There was no snow. It was just gone. No puddles remained to mark where it had been. Like it had never been there in the first place. It wasn't warmer out, nor was it cold. It was just kind of… flat. Depressing, in a way.

I dug in a pocket for my calling stone, trying to find Ebenezar, but discovered it was missing. It had probably fallen out during my fall into the underground.

I wanted to run. I really, really did. But the thing is, I was now in a city in the Nevernever; a sure-fire way to get yourself killed is to go running off half-cocked in a place where nasty creatures can hide around any corner.

Not to mention that, as soon as the last of the Hellfire wall had gone up, the colour of everything had changed, become muted. Or maybe drained was the right word. All the intensity and life had been drained from everything.

That, and everything I was carrying suddenly felt very heavy. "Lash? Why do my duster and my staff feel like they're made of lead?" The duster was pulling my shoulders down, practically begging me to take it off – but I wasn't about to do that in a place like this. My staff looked so happy resting against the wall, holding the whole building up, I almost didn't want to take it away from there. It did, after all, weigh a ton now.

She looked at me as I rested against a wall for the third time in less than ten minutes. "Hell, like all realms in the Nevernever, responds to the thoughts of those within. However, unlike Summer or Winter, which only obey the whims of the Queens, Hell will respond to anyone… negatively. Thus, anything you consciously relay on, or value, will be hindered, in a way."

I looked at her. "Swell."

"However," she continued, "because you, and all the people here, were Transited, rather than killed, it should not be quite as bad for you as it would be for departed souls."

"Small favours," I muttered. I thought for a moment. Souls. Departed souls. Could my soulball work here? Maybe as a signal flare? "What the hell," I muttered to myself.

I drew in a little magic, and found it was no different from what I was used to, which was good. I re-formed the ball I'd created earlier to get the crowd's attention, touched the gift of an archangel, and lifted my staff (with both hands).

As I released the spell, two things happened; the weight vanished, and the ball erupted into the sky. As it went, I saw, through its wake, a blue sky. The jolt of colour was disconcerting. All around the ball, as it hovered, the walls, the air, the streetlight, everything around it, seemed colourful, bright, normal. Not drained.

"Lash, what's going on?"

She hesitated. "I… I believe we may be seeing through a glamour."

"A glamour? A Fae illusion?"

"Not exactly, but similar. Harry, the Transit may only be partial."

"Partial?" I looked up at the ball. "You mean, incomplete?"

"Yes!" And now, she actually sounded excited. "Harry, Chicago is in Transit, there is little doubt of that. But to give the illusion of completeness… whoever is causing the Transit must be incapable of completing it on their own."

"So, what does that give us? They're trying to, what? Demoralize us?"

"In a manner of speaking. Hell will respond – negatively – to anything thought or felt here."

I thought about two and two, and finally got four. "If we believe it for long enough, it'll become true."

Her excitement vanished, replaced with solemnity. She nodded.

"Spectac - "

I was cut off by a scream from nearby. Of course.

I grabbed my staff up with both hands, and walked quickly for the corner of the street, willing my signal flare out with a wave as I went. Some of the hellweight – not all – returned.

I skidded to a stop and poked my head around the side of the building. There was a woman crouching on one side of a car. It was a nice car; German import. She was holding a smaller, thinner person to her, a girl – no, older than that, with short, dark hair. I caught a glint of light on one of her fingers. On the other side of the car, a man, probably the husband/father, a little overweight, was swinging a golf club at a demonic horror.

The creature looked like a six-armed crustacean. Its scales were blue-green. Its maw was gaping, as maws tend to be, as it screamed and flailed at the man, who, to his credit, was standing his ground. But without magic, and I seriously doubted he had any, he was doomed. The demon was playing with him. And the son of a bitch was familiar.

As it crouched to spring, I stepped out from behind my corner and shouted, "Chauncy!"

Everyone turned to look at me. Chauncy, a cold-hearted bastard I had used as a source of information a few years back, tilted his head. Mom pulled Daughter and backed away, both of their faces half-visible from behind the car, and Dad tried to keep his golf club between both of us and his family. Ballsy guy. On the other hand, it probably meant I looked like… well.

I stepped forward, staff thumping heavily on the cracked, somehow dim ground.

Chauncy, or Chaunzaggaroth, stood straight when he saw me. When he opened his mouth again, he spoke in a perfect Oxford accent. "Wizard. I had hoped that I would see you again."

"Really? Because I seem to remember us parting under bad terms."

"Ah, Harry Dresden," he said, and I felt the weight of his words on my mind, "I have parted the mortal realm many times under much less pleasant circumstances. In truth, our dealings were always quite professional."

"Professional?" I stopped about ten feet away from him, and moved a little to the right, so the family wasn't in his line of sight. I could only hope they'd take the hint and move. Dad did seem to be moving away, slowly. "As I recall, you tried to get my Name out of me. You played off my feelings about my mother."

"You were desirous of information about her. And I had it. Your name, your True Name, was the only thing you had to bargain with." His voice took on a slightly nastier edge. "The only thing I wanted from you."

