“Hmm,” Jess said noncommittally.
“And these mages of yours?” he asked her. “They have a bad reputation. I knew the name Elliot Graves without needing to look it up. Then, seeing him… He has a lot of swagger, and apparently, even more power. Forgive me, but those combined attributes don’t inspire a lot of trust.”
A burst of frustrated power filled the room. “Sorry,” she said in response. “On the surface, no, they probably don’t. But I know them well.”
“And what made you decide to give Elliot Graves a shot?”
“I decided to give Sebastian a shot, a weird mage who nerds-out with magic. Elliot Graves is his persona for the mage world, and I was just about to kill him when I realized who he really was.”
She gave him the gist, explaining how Sebastian came to be in their lives, their hiccups and learning curves, and what they were now.
“I don’t know Elenor,” she said.
“Who?” Drex asked.
“Do you mean Tilda?” Austin asked.
Jess screwed up her face in irritation. “Tilda, I meant. I don’t knowTilda. But I know Sebastian and Nessa. I know them beyond their personas, beyond their walls and barriers. I’ve seen their worst, and I’ve heard their sins. Niamh has recentlycreatedsome of those sins.” At his confused look, she waved that away. “I am the mostly broken moral compass of this crew, but I do not put innocent people in danger, Drew?—“
“Drex,” Austin helped. He’d never seen her so wound up.
She screwed up her face again. “Drex! Craps-sakes, I’m turning into Edgar. It’s just…” She looked away, her eyes becoming distant.
“You good?” Austin asked. A shiver worked down his spine. She’d been like this on the way here before Drex’s attack had a chance to come.
She glanced up through the glass ceiling, taking in the clouds. “Yeah. I just feel strangely…expectant. I’m probably reacting to confronting those mages. Anyway,Drex, I do not needlessly kill. I have the same mission as you and Austin—to protect those who cannot protect themselves. To create a safe space. And those mages are not?—“
She blinked rapidly before turning to stare at the pool area. Then she angled her face skyward again. Her emotions started to churn.
“Should we send out people?” Austin asked, scooting to the edge of the couch.
“A few of the basajaunak connections just lit up with emotion,” she murmured, standing. She walked to the glass doorleading out toward the pool, currently shut, and looked out. “I feel like I need to get sky bound.”
Her gargoyle was acting as a warning system, like on the way into the territory. Maybe her beast detected the same off-ness about this mountain that the basajaunak had. Whatever the reason, he wouldn’t ignore it.
He stood up even as Dave came running across the lawn, trampling the flowers in his haste. Jess froze, watching him, and suddenly her gargoyle connections glittered in his mind’s eye. She was connecting them all as a unit. That meant battle.
“Let’s go.” He motioned Drex on.
“We’re being attacked,” Jess ground out, hurrying for the door.
“What?” Drex shot up.
“Follow her lead,” Austin commanded, hurrying after. “She has a way to connect her people. She’ll know what’s happening better than anyone.”
Jessie
Those mages must’ve gonedark before the extraction. That’s why Fred hadn’t seen anything about it online. We’d walked right into an ambush.
The timing made this situation incredibly suspicious. So, too, did the reaction of the basajaunak. They’d known something wasoff, but not what. That shouldn’t have been the case.
We’d have to dissect it later.
Dave tore through the bushes. I could feel the other basajaunak moving through the trees on our flanks, heading for the front of the house. They’d meet us there to discuss. Only onestayed behind.Her, the basandere in charge of the Ivy House woods. She could read the pulse of the trees better than anyone.
I didn’t bother asking Dave for information, not when one of us would have to repeat it.
At the front of the house, Broken Sue and Tristan were standing together, waiting for me to reach them. The shifters that had been farther out in the street had pushed in to join the other pack. The town’s shifters had let them, though they were clearly wary about the situation.
