Tristan blurted out a laugh. “Good catch.” He tapped his glass with a finger. “I didn’t get a membership card.”
Brochan—Sue, now?—lifted an eyebrow. “You are your own membership card. Changing your name would be that step too far. Nice eyes, by the way. Where’d you get them peepers, again?”
Tristan’s lips twisted to the side. “Touché,” he said quietly, still the dark mystery of the group. Not even Niamh had been able to piece his clues together. Rumors in the gargoyle world came up empty. This gargoyle-monster had done a great job hiding his past.
Austin didn’t think he’d be able to hide forever.
Brochan shifted the conversation gracefully. He no longer seemed worried or even interested in Tristan’s past. Somewhere along the way, Tristan had shown the untrusting alpha-turned-beta that he was in this genuinely, that he cared about protecting Jessie and the convocation. That hecouldbe trusted.
“Regarding Fred—she’s in,” said Brochan. “She might be shell-shocked for a while until she gets used to all this, but you should’ve seen her light switch on when she worked with Niamh earlier. Hook, line, and sinker.”
“Will she be able to help us infiltrate the mage world?” Austin asked, leaning forward. He could get all the shifters in the convocation, Jess could bring in all the gargoyles, but if they didn’t have a way into the mage world, it would be all for nothing.
Brochan met his gaze. “Her light wasn’t the only one that came on. Fred opened the door, and Niamh waltzed right through, like it was her own personal theme park. I think we’re about to see what that puca can really do, and I don’t think the mages know what’s coming.”
THIRTEEN
Sebastian
The lights in their little bungalow went out, plunging Sebastian into darkness. He paused where he sat at the kitchen table, papers scattered around him. His mind, however, went in a million directions at once.
Light from the street glowed around the drawn blinds, indicating the neighborhood hadn’t lost power, just their house. Nessa was very good about paying the bills on time. It couldn’t be that. No storms. No wind. This event was isolated.
Though his heart sped up, he put his pen down slowly. At just after midnight, the house lay quiet. Nessa was in her room, sleeping. If the cameras facing their yard had captured movement, the chimes would’ve woken her. That meant no random Dick or Jane was prowling around. If someone were out there, it would have to be someone with an invisibility spell.
He rose at a measured pace. There could be another explanation for the lights going off besides an invasion.
At the kitchen, he flicked the light switch off, then on again. Nothing happened. The one in the hallway yielded the sameresult. The oven clock was out, as was the microwave. Definitely a house-wide power issue.
His footsteps were nearly silent—he’d learned a thing or two from the shifters. At one time, he would’ve assumed a person with an invisibility spell could still be heard moving around. Now, with Momar employing mages with a crapload of power, he couldn’t be so sure. If Sebastian and Jessie could make a potion for both, then they could too.
And if they had that much power, they could disable his wards, no problem.
Controlling his breathing as his thoughts spun, he felt around for a flashlight. He wouldn’t use it unless he had to, as light would reveal his location. That procured, he walked through the darkness toward the back rooms. Nessa came first. Once she was safe, he could check the other areas.
At the beginning of the hallway, he peeked out a set of blinds. The streetlights illuminated patches of sidewalk in a buttery glow. Across the street, a porch light gave off a weak yellow beam. Next door to that, a small light at the side of the house was on.
Yes, this was definitely limited to his house.
Please have forgotten to pay the bill, Nessa,he thought.Please have been so stressed and sad and busy that you’ve forgotten to pay the bill.
He ignored the pang of guilt at why she would’ve forgotten as he trailed his fingers against the wall, feeling his way. A doorframe announced the bathroom, the first door on the right. The next was his room, the smaller of the two. Hers was on the left, at the end.
He backed up to her door, peering into the darkness of his bedroom. A spell revealed the room was empty. No one had come through his window, and if they had, they weren’t in there now.
Nessa’s door opened with no sound. He sent a spell in there as well while also listening. Her breathing was slow and even, evidence of deep sleep. It was testimony to how tired she was all the time now that his presence didn’t rouse her. Her window remained shut, the spell still intact.
His sigh of relief was barely audible as he retreated down the hall. The front door was closed and locked. Spell intact. The door to the garage was as well. Windows were secure. Random peeks out of the blinds revealed no one wandering around. Shooting a spell through a wall to search for bodies wasn’t ideal—the accuracy would be greatly reduced, and a good and ingenious magical worker would have invented a potion to mask themselves within such a spell.
Why hadn’t he created a spell to mask himself against revealing spells? Shortsighted.
The best option was to go outside and use the spell there. Sadly, he was a coward, though not for his own safety. Only a charging alpha shifter really got his blood pumping these days, or maybe an alpha gargoyle. But if he went out and got himself caught or killed, they’d come for Nessa. She’d have no protection. She didn’t have the Ivy House crew shielding her or promising retribution if someone should grab her. She didn’t even have Edgar, who, somehow, through no logical explanation, always seemed to know where to be at the exact time he needed to be there.
Even thinking about it made Sebastian’s mind spin. He hadn’t had that vampire’s dose of odd logic in nearly three months.
He settled for using the spell through a window, hunched in the corner and trying not to be seen, just in case.
Nothing.