I shook out my shield bracelet and hoisted my staff towards him. "And you got a big chunk of it." I sighed. "You know I can't let you kill them, Chauncy. You're not taking these people."

"I beg to differ, Harry Dresden." Again, I felt the weight on me.

"Oh? How, you manipulative bastard? I'll stand between you and them."

The demon parted his face in a gross approximation of a smile. "No, Harry Blackstone Dresden, you kneel!"

In the time when Chauncy and I had a working relationship, it mostly amounted to me giving him my Name – the sound, from my own lips, that indicated the shape and essence of my most fundamental self – in exchange for information. Names have power. And with someone's Name, you can do all sorts of nasty things to them that I won't go into now.

Knowledge of a creature's True Name makes summoning them much easier, because you can send a signal directly into their mind, into their self, rather than working from the outside. Fae and demons and any creature of the Nevernever are loath to part with their Names as once a wizard has it, they can summon and control the creature for as long as they want, since the self of a creature never really changes.

I was mad at Chauncy for trying to take my Name in exchange for information about my mother, who I had never known, but in truth, he'd just been true to his nature. I'd parted with three of my Names; he'd never heard me say "Copperfield" between "Blackstone" and "Dresden." But the power behind the words was still there.

He pounced.

I didn't have time to toss a spell at him, but I already had my shield up. He hit it, and we both bounced apart. My staff fell away, and I hit the ground rolling. I came up on my knees, my blasting rod banging against my thigh where it hung from a leather tie inside my duster. I reached for it as Chauncy stalked towards me, unfazed by the impact.

I got the knot undone, and tried to lift my rod. Chauncy 'smiled' again. "Your Name has not changed, Harry Blackstone Dresden!"

He pounced again, and this time, I threw what little force had built up in my rings at him as I lifted my shield. It wasn't much, but it kept him off me. And he was stunned that I was moving.

"My Name hasn't changed," I said. "But I have. Fuego!" I touched Hellfire and let it course down my arm, through the enchanted wood, and into the demon, immolating him.

Or not. He laughed, a horrible, chittering, clicking sound, as the firestorm abated. "The taint of a Fallen Angel is on you. But we of this realm do not fear our own weapon!" He drew back, and threw himself at me again.

"I kind of figured. Fuego!" This time, I touched Soulfire.

What a difference. The white-red flames engulfed Chauncy, and he was stopped in the air, enveloped by a near-solid cocoon of fire. He let out a piercing scream, the scream of a dying man, or dying lobster in boiling water, only amplified 100 times. The fire wrapped itself around him, squeezing and charring, lifting and crushing him all at once. I felt the power pouring out of me, and it felt good. I was yelling with sheer, sudden joy; this was Good triumphing over Evil. Capital letters, people!

Then my blasting rod exploded in my hand. Splinters went flying, and I cried out as a big one cut the meat of my hand. I closed my eyes tight and threw up an arm, slumping back on my legs. I heard Chauncey's burnt corpse hit the ground, and looked at it, cautiously. He was quite dead.

What happened? I asked Lash, a little stunned.

That, she said, is what happens when Hellfire and Soulfire are used in the same focus at the same time.

But I didn't –

I did. The Soulfire was burning quickly, Harry – too quickly. You would have burned out your soul in minutes if you had continued. You could not hear me begging you to stop.

Oh. Uh, thanks, then. I guess. I grabbed the piece of wood still stuck in my hand, and yanked it out before I could convince myself not to. I grunted. A new blasting rod would take two days to make. So, no more controlled fire for Harry. I worked my way to my feet, gave Chauncey one last glance (the body was already beginning to dissolve) and turned.

The family was looking at me, all three of them peering over the trunk of a fairly new Audi. The parents were wide-eyed and staring. The daughter, however, stood, a small smile on her face. She was awfully familiar.

The man reached for her. "Faith, what are you doing?"

"It's okay, Uncle Mark," she said.

I shook my head, recognising the girl. "Now this," I said as I limped closer, "has got to be the oddest coincidence ever." The girl, I now knew, wasn't a teenager, though she wasn't particularly tall. In fact, she'd be old enough to drink by now.

She smiled and held up her left index finger, (supported by her right hand) where a plain metal ring gave off light. I say plain because it was just a piece of metal, compared to her otherwise expensive taste – even I knew her shoes alone were $300.00, and a hint of necklace I saw looked to be pure gold, with what I guessed was a real ruby set in it. "I knew it would be okay," she said.

"Yeah? What was your happy thought?"

She shrugged and rolled her eyes. "I don't know. Maybe that some crazy old man would come and save me?"

I barked out a laugh. "Good to see you, Faith."

"You too, Harry."

Not quite 13 years ago, when I'd still been struggling to get my PI's licence, I'd worked for a delightful fellow named Nick Christian, whose specialty had been finding missing children. He was good; I was better.

That was mostly due to the magic. Tracking spells, at that point, had been my only real specialty. I'd met Faith Astor the same night I'd first met Karrin Murphy, in a wonderful display of serendipity and troll-slaying. Faith and I had taken a little while to warm up to each other – the bruises on my shins have since healed – and one of the things that really helped with that was a little gift I'd given her: one of my early experiments in making force rings.

