29. New Information & Familiar Faces
Chapter twenty-nine
New Information & Familiar Faces
KADI
T he morning came much earlier than I thought it would. Shasta doesn’t look like she got much sleep and she’s downing coffee like it's her life’s blood. Her cell phone rings and she immediately answers it.
“Jessa! Thank the Goddess. I’ve been so worried I barely slept last night. How did it go?” She pulls her phone away from her cheek and puts it on speaker before laying it face up on the counter.
“There are around twenty of them, the best I can figure out. The meeting is on the second floor. I know the first floor would have been better, but it is what it is. The Moon Room. It’s about halfway down the main hall on the backside of the building, so that’s a plus. One of the guys that looks like he’s a higher ranking person looks really familiar but I can’t place him.”
Well, that’s concerning. I wonder who it could be. It’s something that has crossed my mind though, that there may be someone we all know there. It’s too big of an organization for there not to be.
“As far as I could tell, no one even suspected anything. I’m also fairly certain I saw the guys a couple times, so I hope no one else did. I’m already back at my place.”
Those two. I slap my hand to my face. They are a hot mess. They’ll end up winning her over in the end, but I don’t think she’s going to make it easy on them. She shouldn’t either. They’re pushing her and I don’t think that's a good way to get what they want from her.
I’m glad she’s standing up for herself though. They need to see she isn’t going to let them push her around. I like that Shasta has the friends she does. They all fit together and support each other well.
“Anyway, that’s the scoop. I’m gonna catch a nap before we meet there this afternoon. I didn’t get much sleep last night for all the creeping around I was doing. Bye, babe.”
Shasta ends the call and then looks up. “It makes me nervous that there’s someone we may know. Emmett mentioned it last night, too. Almost like a bit of foreshadowing. It’s gonna bug the shit out of me and I have a bad feeling about it.”
She’s not wrong. I do too and if the look on Ethan’s face is anything to go by, so does he. Fuck. I get on my phone and make a call to the Clubhouse. I ask Alaric to check around discreetly and find out if anyone was missing last night or is still missing. I also tell him to go around town and see if he can find out anything there either.
He’s the best for this kind of work. Since telepathy is his main power, it's really useful for spying when we need it and taking him along as someone who can talk to everyone at once in their minds. His telepathy is actually really rare in the fae world. They used to kill people born with it. But he escaped with his family and came to this realm a long time ago and just keeps his powers a secret. It must be hard to have to leave your home on the run. Alaric is kind of a quiet guy and doesn’t talk much about it.
Loki picks that moment to sashay into the living room.
“What time are we leaving?”
“I didn’t realize you were going.” I say.
“Of course I’m going. Shasta may need me to heal her. Besides, I am her familiar. No matter what we think we found out or memories I might have returning, it doesn’t change that. Her magic will be amplified with me there to help boost her powers. That’s how familiars work.”
Well you learn something new every day. I always just thought they were buddies. The witches are pretty hush hush about all that though, for obvious reasons. Though I remind myself that Loki is another thing we need to be figuring out.
Shasta comes over and picks him up, then sits on the couch with him in her lap. She’s still guzzling coffee. “Do you think you might need a nap before we go this afternoon too?” I had to ask.
“Probably, but I’m not going to. I didn’t sleep last night because I was stressed so I don’t think it will be any different now. Jessa wasn’t the only thing I was worried about. I’m worried about everyone. I may not know the Club members well yet, but I know they are important to you all. Just like Emmet, Josiah, and the witches are important to me. Not to mention Grams. She hasn’t been out in action for a long time now. I think the biggest reason she wants to go is because of what happened to my dad. Also she is the Coven leader, so it’s her right to go. I just don’t want her to do anything crazy. Like a last hurrah.”
I can totally see Winnie trying to go out in a blaze of glory. Shasta has every right to be worried. “Listen, the guys can take care of themselves. We do this all the time. Maybe this is a bit of a bigger scenario than we usually do, because it’s higher ranking members, but we have good leadership and Ethan and I don’t let them bite off more than they can chew.”
Ethan comes over and sits on the coffee table across from Shasta. “We have been fighting the Society for years. The team we put together knows what they are doing and we have our own protections. Besides, I can always shift and just eat people if I need to.”
She laughs. “You guys are pretty scary looking as lions so I can believe that. Can you imagine? Two lions running loose and just eating people. The panic that would cause would have me laughing for ages.”
“It’s good to be King,” Ethan says with a straight face.
Shasta pauses and then begins laughing the most beautiful laughter I’ve ever heard in my life. Like a full on laugh of complete joy. How did we get so lucky? She’s strong, gorgeous, smart, and has a great sense of humor. Really what more could you ask for? She put up with Ethan’s bullshit and then promptly forgave him.
“Do you want to go see your Dad?” I ask her after we finish laughing.
She sobers up and says, “Yeah actually. I want to talk to him about a couple things.”
I nod and stand from my seat next to her on the couch. “I’m gonna clean up in the kitchen and then grab a shower. If you two want to do the same we can head out as soon as we’re ready.”
Shasta and Ethan stand and walk down the hall to the different bathrooms. I get to work on the dishes, rinsing them and loading them in the dishwasher. It doesn’t take long and just as I’m going down the hall, Ethan comes out of the front bathroom.
“What do you think?” he asks me.
“About what?”
“Who do you think it is?” Ah, the person Jessa recognized. I knew it was eating at him too.
“I’m worried it may be a government official or even someone from the Convocation, which would be the most fucked up thing. I’m really hoping I’m wrong though,” I say with a sigh. “It just bugs me because she recognized them but couldn’t place them. I have a feeling that if it was a patient she’d know them instantly. Which only leaves people she wouldn’t see on a regular basis.”
“You’re right. But that’s exactly what worried me the most about it. If they have infiltrated that far, this may be harder than we think,” he says.
Yep. But the only thing we can do is keep fighting. No matter what. I just nod and walk down the hall to the shower.