“What kind of Nightwalkers?” Bella repeated, stepping as if to go around her husband, but he held her back again.

“What kind are you?” Leo countered.

“He’s a Demon and I’m a Druid.”

“A Demon?” The gun came up again.

“Bella …” Jacob warned.

“But the good kind!” she added hastily.

“There’s a good kind?” Leo asked, completely sounding like he didn’t believe it for a second.

“Yes,” Jacob said. “Your turn.”

“Bodywalkers. Not me, but inside the house.”

“We’ve never heard of Bodywalkers,” Jacob said with a frown.

“And we’ve never heard of Demons or Druids. Not as Nightwalkers in any event.”

“You said Nightwalkers, as in … more than one?”

“Yeah. As in Djynn, Night Angels. More,” Leo said cautiously.

“Vampires? Lycanthropes?” Jacob suggested.

“Right,” Leo scoffed. “Like they’re real.” Then a beat went by. Leo seemed to remember that a few months ago none of this had been real to him. “How many do you know about?” he thought to ask.

“Six breeds,” Jacob said.

“We have seven … or wait … maybe just six. Long story,” he said at Jacob’s questioning look.

“The prophecy!” Bella yelped suddenly.

“What?” Jacob and Leo asked at the same time. “What prophecy?” Leo asked.

“ ‘… And so it will come to pass in the forward times that the nations of the Nightwalkers will be shattered, driven apart, and become strangers to one another,’ ” Bella began to recite. “ ‘Hidden, by misfortune and by purpose, these twelve nations will come to cross-purposes and fade from each other’s existence. In the forward times these nations will face toil and struggle unlike any time before and only by coming together once more can they hope to face the evil that will set upon them. But they are lost to one another … and so will remain lost, until a great enemy is defeated … and a new one resurrects itself …’ It’s from the Lost Scroll of Kindred. I found it not too long ago. I think … I think there’s something keeping us from seeing each other.”

“But Kat isn’t a Nightwalker,” Leo said. “So that shoots that theory all to hell. Unless …” He looked at Kat, his eyes falling to the Amulet. “Unless it’s that Amulet you’re wearing.” Leo slowly put his weapon back in its holster and held out his empty hands. “Look, maybe you should come in the house and meet some of the others. Maybe they can see you.”

As it turned out, by the time all introductions were done, only Max, the other mortal in the group, was able to see the newly arrived couple. Everyone, including Kamen, Max, and Leo, was sitting in the main living area and Max and Leo were taking turns translating between the two kinds of Nightwalkers.

“The scroll must mean our six breeds of Nightwalkers can’t see your six … for some reason,” Bella said. “Although, from what you said there’s only Bodywalkers and Gargoyles here. And you don’t think Gargoyles are one of the breeds, so why can’t they see us, either?”

“Because they are made from the energy, the Bodywalker spirit, of their forger,” Kamen said. “If we can’t see then it stands to reason they can’t see. I have to say, this has all the earmarks of a curse. It feels unnatural like a curse.”

Kat fingered her pendant. “Like this is cursed,” she said.

Ahnvil was standing beside Kat’s chair and his hand went to the back of her neck in a gesture of comfort.

“If this is a curse then there is a way to lift it,” Kamen said. “Just as somewhere there is a way to lift the curse of that Amulet. It’s just going to take time and research to find out what it is and how to lift it.”

“We can’t lift it unless we know first the nature of it,” Ahnvil said.

“Yes.”

“So together there are twelve Nightwalker nations. Six have no idea the other six exist … until now. Until Kat,” Bella said.

“Yes. Until Kat,” Kamen said thoughtfully. “Docia, I want to see if the other breeds are blind to this couple. Can you get SingSing here? SingSing is a Djynn we know,” he said aloud in explanation.

“Sure. She said all I have to do is put on her scarf and she’ll know I need her.” Docia rose and hurried off to her bedroom. A few minutes later she returned, wearing a lovely colorful, silvery scarf. She was a bit breathless for her effort. “I don’t know how long it’ll take …”

“Well then, I guess we just wait until she comes,” Leo said.

“Let me make sure I have this right,” Bella said. “Mistrals, Lycanthropes, Vampires, Demons, Druids, and Shadowdwellers can’t see or hear Bodywalkers, Djynn, Mysticals, Phoenixes, Night Angels, and Wraiths.”

“In theory. We’ll have a better idea when SingSing gets here.”

“You rrrrrang?” a perky voice asked on a rolling r. A moment later a diminutive young woman with corkscrew ginger curls appeared in the center of the room. “Ta-da!” She snickered. “That never gets old.” She looked around the room. “Jeez. Why so serious?”

“SingSing,” Ram spoke up, “how many people do you see in the room?”

“Is this a trick question?” she asked, climbing up onto the arm of one of the chairs and perching there like a bird. As a stunned Kat watched, a small dragon head peeked out of the nest of curls adorning the little woman’s head. “I see eleven.”

Everyone looked at each other.

“Name them.”

“What? Why?”

“Just do it,” Ram asked in a pained tone.

“Fine fine. Crab-ass Ram. Sweet Docia. Jackson, Marissa, Max, Leo. Ihron. Hey, handsome.” She gave him an exaggerated batting of her lashes. “Girl, I Don’t Know. Ahnvil. By the way, I am so mad at you. I thought I was your girl. And there you are cheating on me with another Djynn. Kamen and Stohn. Is this a game? I like games. Are we all going to hide now? Who’s it?”

“You don’t see a dark-haired couple other than tha—? Wait.” Ahnvil said. “What other Djynn? You mean Grey?”