The ring itself didn't hold kinetic energy very well, but for some reason, it channelled emotional energy into light damn near perfectly. I'd never been able to duplicate that particular mistake.

I told Faith that I was heading for St Mary's, and she instantly decided she was following me, since the family car wasn't starting anyway. Her companions voiced, shall we say, discontent over that decision, but Faith was the type of person who got her way. As we walked, we talked.

"Keep your eyes open, folks. If Chauncy could get in here, anything can."

"Chancy? You knew that thing's name?"

"We've had dealings in the past," I said, with as much James Bond-ishness as I could. "Honestly, he wasn't that powerful. Now tell me, what are you doing out of bed at this hour?"

She rolled her eyes. "Oh, please. The last aftershock woke us up, and Aunt Jessica finally said, that's it, we're out of here."

"Smart. But why weren't you gone already? After the first quake, I thought all the respectable folks bolted."

Faith looked over her shoulder and raised her eyebrows at her uncle. He sighed. "I had a meeting yesterday that couldn't be re-scheduled. The man I was meeting with… brooks no delays."

"He's a damn criminal," Jessica muttered.

"Keeps you in bling," he said back.

"Fat lot of good that does me, the jewellery weighs a ton for some reason. And your stupid car won't start - "

"So where have you been?" I asked Faith, cutting them off. I also made a mental note about what Mark and Jessica apparently valued. Then I thought again of Mark swinging that club, standing up to a minor hellspawn, and Jessica trying to shield Faith, and decided even materialistic people could be good people.

She snorted. "Boarding school, forever. After I ran away, my parents decided it was for my own good. By the time I finally moved home, they were divorced, Dad was in California with some hussy a year older than me, and Mom was a barely functioning alcoholic."

"Faith," the man – Mark – said sharply.

"It's okay, Uncle Mark. He probably already figured it was something like that." She looked at me as I led them down the street. "And he's a friend. Anyway, Dad took most of the money with him when he left, I was too old for a nanny, and Mom had no ability to cope left in her, so she sent me to live with my aunt and uncle." She pointed a thumb over her shoulder.

I turned my head; Mark nodded a balding head to me. He didn't seem comfortable, and had kept a tight grip on his golf club. I couldn't say I blamed him. His suit, while expensive, was ruined. The aunt – Jessica – kept looking at me with a curious expression. She'd lost one of her heels. While it was obvious both had good taste, neither of them was dressed quite as well as Miss Astor.

"So what happened after boarding school?"

She shrugged. "Not much. College. I was taking this semester off to travel; just got back from Australia. I'm not the innocent little runaway you saved anymore, you know."

"I believe you."

"Now I know where I know you from!" Jessica said suddenly. I stopped and turned. She was pointing at me. I lifted my eyebrows in silent questioning. "The Larry Fowler Show!"

I groaned and pinched the bridge of my nose with my left hand. "Oh, please, not this crap again."

"Fowler never has anyone serious on his show."

Faith stepped in. "He's the real deal, Aunt Jessica. I saw him kill a troll when I was a kid."

"A troll?" I could hear the raised eyebrow in her voice.

"Honey," Mark said, "he did just blow up a walking lobster."

"Technically," I said, "I blew up a walking lobster demon. And yes, I saved Faith from a troll when she was a kid."

"I know it's not the sort of thing I was supposed to remember," Faith said, holding up her ring again, "but, I always had a good reminder." She twisted it with her other hand, trying to get it comfortable… which let me know what Faith relied on.

We started walking again.

"Okay," Jessica said, "if you're a real 'wizard'," – I could all but hear the quotation marks – "then do you know what the hell has been going on for the last three days?"

"Honestly? A lot. Some vampires and necromancers with a grudge came to town, and may or may not have been responsible for the earthquakes we've been having. My best friend's house was destroyed by a rampaging goat-man, and now, with those fires linked up all around us, the area of Chicago we're in has been partially Transited into another plane of existence. Specifically, we're in Hell."

I gave her the explanation in a matter-of-fact tone, and never stopped walking. And waited.

"Are you crazy?" she finally said.

"No," I said, still without looking back. I pointed up. "Nor am I blind. We're in the middle of some kind of in an inter-dimensional crisis. See the red sky? Sure-fire sign."

She shut up, and I caught Faith giving me a tiny smirk.

I stopped walking again when I caught sight of something on the street.

"What are you - oh. Oh, God," Jessica said from behind her fingers. "What happened?"

I stepped closer to the shredded, bloodied remains we'd stumbled across, right in the middle of the road. A once-over told me two things: the remains were not human; and I knew who had killed it. I felt myself smiling, in spite of everything. "It's okay," I said, stepping back. "It's not a person."

"It's… what? But, the clothes - "

"I know. It looks like a man. But the blackened skin and patchy tongue, not to mention the distorted bone structure, and four-inch claws on the hands, are dead giveaways." I was being a little sarcastic, but not enough for her to catch while she was freaked out. "It's a vampire."

