“What?” I said with a smirk. “Not fashionable?”
She shrugged. “It just seems like you’d be more comfortable in pajama bottoms and a T-shirt or something.”
“It keeps my head in the game,” I said, which was true. Dressing the part helped me concentrate on the task at hand. “Find anything?”
“Not from this page,” she said, tossing her pen down on the ledger.
“Damn.”
Over the last couple of weeks, we’d spent nearly every waking moment going through each individual name. I’d used my old access to several databases to track them down, trying to see if any might have been connected to the Freedman family, the coven, or the academy itself. So far, each and every one had been a dead end. We’d done almost all we could do living out of the safe house, having groceries and food delivered. It was mind-numbing. The only respite we’d had was winding down watching movies once we’d finished twelve hours of research. Also sex.Lotsof sex. I couldn’t argue that it was a bad way to spend ourtime, but no amount of primal fucking was going to get us out of the mess we were in.
“There has to besomeoneconnected,” I said. “There’s no way anyone could get into the academy without anyone knowing.”
“We did,” Veronica said. “When Nyxia teleported us.”
“That’s different,” I said, waving a hand through the air. “She’s the best of the best. No one else on earth could have sent someone inside the protection spells of that place. It’s why I went to her. And as much of a shitshow as it became, I’m glad you were with me. If I’d gone by myself, I’d have been lost. Once we were there,youhad to guide me. I had no fucking clue where to go or how to get there.”
“Oh,” she said, frowning. “I didn’t think about that.”
“That place is a maze. To have gotten to not only Balthazar, but also Wendy, this personhadto know their way around. I freakingknowit.” Frustrated with our lack of progress, I let my hand flop down onto the armrest of the sofa.
For a few minutes, we sat in silence. My mind raced, trying to think of a new angle, an interesting new way of finding a suspect.
“What would be the easiest,” I said at last, chuckling ruefully, “is if we had a way to interview all the students and faculty. If I could ask everyone a few quick questions, I could use my gift. It would give us tons of information and leads.”
Veronica sat forward, an excited gleam in her eyes. “Why don’t we?”
“Right,” I said, rolling my eyes. “Do you know the kind of shit that would take? We’d need disguises, distractions, entrance and exit plans, backup plans, and eventhen, it’s unlikely to work.They’ve probably updated security. Hell, they may have even hired outside people to watch over the academy. Mercenary shifters or vampires or something. Could be—What? Why do you have that look on your face?”
Veronica’s disappointed frown had morphed into a look of delighted surprise.
She clasped her hands in front of her chest. “The New Year Sabbath!”
“What about it?”
“It’s coming up. The Freedman Coven will attend the gathering. That could be our chance,” she explained.
I knew enough about the different types of wiccans to know that the solstices and equinoxes were big deals for them, so it made sense they’d be big fans of New Year’s as well. They were all some of the most powerful days of the magical year, along with Halloween—Samhain, as they called it.
“What’s this party about?” I said, suddenly intrigued.
“It’s a get-together of sorts with other covens,” she explained. “Kinda like a ball or a prom or something. Right after Yule—er, Christmas for non-Wiccans. Multiple covens come together for it. There are ceremonies and so on, but it’s mostly a good time to have fellowship with other witches, sorcerers, and the less bizarre warlocks. Loads of mingling and talking. Plus, it doesn’t take place at the academy.”
Hope surged through me. This might be exactly what we needed.
“I didn’t think about it before. It slipped my mind with all the running for my life and researching,” Veronica said.
“Grab your stuff,” I said. “We’re going to The Shadow Streets.”
“We are? Again?”
“Yeah. There’s a fae there we need to talk to. When is this party?”
“It’s this coming Saturday. The covens do their own thing the actual night of. It’s the last big get-together of the year. This party starts in the evening and ends after the witching hour at three.”
“Which means we’ve got a couple of days. Good. That gives us some time to prepare. Let’s go.” I took her hand and helped her up.
We arrived at one of the entrances to The Shadow Streets a half hour later. I’d chosen not to go to the entrance in the park. Too many people might spot us. Instead, I took us to a bar in Wrigleyville. Leaving behind the cold and stepping into the warmth of The Cub House, we were assaulted by blue, red, and white Cubs memorabilia all over the walls. Thankfully, with it being the middle of a weekday, there were almost no people around, and the few that were, appeared to be human. Veronica confirmed it after catching their scent.
