"he has been a good student. there will be mistakes, but he is honest and will try to do the right thing. eventually i will make permanent arrangements. i do not know whether those will put marcus fully in charge, but for now he will do fine. the club is not my top priority at the moment."

"when this thing with steffan is over, i'll check on him and do what i can. maybe offer moral support, if nothing else."

"i am sure he would appreciate that, but i hope you will return to toronto."

andreas's words sat there like the elephant in the room. ari didn't know what to say. he must know she couldn't return on a permanent basis. of course she'd return to help for a while, if he needed her. and then maybe visits-or maybe not. phone calls were hard enough. would a clean break be better?

"arianna, are you still there?" the magic of his voice curled around her, offering unspoken promises, asking for promises in return. and her magic reached across the airways, until she pulled it back. how could he do that over so many miles?

"stop the magical stuff, andreas, or i'm going to hang up. i'll be back, but you know i can't stay. even you can't weave a fairy tale for us to live in. real life doesn't work that way."

"it would, if you let it," he said. "i do not want you to hang up, so i promise to behave, but i will not deny that i want you here with me."

oh, andreas. her throat tightened. "what can i say? i want to be with you, too, but my job, my life, is here. people depend on me. when steffan's found, i'll come but only until things are settled. riverdale is where i belong."

his sigh echoed across the phone. "let us not worry about that decision now. it is enough that you will come. sometimes time and circumstances have a way of taking care of these things."

or they build insurmountable obstacles. "i hope-"

the sound of a phone ringing in the deliberation room interrupted.

"i have to go," she said. "a call is coming in, and it could be the kidnappers." her words tumbled over one another, as much from relief at the interruption as urgency to pursue the in-coming call. "i'm sorry, but i'll have to call you back tomorrow. we'll talk more then. i promise. take care of yourself."

"you, too. good luck to us both." the line went dead. ari frowned, suspicious his last words might have meaning beyond the obvious. was he keeping something from her or was she over-analyzing?

the door opened behind her. "it's him," vita whispered. "the kidnapper's on the phone, and jena's talking to him."

"i'm coming." ari forced her concerns about andreas to the back of her mind and stepped inside the council room, her cell phone already at her ear as she set up the trace.

jena's end of the phone conversation was heated.

"you didn't think we would sit and wait for you to kill or kidnap the rest of us, did you?" jena listened a moment, then snapped, "a safe place." then came a series of short responses: "yes... i get it... i'll try... one hour..." and finally, "i said i'll try but i can't guarantee anything."

the voice on the other end yelled so loudly that everyone in the room heard his chilling words: "you damn well better try. if not, steffan is a dead man." the loud click as he disconnected brought an ominous silence to the room.

jena looked at ari. "was it long enough?"

"i sure hope so." she waved her phone. "gilbert's checking. he'll call as soon as he knows."

three minutes later they heard the good news.

"we have the location, and i've sent two scouts to see what we're getting into," gilbert said. "the call came from fairly close, no more than fifteen miles from here. our people can cover that amount of ground pretty quickly. what did the kidnapper have to say?"

ari put her phone on speaker and they listened as jena repeated her conversation to the wizard and wolf leaders.

"he wanted us to know steffan was unharmed." jena grimaced. "i guess he got the information we spread. anyway, he promised steffan would be released immediately if we agreed to drop the coalition, completely abandon the idea."

"and how did he hope to enforce that once steffan was released?" ari demanded.

jena shook her head. "i don't know, but i think he meant it when he said he'd kill him. he sounded frustrated, like he was running out of patience. i'm not sure he's going to agree to anything else. should we give him what he wants?"

"goddess no!" ari said, frowning at jena. why was she caving to his demands so quickly? "it's too early to make that kind of decision. let's see what happens during the next call." she gave jena a pointed look. "are you sure you can go through with this?"

"yeah, i can. i'm just worried about steffan."

"did he say anything else?" robert demanded.

