Fortunately, we didn’t have to climb back down the beanstalk. Since we knew where we wanted to go and it wasn’t some crazy magical realm, Lachlan was able to make a portal.

We said goodbye to the wolf, who had dressed back up in his grandma dress and bonnet, then departed the fairy-tale world for earth.

Lachlan made the portal, and I’d never been so grateful to get sucked away. If going up that beanstalk had been hard, I could only imagine that going down was twenty times worse.

The portal delivered me to the lawn in front of Lachlan’s house in the French countryside. He’d said that he preferred to live in Scotland, but his best workshop was here.

It was night in France, with the moon high above. A cold breeze drifted over my face, and the air smelled of winter.

Lachlan stepped out of the portal and stopped next to me. “Give me a few moments to check on the tracking potion and the scrap of the cloak. And I’ll make a few restorative drafts for Arach, Florian, and the pugs. The drafts won’t save them, but they might help them hold on longer.”

I turned to him. “Thank you. For everything.”

His dark eyes met mine, and a connection sparked between us. It felt like a live wire, pulling us closer together. His gaze lingered longer than necessary, warming me from within.

He blinked, then stepped back.

Clearly, he was fighting some kind of internal battle, but I had no idea what.

I swallowed hard and stepped back as well. “Mind if I get a shower?”

“Of course. You know where it is.”

I gave him one last look, trying to figure out what it was that I saw in his dark eyes, then turned and went toward the house. Unable to help myself, I snuck one peek at him as he walked toward the large barn that held his potion workshop.

The door to the house opened as I entered, and Mildred the pretty ghost smiled at me.

“You’re back!” she said.

“I am indeed.”

She gestured me inside. “You’re the only woman to ever come here, you know. Besides me and the housekeeper. And now you’ve come twice!”

“Um, yes.” I had no idea what to say to that.

“Well, it’s exciting is all. He must really like you.”

I had no idea how to answer that. Fortunately, Mildred didn’t seem to need a response. She could carry on a conversation just fine without me.

“You know, I really think he seems a bit happier,” she said. “It’s nothing obvious like smiling. Lord no! But something in his demeanor, you know?”

“What do you mean?” I shut the door behind me, enjoying the warmth of the old farmhouse.

“He just seems more cheerful. He’s been here the last couple of days—besides today, of course—working in his workshop on that piece of cloth. Apparently, it’s a terribly hard thing to figure out. But anyway, he just seems better somehow.”

“That’s good.”

“Of course it is, you ninny. I think it’s because of you!”

“I think you’re reaching,” I said. “Lachlan and I are just friends. Work colleagues.”

“Oh, likely story.” She wrinkled her nose as her gaze traveled up and down my form. “You stink of old fish and look like you climbed up a chimney.”

I looked down. The smell I’d become used to. But I hadn’t realized that Fairy Tale City had also left a coating of sooty magic on me. It was very faint, but Mildred had an eagle eye.

“You’d better get cleaned up.” She drifted toward the bedroom. “Come on. Let’s get you into a nice dress.”

* * *

Because Mildred was nice and I was a wimp—and also because I didn’t want to smell like old fish—I ended up wearing some of her clothes. The old-timey style wasn’t growing on me, but I did like wearing something clean, that was for sure. Not even Muffin would be down with the fish stink that I’d been wearing.

By the time I made it out into the living room, Lachlan stood there, his back to me. His hair was wet and his clothes were clean, so he must have taken the fastest shower in the history of the world.

“Well?” I asked. “How’s the tracking potion coming.”

He turned, his gaze bright. “The cloaked figure is connected to the theft.”

I stopped. “What?”

“The tracking potion finished, and it points to Magic’s Bend. It can’t be a coincidence.”

“Holy crap.” I blinked. “That’s… Shit, that’s not good, is it?”

“Not particularly, no. He—or she—is powerful. They’ve managed to get into the castle, or send other people in. It’s not good news for us.”

“No kidding. But maybe we can use this. Now we’re hunting two birds in the same bush. Better than two bushes.”

He nodded. “We just need to find them.”

“And tell the Protectorate. This is a good clue. A really good clue.”

“Let’s go.”

I joined him, and he raised his hand to create a portal. This time, however, it took a lot longer for the glowing magic to appear. I glanced up at him, worried, and noted that his face was pale, his eyes drawn.

“What’s wrong?” I asked.

