A Faerie's Curse (Creepy Hollow #6) by Rachel Morgan

space as I climb quickly to my feet and move to one of the windows. Peeking through, I see a figure by the faerie door. A figure turning slightly, reaching into his pocket … I breathe a sigh of relief as I recognize him. It’s just Kobe , I tell Chase as I let go of my illusion and open the door. “Kobe?”
    He tenses as he spins around. “Oh, it’s you, Calla.” His shoulders relax.
    â€œWhat are you doing here so early? Is something wrong?”
    â€œYes,” he says gravely. “I just heard from our mer contact. The Monument to the First Mer King is gone.”

C HAPTER
    E IGHT

    â€œHow the hell did somebody steal that thing?” Darius asks. “It was protected by both magic and merpeople.”
    â€œNo doubt it was stolen with magic too,” Gaius mutters as he paces the living room. It’s early Thursday morning and the rest of the team—several of whom appear to be half-asleep still—is now present after being alerted to the situation by Kobe.
    â€œAngelica’s obviously behind this,” I say, crossing the room to the fireplace and holding my hands toward its warmth. “She’s probably aiming for the next full moon.”
    â€œWhich is a week and a half away,” Gaius says, “giving us little time after rescuing Chase to stop her.”
    â€œWe need to inform the Guild,” Lumethon says. “An anonymous message. I can send it now.”
    â€œThe Guild already knows,” Kobe says. “My contact mentioned that several of their guardians were involved in protecting the statue.”
    â€œThat makes sense,” I say. “The Guild knows all about the prophecy now because of my mother. They also know that the reason she was abducted was because someone wanted to find out exactly what she Saw. She told them she believed it to be Amon, since he was the one who witnessed my mother and the other two Seer trainees when the visions struck them all those years ago. I don’t know if they believe her about that, but at least they know that someone is trying to tear through the veil.”
    â€œDo we even need to do anything about this then?” Ana asks through another yawn. “There are hundreds, if not thousands, of guardians who can hunt down the person doing this—Angelica, obviously—and stop her. They don’t need us to get involved. In fact, we probably shouldn’t. We’re criminals in the eyes of the Guild.”
    Darius points a skeptical look in her direction. “Do you really think those guardians are smart enough to figure out where Angelica has taken this statue?”
    â€œHey, guardians are not useless,” I tell him. “Most of them are actually very good at what they do.”
    â€œUh huh. Is that why we end up dumping law-breaking fae on their doorstep? Because they’re the ones doing their job?”
    â€œDon’t exaggerate,” Lumethon says. “We hardly ever need to do that.”
    â€œOur priority is still to rescue Chase,” Gaius says, “given that the party is happening before the full moon. As Ana pointed out, we may not even need to get involved in this prophecy thing. We can reevaluate once we’ve got Chase back.”
    â€œWhich will leave us only two days before the full moon,” Kobe reminds him.
    â€œYes, but we’ve prepared for missions in far less time than that. It’ll be fine.”
    â€œSo … can we have breakfast now?” Ana asks. “Or do I need to return home to get some food before I go to work?”
    â€œNo, no, there’s plenty of food here,” Gaius says, waving everyone toward the door. “Let’s cook something up.”
    As the rest of the team traipses out of the living room, Gaius motions for me to stay behind. “Next time you sneak into the Guild,” he says, “or perhaps tomorrow night when you’re at your brother’s home, see if you can find out