CHAPTER ONE
A perfectly fine window for a servant.
Likewise, the room itself was completely adequate for a servant. A single bed, a straight chair, and a two-drawer dresser filled the floor space. The walls and sloped ceiling were stained from old leaks, but otherwise undecorated.
A man materialized between the closed door and the occupied bed.
Motionless, he stared at the woman in the bed. Her mass of hair obscured her face and the covers hid her body.
He gestured with his right hand, and she rolled onto her back.
Now her features were visible. Delicate bones, a slightly-upturned nose.
Another gesture, and the covers flew back.
She lay on the bed, naked and fully exposed. Ripe but firm breasts, pale except for their dark tips. Flat stomach and a dark triangle where her legs met.
He let out a harsh breath. "Oh, Goddess. Thank You."
He bent and swooped up a pair of panties from the floor nearby. He fingered the cloth momentarily, then let them drop.
One final gesture, and both he and the woman disappeared.
**
Still asleep, Win reached for Diana, habit after two months. His arm encountered empty bed, no longer warm from her body.
Sleep fled, his eyes opened, and he sat up. Their suite was deep in the Oregon cliff side and without windows, but hidden lighting in the walls allowed him to see.
Diana sat in her favorite chair with a quilt wrapped around her. Mr. Bill had draped himself across her lap. She didn't move, but her eyes were open.
"Diana?"
She blinked and looked toward the bed. "Oh, Win, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to wake you."
"I don't mind, but why are you up?"
It was a moment before she asked, "Where's Carla?"
Oh, Goddess. That was old news. Why bring it up in the middle of the night? "Sweetheart, I don't have the slightest interest in Carla. I've told you that."
"I know. But where is she?"
Should he lie? Would she feel less threatened if he pretended to not know Carla had taken an assignment at another Stronghold until fall?
That didn't matter. He wouldn't lie to Diana. She was his lifemate. "She's not at the Stronghold this summer."
She shook her head like he was being purposefully idiotic. "So, where is she?"
"Ocean Magick."
She frowned. "That's on the ocean somewhere?"
He always forgot she didn't have a lifetime's knowledge of the Balance. "Yeah. Newport, Rhode Island. It's a resort for Balance people."
She didn't say anything right away, but she looked even less happy than when he first woke up.
"Is something the matter?" he finally asked.
She sighed. "I had a dream tonight. About Carla."
"A Sight dream?" His stomach tightened. She hadn't had any Sight dreams since Shiva died.
"Yes. There was a man, and he was in her room while she slept. But it wasn't like any rooms here, and I could smell salt in the air. They disappeared."
"Like they transported somewhere?" His heart pounded.
"Yeah. And before that, she was naked and he was looking at her." She leaned toward him. "Win, I think that man took her!"
He thought for a moment, then sighed. "I'd better call Grandpa."
**
The elevator responded immediately to Win's call. "Guardian's office," he told it as they stepped on.
Dee wasn't sure if she hoped her dream proved accurate or not. Despite her dislike and distrust of Carla, she didn't want her to be in danger. But neither did she want to be responsible for getting Ogma out of bed in the middle of the night for no reason.
The door to Ogma's sleek, high-tech office was open, so they went right in. He and Aradia sat behind his massive polished wood desk, both fully-dressed. One side of Ogma's hair stuck straight out from his head, so he apparently hadn't bothered to comb it.
Aradia smiled at Dee. "Are you all right, dear? Sight dreams take a lot out of one. Perhaps you'd like a cup of my special tea."
Ogma glowered. Dee quickly answered, "No, thank you. I'm fine. I'm sorry we disturbed your sleep. I thought this could wait until morning, but -"
Ogma interrupted, "Tell us about the dream."
"All right." But the urgency she'd felt was slipping away under Ogma's discouraging gaze. It had probably been a regular dream, fulfilling her unspoken wish Carla would vanish from the face of the earth.
"Could you play it back?" Win asked, his hand slipping into hers and squeezing.
Ogma's eyebrows drew together. "You've learned the playback technique?"
His obvious surprise gave her a spurt of confidence. She glanced at an empty place on the floor, visualized the beginning of the dream in her mind, then gave the push to make it real.
The scene played out as if they were watching it on videotape. It was magick, though, and no matter where in the room a person sat, the scene was fully visible.
Once Carla and the man disappeared from the room in her dream, Dee let the playback fade away.
Aradia spoke first. "No wonder Win felt this couldn't wait."
Ogma nodded and glanced at one of the many monitors in the room. This one was turned on and showed a slight man with a long bony nose. Ogma demanded, "Is that Carla's room?"