"A – a vampire? Are you kidding me?"

Mark leaned in and whispered, "Lobster demon."

She sighed, then looked up at the sky again.

"No, I'm not kidding," I said. "Specifically, it's a vampire of the Red Court. Which is great, since I'd just about forgotten about them. But I think it was killed by a sword-wielding friend of mine."

"A – a what? A what-ing friend?"

"Sword-wielding. Means she has a sword. And she can wield it."

"Who is it, Harry?" Faith asked.

"Remember the cop who was with us on the bridge?"

She smiled. "Sure. Karrin. She was nice to me."

"Well, turns out she's part samurai."

"Cool."

"Extremely. Now, come on, we need to keep moving."

A block and a half later, we came around a corner, and St. Mary's came into view. I felt myself relax a little. We were approaching from the front, and there were several soldiers manning the steps and front door, which was closed. Interestingly, the church itself seemed to not have been drained like everything else around us. "Let's get inside," I said.

A few steps in from the street, the artificial hellweight vanished completely. As we got to the door, one of the soldiers stepped forward. He looked a little freaked out, but less so than Jessica and Mark. His eyes were wide, and kept tracking back up to the sky. It was Lee, one of my eavesdropping targets from yesterday. He tried to sound authoritative, but he was hesitant. "Hey, you, tall guy. Are you Dresden? Harry Dresden?"

I stopped at the base of the steps. "Yeah, why?"

"That black Russian guy with the sword was looking for you. In fact, a bunch of people are looking for you."

"Really? He inside?"

"Yeah, somewhere."

"Harry," Faith said, "how many friends with swords do you have?"

I opened my mouth to answer, then stopped and thought about it for a second; I realised I'd jumped the gun a little saying that vamp had been carved up by Murphy. "A few," I finally said. I led her and her relatives up the steps and through the door.

At first glance, I'd have said there was a thousand people inside. Then I remembered the balcony, and knew there could be at least two hundred more. It was like the previous day, but with more chaos, confusion, injury and fear. Fewer women and children, though. The majority of folks I saw were male and military age. Some really were military, some were Wardens.

Everyone was moving, conversations were low and tense. The atmosphere was charged. The overhead lights were still on, so the generator had to still be running, but that was probably only because no one had thought about how important it was yet. I put it out of my mind. I didn't see any close acquaintances, so they had to be hiding in the back room. "I have to go find a few sword-wielding friends," I said. "Will you be okay?"

Faith nodded. "Yeah. Thanks, Harry."

"Take care, kid. Don't let anyone lose you."

"Like I've never heard that one before."

I grinned at her, nodded to Mark and Jessica, then headed around the outside of the crowd, hugging the wall, making for the back room that had been the scene of so many of my most important conversations.

I strode down the back hallway, and the two Wardens and two National Guardsmen who were standing outside the door both straightened up when they saw me. "Sir - " one of the Wardens said when she saw me. She was the young woman from the vampire incident.

"Evening," I said. "I think there are a few people in there waiting for me."

"Yes, sir. Wizard McCoy and the Captain have been asking after you."

I nodded, reaching for the doorknob. "The Knights in there, too?"

"One of them."

I turned and looked at her, about to ask which Knight she was talking about, when the door opened from the other side. My head snapped back to Elaine's face. "Harry!" She threw herself at me. I caught her in a hug, dropping my staff.

"Hey. Miss me?" I waddled through the doorway as it swung itself shut.

"I thought – I - oh, stars above, you know what I thought. I didn't have time to send you a message – we were moving as soon as you fell – they were on us so fast!" She pulled back, a smile on her face. "Then, as soon as we got close to the church, they disappeared. But I knew you were okay. I knew it. Are you okay?"

I froze for a second, wondering why I hadn't tried to send Elaine a message. It wasn't that I'd thought I was too far away – it simply hadn't occurred to me. And I had no idea why. Before I could answer, Molly hit me from the side like a wrecking ball, knocking Elaine loose and almost pushing me through the closed door. A wrecking ball with clamps. She squeezed me tight enough to wake the fire in my bruised ribs. "Oh, thank God," she whispered.

"Hey, kiddo," I wheezed out. "Good to see you. Can't breathe."

"Oh, sorry." She loosened up and I re-inflated. "Someone else was worried about you, too."

Murph? I thought. She stepped aside, glancing down.

A pair of big, puppy-dog eyes were trained on me. I smiled and kneeled down. Mouse let out a short, low groan.

"I know you were worried," I said. "Wasn't exactly a cake walk for me, either."

His head tilted and he made a huffing sound.

"Hey, you want to stick with me everywhere I go, we're going to have to be tethered together."

He looked down, then back up and huffed again.

"Oh, sure, you say that now. But what about when you want to jump over a car, or chase someone down, or something?"

His head tilted the other way, then he huffed again.

