In the guest bedroom, Marie kneels beside Janet and maintains a thin spiritual channel back to the fairies’ small hospital room. Rosella, Lumin, and Veya answer in soft colored flashes.
Marie
Keep the channel steady. Heal her breathing first, then restore her strength. Do not try to replace what Lucien stole.
The rose fairy, the blue fairy, and the green fairy light settle over Janet’s chest and throat. Her breathing smooths, her color returns, and the weakness leaves her limbs, but the missing soul-marble remains absent.
Beyond the bedroom, Friken watches the curtained windows while Mare checks the doors. Jaricho makes a quiet circuit of the first floor, and Maric listens for movement outside.
Janet
Lucien took it. The blue soul-marble. I remember his hand, then nothing after I fell.
Janet opens her silver eyes, disoriented but conscious. Marie supports her shoulders as the fairies’ light fades back through the carefully held channel.
Janet
He was going to the Ashen Gate in the Pinno world. That is where he meant to take it.