DEXTER'S POV

"Okay," Siren muttered. "Run it through again." I had never seen someone look so tired in their life.

"The first time The Diablerie tried to open the portal, they had everything. Signate, a teleporter, I think his name was Remmit or something," Erskine shrugged. "They had the Isthmus Anchor. Which was of course, The Grotesquery. They got close to opening the portal but it just... died."

"It was either they need to feed it lives, or they need host bodies for The Faceless Ones," Saracen muttered. "But I can't zero in on which one."

"Don't try to hard," Siren ordered. "I need you to focus on what the mortals are doing." Saracen nodded and closed his eyes.

"Okay, so they're trying to open the portal again, but now have the missing key. But the Anchor was that not destroyed?"

"You can't truly destroy something like that," I told her and she sighed. "Anyway, what do you think about the mortals?"

"I think we should get as many people to the manors or the sanctuaries as we can. The Midnight Hotel will be the safest place for you."

"Just us?" I asked. Siren nodded.

"Information about the Dead Men will spread. If they don't already know, they will soon. You can't stay in one place for too long," she said. Her eyes were a little sad. "When you go, I'll stay at the manor-"

"You'll come with us," Erskine interrupted. Siren looked startled and blinked up at him. Saracen nodded in agreement.

"A powerful family who has ties to both sides will be a target for everyone. Mortals know everything about you. They're getting mad though. They can't touch the staff or their families. It's making them antsy," he said knowingly and then cracked open his eyes. He settled back, looking old, and tired.

"Okay, fine, we go to the Midnight Hotel. What about Anton's guests?"

"They're being notified," I told her. "Those who want to stay, stay. Women and children are getting priority. He has two who said they'll stay and act as security."

"Necromancers will have to be notified," she muttered. "Could Valkyrie do that?"

"They're going to talk to Solomon now," Erskine nodded.

"Everything's covered?" Siren asked. I nodded and she smiled a little. "That's okay then. In the mean time, we should probably go to Amos and find out how things stand in the Underworld."

"Amos?" Saracen asked curiously.

"A family friend," she smiled a little and then opened the door. Cyrus stepped through and grinned, looking proud of himself.

"Everyone's safe and at the hotel. Valkyrie and Skulduggery went out with Shadow. Maxi went hunting for Amos with Ghastly. They should be back in an hour. It's terrible inconvenience. What would the others think?"

"The others don't matter," Siren sighed. She glanced at us. "Cyrus is of the Fae."

"Like a fairy?" Erskine said slowly.

"Born of a witch and a human," he said easily. "But not a mage."

"Witches are different to Mages," I blinked and tried to swallow the information. "How?"

"Magic. They draw it from the earth. Ever noticed a witch living near a tree, or a lake. Even on a hill?" I nodded and Cyrus grinned. "They use the earths power. Mages, it comes from their blood, within themselves."

"Oh," I frowned and turned to Saracen.

"I didn't know that," he said and I scowled.

"Who are the others?" Erskine asked.

"Family, most of whom are gone. No one to worry about," Cyrus waved his hand. Gently he fished something out of his pocket. "Skulduggery asked me to give this to you. He picked it up when the manor was on fire."

Siren took the photo off of him and sighed gently. It was a woman and a man in the 1950's. The woman was wearing a poodle skirt and the man was wearing jeans with his hair slicked back.

"Mother and Father," she sighed and slid the photo into her pocket. "Go back to the house. Stay safe," Cyrus bowed and left.

"Fae's. Like faeries? This is starting to be way more interesting then I thought first," Erskine reclined on a chair and looked up at us. "When do we move?"

"Tomorrow," I told him. "We're gonna head out and we're collecting Aurora Jane on the way. Then we're stopping in California to release her and a few others to the wild."

"They're not rabbits or owls or something," Saracen said looking at me weirdly.

"You haven't been with Aurora yet," I reminded him. Siren gagged while the other two sat up.

"Fair game?" Saracen asked and I rolled my eyes.

"No, I am not in. That ship sailed a LONG time ago," I grinned and Saracen rolled his eyes. Siren made another noise and we turned to watch her as she shook her head.

"You guys are gross," she laughed and I grinned. This was Siren, not the cold girl that I'd seen so far.

"Well you're living with us now," Saracen poked her and made her wiggle away from him. I saw Erskine grin and roll his eyes.

"Yeah," he drawled. "You live with three, gross, smelly guys." He then jumped on Siren who shrieked and pushed him off. This started a game of Erskine and Siren dashing around the apartment, Siren trying to get away from Erskine who was singing "Hug!" and then trying to grab her. It was something I expected from Larrikin not Ravel.

"Enough," I said after the first twenty minutes of laughing and screaming. Siren flopped over on the couch and stared at me, her cheeks bright red. She puffed out a breath.

"I'm so unfit," she groaned.

"We'll have to fix that," Saracen said. "Ghastly, Dex, Anton and Skulduggery will be the guys for that."

"It sounds horrible," she sighed.

"It's not that bad. Valkyrie's going through it now," Erskine chided. "I went through it, so did Saracen and Hopeless and Larrikin."

"It's honestly not that bad. I went through a watered down version," I told her. She nodded slightly.

"So, what do we do now?" Erskine said. Suddenly Saracen shouted and Siren was pulling me out the door. There was a blistering heat and then... nothing.