That meant he had company of the unwelcome sort. Better than any electronic alarm system, though he had one of those too, just to keep up with appearances. Lys sat up straight, and he moved so he was sitting beside her. “It’s Michael.” “Probably.” He walked to the window and took a look. Not good. Not good in any way. Another of his wards cracked. He glanced to the line of medallions placed around the perimeter of his ceiling and saw that for several of them, the carved faces were no longer smiling. One was outright frozen in a scream. His pulse sped up. Michael wasn’t playing around. He brought up a number he’d had in his phone contacts for a long time. He’d known for the last year or more that he couldn’t stay unaffiliated forever. This deal with Michael was pushing his decision. He was fine with that. From what he’d heard, there were worse warlords to tie himself to than Nikodemus. He pressed call. “Are you calling the police?” “No.” The ringing stopped. A woman answered the phone, and that wasn’t Jewel/Future Tense — Chapter 5 32 right.