"Quick-release leash? I don't think so." I stood up and gave him a scratch behind the ears. "I'm alright, pal." I looked around the room. Sanya was leaning against the far wall, his arms crossed and big grin on his face; Lara Raith was standing in a corner, an eyebrow raised in my direction; Thomas had just stood up from the little table, relief visible behind his cocky exterior; Billy and Georgia, wearing clothes that looked like they'd been pulled out of the church's lost and found, stood near Sanya; Molly was in a corner, as far from Ana as she could get; Elaine was at my right elbow; Carlos, Chandler with his burned but dignified face, and Luccio stood in the middle of the room, each obviously happy but reserved.

And next to them, Ebenezar McCoy stood with one hand on his hip, the other on his staff, and half a smile on his face. "You lucky, ridiculous, unbelievable, son of a…" he trailed off and stepped forward, giving me a slap on her arm. "You gave me a scare, Hoss. Where the hell is your calling stone?"

"Good to see you, too, Sir." I glanced around again. "I think it's somewhere in Undertown, now. Uh, has anyone seen Murphy?"

All the smiles quickly faded. Sanya pulled away from the wall, as if suddenly uncomfortable to be lounging. "Nyet," he said.

Elaine cleared her throat. "Um, no one's seen her since she led the gruffs away."

I took a breath. "Okay. That's okay. Uh, Sanya, did you happen to carve up a Red Court vamp a few blocks away?"

He shook his head. "I have been here. If I saw vampire, I would kill vampire." He glanced at Thomas and Lara. "Well, usually."

That was a good sign. "Okay. Well, good, I think. I saw a Red, about two blocks away. Looked to be sword-work. I thought it had to be… she would have come… I mean, unless I was wrong, and it was someone else here."

Luccio said, "None of the Wardens has reported contact with the Red Court since we arrived in Chicago."

"We gave them a beating," Carlos said.

"We did," Chandler said. "A thorough drubbing."

Well, that settled it, in my mind. Murph had killed that vampire. But where the hell was she?

"They were licking their wounds," McCoy said. "And now they've come charging back, along with all their friends."

"What do you mean, 'all their friends'?" Sanya asked.

"Very good question." I turned to my grandfather. (Thomas' grandfather too, though I hadn't told him. That was one secret that wasn't mine to share; McCoy had asked me not to. He was 'waiting for the right moment.' I'd have to get on him about that.) "I assume we can put all the cards on the table? No more politicking?"

McCoy snorted. "Hell, Hoss, I been waiting for that longer than you have."

So, I took a deep breath, and laid it all out to my friends and allies. Some of them already knew bits and pieces; McCoy knew almost all of it.

I told them everything I knew about the Jade Court, which Molly and the Wardens already knew; how they feed on memories, and how they were part of the grander conspiracy.

I told them about everything McCoy and I had learned during our trip back in time; how Phil Denton and his demented, yet federally-backed werewolf buddies had been involved. This got a snort out of Will. I told them how I stumbled across the former Summer Lady announcing that Titania was at the heart of the Black Council.

I told them about Father Forthill, whose real name was Edimon, consort to Titania, father of Aurora, and now under the watchful guardianship of Mab. Molly shuddered a bit when I got to that part, but she confirmed that the Sidhe and former priest was in Arctis Tor, though she had been forbidden to speak to him. Thankfully, she said nothing about Bob, my former lab assistant and Maeve, the Winter Lady's father. His existence would have been too hard to explain.

I told them about the Black Council's plan, to Transit Chicago into Hell, though I wasn't sure why. Most of them had figured that part out. Everyone figured the earthquakes were part of that, somehow.

I told them about Grigori Cristos, and Peabody, and how they had manipulated the White Council, and the fact that there was definitely still another traitor on the Council. Ana and Chandler both grew icy at that.

And I told them what Fix had said, that Lily was missing, that Titania had been speaking to invisible forces about Outsiders, and that the Summer Court was against us, though again, the Wardens already knew that part.

"I'm beginning to think our plan isn't going to fly, Hoss," McCoy said when I was done.

"Agreed. We don't have the time or the opportunity, anymore. And Winter seems to be in our corner for now." I shook my head. "We don't go after the Sidhe Courts."

"So who do we go after?" Will asked. Everyone turned to look at him. He glanced around, but didn't wilt under the attention. "What? The city - Our city - has been dragged into Hell. Literally. We have to do something."

I looked at McCoy. "A Transit," he said, "especially a partial one, has to be maintained."

"But given the nature of Hell," I said, "it'll become permanent if it's believed for long enough."

"And once it's permanent, the Hellfire walls can come down, and the demons flood in, instead of trickle."

"So what do we do?"

"Hell's bells, boy, I was waiting for you to tell me."

I blinked. "Uh, what?"

"You're better informed, and it is your town."

I wasn't sure how to respond to that. I looked at Luccio.

She lifted her hands. "The Wardens defer to the Senior Council member on this."

I looked at Thomas and Lara. "What can I say, Harry?" Thomas said. "We're hitching our horse to your wagon. When weird shit goes down in this city, you're always at the centre of it, trying to fix things."

"Now that's an exaggeration."

"Not by much," Georgia said.

"Before you came," Sanya said, "we were organising search party."

"That's sweet, but insane. Once you step off hallowed ground, everything you depend on will drag you down."