“Nothing.” He nodded toward the portal, which was finally big enough. “Get in.”

I stepped through, letting the ether suck me in and pull me through space, spitting me out on the lawn. Lachlan followed, and was definitely paler when he arrived.

“Seriously, what’s wrong?” I demanded.

“I’m fine.”

“I’m fine,” I mimicked. “Such a man.”

“I am a man.”

“A man who is not fine. What’s wrong? You look like you’re low on magic, but we didn’t use that much back in the fairy-tale world.”

“I used it to create the restorative drafts.”

“Oh.” I got it. “You put your magic, and your life force, into the potion. Kind of like with the Oblivisi potion.”

“Aye. I’ll be fine after I sleep.”

I smiled. “Well, thank you. Arach and the ghosts will appreciate it.” I appreciated it. They were my friends, not Lachlan’s. But still, he helped them.

“Did you find something?” Jude’s voice echoed across the lawn, and I jumped away from Lachlan.

“Yes!” I hurried toward her, noting the stern glint in her eyes. “We found something.”

“Good. Because things are getting dire here.”

I followed her into the main entry hall, stopping abruptly when I spotted Florian. He floated near the stairs, a forced cheerful expression on his face. But his body was so much more faded. It was like he was half gone already.

Farther up the stairs stood Potts, the day librarian who hated Florian.

Except…. He looked clearly distressed. As if he’d been walking down the stairs, just spotted Florian, and stopped in shock.

Apparently, he didn’t hate the night librarian at all.

Oh fates, this was bad, if even Potts was distressed.

“We can’t find Chaos,” Jude murmured.

“What?” Shocked, I turned to her. “What do you mean?”

“He may be gone. Or hiding. The other pugs are as bad off as Florian, so Chaos must be in bad shape as well. I don’t know how much longer they have left.”

My heart tore in two for the little horned pug. And for the rest. This was awful. I turned to Lachlan, but he was already striding toward Florian. He held out the little vial that glowed with a ghostly blue light. I’d never heard of a living person managing to make something for a ghost, but Lachlan’s talents were unheard of.

“Drink this. It will help a bit,” Lachlan said.

Florian nodded and uncorked the bottle, then gulped down the liquid. He glowed briefly, starting to look a little more there.

“It won’t last very long, but it will buy you some time,” Lachlan said. “We’ll find Arach’s magic. I promise.”

“How is she?” I asked Jude.

“In her office, resting. So you have a clue?”

“We do. Whoever—”

Jude held up a hand. “Let’s get everyone together so you only have to say it once.”

“Okay.”

“You look hungry. We’ll do it in the kitchen.”

My stomach grumbled. “Thanks.”

Lachlan and I followed Jude down into Hans’s domain. His eyes brightened when he saw us. Boris sat on his shoulder. He waved his little pink paw.

“Sit! I will feed you!” Hans bustled around the kitchen, grabbing things out of cupboards.

We sat, and within moments, there were bowls of hearty soup and cups of juice in front of us. Caro, Ali, and Haris clattered down the stairs into the kitchen, followed by Rowan and Bree, who must’ve been back from her mission in Ireland. If Mayhem was in danger, I couldn’t blame her for hurrying back.

“I heard you found something?” Caro’s silver eyes were bright. “What was it?”

“Yeah, spill,” Ali said. “Because we struck out.”

Everyone found a seat around the big round table, and I explained our meeting with Torlock.

“Magic’s Bend?” Jude frowned. “I suppose that makes sense, since it’s the biggest magical city in America. But I’ve never heard of Grimaldi’s.”

There was a murmur of agreement from around the table. It seemed that no one had heard of it.

“So we need to go there and look around,” Caro said. “Track this jerk down using his coin.”

“That was my thought.” I eyed Jude, wondering if she’d put the hammer down on me going. “I’d like to go ask the FireSouls. They’ve lived in Magic’s Bend for over ten years. If there’s something there, they’d know it.”

Jude gave me a shrewd look, the wheels clearly turning in her head. She leaned forward. “You know that I didn’t agree with you going rogue.”

I swallowed hard and nodded.

