Emily, who had been fluttering behind them awkwardly, added, “Not that we feel like you should clean up our messes. I’m sure you have far more important things to do than this.”

“Go drink some tea, Emily,” Stella said firmly. “Of course we respect your time. No one here can question that, but this should be a simple matter for your team. Can you cut him off from the Source right here? Anything you need for the task is at your disposal.” Her brilliant smile was cold as ice.

Adelle’s fury burned at Marshall’s back with an intensity that distracted him from his own.

Marshall held out a hand to forestall his sister and said coldly, “That isn’t how we do things.”

Cutting an uncontained Other off from the Source was a death sentence. If the boy couldn’t control his power, it would turn on him as soon as it lost its connection to the Source and burn him to ash in seconds.

:If we had any doubt about this family before, here’s clear proof that something around here is rotten.: Jack’s mental voice was uncharacteristically grave.

“You would get no trouble from it on our end. You have my word on that. As Emily said, you have more important things to do, and dealing with complaints is the last thing you need.”

“What about Cymbeline’s companion? What would you have us do with him?” Adelle demanded.

Stella’s face went a shade whiter than usual, but she recovered herself quickly. “He’s just a norm caught in the crossfire. We can charm his memory so you won’t have to trouble yourselves with him.”

:She was hoping we didn’t know about the soldier.: Jack’s voice was thoughtful. :What’s the plan, boss?:

:Have you found anything useful?: Marshall wanted as much information as he could get before acting. With the power he wielded—both politically and magically—he had to make sure he was doing the right thing before acting.

:I found the room they were keeping the boy in. It was nice, but he was kept away from everyone. With the amount of magic the place had wrapped around it, you could contain a magical nuke in there. He must have been packing something big.:

:If he was completely out of control, we would have been brought in on this long before now. I don’t think Stella is being honest with us. Let’s see what she’s hiding.:

Marshall allowed his thoughts to drift away. He slowed his breath, and then he looked at Stella using the innate talent every dreamwalker had—the ability to sense the raw creative power of the universe. Without trying, he could pick up superficial bits and pieces of the world around him, but if he wanted to know more, he had to dig deeper.

Marshall saw nothing. He should have seen something on Stella. Ambient magic collected around everyone, and even norms had trace amounts of it clinging to them. A magic user should be covered with it. Stella would have had to scour herself down to the core minutes before their arrival to remove all of it. And since ambient magic was completely benign, the only reason for anyone to clean themselves so completely would be if they had something to hide.

Also, a complete magical cleanse was a better explanation for why her magic was so low—from the spells he’d seen her throw, Stella was too powerful for her magic to be wiped out this long after the fight.

:She’s been wiped clean. Jack, meet me out front. I’m ordering a full turnout, right now.:

:Copy that.:

Marshall stood up and took a step back from Stella’s bed. “Cymbeline is now under the jurisdiction of Fire. Stella, you are to order your family to stop looking for him immediately.”

Stella twisted her lips into a pretty pout. “I think that’s a bit much, Marshall. You’ll need us to help find him.”

Marshall ignored her and turned to Emily. “I want a full turnout of your family outside immediately.”

Emily went so pale he thought she might faint.

Stella was silent and calculating for a moment, then nodded her acquiescence to Marshall, and said to Emily, “Do it.”

:She was prepared for that,: Adelle said. :What do you bet she isn’t the only one wiped clean?:

Stella turned her attention to Marshall and said, “You won’t have our full family, Guardian. Most of us are with my sister on holiday or out hunting for my nephew.”

“Convenient,” hissed Adelle, no longer keeping her thoughts to herself.

“How many are here?” Marshall asked.

“Right now, our compound only has twenty-two people in it.”

“You had that number very fast, Stella,” said Adelle.

“When I was put in charge, I made sure to ask how many people were under my care.”

“I find it interesting that your sister went on vacation and left her newly injured sister in charge.”

“Elanor has been ill for some time now and couldn’t put the trip off any longer,” Stella said stiffly. “She knows that, even injured, I am more than capable of protecting my family.” Her polished words were laced with a threat.

Before Adelle could rise to the challenge Stella presented, Marshall said, “Stella, your family isn’t under threat unless they have been doing something illegal. Your aura was scrubbed bare moments before we got here. That alone is enough to have your entire family scanned.”

“That?” Stella laughed, a brittle bark that grated on his ears. “Of course I was scrubbed bare. I was nearly killed by my psychotic nephew using twisted magic no one understands! The gods only know what it did to me. If you look at Sterling and Helen, you’ll see the same thing.” She pointed at the far end of the room toward two curtain-covered beds. “Only don’t expect Helen to talk to you, she’s very single-minded right now. All she wants is another crack at her cousin, and if you aren’t interested in helping her, well… teenagers, right?”

Adelle drew his eyebrows together and looked at the beds thoughtfully. “Marshall?”

“Check them and the nurse. If they are clean, meet me and Jack outside.” He began to walk away and stopped, telling Stella, “You can come too, if you’re up to it.”

“Thank you so much for allowing me to go somewhere in my own home,” Stella snapped and began to struggle out of bed.

Marshall offered his arm, but she shook it off.

“I meant what I said. If you don’t have our help, anything could happen. That boy is a disaster.” Stella tried to get ahead of Marshall as he left the room, but she cradled her arm as she walked and moved slower than a woman twice her age.

Marshall easily made it out into the hallway first and allowed himself to give Stella a sardonic smile.

Behind him, Adelle shouted after Stella from the doorway, “Didn’t you hear? We’re Fire, we thrive on disaster.” Her voice was lighter and more playful now that she knew Marshall wasn’t going to leave the boy to the Blaikes.

:When did you get so attached to the boy, Addy?: Marshall’s mental voice was reproving. Guardians didn’t get attached during a mission.

:Somewhere between the Blaikes dropping that building on him and him destroying the cemetery with untested magic just to save his friend,: came her haughty reply.

:You never let on.:

:I didn’t want to influence you. Your job is to be the evenhanded one. Mine is to be the angry thing you set after people.:

:And what’s mine?: Jack asked.

:To be a pain in the ass,: Marshall and Adelle said at the same time.

:You two spend too much time together.:

“Just to be clear, this is a giant waste of everyone’s time.” Stella’s breath was ragged as she attempted to keep up with Marshall’s long strides. “You could slow down, you know.”

Marshall narrowed his eyes. “Last I heard, your compound hosted nearly a hundred people, and you claim to only have a fraction of that number available for a turnout.”