"One more thing we didn't know," McCoy said.

I stopped and sighed. I was tired, and hungry. The last thing I wanted to was to be making decisions or figuring out how to undo a Transit. I rubbed my eyes.

The moment's silence allowed us to hear voices in the hall. I turned.

The raised voices in the hall.

I pushed the door open. One of the Wardens was shouting, sword drawn and a caltrop-shaped wooden focus in his other hand. "Stand against the wall, hands out to the sides!" The other Warden was behind him, and the Guardsmen were even further back, towards the church proper, rifles up, and uncertain expressions on their faces.

In the other direction, Fix was half standing, half leaning against a wall, hands held up defensively. He was dressed as he had been last time I'd seen him – this morning, I suddenly realised – but he was dishevelled. His sword wasn't drawn. "Harry!" he said, seeing me. "Harry, tell them I'm not a danger!"

"We were warned Summer couldn't be trusted, and after the attack at the Hellfire wall, it was proven!" the Warden said, as much to me as to Fix.

"I wasn't there!"

"Okay," said, stepping into the hall. "It's true that last time I saw the Summer Knight, he was under orders to kill me."

"I'm not anymore!" Fix shouted, though he was backing up towards the loading door.

"What do you - "

"Save it!" Luccio was in the hall now, and trying to push forward. "Do you have any idea how many of my people fell to your allies?"

Fix was backing up a little faster, now. "No, please, you have to understand - "

Then Chandler was there, pushing through. The hall had suddenly become very crowded. "I understand perfectly. Your Queen has declared war on us."

"No! No, the Queen - "

"Put him down!" Luccio commanded.

"The debt! I invoke your debt!" Fix suddenly said, pointed at the door. I followed his finger. He pointed at Elaine.

I saw her eyes grow, then before I could get a hand up to stop her, she pushed forward, squeezed between the more cautious Chandler and Luccio, turned and threw out her arms before the Summer Knight. Her shield bracelet, which linked to a ring on her middle finger via a short chain, lit up with a smidge of bluish light.

"What are you doing?" Ana asked. She sounded more confused than angry.

"I have a debt to repay," Elaine said, eyes fixed on the Captain. "I must aid a member of the Summer Court." She swallowed. "I'm sorry. But if you could get out of a deal with the Fae this easily, wouldn't you?" Then she looked at me.

"Easy? It's not easy, yet, Miss Mallory."

Molly was at my side behind the Wardens, sword drawn. She looked just as uncertain as the Guardsmen, who had retreated further down the hall. There were gawkers poking around the corners, wide-eyed and nervous. A few more Wardens appeared there, too, looking grave and battle-ready.

Ana looked over her shoulder at me. She didn't say anything, but there was uncertainty on her face. The Captain couldn't afford uncertainty for long, though. If I didn't do something, she'd have to take Elaine and Fix both down just to maintain her authority.

I stepped forward, slowly, between the Wardens, past Luccio, up to Elaine. Then I turned and stood beside her, shield at the ready.

Ana stared at me. "Harry…"

"I'd like to hear what he has to say," I said as calmly as I could.

Her eyes shifted back to Elaine. She was wondering if I was under her control.

"Wardens," McCoy said, stepping into the hall, "weapons down." His voice brooked no argument, and the swords tilted to the floor almost immediately. Ana's cold eyes never left Elaine.

McCoy stepped out in front of Luccio. "Relax, you two."

Elaine and I glanced at each other, then dropped our left hands and turned to Fix.

"Alright, son," McCoy said, "tell us why you're here, and why we shouldn't wipe the floor with you. And make it good."

Fix took a deep breath, glanced at me, then Elaine, then back to McCoy. "Okay. It's pretty simple, actually. After my last errand, after Harry put me through that tree, I returned to Equis Val. The veil between worlds was… strange, but it parted. When I got there… Sir, the Queen was gone."

"Gone? Titania just up and disappeared?" It was pretty obvious Eb didn't believe him.

"I swear. The Lady has been missing for two days. At first, I didn't know what to think, but then I remembered what Harry told me a few weeks ago, about the Queen. I didn't believe him at the time, but Lily began to. When she vanished… I realised Harry was right."

"At long last," I said.

"I was worried, but I figured as long as the Queen was around, Lily was safe. I guess I thought she was keeping her as insurance, or something. But now the Queen is gone, too. No one knew where she went, when I asked. Fae and Sidhe alike were in a panic – to have the Queen or the Lady gone is a regular occurrence, but for both to be missing, and no idea where they are… it's unheard of."

"So what did you do?" McCoy asked.

Fix shrugged. "The only thing I could think of. I went to see the Mothers."

My eyes snapped to Elaine's. We'd enjoyed a little trip through the woods to meet the Mothers once. It had ended… well, badly doesn't do it justice. She'd betrayed me, as part of a debt to Aurora, Lily's predecessor. I'd ended up almost drowning, though ultimately, she'd given me the clue I'd needed to survive. As for the Mothers themselves… well, they'd been great conversationalists.

"You met the Mothers?" I asked.

