When Montgomery turned and looked at him, he felt pity for the man. This was a hard truth about who guarded the continent of Thaisia, but Simon thought the other part of the truth would hit humans like Montgomery even harder.

“In Wolf form, we could help you find all the parts.” He would have to choose Wolves who dealt with humans enough to understand why they couldn’t snack on what they found.

“I need to call Captain Burke,” Montgomery said.

“The Business Association’s room is empty,” Henry said.

They waited until Montgomery went across the hall.

“When do you want to meet the humans to tell them the rest?” Vlad asked.

“In an hour, if Captain Burke can get here by then. I want Nathan back here too,” Simon said.

“Tess needs to tend to her leg, but I will fetch Merri Lee, and she will help Nyx and me put Meg’s office back in order,” Henry said.

“As much as we can.” Nyx gave Simon a fanged smile. “The Elders ate all the Wolf cookies.”

He just sighed. What else was there to do?

After the rest of them went downstairs to deal with humans and sort out what needed to be done, Simon called the Pony Barn and felt relieved when he heard Meg’s voice.

“Simon? Is that you? Are you all right?”

“It’s me. I’m fine. Are you?”

“Yes. Something thought about entering the Pony Barn and . . . they laughed at us.”

They weren’t laughing at all of you. “They ate all the Wolf cookies in the sorting room too.”

“They . . . Well! Can you bite them for doing that?”

Even the thought made him want to hide under the desk. “No. But . . . they might have jumbled things up a bit when they were looking around. Henry, Nyx, and Merri Lee will straighten up the office, but I wanted you to know in case something wasn’t exactly right.”

“Then I’ll be prepared if something is different.” Meg didn’t say anything else for a moment. “I’ll check with Eamer’s Bakery and see when they can send more cookies.”

“You’re all right?” Her voice sounded tired.

“Jester, Sam, and I have been reading a Wolf Team story aloud for Skippy and the ponies. I’m the narrator and the human female who faints a lot.”

Meg sounded sour about that. Maybe he should invite some of the Wolf Team writers to spend a few days in the Courtyard. He’d bet a month’s worth of cookies that there wouldn’t be human females fainting in future stories if they did visit.

“Jester reads the parts of the bad humans and the Wolf Team leader, and we’re both helping Sam read the Wolf Team bits,” she continued. “We were just taking a break for drinks and snacks when you called.”

That explained her tired voice. “Stay there a couple more hours. Then I’ll pick you up and we can check out the Green Complex and the garden.”

“Okay. Do you need to talk to Jester? He says you probably already know what you need to.”

“I don’t need to talk to him, but I do have other calls to make.”

He hung up, wishing he could be reading the Wolf Team with her. But the sooner he dealt with the human things, the sooner he could take care of the things that really mattered to him.

• • •

“Henry?”

Henry stopped wiping off the table in the back room of the Liaison’s Office and considered the tone of Merri Lee’s voice. Not, Help, help, I’ve seen a mouse. More like, I made a rattlesnake angry. What should I do?

Dropping the rag on the table, he strode into the sorting room at the same time Nyx flowed in from the front room.

“What’s wrong?” Nyx said.

Merri Lee pointed at the two cards on the counter above the drawer that held Meg’s prophecy cards.

The first card was a beautifully rendered but terrifying representation of what Henry guessed was one of the Elders’ forms. Next was half a Wolf cookie. Last was a card that had a simple drawing of a smiley face.

“That is sooooo wrong,” Merri Lee said, shuddering.

“Yes, it is.” Henry picked up the cookie. “Leaving food on the counter will attract mice.”

She gave him a look that told him he’d missed the point.

“And the Elders shouldn’t have been playing with Meg’s cards.” Nyx opened the drawer and used the tip of her finger to nudge the cards inside. “It might interfere with her reading a prophecy.”

Now Merri Lee looked at Nyx. “I’m going outside for a minute to get some air.”

They watched her leave.

“She seems disturbed,” Henry said.

“Of course she is,” Nyx snapped. “Don’t you find that smiley-face card disturbing?”

• • •

Nathan watched the fog lift to reveal a blue summer sky.

<Nathan!>

<Marie?> If the Hawk was flying, did that mean it was safe to go out?

<Simon says you should come home now. The Elders have left the city.>

He howled out of happiness and scattered the humans who were clustered near the door as he dashed for Captain Burke’s den. The big human looked at him when he entered the room and shifted to pull on his clothes, but Burke kept talking on the phone.

“Looks like he got the news. If I’m delayed, I’ll let you know. Otherwise, expect us in an hour.” Burke hung up, walked to the doorway, and boomed, “We received the all clear. Go, go, go!”