Zoe sighed. “Esmerelda. Yes, she was. Still, it’s not that simple. We didn’t know that she was a double agent, and that makes the water a bit murky.”
“Look, if you won’t help me return to Primhaven, what about just helping me find Harper? She needs to know about all of this.”
“I don’t exactly have her phone number,” said Zoe.
“Neither do I.”
“Well, there’s your answer. I’m not a miracle worker, Eldon. You can rest here, and you’ll be safe, but that might be all the help that we have to offer.”
Lee didn’t say anything. Tess had her hand on his shoulder and was rubbing it reassuringly. He felt a bit naïve, which his sister had already accused him of being once during their conversation. He’d just assumed that he’d be able to set the Dealmaker and the House of Shadows on a plan to rescue Primhaven without giving proper consideration to how big of an ask it actually was.
“Ms. Brock? Mr. Amaranth?” Ryoko appeared in the lounge doorway. “Dinner is ready. It has been for a while, but I wanted to give the two of you space to catch up.”
“Thank you, Ryoko,” said Zoe. She gave Lee an apologetic shrug and then gestured toward the dining room.
Ryoko had set up a taco, burrito, and quesadilla bar. The food smelled incredible, but there was a surreal quality to watching Mira and Zoe fill their plates, with two ghosts hovering around the edge of the room, and Ryoko—whatever supernatural entity she was underneath—standing at attention.
“Do you even need to eat normal food?” asked Lee.
Mira quirked an eyebrow at him. “That’s a rather insensitive question.”
“Just curious.”
“Yes, I need to eat ‘normal’ food,” said Mira. “I can sustain myself just off blood if I so choose, but it lends a rather unflattering and gaunt appearance to my figure.”
Another question came to Lee’s mind, one that he felt like he should have asked much earlier.
“Ryoko said that you don’t normally feed off strangers,” he said. “Who do you feed off, then? Is there some special guy in town that comes around to indulge in supernatural fang play?”
Zoe’s face turned bright red, and Lee felt like an idiot.
“Never mind,” he said.
“She has to feed off someone,” muttered Zoe. “It’s better if it’s someone she knows. It’s an… intimate process.”
“Spare me the details,” he said.
“Your sister is trying to inform you that she and I occasionally—”
“I said spare me the details!” said Lee, cutting Mira off.
He made himself a few steak tacos and sat down at the table across from Zoe, with Tess in the seat next to his, eating off his plate. The conversation was light, mostly centered on the weather and Lee’s journey to Lestaron Island. He brought up Palmer, the man he’d met in the tavern, and both Mira and Ryoko started smiling and sharing a few details of their own experiences with him.
“He almost blew himself up once,” said Mira. “He attempted to dispose of a parcel of powdered phoenix feather by throwing it into his burn barrel. He called Jack, who showed up with Ryoko, to put out the resulting fire in his yard.”
“How would Ryoko help put out a fire?” asked Lee.
“Like this.” Ryoko lifted her hand, and a perfect sphere of clear water appeared within it, almost reminiscent of a crystal ball. It didn’t have the same thrum on the air as an elemental spell would have, which told Lee all he needed to know.
“So that’s it,” he said. “You’re the water nymph that Zoe mentioned the last time I saw her.”
“Correct.” Ryoko grinned. “I wasn’t always this way. It’s a long story.”
“Is that why you joined up with the Dealmaker?” he asked.
Mira and Ryoko shot each other another knowing glance, as though they were in on their own little joke.
“I came with the mansion,” said Ryoko. “You could say that I was inherited.”
“Why must you insist on talking about yourself that way, Ryoko?” asked Mira.
“In what way?”
“People are not inherited,” said Mira. “You chose to stay at the mansion just as Jack chose to make it his place of residence, and just as I chose to… well, I’ve made many choices.”
