Playing With Fire - Katie MacAlister [100]
‘‘I don’t know how much you know about doppelgangers—not much, I suspect, since there are only a handful of us around—but there’s more to doppelgangers than shadow walking.’’
‘‘Is there?’’
‘‘Yes. We can also enter the shadow world.’’
Gabriel’s eyebrows arched. ‘‘Shadow world?’’
‘‘That’s the doppelganger name for it. It’s a sort of separate plane that coexists with our reality, rather like an overlay. It’s hard to describe what it looks like, but things in it are slightly . . . off.’’
‘‘Ah, you’re talking about the beyond.’’ Gabriel nodded. ‘‘I thought that was the realm of elves and the fey.’’
‘‘They make up the larger population of inhabitants. As a doppelganger, I’m one of the others who can also enter it, despite the fact that I’m bound to Magoth.’’
‘‘I understand, but what does that have to do with this situation?’’
‘‘I don’t know where Cyrene is. I couldn’t hear nine-tenths of what she said, which means I’m going to have to track her down.’’
Bright man that he is, Gabriel instantly guessed where it was all going. ‘‘And you can only do so while you are in the beyond?’’
‘‘Yes. And I can’t take you with me.’’
His brows arched. ‘‘You just said others can enter the beyond.’’
‘‘Some people can, yes. Elves act as kind of a conduit— they can bring people into it, but doppelgangers . . .’’ I sighed. ‘‘We’re just shadows ourselves, really, so we can slip into and out of it easily, but we can’t take anyone with us. The best I can do is to track down Cy and call you when I’ve found her. I don’t mind saying I’d like to have you with me to deal with the blackmailer, but I’m afraid I don’t know of any other way.’’
‘‘How will you trail her?’’ he asked.
‘‘How? Oh . . . she’s an elemental being. She leaves a faint trail wherever she goes. It’s not visible in our world, but in the beyond, faint traces linger for a few hours. So I should be able to track her from here to wherever she is, so long as too much time hasn’t passed.’’
‘‘Interesting.’’ He looked curious. ‘‘Do dragons leave signs, as well?’’
I smiled. ‘‘Yes. Dragon scales glitter like . . . well, glitter in the beyond. And much as I hate to offend you . . .’’ I ran my hand down his bared neck, showing him my palm. The faintest iridescent sparkle showed on it. ‘‘You shed. Quite a lot, actually.’’
‘‘I don’t know whether to be offended or to make a suggestive comment about rubbing my scales all over your naked body,’’ he said with a flash of his silver eyes. ‘‘Proceed, little bird.’’
I glanced around. No one was near us on the street. ‘‘I’ll call you as soon as I find her, I promise.’’
He said nothing, just watched as I slipped into the shadow world and set off down the road.
Chapter Twenty-one
The trail was there on the ground, faint but still visible slightly darkened footprints, as if Cyrene had been walking with wet feet across a dry floor. There were other elemental beings in the area leaving tracks as well—London was headquarters to several Otherworld groups, including a lot of elementalists—but it was easy enough to pick Cyrene’s trail apart from the others.
It wasn’t until I was three blocks away that an uncomfortable feeling started pricking between my shoulder blades. I spun around to see who was following me, and gawked openmouthed at the man standing immediately behind me. ‘‘How?’’ I asked, poking him in the chest to be sure he was real.
My hand went right through his chest as if nothing was there. ‘‘OK, change that how to what? What’s going on, Gabriel? How is it you’re in the beyond?’’
‘‘Beyond, shadow world, the Dreaming . . . all different names for the same thing,’’ he answered, his dimples showing as I waved a hand through his chest. ‘‘I told you that my mother was a shaman.’’
‘‘You said that’s why you could occasionally read my mind. That doesn’t explain why you’re a . . . what, shade? Image? You’re not really here, are you?’’
‘‘No. I’m in Drake’s house. Or rather, my body is. I can walk in the Dreaming, but I can’t interact with anything. My mother said it was because I was part dragon.’’ He shrugged. ‘‘I won’t be able to touch things