40. ZARA
ZARA
I woke late the next morning feeling wiped out and confused. Despite how tired I’d been feeling, I’d laid in bed tossing and turning for hours after I returned home, only falling into an uneasy sleep as dawn was breaking.
As much as I wanted to believe Seth wasn’t in trouble, I couldn’t help worrying that Lucien had changed his mind about letting him leave and that he was being kept in the Underworld against his will now.
A worry that had only been reinforced by Gabriel’s refusal to bring him back for another visit so he could tell me himself what was going on.
Before Eli had left yesterday I’d asked him if he could call a team meeting in view of Nero’s revelation.
One that I wanted to be present for. I was still waiting for him to get back to me, so I sent him a text asking if he’d managed to set anything up yet and his reply pinged through a few minutes later.
I’m about to come over. I was going to tell you when I got there. Meeting set for midday tomorrow. Jed suggested that it might be useful for Nero to attend, since he’s the one who saw Seth. That will give you time to let him know. What do you think?
Makes sense. I’ll ask him tonight and let you know in the morning. Thanks for sorting it.”
My tummy chose that moment to let out a loud rumble, and I quickly typed out another message.
Will you be making your magic pancakes for lunch today by any chance?
Worried or not, a girl had to eat, and now I’d moved on from my self-imposed toast and cereal diet, my body was apparently on a mission to make up for lost calories.
If that’s a roundabout way of saying ‘Eli, pretty please can you make me some more of your absolutely delicious pancakes?’ then I guess that can be arranged.
Smiling to myself, I sent him back a ‘yum’ emoji and set about getting the coffee on.
“So, I saw Gabriel yesterday afternoon,” I said casually as we were tucking into the pancakes, as if it was no big deal.
His eyes narrowed. “And what was Gabriel doing here? Has he been bothering you?”
“No. I called him to come. I wanted to ask him to bring Seth back for another visit. So he could tell me himself what’s going on.”
“You know, this ability of yours to call his name and he comes running is more than a little disturbing, Princess. It would suggest he’s paying far closer attention to you than he should be.
You might want to look into getting the wards ramped up.
I don’t like the idea of him having free access to the manor. ”
I huffed. “Well if I do that I won’t be able to call him here and annoy the shit out of him, will I? So no, I won’t be ramping up the wards.”
“I’m assuming he refused your request to bring Seth back?”
“Turned me down flat,” I admitted ruefully. “Told me to drop the subject before Michael decides to get involved. Apparently I wouldn’t like him when he’s angry.”
“I can’t say I’m surprised he refused. You know what they say about if you do something more than once it becomes part of your job description. He wouldn’t want to be setting himself up to be an interdimensional chauffeur for however long Seth is away.”
“Maybe. But I told him if he doesn’t do it, I’m going to be a giant pain in his arse until he changes his mind.”
“Threatening him probably wasn’t the wisest course of action, you know. You don’t want to make an enemy of him.”
I shrugged. “Well it’s too late now. Maybe he’ll decide to give me what I want to stop me badgering him. And if not… well, I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it.”
He looked like he wanted to argue but thankfully he didn’t, just telling me, “We can talk about it properly at the meeting tomorrow. For now, finish those pancakes you shamelessly manipulated me into making for you before they go cold.”
“Sorry I’m late!” Terrah rushed into the meeting looking a bit flustered and dropped an Enchanted Eatery box onto the table.
“I picked these up on the way and there was a huge queue, but I was craving a lemon drizzle cupcake. Help yourselves.” She sank down into the chair next to Nero, ignoring Jed’s scowl. “Where’s Theo? Is he running late too?”
“He had a meeting he couldn’t change,” Jed said. “I’ll fill him in later on anything we decide. Now can we please get started? If I under—"
“Actually, before we start,” I looked at Nero in surprise when he interrupted Jed.
He’d taken a bit of persuading to come when I’d asked him last night, so I hadn’t expected him to try and take over.
“I’ve temporarily added my own wards to the manor’s to stop anyone from listening in.
Just so you know we can all speak freely. ”
“Much appreciated,” Jed said gruffly, relaxing when he realised Nero wasn’t about to start throwing his weight around. “Maybe you’d consider making them a permanent addition? I’m sure we’d all be happier knowing Zara has the extra protection.”
