Molly? Are you - ?"

"We're just a couple minutes away. Come on." Molly started walking again, without looking at us. I watched her, my face set and stony, my insides burning like my old apartment. I caught a glimpse of Murph looking at me, mouth open. She closed it without saying anything when she saw my face.

We hurried after Molly.

As we did, something started to tingle my spider-sense. Why, exactly, was Mab glad that Molly was with me? And why, exactly, was she now permanently assigned to Harry-duty?

No, make that Dresden-duty. The other one just sounds weird.

All I had to go on was Grimalkin's words, which, as was typical, were cryptic. Still, there was something a little off here. Damned if I could figure out what, though.

The Way emerged into an alley, in near-total darkness. Only the nearby blue and red lights of emergency vehicles let us see, and then only in deep swathes of colour painting us and our surroundings in a hellish, distorted riot of confusion.

There was noise; the rush of steam and water underfoot, the howl of winds overhead, and the cracking of ice, snow, and brick all around.

Getting our bearings took a moment, made even longer by the fact that we were not on even ground. Everything had shifted. We stepped out into the chaos, just feet away from yellow tape.

We approached that mystical barrier that only cops and EMS ever seemed to be able to cross. A young officer, male, medium brown skin, short hair, thick jacket, moved to stop us.

Then he saw Murph. "Sorry, folks, but you can't - Sergeant?"

"Hey, Gary."

He shook his head and quickly took us all in. "What are you doing here, Murphy?"

"Trying to help."

"You know I can't let you in here." He sounded like he genuinely regretted it. He glanced over his shoulder. "Trust me, you don't want in here. You should see the roads. I saw one split right down the yellow line. Now, there's got to be a seven or eight foot difference between northbound and southbound."

I looked past the young cop, and saw exactly what he was talking about, two blocks down. Two buildings, at least one of which used to be eight stories high, were now half-crumbled ruins. It was hard to tell how tall the other one had been since its lot had sunk below the surface before collapsing.

If Undertown denizens wanted out, that would be an open door for them to crawl through.

Every building between here and there had sustained some form of damage – from windows blown out and doors off their hinges, to façade loss, to total collapse, and everything in between. It definitely got worse as it went.

"Barnes," a deep voice called to the cop. We all looked over to see Henry Rawlins, Murph's last partner, approaching. The big cop had short, dark but graying hair, skin like coffee and a mind like a steel trap. "Dammit, kid, what is Karrin Murphy doing on that side of the tape?"

Gary Barnes started to stutter. "Uh, I, I was just, I mean - "

"And a dog with a nose like that? Could be real useful." Mouse sneezed his thanks. "Forget it, Gary. I'll take the heat on this one." Rawlins lifted the yellow barrier and waved us through. "Come on in. We need all the help we can get in here."

"What's SI doing down here?" I asked.

"Every detective in town is down here. Uniforms are all over the city, answering alarms and 911 calls. SI, Homicide, and Vice all got called in. Every firefighter in the city, too."

"Uh, quick question: what time is it?"

Rawlins looked at me with an eyebrow raised, and glanced at his watch. "Just about 1:30. Why?"

"My watch stopped," I said. I shook my head. The 15-minute 'shortcut' had taken better than an hour and a half in the real world. I hated it when that happened.

The devastation was indescribable. No, that's not true; It was ridiculous. EMS was stretched thin. Rawlins explained that a small fault line, running right through downtown Chicago, had pulled a Long, Dark Tea-Time of the Soul and just got fundamentally fed up with being where it was. About twenty or so hotels, offices and apartments, had simply collapsed. Twice as many buildings were starting to crumble.

Some small fires were burning, but they were mostly under control. When no one was looking, Molly put out a few with a nifty ice spell I would have had trouble reproducing.

The simple size of the disaster had overwhelmed the ability of emergency services to respond; the damage to the roads was making it hard to move heavy rescue equipment, and word had filtered down after about an hour that the governor had called in the National Guard.

I saw stores I had gone into, crushed, cracked, blown apart and completely missing. I saw a pair of hotels I had actually spent time in, and in one case where I knew some of the staff, with windows and doors and even façades, brickwork and awnings lying in the street. Lettering was missing or hanging by a thread on many signs; The 'Ritz' was now the 'R.' The Amber Inn was now the 'ber I'.