“But you were right to follow your instincts. The Protectorate runs well because we follow the rules. I gave you freedom last week to hunt with Lachlan, but the other board members were giving me pushback. On one hand, they’re right. The rules keep us safe. But sometimes, going rogue helps. In this instance, you may have saved us all.” She raised a finger. “Now don’t let it go to your head. There’ll be no gallivanting off after this. You have to buckle down and finish your training, because Arach and the board make decisions, too, and they insist on the rule. But I’ll go to bat for you this time so that you can go find Grimaldi’s. But Bree and Caro must go with you. They’re both official members of the PITs, so they’ll help keep an eye on things.”

I grinned. I didn’t mind working with Bree, and Caro was the bomb. “Thank you, Jude.”

She nodded. “Thank you. But be careful. This won’t be easy. And we need you back here in one piece.”

* * *

After the meeting, Lachlan gave the three restorative drafts to Bree. I prayed that someone found Chaos so that he could take the potion.

Worry tugged at me as we climbed the stairs back to the main entry hall. At the top, Bree and Rowan rushed off to find the pugs. Most people in the castle were hunting for Chaos, and I crossed my fingers that they would find him. Jude had ordered me to sleep, and I couldn’t say that I hated it. I was about to fall over, and I needed to be fresh for tomorrow morning when we went after Grimaldi’s.

Of course, Rowan was going to come. She hadn’t bothered asking permission, but she hadn’t officially started at the Academy yet, so she could do what she wanted.

In the main entry hall, I stopped, grabbing Lachlan’s arm. “Hey, stop.”

He turned to me.

“Where are you sleeping?” I asked.

“I’ll find a place. Maybe in the city.” He seemed to sway slightly on his feet. “I’ll take a portal in the forest.”

As I’d guessed, he’d completely drained himself making the potions for the ghosts. He didn’t have the magic left to make a portal, so he’d take one of the ready-made ones into Edinburgh. Except that would cut off at least an hour or two of his sleep time.

“You can stay with me,” I said.

His eyes widened just slightly.

“On my couch.” Idiot. I should have made that clear. The last thing I needed was Lachlan thinking I was coming on to him. “I have a great couch. And we’re colleagues, so it’s fine.”

Yeah, that was a stellar example of saying too much to try to diffuse the awkwardness and only make it worse.

“Ah.” He hesitated briefly, but I could tell that he wanted to stay. It was clear as day on his face. “Aye, I will. Thanks.”

“Great.” I turned and started walking toward my apartment, assuming that he’d come along.

Yeah, we were just colleagues. Totally.

Except that the truth was staring us right in the face, and we were both just ignoring it.

We weren’t just colleagues. We might not be acting on anything, but we weren’t just colleagues. I blushed to the roots of my hair, so hot I could feel it.

Get it together, nerd.

The hall was quiet as we walked, which just made the tension in the air thicker. I pushed open the door to my tower and led the way up to my apartment. It was empty inside, with no cats on the couch. Normally, they’d be there, and I’d been wondering what kind of complex bargaining I’d have to perform to get them to vacate for Lachlan.

It was unnecessary, apparently. Maybe they were running a racket down at the docks, or robbing a jewelry store on the Royal Mile.

I swept out a hand. “Well, this is it.”

“It’s lovely,” Lachlan said.

And he was right. It was. I still marveled at the pretty apartment the castle had created for me.

Lachlan’s gaze traveled across the artwork on the walls. “You did those?”

“Most.”

“You’re very talented.”

“Thanks.”

His eyes fell on the painting of the dead mouse that Princess Snowflake III had made for me. “That one is…interesting.”

I grinned. “A present. From Princess.”

“Ah.”

I pointed to the couch, which already had a blanket draped over the back. “Well, that’s yours. Help yourself to anything in the kitchen. Don’t let the cats bully you.”

“I’ll do my best.”

I turned to go, but he reached for my arm, gripping gently.

I turned, looking up at him. My breath caught in my throat.

“Thank you.” His voice was soft.

“Yeah. No problem.” I tried to keep my eyes off his lips. It wasn’t easy.

His own gaze flickered down just briefly, then he let go of me.

My heart thundered as I hurried up the stairs. As soon as I reached the top, I closed my eyes and tried to get myself under control. I was being ridiculous. Acting like a teenager.

Lachlan was just a dude.

Well, not a dude really. A man. Definitely a man.

A man that I was losing my mind over.

Sighing at my own ridiculousness, I opened my eyes.

The Cats of Catastrophe stared at me. All three were sitting on my bed, leaving almost no room left for me.

Well, that was no surprise.