“Kill it where?” Pater said. “It’s spread across the globe. Wherever a Guardian was, daemons arose. Some of us were busy at the time, too.”

A crunch on the sand announced another arrival. Sylvia was singed, dirty, and unhappy.

“Did you start this? You were gone, remember?”

“And I’m back now. Have you seen Chaz?”

“Chaz?” they both replied. “He’s dead,” said Pater.

“Probably not anymore. Oh, and there’s a mostly-blond elf in on it, too.”

Pater and Sylvia exchanged unhappy glances.

“She’s in Xanadu. Organizing the defense, she said. Helping Lucius and Stavro,” Sylvia said.

“We can start with her, or end with her,” I said. “I want Chaz myself.”

Sylvia closed her eyes. “He exists, all right. Outside Rome. Surrounded by – them. I can guide us.”

“And I’ll take us,” Pater said. We held hands and disappeared into the space between seconds.

We reappeared atop a hillside outside Rome. Chaz was on the hill across from us. Daemons surrounded the dead body of the Guardian Rosa in the valley.