“Maybe this is something you ought to take up with your Pharaoh,” she suggested. “Because I really want this thing off … oh wait. But not yet. There’s the girl … the woman. I keep communicating with a woman who I can’t see, who Ahnvil can’t see, but other people can. It’s complicated,” she said dismissively, realizing how it must sound. “What if this Amulet is the reason why this is happening?”

“Now this is interesting,” Kamen said, looking genuinely fascinated. “You say you communicate. How?”

“By written notes. Oh, and I can see the note float up and stuff, as if someone were picking it up. As if she were the Invisible Woman, or something.”

“Intriguing,” Kamen mused.

“And she’s coming here. To Portales.”

“Now this I would like to see,” Kamen said. “I am curious if any of us will be able to see her or if it is just the two of you she is invisible to.”

“Provided she ever gets here. I have to write a note to her. I thought I would put it on the door.”

“So you are bringing this unknown element right to our doorstep?” Kamen queried archly.

“I doona like it any more than you do,” he said to Kamen. “But I dinna see any other way of resolving this.”

“I see. Well, there’s no changing it now in any event. Let me know what Jackson says about the source material and if he agrees I will get to work straightaway. Also, let me know when this woman begins to write back to you. I have a few spells I can try to help lift whatever obfuscation—”

“No! No spells!” Ahnvil said sharply. Kamen raised a brow, clearly undisturbed by the hulking, bristling giant.

“And just how do you think I am going to be removing the Amulet? I rather doubt writing sonnets to it will do the trick. Spells are what I do, what I know. And you know that or you wouldn’t have brought her to me. This Amulet is of the supernatural. It will take the supernatural to remove it.”

That made Ahnvil glower, the anger in him evident. “We’ll talk to Jackson,” Kat said, pulling at the seething Gargoyle, trying to get him to move down the hallway with her. After a moment he relented and followed in her wake.

For a minute.

Then he was putting her behind himself again, leading the way.

“You know, this better be you protecting me,” she muttered, “because if this is some medieval the-woman-walks-ten-paces-behind-the-man bullshit, I’m going to be really pissed.”

“ ’Tis no’ bullshite,” he said. “I doona want you hurt so ’tis best you remain where I can protect you.”

“That’s what I thought it was,” she said with a soft sigh. “But you can’t protect me every minute of every day.”

He stopped and turned to look at her. “Aye. I can. ’Tis what I was created tae do. And I’ll be loyal tae it and tae you till the day I die. Do you ken that?”

“I …” She swallowed. There was something so breathtaking about the intensity of his words. And there was so much feeling behind them as well. To say it made her feel special … treasured … was an understatement. “All right,” she said. Then she touched a hand to his back, urging him onward.

They found Jackson and explained what was happening and what Kamen’s request was.

“I’m leery about giving him access to our source material as well,” he admitted to them. “But if we want to see this thing off you I don’t see any way around it.” Jackson frowned in spite of the fact that the lovely redheaded Marissa entered the room and immediately found her place under his arm, snuggling against his body. Watching the two of them was like watching a romantic movie come to life. He was sweet to her, his fingertips touching and then holding her hand, his lips brushing the rise of her cheek as he thought on his problem for a moment. “The fact is, if we want to have any hope of defeating Apep when he decides to come for us, we will need Kamenwati to have full access to all of the material we can provide him. But I am still not sure I trust his motivations completely. He says he is here to help right the wrong he has committed, but there is always the chance that he is working his own agenda for the benefit of the Templars.”

“Wait … Apep? The demon god? And the Templars are bad. The war you’re in. Have I got that right?”

“Yes.” Jackson said.

“Why would Kamen want to atone? What’d he do?”

“He resurrected the god Apep while trying to reawaken his mistress, Odjit,” Jackson explained. “He says he regrets this and will work with us to help defeat her. We are gathering strength, and Kamenwati is part of that strength … provided he is sincere.” He paused thoughtfully. “But there might be another resource besides Kamen that we can use. Grey. Only he isn’t here at the moment.”

“Grey?” she echoed.

“A Djynn. Very likely the most powerful Djynn in the North American continent. He is ruler of all the Djynn here. There are others just as powerful ruling over the other continents, but we recently came to know him and he has visited us since then, from time to time. He knows that Apep is a force to be reckoned with and might lend a hand if we need him to.”

“Might?” she asked Jackson.

“Djynn are notoriously capricious. They always have their own agenda.”

“Is that why it’s bad to make wishes?”

“Aye, it is,” Ahnvil said gravely.

“Then I’m not sure I want to meet a Djynn,” she hedged worriedly.

“Doona worry. I willna let him hurt you.”

“He sounds much more powerful than you are,” she said cautiously, not wanting to insult him but knowing no other way of voicing her opinion on the matter.

“I’m tougher than I look,” he said, chucking her under the chin with a curved finger.

“That’s saying a lot,” she said with a laugh.

“Aye.” He turned to Jackson. “So how do we get in touch wi’ Grey?”

“There isn’t a way. We’ll just have to wait. He didn’t say when he would be returning, but I got the impression he would not be gone long.”

“I hope not. The sooner she’s away from here the happier I’ll be.”

That earned him a smack on the arm. “I told you, I’m not leaving!” Kat cried.