“Sure. What’s going on?”
“Sloan’s on the warpath. Again.”
Daniel grunted. “Say no more.” He sat up, grabbed his phone, and started typing. “You want to meet at the Rink or here?”
Nicolas shuffled from foot to foot. “I don’t know. Can they get here without letting anyone see them?”
Daniel blinked at him for a moment.
“I mean, I knowsomeof them can,” he added, gesturing to Ashmedai, “but the halflings can’t teleport, right? Would it take much time for them to get here unseen? The paladins could already be watching the Rink. I’m not sure it’s safe to go there.”
“Oh, I see. Okay, hang on.” He typed another quick text, then tossed his phone down and sat back. “I must say, I like being the one with more insider info than you for a change.”
Nicolas scowled. “What?” He looked at Ashmedai. “What’s he talking about?”
Daniel scoffed playfully. “Don’t ask him. He won’t know. Are you kidding me? He’s too preoccupied with you to know this.”
“Then you tell me,” Nicolas said, and Ashmedai nodded earnestly, because now he wanted to know, too.
Daniel chuckled. “You’ll know in like two seconds.”
Nicolas braced his hands on his hips. “Danny, you pain in the ass.”
Daniel laughed—and then someone knocked on the door. “Come in!” he shouted.
Storm swanned in, dragging a sleepy Nathan by the hand. “What is this emergency meeting about? We were sleeping.”
Shadrach and Isaac appeared in front of the television. Shadrach’s eyes were flinty, and Isaac’s cheeks were flushed, his hair coming loose from its tie. “We werenotsleeping,” Shadrach said icily. “What’s the big deal?”
“We need to wait for the others,” Daniel said. To Nicolas, he said, “The halflings and their partners have moved into this building. Temporarily. The paladins don’t know where it is, so it’s been a safe haven for a while now.”
“I still own the house that the guild has listed as my residence,” Nathan rasped, fighting a yawn, “but for appearance’s sake, it looks like we’ve abandoned both it and Storm’s apartment. Moved all the furniture out, let the yard grow wild. I hate it, but it’s temporary. We’ll move back in and fix it back up after all of thisis over.”
“Will it ever be over?” Nicolas murmured despondently.
Ashmedai drew him closer. “Yes. Soon.”
Malachi and Luke trailed in next, followed by Wolf and Ira.
“So you’ve all just been living here in the building?” Nicolas asked.
“The paladins used to watch us, following us to and from our homes wherever we went,” Nathan said. “It didn’t seem wise to let them continue to do so, knowing they could attack us at any time. After Talon bought this place, we realized we could furnish the other floors into penthouses like this one, and each one could be a backup living space for whoever might need it. We all moved in and made our regular places look abandoned. After seeing what they did to Julian, we realized it was safer to go somewhere we could be certain they hadn’t found yet.”
Talon and Alex appeared beside Shadrach and Isaac. “What are we doing? Why are we here?” Talon asked.
Alex yawned widely, and Nathan and Isaac caught it, groaning as they both yawned. Shadrach shot Isaac a look of betrayal.
“You’re not sleeping when we get back home,” he muttered, and Isaac snickered.
“Waiting on Valac and Julian,” Daniel said.
They appeared a moment later, near the kitchen. Julian’s pale hair was also wild, and he looked a little wide-eyed when he realized everyone was staring at them.
“What took you so long?” Talon asked, smirking.
“We were—” Valac started.
“Sleeping,” Julian said quickly. “Sleeping very soundly. Didn’t hear our phones. What’s going on? I assume something’s happened?”
