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discussion back.
    “Are you asking who the good guys and who the bad guys are?”
    “Well, yeah, I guess.”
    “The humans have to be the good guys, right?” Emily asked.
    “That would be the party line,” Athena said.
    “Humans are the ones writing the stories,” Michael said. “Naturally that makes the other side sound bad. But you have to wonder if the humans might have done their own bad stuff. Some of those selkie stories are pretty horrifying. I’m not up for kidnapping kids, but I’m also not crazy about the idea of forcing someone to stay in a shape that pleases you.”
    “That is a very balanced argument, Detective,” Athena said with a nod.
    “I feel caught between worlds, so I have to be fair to both.”
    “All I can give you is the enchantress side of the equation,” Athena said with an uncharacteristically prim air. In fact, she sounded a lot like Sophie did when she got on her high horse. When Athena added, “You’d have to talk to someone else to get the other side,” Emily had to fight a smile. So, Athena had been deliberately channeling Sophie.
    “Do you have any idea where I might find that someone else?” Michael asked. The slight twitch of his lips told Emily that he’d also figured out what Athena was doing.
    “She said something about having some private studio time,” Emily said. She checked her phone. “She might be there by the time you get to Lincoln Center, depending on how long she took to drop off her stuff and run.”
    “She got the part?” he asked.
    “Yeah, isn’t it awesome? You’ll have to go see the ballet.”
     She watched his reaction carefully, trying to read it. She knew Sophie had a massive crush on him, but she wasn’t sure where he stood. She was gratified when he grinned, and for a moment he lost that hint of sadness around the eyes that he’d had ever since she’d known him.
    “Yeah, I guess I will. And I’ll see if I can track her down.” He knelt and gave Beau one last scratch, patted the dog on the back, then straightened. “Thanks for the help.”
    As soon as the door jingled shut behind him, Athena said, “Now who’s being a busybody?”
    “I merely told him where he might be able to find her. Dancing. In a leotard. And then nature can take its course. If he can resist that, he isn’t into her. But why didn’t you help him beyond just hinting?”
    Athena looked around the room like she was making sure the walls didn’t have ears. “We need to be very careful right now. Josephine is in town, sniffing around. It wouldn’t look good to the other enchantresses if any of us took the side of the fae.”
    “Is it really that bad?”
    “It can be, and for good reason. You may like Eamon, and he is a nice fellow, for a fairy, but remember what else you’ve seen in the Realm, and you’ll know why we’re necessary to protect mankind. That’s why you need to consider very carefully your dealings with them, especially if you let your heart get involved.”
    “My heart isn’t the part of me that would get involved,” Emily said. She watched a blush rise from Athena’s collar and knew she’d effectively ended that discussion. She just didn’t know for sure what she thought about it.

 
Nine
     
    Lincoln Center
    2:30 p.m.
     
    Michael followed the directions the woman at the front desk gave him and found the right studio. After one glance inside, he hesitated in the doorway rather than speaking.
    Sophie danced alone. She wore what he assumed was casual dance workout wear, but with a skirt made of many layers of filmy stuff falling to just past her knees and a tiara on her head. She made a series of leaps across the floor, her legs in a full split as she soared at what had to be head height. As soon as she landed, she went into a bunch of leaping turns that made her skirt fly out around her like a fluffy cloud.
    He’d seen her dance before, but not from this close and not in such a real setting. She’d always seemed so ethereal when