“It’s also possible they could have been faking it like I did,” I remind them.
Brad and Seth exchange a look.
“Wish I hadn’t told you,” Seth mutters.
“What is it?” Matteo asks.
Seth grunts. “Gage caught me fishing through the trash, and I pushed on him. Seemed to work fine. Or at least he acted like it did. But so what? I’m just gonna go in and push on the guys, and then we grab Finnegan? Then what? If this thing has powers, is Brad gonna fuck Luke so we can take him on?”
From my spying, I learned that’s when Luke’s power is strongest—when they’re messing around. It’s why they were doing that the night I showed Matteo the Sinners’ meeting.
“Just like with Farras,” Cody says, “this thing is in a human body now, and it has human limitations. We tie him up, take the bracelet off, and do the same thing as before. If Seth can take care of the guys, then it’s four against one.”
“Sixagainst one,” Matteo says.
“Yeah,” I add, “we’re not letting you guys do this on your own. We can help.”
Cody looks at Matteo before averting his gaze quickly. I noticed that same look during the commotion, when we were trying to figure out what was happening to Matteo. He lookslike he’s afraid of Matteo, but why? There’s something he’s not telling us.
“I don’t think that’s a great idea,” Cody says. “We don’t understand why Matteo was able to connect with them, and, Alexei, you would be defenseless. We’ve been training for this. If they start using powers similar to ours, we can at least fight them off.”
He’s right, but I don’t like the idea of them handling this on their own. I want to help if I can. And I have a bargaining chip.
“I can get you guys into Alpha Alpha Mu without being detected,” I say, which gets everyone’s attention.
“How would you manage that?” Seth asks.
“I have a friend on the inside. I can convince him to help us sneak in through the basement. We go in there. We stay in his room until the guys are back. We can wait until Finnegan’s on his own so that we don’t have to take on all the guys together. And then we pounce.”
“That does sound like a much better plan,” Luke says.
“I can get us in there,” Seth insists. “We have friends there too. We can break into the basement and do the same thing without you.”
“But,” Luke says, “what if Matteo and Alexei go first, leave a window open or something in the basement for us. They hang out with their friend and keep an eye on the Saints until Finnegan’s alone. They make sure the coast is clear. We don’t have to worry about dealing with the other guys. Just get into his room and exorcise him.”
“If we go in and something goes wrong,” I add, “at leastthere’s still a chance you all can get to him. If you guys go in and something goes wrong, everyone’s fucked.”
“Fuck,” Seth says, grunting. He knows we’re right. They need our help.
Cody glances at Matteo uneasily again.
“Is there something you’re not telling us?” I press.
“Yeah,” Matteo says. “Why do you keep looking at me like that?”
“Like what?” Cody asks.
Clearly I’m not the only liar in the group.
“Like you think I’m about to whip out a switchblade and come for you,” Matteo says.
“I’m sorry, it was just a shock to wake up like I did, and then you were acting weird. I was disoriented.”
Another lie.
“Did you have a vision?” I ask. “Are you gonna wait till we’re gone and share it with the guys?”
Cody’s gaze shifts to the floor. I fucking knew it.
