The city barriers were like tanks. It took a lot to knock them out. I had only seen one go down once, when Nero and I had sent hundreds of monsters at it. The monsters had died, but the impact had overloaded the barrier. I wondered if these prison cells were equally powerful.

The magic the witch was throwing at it sure was powerful. The barrier didn’t seem to notice. I guessed that answered my question.

As I passed by the cell, the witch stopped moving and stared at me. Her eyes were glued to my hair.

“How did you do that?”

I jumped in surprise. I’d been so distracted by the eerie gleam in the witch’s eyes that I hadn’t noticed Nerissa walk up to me.

She looked…well, terrible. Dark circles hung under her eyes. Her clothes were wrinkled, her hair disheveled, like she’d been running her hands through it constantly all night long.

“How did I do what?” I asked her.

“Get her to stop thrashing and wailing and hitting the barrier with that blasted magic of hers.”

“I don’t know. She saw my hair and stopped.”

Nerissa stared at me. “You have some weird hair, Leda.”

“I know.” I sighed.

“She’s been at it all night, slamming her magic against the barrier nonstop. Driving me so crazy, I could hardly think.”

“You’ve been up all night?”

“Yes.”

Maybe that was the real reason she couldn’t think. That and her overconsumption of cold coffee.

“Our illustrious new lieutenant colonel wants results,” she explained.

“And?”

Nerissa blinked at me. It was a slow blink, like she’d fallen asleep for a second in between.

“Do you have any updates?” I asked her.

“Of course I don’t have anything,” Nerissa snapped at me. “If I had anything, I would have called you and then treated myself to a nap.”

I forgave her because she hadn’t slept at all last night. And because she was usually so good-natured.

“You have no ideas?” I asked, surprised. “You always have ideas.”

“Is that supposed to be funny?”

“No, it’s supposed to be true. You always know everything.”

Nerissa scowled at me. “Well, I don’t know this. Haven’t got a clue. Supernaturals with all the powers of a Legion soldier, but with no sign of Nectar or Venom in their blood. And no sign of demon possession. I’ve never seen anything like it.”

She looked ready to collapse.

“Go to bed,” I ordered her.

“Sorry, sweet pea, I already have my orders from an angel. Harker says I need to figure this out now.”

“Well, Harker isn’t here right now.”

I hoped I wasn’t jinxing it. This was the perfect time for Harker to stride in and declare that he was, in fact, here. When that didn’t happen, I took it as a divine sign for me to continue.

“And if you don’t get some rest, you’ll never figure out anything,” I told her. “There are other scientists. Call Dr. Mackenzie.”

“He’s in London right now.”

“Dr. Martinelli?”

“She’s in Chicago.”

“Well, there has to be someone around. Call them, get some breakfast, and then report your ass to bed.”

“Harker will have your head for this,” she warned me.

“You let me worry about Harker. You worry about getting some food and rest, so that brilliant intellect of yours can solve this mystery.”

“Well, I am brilliant.” Nerissa looked somewhat appeased.

I pushed her toward the door. As I left the lab, I pulled out my phone and messaged Ivy.

Nerissa was up all night. I sent her to Demeter. Could you make sure she gets something to eat and then goes to bed?

Ivy responded immediately. No problem.

I might as well talk to Harker now. I headed down the hall toward his office, but he found me before I got there.

“Hi,” I said with a pleasant smile.

A suspicious crinkle formed between his eyes. “What did you do?”

Busted. I’d just shooed Nerissa out of her lab. He couldn’t have found out already.

I smiled wider. “What makes you think I did something?”

He gave me a flat look. “The innocent expression on your face was a dead giveaway.”

“That’s ridiculous.”

“Is it?”

“I was just coming to see you,” I told him.

“Well, isn’t this fortuitous.” His voice had a hard edge to it. In fact, he looked almost as bad as Nerissa. I wondered how much he’d slept last night.

“And?” he demanded. “What do you have for me?”

“Nothing yet.”

He frowned. “You were looking for me to say you have nothing.”

“Not yet. But I’m going to take the team out again and track down the vampire and werewolf, so they’re not on the streets. I just had an idea. I need a portable Magitech generator like the one used in the angel cell holding the witch. I’m going to use it to trap the vampire and the werewolf.”

“It’s not a bad idea. I’ll give one to the team I’m sending after them.”

“You’re taking me off the mission?”

“I am disappointed in your and Nerissa’s lack of progress.”

I could tell he was frustrated with this whole thing, especially with how bad it looked to have it happening in his territory during his first week as an angel.

“But this problem is baffling everyone,” he continued. “I still think if anyone can solve it, you can.” He started walking. “Come with me.”

I followed him down the hall. “Where are we going?”

“To the ballroom.”

“Because this is the perfect time to dance?”

“No.”

He opened the double doors to the ballroom. I’d only ever been in here when it was decorated for a party. Right now, it looked so plain. There were no decorations, music, or party appetizers. Instead, there were only a few boring conference tables—and seated behind them was an unhappy assortment of elementals, witches, vampires, and shifters.

“You already know the Sea King,” Harker said. “These are his counterparts, the leaders of the elemental clans: the Fire King, the Sky Queen, and the Earth King. I believe you also know the witch coven leader Constantine Wildman, who is also the head of Zoology at the New York University of Witchcraft. Those are his two aides.”

A warm, happy feeling sparked inside of me when I saw that one of the aides was my sister Bella. It had been far too long since we’d hung out. Unfortunately, I feared we wouldn’t have much time to chat.

Harker indicated the table where the vampires sat. “These are the leaders of two vampire houses in New York: House Vermillion and House Snowfire.”

From the way they were sitting on far ends of the same table, the two vampires didn’t get along all that well. Vermillion was the house that was good at reforming rogue vampires. I didn’t know much about Snowfire, but the name sounded familiar.

“And the shifters have sent Stash.” He looked at Stash sitting alone at the shifter table. “Is that your first or last name?”

“It’s my only name.”

“These are the leaders of the supernatural groups with members who’ve been affected by the contagion.” Harker looked from me to them. “You are all going to figure this out. Together. Your assets have been frozen until you do.”

On that cheerful note, he left the room, closing the door behind him.

None of the supernatural leaders looked happy to be here. I sure wasn’t happy about the mess Harker had dumped in my lap either. But maybe some of them knew something that would help us solve this problem. If only I could find a way to make these bickering supernatural leaders work together. They were already arguing. Angry accusations flew across the room.

I sighed and considered the representatives the supernaturals of New York had sent me.

The witches had sent a coven leader, one of the heads of the university. He was a witch of great power, positioned well within the witch community. That told me the witches took this threat very seriously.

Constantine Wildman’s aides were dressed in tight corsets and little ballet skirts. They didn’t have computers or other gadgets on them. He’d obviously brought them along to serve as human props, to make him look good. Poor Bella. She was too smart to be wasted like this.