"Yes. It was irregular, I know, but I had to. The whole Court was in an uproar, we needed guidance, authority. And I needed to ask a boon."

"A boon? You begged for a favour?"

The slight but muscular young man nodded. "I asked Mother Summer if she knew what had happened to the Queen. She knew. So I asked for an order, something to override Titania. I asked her to relieve me, for a time, of my obligation to obey the Queen. And she granted it. I'm no longer bound to Titania's will."

There was total, stunned silence for a second, before Molly whispered, "Why didn't I think of that?"

I licked my lips, then rubbed my face, then crossed my arms and scowled. Some combination of those actions got my brain in gear. I looked at McCoy. "Are we satisfied?"

He nodded. "I am if you are."

"Going over Titania's head," I said to the Summer Knight. "Ballsy."

"I had to do something. If she's hurt Lily… I don't even know where to start looking. I was hoping you could help me with that. That's why I came here, as soon as the veil between worlds stabilised."

"Look, Fix," I said gently, "I want to help – I care about Lily, too – but I've got a few other problems on my plate. Like getting my city back to the real world. I know what happened last time, but I don't really have time to go searching at the moment."

"Oh." He sounded disappointed. Not too surprised, though. "There's something else I should tell you about Chicago."

"What?"

"Time has been… dilated. Decelerated. It's passing faster in the real world than here."

"Oh, good, this cake needed some icing."

"I'm not sure who's doing it – Titania could, but only if you were in Summer lands."

"It's the Circle."

"Who?"

"The Black Council. Titania's Brotherhood of Evil Mutants."

"Are they the ones she was talking to?"

"Talking to?"

"When she was alone?"

"No, that was - " I paused, suddenly realizing something. My voice got really quiet. "That was an Outsider."

"Hoss?" McCoy asked.

I had to talk it out. It made sense, didn't it? "We know the Queen is influenced by He Who Walks Behind. But… she's possessed. He is within her, or one of the Walkers is. What if she wasn't speaking to others, but to herself? The other aspects of Legion? There are five…"

"That's… disturbing, but it doesn't change much."

"Maybe it does. It means she's not – I mean he's not – it's not – in communication with the Outside. He's cut off, stuck here. Well, not here, but not Out There, either." I stopped. I was rambling, and starting to lose my train of thought. This was important, but I wasn't sure how.

Lash? What can you tell me about Outsiders?

Much. It will take a few minutes. And you may have questions. She paused. Actually, knowing you, there will definitely be questions.

"I need a minute," I said aloud.

"Hoss, time is of the essence, here."

"I know, Sir. I just… I need a place to sit, quietly, just for a couple of minutes." I dug into my pocket and pulled out the Black Key. "Or less."

He nodded. "Hurry up."

I looked at the loading door, but that wouldn't work; it wasn't a place where people made their decisions, or the direction of their lives. Not a place where their understanding or belief in themselves was altered…

I smiled. I pushed past Elaine and the Wardens, past the very confused-looking Guardsmen, past the small crowd of tense gawkers, and headed down one side of the church to a wooden closet-sized structure: the confessional.

Gripping the Key, image of the Black in mind, I opened the door, and stepped into darkness.

I looked through the window in the door, out at the still crowd. Whatever disruption had caused the temporal protections around the Hall to waver had been corrected.

"Alright, Lash, that's it. I've been putting this conversation off for over a month, without even realising that I was doing it. Tell me everything you know about Outsiders, and what they have to do with me." I sat down, cross-legged, and leaned back against the door.

"Very well." Her image sat facing me. Her face was serious. "To truly understand what Outsiders are, you must first know what they are not."

"Alright. What aren't they?"

"All supernatural beings, be they angels, demons, vampires, Fae, even the Sidhe themselves, are, in some way, mortal."

My eyebrows went up. "Say what?" I asked intelligently.

She smiled, just a tiny bit. "That is not to say that they are human; many, if not most, are older than humanity. Yet, every immortal being, every spirit, is linked to mortals. Even the skinwalker. They were either set here by old gods, intent on testing or guiding humanity, or were influenced by humans somehow."

"Have you ever tried to influence a faerie without pizza? It's damn near impossible."

"I do not mean influence in the obvious way. I mean in the most fundamental way. We, all the angels, both Fallen and Standing, the Fae, all the monsters roaming Earth and the Nevernever, even, or perhaps especially, the Sidhe, were shaped by human understanding. By mortal belief."

"But you just said most of those beings were older than humanity."

"True. But what do they all look like, to a greater or lesser degree? To look like humans, they had to be shaped by humans. You know as well as anyone, the worship, the sacrifice of mortals, can greatly increase a being's standing… and standing is power to the supernatural."

"And all supernatural power manifests literally. Increased standing means increased influence. Not just over mortals, but other supernaturals. Alright, I'm with you so far."

"In this way, it can be seen that all supernatural beings, be they gods, Fae, vampires or demons, need humanity, even if only to prey upon."

"Right."

"Outsiders are not like that."

I blinked. "And?"

"And? Harry, they do not need humanity. No matter how depraved a creature or monster you have ever faced, do you think any of them ever had, as their ultimate goal, the complete and total destruction of humanity and the Earth?"

