us and was going to kill us in front of the new pack at some kind of dinner party. That brother–sister wolf team that’s here was there, as well as that boy Matt who was sitting down below us today. And the pale girl who I think is named Katrina. But anyway, Chris intervened. Beat the piss out of a fully Changed werewolf without breaking a sweat. Then the FBI showed up to arrest us, but the other Alpha, of the North Carolina pack, sent his attorney with us and there wasn’t any evidence and so we went free. Chris got shot that same night, but the supermodel werewolf that was in DC with him reminded him about us and here we are.”
“Stacia, you mean Stacia Reynolds?” I asked.
Mack nodded with a gleam in his eyes and a wistful smile. “Yeah, how could I forget her name?”
“Dude, really,” I agreed, which earned me a raised eyebrow from Caeco. “Oh please. Like you didn’t already admit that you thought Chris was hot? We’ve covered this already,” I said.
“I will grant you that both Tanya and Stacia are attractive, but you don’t have to be quite so enthused about it,” Caeco said.
“Did I ever embarrass you in front of them? Drool or anything?” I asked.
“No. No you didn’t,” she admitted. “But only because your brain had basically shut down.”
“Wait. You know her and Tanya too?” Mack asked.
“We’ve met,” Caeco said, just a touch stiffly. I was nodding at him with a big smile from my secure position behind her. A sharp elbow came back and smacked my stomach.
“Oof. Yeah, just in passing” I said. “Most of his team came along to finish the rescue of Toni. Not much for them to do, though. Chris and Tanya kind of obliterated the place.”
“Wow, you got to see them work up close and personal? Against AIR operatives?”
“We saw the aftermath. They went through that place so fast, there wasn’t time to see them do much—other than Chris tearing apart our jail cells like toilet paper.”
“Shit, that must have been unreal,” Mack said.
“Extremely unreal. I’ve fought AIR combatants most of my life, and they were never pushovers,” Caeco said.
“What? Your whole life? Bullshit. Now you’re making stuff up,” Jetta said.
Caeco had said more than I think she’d intended to, but now that Jetta was calling her out, I could just about tell the moment she decided to share more.
“I was raised in an AIR lab. Trained to fight from birth. My opponents were almost always AIR agents. Singles, then pairs, and finally entire Gladus teams. Of course, I usually had weapons and time to plan.”
“Why? Why would they train some little kid like that?” Ashley asked.
“Because they built me to fight and they wanted me trained properly,” Caeco said.
“They built you?” Jetta asked.
“I’m a test tube baby,” Caeco said.
“Genetic engineering?” Ariel questioned.
Caeco just nodded, leaving everyone silent while they thought about that.
“So no wonder you could beat up that agent in Toni’s cell,” Mack said admiringly.
“Miseri was tough. I had a lot of help,” Caeco said with a glance my way.
“So you’re like the Bruce Lee of warlocks?” Jetta asked me.
“Not so much, but I can punch throats with the best of them,” I said.
“So what did Chris want you to look at?” Ariel asked.
“My aunt did some work for him. He asked me to look the spells over and make sure they were all okay.”
“Work?” Ashley asked.
“Basically a very complex set of wards to protect Toni and her family,” I said.
“And you’re a good enough warlock to do that?” Ariel asked.
“Yes, I helped Aunt Ash make them in the first place so other than her, I’m the best one to check it out.”
“So what happens if a student plays a prank on her or something?” Jetta asked.
“That’s a remarkably bad idea,” Caeco said.
“But what if it’s another witch and they circumvent the spell or whatever?” Jetta pressed.
“That would be really bad for them, like possibly lethally bad,” I said, trying to think of what the dopplegheist necklace might do. “I don’t think the wards would let that happen, unless maybe my aunt did it.”
“Or you. The spells recognized you, right?” Caeco said.
“Yeah, maybe.”
“I’m getting the impression that you’re not an ordinary warlock,” Ariel said.
Caeco snorted but let me answer. “That’s… true,” I said, not wanting to continue. “But enough about me. What’s everyone’s schedule look like?”
It didn’t fool anyone, but they all allowed my blunt attempt to change topics, and we all discussed our classes.