Chapter 8 #4
“No.” David shakes his head. “The people who got away with him were all gene research specialists. There’s one who might be able to heal small cuts, but that’s the extent of it.
That doesn’t mean they’re not dangerous, though.
They’re not combat trained, but as you know, even basic telekinesis can be weaponized.
That’s where our risk is. If Tish lashes out against the leaders when they denounce him, he could expose us all. ”
I don’t really see Tish giving up just because a bunch of humans catch him out, so this plan seems doomed to failure.
Alistair grins at me. “Don’t look so disheartened,” he says. “You haven’t heard it all yet.”
“This is starting to seem very convoluted. So far I’ve heard a lot of ifs—what if the leaders don’t take your bait?
What if they demand Tish do something that he’s capable of?
What if the followers don’t care?” I hate that my voice is getting high-pitched, but the thing is, I’m still not sure why they’ve called me in here, and that worries me.
“We have ways of tipping the scales in our favor,” Percy assures me calmly. “The human government has an agent inside that compound, and the people who need to know have been informed that we may need to leverage that. They’re arranging things behind the scenes to make it happen.”
I don’t know if that makes me feel better or freaks me out.
“Our major concerns here are ensuring the humans in the compound remain unharmed for their own government to deal with and protecting the community from exposure.”
“Which is why,” Andrew says smoothly beside me, making me startle, “David and some combat sorcerers will be in place to step in. Their job will be to stifle any weaves Tish and his people might attempt.”
“ Stifle weaves?” I didn’t know that was possible. “Like, stop them before they can—” I roll my wrist a few times, trying to think of the word. “—deploy?”
David nods. “Something like that. It’s a specialist skill. Most people who have the ability to do it tend to go into enforcement, which is just as well. Our goal will be to have it look like nothing’s happening. The last thing we want is a battle between sorcerers.”
I can see how that would be bad. On the plus side, if this place is like others I’ve heard about, they’re probably low-tech, which means little chance of someone taking video with their smartphone and uploading it to the internet.
“It sounds like you have a plan all ready to go.”
Silence.
I sigh. “What?”
“Even when Tish’s ‘miracle’ fails and he’s shown to be a fraud, it’s unlikely that the cultists will let us take him. In fact, any hint that we want him is likely to gain him support from them. They’re very antigovernment. Our part in this has to remain completely secret and anonymous.”
I rub my forehead, giving in to temptation and leaning ever so slightly toward Andrew, just enough to feel his warmth. “So, what are the possibilities? They realize he’s a fake and kill him? Or throw him out of the compound?”
“Basically,” Gideon says. “If they try to kill him, we’ll have a problem.
Since his ability to weave will be stifled, responsibility for his well-being will rest with our sorcerers.
We absolutely cannot have fugitives murdered by humans while CSG sorcerers are stifling their magic.
Especially since Tish and his accomplices haven’t been tried and sentenced yet.
At that point, our people would need to break cover and step in to retrieve them, and that could turn into a bloodbath—or expose us. ”
I start to laugh. “Come on, you can’t seriously think this is a good plan.
There are way too many variables. How are you going to ensure the cultists decide to kick Tish out instead of killing him?
And what happens if they do kick him out?
He’ll just disappear again.” There’s a dark sense of panic at the idea that Tish hasn’t been tried yet—does that mean he could potentially be acquitted and allowed to go free?
I never stopped to think of that, never considered anything beyond him being found and taken into custody.
I would never sleep again if he was allowed to live as a free man.
“He’ll attempt to disappear again,” Percy corrects. “Those same combat sorcerers will take him into custody as soon as he’s out of sight of the human compound. And just in case he does evade them, we’d like to circulate some rumors that he won’t be able to resist.”
It hits me like a lightning bolt, the reason I’ve been asked to join them.
“You want me to be bait.”
“Not exactly,” Elinor says. “We don’t want you anywhere near him.
But we’d like to put out some hints about you and Sam visiting the felid clan that Sam’s biological father is part of.
Tish doesn’t know you’re alive at this stage, but he recognized Sam as soon as he saw him, so we can assume he’d recognize you too—your face and your name.
If we add a description of a young human man that Sam seemingly ‘adopted’ a few months back to the rumors, we believe he’ll dig deeper to find out more—and once he learns it’s you, he won’t be able to resist finding out how you survived.
But neither you nor Sam will be anywhere near that clan. ”
Every fiber of my being is screaming to run and hide, but I force myself to be logical… and draw on the magic for help bolstering myself. It twines along my body, a metaphysical shield.
“Won’t he suspect a trap? If he’s chased out of the cult by combat sorcerers and then suddenly hears rumors about a former research subject?”
“You forget,” Sam says gently, speaking for the first time since I came in, “that we suspect there’s a leak here and that Tish might already know you’re alive.
” He’s a little pale, and I know he’s remembering his own experience in the lab.
“We’d start the rumors from now to reinforce anything he might already have heard before we move on the cult.
We won’t be ready to do that for a few weeks. ”
My heart sinks. “So long?” Why does it need to take so long? How am I going to get through a minimum of weeks looking over my shoulder every second?
“The human government needs to get their man inside up to speed,” David reminds me. “And before that can happen, our contacts need to come up with a reason for it so other parts of the human government don’t get suspicious.”
I say nothing. I don’t want to let the side down, but I also really don’t want Tish to know I exist.
“I know it’s not a pleasant thought,” Sam says.
“Remember that you’ll be here the whole time, safe with us.
Tish will not get near you. And if you want, we can leave you out of the rumors and hope that he hasn’t heard anything about you.
But…” He hesitates. “When he was questioning me at the lab, he was very interested to know if I had kids. Obviously by then the second generation of testing had been… Well, once he found out that the weaves attached to my DNA had degraded, I think he regretted that there wasn’t anyone from the second generation still around.
He might be able to brush off news of my location, but he will definitely not be able to ignore you. ”
Is that supposed to make me feel better?
“Noah.” Andrew grabs my arm, and I turn to look at him. “You’re not defenseless anymore.”
Oxygen rushes through my body as I suck in a deep breath.
He’s right . Even if Tish somehow was able to find me, I have the magic now.
I can slap him with a ward or set him on fire—that really appeals to me, although the magic probably wouldn’t let me set him on fire unless I was under direct threat.
And I’m not alone, either. It’s not me with foster parents who literally sold me.
I have friends, and none of them would let Tish take me without a fight.
I look into Andrew’s eyes, and I know that Tish would have to step over his dead body to get to me.
A shudder runs down my spine, emotion tackling me hard.
“Okay. Do it.”