An inexplicable, but loaded silence held on the air in the wake of her words. Lee was tempted to bumble forward with more questions regardless, but Ryoko’s phone rang before he had the chance. She checked the screen before wincing and setting it down on the table, still ringing.
“It’s Mr. Masterson,” she whispered. “We’re going to have to tell him something.”
“Tell him the truth,” said Mira. “We keep nothing from him.”
“She’s bringing it up because it affects all of us,” said Zoe. “He’s my brother. I’m not going to let anything happen to him.”
“Do you really think Jack would react badly to his mere presence?” asked Mira.
“They fought the last time they met, in case you were unaware,” said Zoe. “I’m not just worried about the potential for violence, either.”
“We’re going to have to tell him something,” repeated Ryoko. The conversation seemed to cycle back to its beginning. Lee was tired of listening to them argue over his potential fate. He reached a hand across the table before anyone could stop him, picked up the handset, and answered it.
“Ryoko’s phone, Lee Amaranth speaking.”
CHAPTER 18
“Lee Amaranth.”
“Jack Masterson,” echoed Lee. He had to stand up and start walking, as all three of the living women present for his stunt were actively trying to wrestle the device back. Tess had broken into delirious laughter, which earned her a dark scowl from Lucas across the room.
“Would you mind telling me why you have my girlfriend’s phone?” asked Jack.
“It’s a long story,” said Lee. “I’m going to put you on speaker, by the demand of the room.”
He tapped the setting on the phone’s screen and set it back down on the table. Mira and Ryoko seemed sated by the compromise, and everyone with a physical body came to stand close enough to hear the thin output of the speaker.
“The boy showed up at the mansion unannounced,” said Mira. “He entered without knocking. Full disclosure, the two of us did fight for a short time.”
“You fought?” Jack sighed audibly on the other side of the connection. “And by that, you mean you fed off him.”
“It was just a small sip.” Mira’s face reddened, and she tightened her grip on the back of the chair she was holding.
“It’s not important,” said Jack. “What was he doing there in the first place?”
This time, Lee got the distinct sense that it would be better for one of the others to do the talking. He watched as Mira, Zoe, and Ryoko glanced at each other.
“He was betrayed by a few of his instructors at Primhaven, sir,” said Ryoko. “It appears that part of the faculty has been compromised by the Melting Pack. They forced him to undergo the Cropping, their dream weaving expulsion procedure, and placed him in the custody of one of their agents.”
“Dream weaving?” muttered Jack. “Is this true, Lee? The Melting Pack wiped your mind?”
“They tried to,” said Lee.
“How did you reverse it?”
“Ancient mystic secret,” said Lee. “It’s not a method that would work for most people.”
“So you regained your memories and you came seeking the House of Shadows,” said Jack. “Why? To find shelter with your sister?”
“To ask for help,” he said. “Look, I get the sense from the situation with the prisoner you tried to rescue from Primhaven that your faction isn’t necessarily on the best terms with the Melting Pack. She was a double agent, in case you weren’t aware.”
“I was aware, and regardless of her mixed loyalties, it doesn’t necessarily make the Melting Pack our enemy,” said Jack. “In fact, they’re one of the few groups that have already
committed to the Independent Gathering. They’ll be sending their representatives to the meeting location.”
Lee quirked an eyebrow at that. It seemed like a long shot to think that there might be a way for him to influence the situation at Primhaven from afar, but this was what the figurative target would look like if he decided to try his luck.
“Fine,” he said. “I don’t necessarily even need the House of Shadows to lend direct aid. Even a small favor, say, letting Ryoko use her water teleportation ability to bring me back to Primhaven under the radar would be incredibly helpful.”
“Why would I allow you to leave my custody, let alone return to Primhaven?” asked Jack. “You are, for all intents, my prisoner at the moment.”
Lee frowned and glanced around the table. Mira and Ryoko wouldn’t meet his gaze, which was a bad sign. A clear sign. They would obey Jack’s order if he decided to prevent Lee from leaving the mansion.
