Total pages in book: 117
Estimated words: 109477 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 547(@200wpm)___ 438(@250wpm)___ 365(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 109477 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 547(@200wpm)___ 438(@250wpm)___ 365(@300wpm)
“I’m betting on Sergeant Whiskers,” Donovan said with a crooked smile. “That’s fitting with Lexi’s whole MO. If the mom is always wearing pajamas, all the better.”
“Har, har,” Lexi said. She’d been dubbed a pajama-wearing cat lady at one point, and the powers that be had made sure it stuck. Her two enormous magical cats came and went, hunting things in the yard or lounging around until needed.
“When’s the last time he visited either of those areas?” Kieran asked.
“I was just going to mention that,” Amber said, bent over her tablet. “He hasn’t visited his mother in some time. Calls are infrequent and far between.”
Boman tsked. “Not a very good son.”
“He did visit the state within the time period, though. We couldn’t get data from his rental car. It would’ve been a hike to his mom’s, but not impossible.”
“A car, not a van?” Kieran asked.
“Correct.” Amber straightened. “He speaks to his Chester friend more often. The calls are short. No texts. Nothing else traceable. We have records of his leaving the magical territory after many of those calls. The Chester is within driving distance. We’re looking for fake Chester identification, but regardless, I think we should check it out. That seems like a winner.”
Kieran studied the table, everyone else falling silent. “How likely is it that the fae would’ve made that connection?”
“Slim,” Henry said. “We’re dealing with a creature that thought simply deleting a file also erased it. He didn’t even erase the automatic backups. He’s probably good for his kind, but he in no way can compete with the human world and is wholly outclassed by us. I doubt he knows about Sergeant Oliver Dawson.”
“And he definitely doesn’t know about Sergeant Whiskers,” Donovan said.
Thane huffed out a laugh.
“If Dawson is holding anything, he might try to make contact before long,” Henry said. “If he does, he might ask around after Rutherford. If the fae goes sniffing around Rutherford’s home and meets a neighbor, all he’ll need is a whiff, and then he can mind-hop to get the information he needs. He’s not terribly tech savvy, this fae, but he is highly intelligent. He’ll find what he’s looking for eventually.”
“Then time is of the essence,” Kieran said. He pivoted his gaze to Daisy, expression tight. He’d asked a lot of questions of her since breakfast and had only partially believed the web of lies she’d woven to keep them from knowing more than they should. The fae wasn’t the only one who was highly intelligent—Kieran was no chump. He knew when to stop pushing, though. He knew she wouldn’t crack. Instead, he’d watch her more closely than she could wiggle away from. The guy went into overdrive when confronted with danger, which was a great thing…until it was her under the microscope. “Do you have anything to add?”
“I didn’t know any of that,” she said honestly. “But yes, checking it out sooner rather than later is a good idea. He’s looking for a crystal chalice, and crystals are listed on the inventory sheet. He’ll be doing everything he can to find those items. First, though, let’s ransack that warehouse. We need weapons in case we do happen to meet him.”
12
The weapons they’d gotten weren’t anything like the gift from the fae. The blades were iron, all with carved runes and hand guards of brass, but they seemed clunky in comparison. Clumsily wrought and totally out of balance. Only one was cold to the touch, but the blade was dull and chipped. Many were stupidly heavy and cumbersome to use. And forget being easy to hide—they were bulky things with fat sheaths. She hated to say it, but they’d never do. They had to keep looking.
Nothing could be done about it now, though. She couldn’t use her gift because the fae might read her thoughts through it and know what she was doing, and they didn’t have time to hunt down another possible supplier before they checked out the sergeant.
“I still would’ve preferred going after Mr. Whiskers,” Donovan said from the driver’s seat of the stolen car with Chester plates. They all had fake IDs to get through security. Kieran and Lexi could’ve asked for admittance using their stations, but they’d have been escorted. They needed stealth on this one.
“So dove, huh?” Jack said, in the front seat and smiling. Daisy and Jerry sat in the back. Here it came. The guys hadn’t been able to razz her about that nickname because Lexi was so keyed up about the situation and Kieran was crazy intense about the possible breach in his protection of his family. No one wanted to set the Demigods off. But these guys added levity to everything. They took very little seriously outside of actual work.
Daisy shook her head and looked out the window, waiting. There really was no point in trying to head it off.