His chest rumbled. “Yes, you did. But I also know that if anything happens to you, I will not be able to control my Draygo side. I will destroy the worlds, Emma Walters. A missing starslight stone will be the least of the humans’ worries.”
Roland reached out to comfort his son. “Lex, we won’t let anything happen to Emma … to any of them. Our number-one priority is to keep all of you safe. You’re our future leaders after all.”
Lexen didn’t relax. If anything, there was an even more animalistic look on his face. He reached out and pulled Emma into his side, and she must have seen in him the same thing I had, because she didn’t fight him. He was on the edge of losing it; one more thing would push him over the edge. Not that any of us thought for a second he’d hurt Emma, but everyone else was fair game.
“So what is the best way for us to clear Laous and the Gonzo out of Astoria with minimum casualties?” Daniel asked.
Colita waved over the other councilmembers. “We’re coordinating with the human army,” she said as the three males and three females joined us. “Any updates?” she asked them.
A dark-haired man answered: “They’re telling us that Laous has a lot of hostages. Pretty much the entire town has been taken. The army is surrounding Astoria, but they won’t enter until we give them the okay—apparently they have been tracking Gonzo for a long time, and they’re ready to take them down. They’re just waiting for us to come in from the inside.”
“They’re not in Daelight Crescent, right?” Emma choked out.
Roland shook his head. “No, I’ve got a barrier across the street. House of Darken powers it. So far it’s holding.
“What about our friends at the high school?” Emma continued, voice wavering. “Are there any casualties?”
Colita shook her head. “Not that we know of, but there was some resistance initially. I’m not sure what happened to those who fought back.”
Emma started to suck in deep gulping breaths, in and out, until her panic faded. As it did, anger took over. “We can’t wait another second. If he hasn’t yet, Laous will start killing them soon.”
“Does it have to be a war?” I suggested, for once not nervous to be voicing an opinion. Xander’s mother already hated me. How much further could I fall in her esteem? “What if we tried to make a deal with Laous? Get him away from all the innocent people by telling him that we’ll lead him to the stone? That he needs the eight of us to find it, so his best chance is to tag along with us?”
“You want to lead him straight to it?” Lettie asked. “How, pray tell, do you then plan on making sure he doesn’t get his hands on the stone? The aim from the very beginning has been to keep him as far as possible from it.”
I shook my head. “I’m not sure about you, but I’m not willing to let an entire town be slaughtered if there is something I can do to prevent it. We really don’t have a choice. And no one plans on letting him have the stone; we can fight him better when there are fewer casualties around. Fewer innocents he can use as leverage.”
“It makes sense.” Xander backed me up. “But we can’t forget that Laous has Rao. Maybe he’s already warned him.”
Colita shook her head. “After my dream, I’m pretty sure Rao is not sharing anything with Laous. The entire emotion I felt in that vision was regret, pain, and an overwhelming sense of guilt.”
“We should vote on this new plan,” a tall, very blond councilwoman suggested. “Majority rules.”
Lettie straightened as well, opening her mouth as if to protest, but Colita got in first. “Yes, in times of war, majority rules is the fallback. All those in favor of a fake alliance with Laous. We will lead him to the stone, and then take him out somewhere along the way.”
One by one, the eight of us raised our hands. Roland followed, along with Chase’s parents, who had been quietly observing until this point. The council had a quick discussion amongst themselves, but in the end, all of them raised their hands as well. Lettie and Tristall were the last two, and for a moment I thought they were going to stubbornly refuse, even though majority ruled. Then with a single nod in my direction, Lettie raised her hand.
My stomach went all fuzzy at that point, because it had been my idea, and my immediate reaction was to freak out about it failing. But the thought of innocents dying was even worse. We had to try something.
“It’s settled,” a council member declared. “We will discuss a treaty with Laous, allow him to accompany the group to the stone. You will lead him to the country where the stone is located, and all of us will follow shortly afterwards.”
Roland cleared his throat. “And while he’s with the secret keepers, we can have our warriors sneak into Astoria and start retrieving the humans,” he said in a voice filled with fire. “They will be stashed in Daelight Crescent for safety.”
“I’ve informed the human army,” Colita cut in, and I realized she’d been doing a faraway stare thing a second before. Could they literally go in their heads and inform the humans of things? A question to ask later. “They agreed that if Daelighters can focus on retrieving the humans, they will crush the Gonzo. If we work together, in a single coordinated move, hopefully we’ll take them by surprise and have minimal casualties.”
“What if someone informs Laous of what is happening? And he retaliates?” Callie asked. “I mean, surely he’s given his people a way to contact him, even if we take him away.”
“I can create an electrical storm that will take out all human communications,” Roland said. “And hopefully if our attack is swift, there will be no time for anyone to tell him.”
Xander explained that to me. “The network is quite weak on Earth, so we use human technology most of the time to travel and communicate.”
That was a good thing, then, because human technology was not that hard to disrupt. Hell, cell phones worked only half the time on my island back home, which was why I gave up on having one years ago.
“We should go,” Daniel said, staring toward the transporter. “I’m ready for this bullshit to all be over. I have a house to run. My people are starting to fall apart without a leader.”
One of the council members dropped a hand on his shoulder. “We’ll have your initiation ceremony as soon as the stone is in the hands of the humans again. Once you are fully connected, you’ll be able to bring your house together.”
Daniel nodded once, his jaw hard. Callie reached out and wrapped her hand around his, and the slightest of dimples appeared in the overlord’s cheeks. She was a very calming influence on him.
