“No joke,” I told them both. “You didn’t see it, did you?”

At the tension in my voice, Vegard moved in front of me. Protectively. Annoyingly. Now I couldn’t see anything. I ducked under his arm and headed for that side street. Vegard reached out to push me behind him and I ducked out of reach and ran. Phaelan and the Guardians were right on our heels.

“They were blue, naked, claw-footed, with horns on their heads,” I told Vegard.

“What?” The Guardian stopped, pulling me with him.

“Ma’am, are you sure you haven’t been-”

I drew breath to retort, but a scream from that side street answered him better than I could.

It’s been my experience that nothing clears a crowded street quicker than a scream. In this instance, I approved of crowd cowardice. Fewer people on the street meant fewer people hurt. It also meant fewer people between me and where I was determined to go. And if I had to drag a big, blond Guardian behind me, so be it.

Vegard drew a massive battle-ax from the harness on his back, the steel blade shimmering pale blue with magic.

He insisted on looking around the corner first. I let him.

He took a look and relaxed the arm holding the ax. “Ma’am, there’s nothing there.” He said it as if nothing was precisely what he expected to find.

I wasn’t giving up. “What about the scream?”

“One scream, no victim-at least not here.” Vegard turned to a pair of Guardians in plain clothes. “Erik, take Dacan and see if you can track down where-”

I stepped around Vegard to look down that street myself. “I can’t believe there’s no…” I looked, saw, jumped back, and flattened myself against the stone wall beside Vegard.

There were nearly a dozen of us. There were more of them. A lot more.

“Vegard, there are definitely-”

The scream turned into a shriek, and it was coming from that street.