It also feels like everything has shifted slightly. It’s like I stepped out of my sickroom and the world has been taken over by aliens and we’re all pod people now. I’m out of the loop. While I’ve been cooped up, things have been changing. The world has continued spinning, that little asshole.
Life has gone on without me. Which is frankly pretty damn rude, if you ask me.
Silver’s been out every day with Zeph and Dante. Fabian’s either cooped up in his office or hitting the streets of Nexus, doing... something. And I... I sit on my ass and feel like I need a nap after I bend over too many times baking a tray of cookies.
The entire situation has sucked ass. Not in a good way, either. Gross ass. Sweaty ass.
Then, after a minor incident where I convinced Hanna that combining our magic at the same time would create a pretty cool fire illusion, and we almost set the building on fire, Fabian decided I needed to be kept occupied.
He had me doingpaperwork,though. The single most boring thing in existence. That ended pretty quickly after I played too vigorously with his stapler and somehow it wound up embedded in the wall.
After that, he dismissed me and sent me off to play video games with Seb. But six straight hours of chopping up zombies with an ax was enough to suck all the fun out of the game. Especially considering how I wound up in this situation.
I then spent some time entertaining Silver’s twin sisters, Una and Mona. They’re pretty quiet, but they seem to be slowly warming up to me and coming out of their shells. But even they don’t want to spend all their time with me.
I’m lolling on the sofa, staring at the Pretty Princess bracelet I have wrapped around my wrist. The one that Silver has spelled to block any of Ember’s telepathic magic from sneaking into our heads.
And I ponder. I wrack my brains. And think some more.
I need to do something. Something that doesn’t involve sitting behind a desk, because that’s boring as shit. It also needs to be something that doesn’t involvethatmuch movement or I’ll have to take a break and recoup my energy after ten minutes of activity.
Seb plops down on the couch next to me, some kind of knitting project in one hand and a tablet in the other.
He’s just a kid and even he’s being more useful than I am. Silver asked him to monitor the online forums, since every post about the vamps or about the Archarcans hiding information keeps winding up mysteriously deleted after a couple of hours.
He grumbles something as he messes with the pile of yarn in his hand, and I raise an eyebrow. It looks more like he’s trying to cut off his circulation than anything, but I’m guessing he’s trying to create another masterpiece.
“Another present for Silver?” I ask.
I’m pretty sure the boy’s got a little crush. He knows she hasn’t had time recently to give in to her own crafting bug, so he’s been making her shit whenever he can. Mostly they’re lumpy monstrosities, but Silver seems to appreciate whatever he makes her. Her eyes light up and it’s entertaining as hell to see Seb’s cheeks go all pink whenever she hugs him or gives him a kiss on the cheek as a thank you.
“Damn. Another post got taken down,” he mumbles, tapping away with one hand since the other is caught up in a tangle of hot pink yarn.
“Pretty sure it’s that techno mage Silver met. If she had enough power to wipe the zombie footage from every cell phonein the city, then she’ll have no issues taking down forum posts whenever they crop up.” He rubs his eyes and taps his chin, looking world weary and older than he should. “Maybe we should be trying to get her onside, instead of fighting against her.”
“Work through the Archarcans, even if we can’t work with them,” I reply, a brainwave hitting me with enough force. I zone out for a minute.
Holy shit. That’s it. That’s what I can do.
“I’m a genius,” I tell Seb, who gives me a perplexed look.
“Do you think I should message her? The techno mage?” Seb asks. He doesn’t seem a bit excited about my genius idea. Then I realize I haven’t actuallytoldhim what it is yet.
“Sure. I doubt it’ll do any good, considering she works directly for the Archarcans, but you can try,” I tell him. “Before you do, can you find me a list of the next council meetings or meetings where a bunch of the Archarcans will all be together? And can you find me some pictures of some of them?”
He gives me an odd look, but it doesn’t argue.
“All right,” he stretches the words out, but he does as I ask. It takes longer than usual, considering he’s only got one working hand. But Seb’s a whizz with computers and finding stuff out.
Within ten minutes, he’s got a list of the Archarcans’ meeting schedule for the next month and a bunch of pictures of them in all their snooty glory. I flick my way through the images, discarding most of them.
“Too boring. He looks half asleep. This one doesn’t look like he talks much,” I tell him.
“If you told me what you’re planning, I might be able to help you,” he grumbles.
Right, of course.
“I’m going to infiltrate their meetings. Illusion myself up as one of them and persuade them that hiding the vamps is a stupid idea.”