Most of the businesses had been empty, and the unusual exiting of the city that had been going on for a while helped, but the hotels still had some people in them, mostly staff. At one point, Mouse and I got recruited to help scour a hollow area under what had been a 12-storey, 4-star hotel; Mouse found three people, half-buried, but alive. He was probably going to end up on the front page tomorrow.

Twice, I saw Murph's eyes glaze over, followed by her calling for help in a seemingly random location, only to pull someone out of a pile of debris.

I saw Molly hold up a falling wall while a man and his daughter were dragged to safety.

Meanwhile, I just found myself short of breath. Stupid heart. The feeling of sheer powerlessness I had was massive. I was used to being the one who was helping, or leading the charge.

It was then, tired, helpless and frustrated, that I thought I heard something familiar whispering my name. "Dresden…"

I looked around, saw nothing. The sound did not repeat itself.

Lash?

Yes?

Did you hear that?

I did not. But I can hear your memory of it.

So, I'm not crazy? Something just whispered my name?

She hesitated. You believe something did.

Great. First horns, and now one of the voices in my head can't hear the other one. Does this make me schizophrenic?

Not exactly. I don't believe you have a disorder; you are simply exhausted. The sound was not Elaine's voice, and she is the only person you share a connection of this type with.

That feeling of exhaustion was compounded by watching Molly and Murphy, who as far as I could tell, both now had boundless energy. Stupid Knights. I'd probably heard snow or brickwork falling down and twisted the sound into something familiar. I put it out of my mind.

The whole time we were in the disaster zone, Molly and I kept our senses tuned for 'special' activity, but, oddly, neither of us felt anything. That, more than the devastation itself, completely freaked me out.

I was taking a breather after Mouse's successful rescue, sitting on a luxury car that was now 'U' shaped due to the stonework that had fallen on it, when I finally got a tingle of a supernatural presence. It was familiar. I smiled without turning around. "Hi, Thomas."

I heard him sigh. "Never try to sneak up on a wizard," he muttered. My brother slid into my vision, and, like the bastard vampire he was, he looked great. Even better, because he was toting coffee and a bag of doughnuts. "Refreshments?"

My stomach made a loud, rude noise. We both looked at it. He handed over the bag without further talking. I'm pretty sure I swallowed one doughnut without chewing, then slowly sank into the next one. The coffee was perfect: just warm enough, and lots of sugar.

"Where'd you find a place that was open?"

"Twenty minutes west of here. No damage, power's still on." He joined me on the remains of the BMW. "How you holding up?"

"I'm all right. Tired."

"Figured."

"How'd you know I'd be here?"

"This is your town, Harry. And a disaster just happened. Where else would you be?"

I smiled, weakly, and watched a few firefighters pull an old man out of his 3rd floor apartment across the street. He was bruised, but would probably make it. I'd seen them pull eight others out of the same building who didn't.

"How's Inari?"

"Better. They finally went home two days ago. With stepped-up security, of course."

"Of course."

"Now, since you won't bring it up, am I seeing things? Or is that - "

"Molly," I confirmed.

"It is her."

I explained her circumstances. He stared at me.

"Empty night," he swore softly. He shook his head. "White Council's not hunting for her anymore?"

"Better things to do. And she changed citizenship. Suppose she'd be safe, now. Council couldn't go after her without pissing off Mab."

"Right." He looked at my face. "You should go get some sleep."

I must've looked even worse than I felt. "Can't. Can't leave everybody."

"I'll drive you. I'll let Murphy know."

Before I could tell him where he could stick his ride, he was off. I slumped back onto the car, picking up my coffee.

After three sips, Thomas reappeared, Murphy and Molly in tow. "Okay, new plan," he said. He pulled out his keys.

Murphy took over. "The National Guard's en route. I'm sticking around for a while longer. And Thomas has volunteered to take your place, Harry. Molly's going with you. And be careful, I heard all of the major roads are cracked or buckling."

My brother tossed his keys to Molly.

"Oh, you are kidding me!" I shouted, struggling to my feet.

Murphy put a hand on my shoulder and effortlessly pushed me down again. I couldn't do anything but breathe, hard.

"Come on," Molly said. "I'm taking you home. No arguing."