“If that’s what Zara would like, then I’ll be happy to.
” He looked over at me. “We can discuss that before I leave Mathitevómenos.” Bless him.
He’d already suggested it himself last night, when I’d told him about my conversation with Gabriel, and he knew full well I didn’t want to stop him from being able to get in if I wanted him to.
But instead of saying so, he’d deflected Jed’s request with surprising ease.
Jed cleared his throat and gave me a sympathetic look. “So from what Zara has told us, Seth felt that things were going well in the Underworld, but it was starting to look like he might need to spend longer than the original six months there. Does that about sum it up?”
Nero nodded. “Pretty much, yes.”
“And he didn’t give you any indication that he anticipated being forced to stay in the Underworld against his wishes?”
“None at all. If he had, I would have offered him my protection on the spot, but he seemed quite willing to go back and get on with whatever it is he’s doing there.”
“And what about this visit he was planning to have Gabriel bring him back for if he needed to stay longer?”
“He did say he’d try to negotiate another visit, but he was by no means certain he’d succeed.”
“In which case, there’s no reason for us to assume he’s in trouble,” Jed concluded. “It’s far more likely that he’s still working on negotiating that visit.”
“There’s no reason for us to assume he isn’t in trouble either,” I protested. “We don’t know what could be happening to him. I don’t know how you can all be so unconcerned about him. I’ll believe he’s okay when I hear it from him, and I’m not letting this go until I do.”
“Letting this go is exactly what you need to do,” Eli huffed. “Pissing Gabriel off is not something you should take lightly.”
Jed gave an unimpressed grunt. “I agree. I don’t know what you were thinking, Zara.” Oh great. Eli had obviously filled Jed in on my little chat with Gabriel already. I glared at him and got an unrepentant shrug in return.
“Gabriel is an unknown quantity right now,” Jed continued, “and you need to stop antagonising him. Don’t you agree, Nero?”
“I agree that Gabriel is an unknown quantity, certainly,” he said coolly.
“But it’s not my place to tell Zara what she should do.
If she wants my advice, I’m sure she’ll ask for it.
” I gave him a grateful look. He’d tried to do exactly that last night, but I appreciated him not doing it in front of everyone else.
“I really can’t see the point of this discussion. Even if he does need help, there’s nothing we can do without knowing how to get to him.” Terrah’s blunt observation as she munched on her second cupcake was not what I wanted to hear.
“Then we need to find out where he is, don’t we.
” I shot back. “Someone has to know where the gateway to the Underworld is apart from the Watchers— wait, Raquel must know. She was around when it was created.” I turned to Nero.
“Can you summon her or something?” If not I’d have to try and get a message to her through Jules.
“I can’t, no. None of us have ever been able to. She’s a bit of a law unto herself. She appears wherever and whenever she wants.” Great. “But she does have a knack for turning up where she’s needed,” he added, “so if she is needed, she may well pay you a visit anyway.”
“Zara, even if Seth was in trouble – which I very much doubt – and even if we did find out where the gateway is, you know it’s very likely that’s the furthest we’d be able to get,” Jed said, his tone careful as if he was afraid of pushing me into a meltdown.
“Gabriel already told you that only Seth can pass through it. I still think our best course of action for now is to wait and give him time to sort this mess out for himself.” He sounded thoroughly tired of having to keep telling me that, but I was past caring.
“You can wait if you want,” I snapped, “but don’t expect me to do the same. I’ll find a way with or without your help.”
“They’re right you know.” After my outburst I’d left them all to it and come out on the terrace to get some fresh air, and Phoebe had followed me almost immediately.
“Maybe they are. But I can’t just sit around and do nothing.
This isn’t about Seth being away longer than he was supposed to be.
It’s about needing to know that he’s okay.
And Gabriel refusing to let me see him, not even briefly, makes me think that he isn’t.
It would be such a simple thing for him to bring him here and let him put my mind at rest.”
“This is Gabriel we’re talking about though. And from what I’ve seen and heard of him so far, he’s a bit of a bastard like that. Am I right?”
I sighed. “I suppose. He does seem to enjoy taunting me. It’s like we bring out the worst in each other.”