"not really, but i thought it was odd he didn't push me to tell him where we are. he asked, and then let it drop. i expected him to try harder."

"i'm not surprised. he thinks he already knows," vita offered. "if the decoy plan worked, he believes we're at steffan's house."

it was a reasonable explanation. in fact, that had been part of the plan, but somehow it didn't feel right. it was too easy. her witch senses were twitching, but why wouldn't they be? the air was charged with tension, otherworld energy, and negative vibes.

"are you hearing all this?" ari asked, taking the phone off speaker and moving to a quiet corner to talk with gilbert privately.

"most of it. jena seems worried."

"yes, and i'm not sure why," ari said. "but we'll proceed as planned. when he calls back, jena is going to refuse his terms and make a demand of our own. i can't tell you what it will be right now, but it may piss him off. so expect anything, and be extra careful."

"no sweat. i'm always careful, and everyone is out of the house now. if he comes here, he'll find it empty until we close in on him."

"good. have you seen anyone yet?"

"only neighbors. which is weird. if he thought they were here, wouldn't he have sent someone to check?"

good point. ari rubbed her neck. if the kidnappers had fallen for their ruse, they would at least be watching steffan's house. "maybe we've figured this wrong."

"hold on, ari, my line's beeping. could be our scouts reporting back." he clicked over to the incoming call.

ari walked back toward the others. "we may have our answer coming now," she said.

gilbert was back thirty seconds later. "found 'em. gps location was accurate. farm house on fuller road, about fifteen miles east of town. lots of activity. at least a dozen wolves, maybe more. my scouts don't recognize anyone so far-no fagan or his friends-but that doesn't mean they aren't inside. they don't see steffan either."

"tell your scouts to sit tight and watch for now. if anyone leaves, call me asap."

"got it."

"leave someone to watch steffan's place, and meet me by the willow creek bridge in...um, half an hour."

when ari ended the call, she turned to find robert putting on a jacket.

"you heard?"

jena and the wizard nodded. the others were grabbing coats and jackets.

"you can't go," she said to robert.

"try to stop me." he put his hands in his pockets. "look, ari. we've allowed you to run things for the last several hours. now it's time for us to take action. we know where the enemy is. let's go confront the bastards and finish this."

ari shook her head. "what if something goes wrong? we can't lose any more of you. jena has to come, because the kidnappers are calling her cell phone, and i need to be part of that conversation. the rest of you have to stay here, where we can guard you."

they broke into loud protests.

"that's ridiculous," vita spat. "i'm going."

"you don't have any authority over us," warren added, his voice softer but no less determined. "you don't get to decide." he stood tall, hitched his pants and glared at ari.

the magic council president intervened. "friends. friends, please." when their voices grew quieter, he said, "i must support arianna on this. no, you need to listen, robert. the risk to all of you is simply too great. if you went, you would distract and divide our forces, in order to keep you safe."

"nobody has to protect me," robert growled. "the others can stay, but i'm going."

"who protects the magic hall, the president and the others?" ari asked. "what if the wolves come here while we're gone? are you willing to leave everyone unprotected?"

that stopped him for a moment. "then all the wolves go with us and everyone else goes home," he suggested. with a hint of triumph, he added, "if the kidnappers attack the hall, no one will be here."

ari heaved a deep sigh. she was going to have to play her ace in the hole.

"sorry," she said, glancing at vita and apologizing before she exposed the woman's secret. "i'm not willing to let vita take an unnecessary risk with her unborn child."

the wolves stared at the she-wolf in shocked disbelief.

"extraordinary," the wizard murmured into his beard.

"how did you know?" vita demanded, automatically laying a defensive hand on her stomach.

"i can sense wolves, see their auras," ari explained. "you register on my radar as two."

"damn. i didn't expect that. ok, it's true," she said, a stubborn pout on her lips. "i'm pregnant, but that doesn't mean i can't fight."