“For starters, you’d be making a new friend,” said Lee. “I know things. I know people, people inside the Order of Chaldea who might be open to listening to new points of view.”
It felt like a minor betrayal to use his connections to Harper and some of the other instructors at Primhaven as leverage, but it was nothing compared to the betrayal he’d suffered at the hands of Mattis and Constantine.
“I might place a certain amount of value in having you as a friend, Lee, but I would have to trust you first. Which I don’t.”
“You don’t have to trust me,” said Lee. “After all, you have my sister as a hostage.”
Zoe let out a small, disbelieving gasp and glared at him. Jack burst out into laughter that echoed through the dining room, despite it coming from the phone’s tiny speaker.
“Zoe is anything but a hostage,” said Jack. “In fact, I know her well enough to know that you even suggesting that just burned some of the goodwill your sister holds for you.”
Lee didn’t need more than a glance at Zoe’s peevish expression to silently concede that point. He was flailing and he knew it, desperately trying to secure aid for himself and his friends back at Primhaven without having much to offer in return.
“When your sister first revealed herself to you and invited you to leave with her, she was making an offer that I allowed,” said Jack. “I wanted you to make the choice to join the House of Shadows, Lee Amaranth. You refused. Why should we help you now?”
“There are lives at risk,” said Lee. “Innocent students at Primhaven. The Melting Pack is either going to kill them or turn them into lycanthropes. Are you comfortable having that on your conscience?”
“Is it a worse option than having them be indoctrinated by the Order of Chaldea? Do you even realize how many innocent people they might otherwise go on to kill over the course of their careers? Not just dangerous supernatural entities, but conscientious objectors and deserters, anyone the Order arbitrarily considers to be their enemy. Can you even understand what it’s like to be on the receiving end of that sort of pointless death and violence?”
There was an edge to Jack’s voice now that Lee had no answer to, hurt and anger. He stayed silent, sensing that his original optimistic view of how his meeting with the House of Shadows would go had just been a figment of his imagination.
“Take him to see Katie tomorrow,” said Jack. “See if she can help him understand.”
“Yes, Mr. Masterson,” said Ryoko.
***
Lee was excused from the rest of the conversation, which made him nervous. Ryoko brought him upstairs and into a spacious bathroom. He took a long shower and changed into the clean clothes she brought him, a white t-shirt and black sweatpants. Zoe was waiting in the hallway when he came out.
“I’m sorry,” she said. “I do think this is for the best, though.”
“Are you really sorry, then?”
“I guess I’m not.” She shrugged, though her expression was still apologetic. “Ryoko prepared a room for you.”
“She’s been very kind to me.”
Silence. It felt as though a line was in the process of being drawn between them, a line separating brother and sister. It was a division Lee didn’t want, but doubted he could avoid. Tess stood in between them, frowning and openly expressing the emotional turmoil Lee was actively suppressing.
“I’m proud of you,” said Zoe. “I really am. Figures my brother would follow in my footsteps, except in an even more extreme manner.”
“I’m not following in your footsteps, Zoe.”
“Well, you got kicked out of school, didn’t you? I hear that’s one of those endemic issues. If you have a family member who doesn’t graduate, the likelihood of you not graduating either goes up by—”
“Shut up,” he said. “Zoe, I love you, but please. Just shut up.”
He turned and began making his way toward the room she’d indicated.
“Why do you have to be so fucking stubborn?” snapped Zoe. “You could have a life here, Eldon. You could do so much good with your powers, but instead, you’re just throwing it away. Maybe even throwing your life away.”
“I have people I care about at Primhaven. I’m not going to turn my back on them like you turned your back on Harper.”
Lee wished he could have undone the words the instant they’d left his mouth. His sister looked as though she’d just been punched. She clenched her eyes shut and took a trembling breath. For a moment, he was sure that Zoe was going to explode, to start shouting and vent her emotions with whatever words she could find.
