Page 15 of Cats Never Fly

Iwanted to run, except… what if they talked about the whistle?Iwanted to know what they knew.Basedon how quiet the room had gotten, everyone else inWillowLakewanted to know too.Davinaglanced around the room, as if suddenly realizing that everyone was eavesdropping.

“Shouldwe talk about this somewhere else?”

Vanglanced around at the pub’s patrons. “They’reall local supes.OnesItrust and who’ve been called on in the past when things have gone to shit.Youmight as well say what you have to say.”

Davinapursed her lips.

“It’sbetter if they can prepare in case we need their help,”Vancontinued whenDavinadidn’t say anything.

“Fine,”Davinaagreed with a scowl.Sheflipped open the folder and shoved it betweenVanandGage.Pawsstepped closer to read the page too.Shetapped aggressively at what appeared to be a list.Iwaited to hear her describe my whistle.Itightened my fingers around it. “Lookthere.”

“ACovenofOnering?”Gagelooked up sharply. “Areyou sure?”

Vancursed and rubbed the back of his neck.

Ihuffed out a relieved breath, butIwas the only one who did.Aroundthe room, people gasped.

“Whatis it?”Jakeasked.

“It’sa ring that multiplies the power of one mage until it equals that of an entire coven,”Davinaexplained.Thenshe turned to her left, where no one was standing, and frowned. “Oh, don’t start making excuses.Youknew it was dangerous.Youshould have destroyed it as soon as you acquired it.”

Shewas talking to a ghost, probablyUlric.

“HolyMichelangelo,”Jakemuttered. “IwishIhadn’t asked.”

“Thatwould explain the cages we found inBabette’swarehouse,”Gagesaid.

Ididn’t know what they were talking about, butIwasn’t about to ask questions.

“Exactly,”Davinaagreed. “Wethought there was a coven involved, given the amount of magic needed to trapso many supes, but we might just be looking for a single mage with that damn ring.”

“Somaybe we aren’t looking for a rogue demon?”Vanasked.

Noone seemed to know what to say to that, butIreally wished they’d saysomethingabout it.Theycouldn’t toss out a phrase likea rogue demonwithout causing panic.Thenagain, no one in the pub looked panicked.Exceptme.Iwas panicked.Very, very panicked.

Roguedemons were scary.Dangerous.Murderous.Powerful.

Whyin allMagicwasIthe only one worried about this?

“Whatelse is missing?Anythingdangerous?”Gageasked as he scanned the list.

Davinapointed out a handful of other things.Rightin the middle of the list were two whistles.Oneof those had to be mine.Iwanted to ask about them, but that’d bring unwanted attention my way.IfIhad to lie, the hellhound would know.Andwhy wouldDavinadescribe the whistle as dangerous?Itwas a whistle, not a sword.She’dobviously made a mistake.

“Weneed to get this information to theSC,”Vansaid. “Doyou want to do it,Gage, or do you want me to?”

TheSC?Asin theSupernaturalCouncil?Igulped.IknewGageand his team had connections with theSC, but would this bring more teams toWillowLake?Wouldthey conduct door-to-door searches?Wouldthey demand people empty their pockets to see if they were hiding anything?

Icouldn’t go to a supernatural prison.Iwasn’t cut outfor a life like that.Iwas a simple cat shifter.Moredomesticated than most.

Fudgesicle.

Icouldn’t do this.

Istood abruptly.Thechair tumbled back.Everyonein the entire place turned to stare at me again.IfI’dsuspected people were looking at me earlier,Iknewthey were now.Drat.Drat, drat, drat.

“Simon?Areyou okay?”Jakeasked.

“Fine,”Iwheezed, barely able to get enough air in my lungs to push out the single syllable.