"Uh… maybe?" Now that I thought about it, I'd never faced anything or anyone like that. Even the Denarians, who were pretty much pure evil, had never wanted to destroy everyone… after all, there would be none left to worship them. "No. No, I don't think I ever have. But why would any being want to destroy an entire world? Especially if they want to rule or control it?"

"Outsiders do not want to rule or control. They want only to destroy."

"But… why? There's so much here… even the Nevernever - "

"As vast and seemingly infinite as the Nevernever is, Harry, it is linked to and dependant upon Earth. It touches the universe in no other place, since humanity exists nowhere else. The destruction of Earth would destroy the Nevernever."

"But… but…"

"I know, it seems inconceivable. But the universe is a big place, Harry. Earth… well, Earth is not."

My voice seemed small, all of a sudden. "What do they look like?" I whispered.

"Whatever they wish. As I said, all the other creatures you've ever encountered are, in some way, dependant upon humans. Outsiders are not defined, dependant, or shaped by mortals in any way. They could look like people, if they wanted, but I can think of no reason they would want to. They could be anything, Harry. Or nothing."

I took a moment getting my head around that. "I still don't understand. Why would they want to destroy us? There has to be a reason."

The echo of an angel looked hesitant. "That is nigh-impossible to say for certain. It may be that the very concept of 'motive' is beyond them… or they beyond it. That they simply do what they do, not out of malice, but because it is what they wish."

"You don't sound convinced."

She looked away from me for a moment. "There was another theory. You must understand, that as member of the Host, the very idea of asking questions of those above me would never have occurred…"

"But as a Fallen Angel?"

She nodded, sadly. "Just before the Fall," and yes, she said it with a capital letter, "I was already changing, in my essence. Thus, I asked Uriel himself if he knew why the Outsiders hated the Almighty and his universe so much. He said he did not, but that he believed the existence of mortal life was anathema to them. That the sounds of mortal minds, praying, cursing, asking, telling, feeling, knowing… it hurt them, somehow."

She shook her head, a remarkably human gesture. "They are creatures who witnessed the Big Bang, the creation and shaping of this universe, but were shut out of it by the power of the first Gatekeepers."

"Who were the first Gatekeepers?"

"The Dragons," she said at once.

"Christ!"

"No, he did not arrive until much later."

I blinked, then snorted. Then a little laugh. Lash looked at me like I'd gone nuts. I saw her thinking, then figuring it out.

"You were cursing," she said.

"Yeah. Sorry about the confusion."

"I understand. I would point out, however, that you would not appreciate people shouting 'Dresden!' every time they were surprised or something had gone wrong."

"Actually, that's usually when they shout my name."

"That would be true. Especially for Outsiders."

"What do you mean?"

"I told you once before, the circumstances of your birth were arranged, very precisely. The date, the time, even, I'm sure, the location, were all arranged by your mother. The power she wanted you to have was designed to fight the Outside, and those of it."

"What kind of power are we talking about?"

She hesitated. "That, I do not know. Even among the Angels, the nature of what power there was that could hold back the Outside… it was never defined for me, Harry. I only know what circumstances would have led to its creation. And that it was strictly a mortal gift; no Angel may wield direct power over Outsiders."

"Okay," I said, thinking, hand on my chin. "Mom decided I'd need power over Outsiders, only she knows why. Given her history, and her taste in men before she met my dad, it's probably something I don't want to know about. So, she arranges it, dies to the entropy curse Raith brought about, which was actually partly powered by He Who Walks Behind. Cripes.

"Now, this power has no description, no incantation, no form, other than the fact that it can only be used by mortals. Anything else?"

"Yes. Given the date and location of her birth… it is possible that Elaine Mallory has the same gift."

My hand dropped into my lap, limp. I sagged back against the door. "What?"

"It is possible. If she was born at the correct time… it is possible."

"She doesn't know what time she was born."

"I know."

"How do you know that?"

"I live in your mind, Harry."

"Oh. Right." I jumped to my feet, suddenly anxious. Well, maybe freaked-out is a better term. "Elaine and I… Justin. He planned it. He planned all of this."

Justin DuMorne, once a Warden, charged with destroying the miniature archive – Bob – belonging to Heinrich Kemmler – Cowl and Kumori's teacher – had instead kept Bob, found me and Elaine, and forced us to develop our magic early and strong. He'd been raising a tiny army, an army capable of holding off any form of threat, even Outsiders. Or, maybe, of controlling Outsiders.

"DuMorne had something to do with the Circle. Hell's bells, if I hadn't killed him, Elaine and I might be part…" I trailed off. How close had I come to being one of the bad guys? "Talk about walking a fine line."

"Now you know," Lash said. "Now you understand just how important you are. You and Elaine might be the only ones capable of righting what has happened. Of preserving the balance."

I took a breath. Another. I leaned against the wall, straightened up. "You're right. Completely. Somehow, I have to get to Titania, and I have to get that son of a bitch out of her head." I turned back to the door. "But first, I have to get my city back where it belongs."