I should have seen it coming and probably would have if Shaylee hadn't been keeping a vibrations ear open behind us in case of pursuit. Besides, I was a little busy working out how I was going to free Charlotte and the werewolves while helping Piers bring down the Czar without backup and no maji power.

It was a lot to juggle and pay attention to where we were headed and who we might run into. I was counting on Piers to handle at least one of those jobs. Otherwise, why did I ...