Dee was horrified. Not only had she gotten Ogma and Aradia up in the middle of the night, but this man, too? Who was he?
The man said, "How could I tell? It was pitch- black!"
Ogma shook his head in disgust. "Have you at least had her brought down to speak to me?"
The man must be someone at Ocean Magick. Win had said that's where Carla was.
The man's eyes narrowed and he muttered, "She's not there." His jaw tightened and he glared out from the screen. "That's nothing new. She's out every night until all hours - obviously something she learned in your Stronghold."
Ogma's expression would put a thundercloud to shame. "She didn't get abducted from my Stronghold, Gianni!"
"Nor from mine! You take the bad dream of some supposed-Adept over my word as Guardian?"
This disagreeable man must be the Guardian of Ocean Magick. Obviously, a pleasant personality wasn't a prerequisite for the job.
"There's no supposed about it, Gianni," Ogma snapped back. "Diana is an Adept, and her Sight dreams are unerringly accurate. If she says Carla's been abducted, then Carla's been abducted."
Dee felt her jaw go slack. Ogma didn't approve of her. He thought she was dragging her heels unreasonably on the whole business of dedicating her life to Goddess and accepting her role in the Balance. She could easily imagine him disparaging her Sight dream as Guardian Gianni had. But he'd done just the opposite.
Ogma and Guardian Gianni continued glaring at each other. Aradia said quietly to Win and Dee, "You two go back to bed. I promise you, we'll get to the bottom of this matter."
Win immediately stood and tugged on her hand. She followed, gladly.
Just as they left the room, Ogma said, "Thank you, Diana."
First he defended her Sight, and now he thanked her? Pretty amazing for the middle of the night!
**
Win stared into his duffel bag in disbelief. How had his underwear gotten in there already? He thought...well, that was the problem, actually. He wasn't thinking. His brain was spinning around and around on itself.
"Should I wear my hair up?" Diana asked from in front of the mirror. She pulled her blonde hair back and held it up in the back, then wrinkled her nose. "A bag over my head would be better," she muttered.
"A bag over your head would not be better." He crossed to stand behind her and kissed the top of her head. "That way, no one could see your incredible green eyes. Or that smile that lights up the whole world. And your hair's so pretty, especially when you wear it down."
She chuckled and shook her head. "Of course, you're not prejudiced or anything."
"Of course not."
She let go of her hair and frowned at the mirror again. "Not that it matters, anyway, when I'm so fat."
"You're not fat!" Not really, and the extra pounds she carried didn't show in the loose-fitting Balance robes she wore.
"That's what you say." She abruptly moved away, picking up Mr. Bill's carrier in one hand and her duffel bag in the other. "Ready?"
"Sure." He grabbed his own bag and they headed out to the elevator. "Guardian's office," he told it.
During the short trip, he tried to recapture the excitement he'd felt about a new assignment. He didn't know the details, of course, but he hadn't been a Mage long. Any assignment was exciting.
Grandma greeted them both with hugs. "You didn't take long getting ready. Come in and have a seat."
Grandpa's expression was more serious than usual. He nodded a greeting and immediately said, "Diana, the Council has asked me to express its thanks. Your Sight dream alerted us to a serious problem at Ocean Magick."
"Carla's really been abducted?" Diana asked.
"Yes, but that's -"
Not caring how rude he was being, Win interrupted. "But how could that happen? The Barrier should have protected her!"
Grandpa nodded. "Yes, of course. And the fact it didn't led the Council to investigate the matter immediately."
"Is the Barrier down?" Win asked. "That can't happen without the Guardian knowing it, can it?"
"It's not down, just weak. And yes, the Guardian would normally be aware of something like that."
Grandma touched Grandpa's hand lightly. "You should explain everything to them. They deserve a chance to absorb the news before they're thrust into the middle of the situation."
Thrust into the middle of the situation? Did that mean his assignment was to Ocean Magick?
Grandpa nodded. "I suppose you're right. In a nutshell, what the Council discovered is that Guardian Gianni has lost his ability to do magick."
Win's mind went temporarily blank. Before he recovered, Diana asked, "How could that happen?"
"We don't know yet," Grandma said. "The High Priestess is at Ocean Magick now. She'll assemble a team of Healers to work with him as soon as possible."
Win said, "But that means Ocean Magick and its region are unprotected!"
"That's where you come in, Win," Grandpa said.
But Win wasn't a Healer. Nor was Diana.
"You're to be named Guardian Pro Tem of Ocean Magick."
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