"I was wondering where you had gotten off to," I said in a low voice. "Ze'ev wants us to eliminate the guards out here and then make our way inside."
"Already eliminated," Val replied. "That's what I was doing before I found Ajag and Sy here in the greenhouse."
"Did you kill them?"
Val shrugged, which told me nothing and more than I wanted to know at the same time. He probably hadn't meant to kill anyone, but it wouldn't break his heart if he did.
I also seriously doubted he had stopped to check.
"Emma and William are inside along with Elder Payne and four of his guards."
"Who are Emma and William?" Val asked.
"Jackson's cousins, but they are not nice people. They are, however, human, so be careful. They know nothing of our world."
"Guess they are about to find out."
Not sure how well that would go over.
Chapter Seventeen
~ Ajag ~
My gut churned as I watched Rad and Val leave the greenhouse. I know that they were leaving us here because they wanted us to be safe, but it also left them vulnerable.
That didn't sit well with me.
I glanced around the darkened greenhouse, looking for a place where I could hide Sy. There were wooden tables lining both sides of the greenhouse with shelves underneath them. At one end was the door leading into the greenhouse and just a glass wall at the other end.
I glanced at the shelf closest to me. It was filled with bags of soil.
That might work.
I pulled a couple of the bags off, clearing a space on the wide shelf. "Sy, come climb in here."
Sy was short enough that he barely had to lean down to see the shelf. "In there?"
"I have to go help Rad and Val get rid of the bad guys. I need you to hide."
"Bottom shelf."
My eyebrows lifted before I glanced at the bottom shelf. Well, it really wasn't the bottom shelf, but more of the floor beneath the table. "Okay, climb under there."
Sy lay down and scooted underneath the shelf, disappearing from my sight. I leaned down until I could see him. "You stay in here until I come for you. Understand?"
Sy's hair flopped around his head as he nodded.
"Don't make any noise no matter what you hear and don't come out. I will be back."
I didn't wait for Sy to say anything. We'd been through this same situation more times than I could count. He was fullyaware of what he needed to do to hide and not be found by the bad guys.
I stacked the two bags of soil, one on top of the other, right in front of where Sy was hidden. Since it was next to the shelf where the other soil was stored, I didn't believe anyone would think it was strange for a couple of bags to be stacked here.
As soon as Sy was sufficiently hidden, I snuck out of the greenhouse and moved toward the house. I wasn't sure what Rad had planned or where he had gone, but I couldn't let him face this danger alone. Not when I could help.
Instead of jumping up onto the porch, I started climbing one of the trees that grew next to the house. I'd spent enough time looking out the attic window to know where each tree was and which ones were closest to the house.
It was fairly easy to climb the tree and then scoot out on one of the branches to reach the edge of the roof. I moved slowly once I was on the roof, not wanting anyone inside the house to hear me.