"Right," I gasped. Where the hell had my strength gone in the last few hours? Was a heart attack really this incapacitating? The last three weeks hadn't felt this way…

Mouse stayed with Murphy and Thomas. As Molly drove me back to Murph's house, we stayed quiet. Thomas had a posh, flashy, Italian car, with a great heater. The radio crapped out on us, but that was to be expected with two wizards in the car. She drove slowly, creeping around stalled cars, massive potholes, enormous fissures, flowing water from ruptured mains, and through snow that was starting to thicken again.

"So," she said. "Murphy told me that you and Elaine have kind of started seeing each other again."

I was a little uncomfortable with this topic, but I said, "Yeah. She's closed up her office for a bit. Been staying in town."

"Wow. That's… that's really great for you, Harry. I'm happy for you."

"You don't really sound enthusiastic."

She licked her lips. "No, it's not that. I'm just distracted. Haven't driven in a while, let alone through a war zone." She tried to laugh, but her voice sounded rough.

"Molly? Do you… not like Elaine?"

"Are you kidding? I barely know her. But she's the love of your life, right?"

I shrugged. "Maybe."

"She's this big, shining beacon of your past."

Okay, now I was lost. "Molly, are you okay?"

She hit the brakes suddenly and threw the car into park. She stared at the steering wheel. "I was in love with you, Harry. For a really long time."

"Molly - "

"Please let me say this. You were the tough, hot guy my dad knew and my mom didn't like. So, I guess it was natural; a crush, or something. But it never went away. Then, that night I became your apprentice… and you knew. You knew how I felt, and you shut it down. And I did, too. For a few years, I kept it quiet. I thought of other guys, and I honestly thought I was over it. But you were always there.

"I thought I just needed to get it out of my system, you know? Find another guy, get laid." She paused for a breath, and I said nothing. "But I wasn't over it. It wasn't just a crush. You're still hot, Harry. And you might just be the best man I know. You always do the right thing, even when it costs you." She closed her eyes, leaned her head back. I thought I saw tears forming.

"My brothers and sisters all think of you as an uncle. I never did." Eyes open again, and yes, there were tears. "When everything went wrong at the Council test, I panicked, and ran away. I think I hoped, somehow, that you would find me. Save me. But you didn't. You couldn't, really."

"How do you know that?"

"Mab wouldn't let you. She told me you were looking for me, but to protect me from the Council, she had to block me from your sight, too. After a couple days, she said I'd soon build up a debt, like Elaine did to Summer, when they protected her. A debt I could never pay off. So, she offered me a way out, sort of."

"She made you the Knight."

She nodded. "I remembered you telling me how much the Sidhe love to screw people over, so I tried to put conditions on the deal. The only condition I could think of was that I never be made to hurt or kill someone I love. She agreed." Molly shuddered. "Then…" Tears started flowing outright. "She made me watch as she suffocated Lloyd Slate." She wiped her nose. "Then, there was the rite… It was - it was - " She took a deep, shuddering breath, steadied herself. "It was the single worst thing that has ever happened to me."

Molly started shuddering, sobbing. I couldn't stop myself; I moved closer and put my arms around her. I pulled her head to my chest and she wrapped her hands around my forearms. It only hurt a little. "It was so humiliating, Harry. And painful. God, her hands… did you know one of her legs is made of ice? It was so cold, so beyond cold, that it burned. It hurt, so much, and on so many levels…

"After that, I was just numb. For weeks. When Maeve branded me, I barely felt it. Weeks in Arctis Tor, training and… doing what I was told.

"Then, one day, out of the blue, the Queen just told me to go home. Back to Chicago. And you know what the first thing I thought was? The first person I thought of? The first thing that I felt? Not my siblings, not Mama or Dad, not Vince, not Rosie, or any of my friends. It was you."

That tore it. I pulled Molly back up into her seat. "I'm going to get you out of this."

She wiped her nose, and shook her head, gave a little smile. "Thanks, Harry, but the job's for life. You can't remove the mantle without killing - "

I took her face in my hands and looked her right in the eye. I didn't try to keep the anger out of my voice, and it might have come out a little Christian-Bale-Batman-ish. "Molly, I promise."

Her eyes got wide. The swelling of hope I saw there almost broke my heart. I had no idea how I was going to pull this off, but I didn't care; In that moment, I just knew I would make it happen. I was not going to let this girl down again.

She whispered, "Thank you, Harry," then got the car going again.

I nodded and rubbed my eyes. I needed sleep. Then I needed to make some calls.