Page 43 of Ravenous Prophecy
“I need a drink,” Julian said. He looked around. “Anyone else?”
“It’s ten o’clock in the morning,” Elaine said. She took one of the spare seats at the table. “I’ll have two.”
Julian moved around the kitchen, which was surprisinglywell stocked in alcohol for a safe house. Perhaps most people were like us, and with a lack of electronics, or any other form of entertainment, turned to alcohol. With a flourish, he added twists of lime to two glasses before sliding one in front of Elaine and taking a healthy sip from the second.
Griffin was grumbling in the corner, his jaw clenched as he paced back and forth. The MEA agent eyed him with a frown, and I put on my best smile.
“Perhaps it’s best if you… uh, checked the perimeter? Is that something an MEA agent might do?” I asked.
With one last glare at Griffin, our observer took his leave. At once, the temperature in the room dropped, Griffin immediately calming down before glancing significantly at the corners of the room.
“You know, I think I’ll have a drink, too,” Brigette said loudly. “Do they have the makings of margaritas?”
“This man once made me the best Mai Tai I’ve ever had, using nothing but a can of peaches, some bathtub bootleg, and what I’m pretty sure was a stunted lemon. He can make you a margarita.” Griffin clapped Julian on the shoulder. The other man grinned and set to work.
Once he got the blender going, Brigette pulled out her notebook, writing a few quick lines of spell work as Elaine swanned around the kitchen, yelling loudly over the blender about what a delicious drink Julian had made, and did he have any interest in becoming a private bartender?
About halfway through Elaine’s complicated story about a bartender she and her friends had taken on a private jet, only to find out the man was, in fact, a misplaced accountant who had gotten on the wrong flight,Brigette nodded. She waved a hand through the air, executing her spell and grinning. “The monitoring systems should be enjoying a nice, boring conversation. As long as our friend stays outside, we can talk in peace.”
Julian turned off the blender. He gave the mix that was in it an experimental sniff.
“I wouldn’t drink this, unless you don’t mind losing most of your stomach lining.”
“I quite like your style, Brigette. I think when this is all over, you and I shall become very good friends.” Elaine sipped her drink, looking at the front door. “For all of Director Falcón’s bluster, I have to notice that there was no mention of any defense against the Hive.”
“The MEA believes Williams is up to something, but they still don’t believe in the Hive,” Griffin said. He crossed his arms—the strong, powerful arms that had held me last night, keeping me grounded when everything else was spinning out of control.
I couldn’t think about that now, couldn’t think about what would happen to him when the Hive did come, when he would try to protect me from them. But I had read the historical records. Nothing could protect us when the Hive came.
Reaching out, I wrapped my hand around his forearm, and he looked down, his expression relaxing into a smile. It wasn’t a happy one, but at least we both knew where we stood now.
“We need to stop him from summoning the Hive Father,” I said. “I won’t ask anyone to do it with me. But I’m going.”
“Fighting an enemy that hasn’t been seen in hundreds ofyears? How could I pass something like that up?” Julian asked.
“And I absolutely wouldn’t forgive myself if I walked away now,” Elaine said.
Brigette looked down at her hands, twisting in her lap. “The MEA has all of our notes. Even if we did try to figure out where JA Williams is planning his ritual, we are starting from scratch.”
“Are we?” I challenged.
Brigette smirked, pulling out a stack of papers from a pocket dimension hidden within her jacket. “Oh, well, you can’t expect me to reveal all of my secrets in front of strangers.”
Elaine draped her arm over Brigette’s shoulder. “Now, you know better. None of us are strangers. We’ve fought the Hive together! That makes us family! Closer than family, if we’re counting the cousins that Bradley and I detest. I mean, honestly, who thinks that wearing white after Labor Day isn’t a rule up there with wearing it at a wedding!”
“An absolute travesty,” Julian said.
“Exactly! And we have to be related to them!” Elaine’s smile was genuine, and Julian laughed into his drink.
I picked up the top piece of paper, turning it in my hands. It was a photo from our research. We had narrowed it down to one of three locations before we had been so rudely interrupted by the MEA.
“Three locations,” I said. “We can handle three locations.”
“Three locations while evading the MEA and being ready to fight whatever goons Williams has on hand,” Griffin corrected. “This isn’t going to be a walk in the park.”
“But it’s not impossible,” I said.
“No, not impossible,” Griffin confirmed. “So, which of the three do you want to start at?”