She didn’t. Instead she just cried, silently, without even looking at him. She stared at the wall and she cried, and as Lee tried to go to her, Tess put a hand on his shoulder and gestured for him to hold back.
“Go to sleep, little brother,” said Zoe.
He took her advice this time.
CHAPTER 19
Lee sat down on the bed and sighed, feeling exhausted. Tess had changed into her own night clothes, a baggy t-shirt that was a copy of one of Lee’s along with pink boy shorts. He pulled her into his mystic stream and stretched out, letting his head rest on her lap.
“I really am stubborn, aren’t I?” he said.
“Incredibly so,” whispered Tess. “I know what your sister must be going through. It wasn’t a fun time trying to convince you of the truth, back when you’d lost your memories.”
She ran a hand through his hair, her fingers gently caressing his scalp.
“Are you saying that you think I should consider staying here?” asked Lee.
“No,” said Tess. “Maybe? I don’t know. There’s no obvious path forward, at least not that I can see. Primhaven is in danger, and you can’t just leave your friends in the hands of the Melting Pack.”
“What do you think I should do now?”
Tess smiled and kissed his forehead. Her lips were soft, but the gesture was just a tad too patronizing for Lee to accept without retaliation. He cupped her cheek and pulled her lips to his, giving her a proper follow-up.
“You haven’t exhausted all of your options yet,” said Tess. “There are still people out there who have goodwill for you.”
“Harper,” said Lee with a nod. “Though I don’t even know where to start when it comes to tracking her down.”
“You miss her, don’t you?”
Lee didn’t say anything.
“It’s okay,” said Tess. “I’m still not the jealous type, Lee, and I never will be. I know how much you care for her.”
“I do,” he said. “I really do. She would know what to do, if she were here. The question is whether it would make the situation better or worse. If I’m stubborn, then Harper is an actual rock.”
“True, but you can be just as hard as her, sometimes,” said Tess.
“Is that so?”
Lee smiled and shifted his head in her lap. He let one of his fingers trace lines on the inside of her bare thigh, just below the hem of her boy shorts.
“Sometimes even harder,” said Tess.
She let her han
ds run across his pectoral muscles, inching toward his stomach. Lee stared up at her as she leaned her face over his, her brown hair falling loose to form a curtain of sorts. Neither of them had progressed to touch the other in a manner that was explicitly sexual, which for some reason was arousing in its own right.
He turned his head sideways in her lap and let his hand slide under her t-shirt. One of his fingers traced the stretchy waistband of her boy shorts, and he felt a small tremble run through her in response. He gave the fabric a small, teasing pull, like a middle schooler debating whether or not to snap his first bra strap. Tess was right, and this was one of those times when he was really, really hard.
A knock came at the door. Lee scowled at the interruption, fully expecting it to be his sister looking to smooth things over after how their conversation had ended. Instead, he found Mira standing in the hallway outside, wearing the same insubstantial nightgown she’d had on when they’d first met. Her blonde hair hung loose across her shoulders, slightly damp from bathing recently, and her red eyes bored into him with a hungry intensity.
“Lee,” she said. “I’m so glad to catch you while you’re still awake.”
“Mira.” Lee checked the hallway, confirming it was just her. “Can this wait until morning?”
“It can, if you want it to,” she said in a breathy voice. “I was just curious about something that I thought I might get your opinion on, if you’d indulge me.”
She was standing a few feet away from him, but she might as well have been pressing her big boobs and lewd curves directly against him for the effect of her presence. Lee remembered what Tess had said about how she’d blocked the effects of Mira’s enthrallment. Had some of the damage been impossible to prevent, or was Mira really just that seductive?
“You’re awfully forward,” said Lee. “I’m not sure Jack would like it if I gave you my… full opinion.”
“Oh, you misunderstand,” whispered Mira. She took a step forward and the tension between them became exponentially more sexual and compelling. “I simply want the answer to a single question.”
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