back to the teachers’ table, veering past the taco station and grabbing a pair of tacos.
Almost everyone in the room had seen that little exchange, most of them staring at us curiously. At the witch table, one of the Viking girls looked like she smelled something foul while her sister seemed puzzled. Ryanne was staring as well, but when my eyes found hers, she just smiled and winked, then went back to eating. Beside her, the fourth witch looked our way for a moment, mildly curious maybe, before going back to her own food.
At our table, we all looked awkwardly at each other. Ashley, who was really quite pretty, pointed her fork at Caeco and me.
“You two saved his goddaughter? For real?” she asked, incredulous.
“We were in the missile silo with her. The people who held her were using her as bait to bring Chris in. It worked a little too well for them,” I said.
“Why were you there?” Jetta asked.
“We were going to be experiments,” I said.
“But what are you? You’re not weres,” she said with certainty.
“How do you know?” Caeco asked.
“Cause I know weres. You aren’t them,” she said.
“Well, I’m a witch—or warlock, if you prefer,” I said, letting Caeco choose her own answer.
“And I was already one of their experiments,” she answered. Her tone was even, but knowing her, I could sense the bitterness that the others couldn’t.
“Caeco’s unique. You’ll see as time goes one,” I said after glancing at her.
“Warlocks are pretty rare, right?” Ariel asked, her voice very soft. I got the impression she wasn’t the outgoing type.
“Yeah, you could say that,” I answered.
“Ya know, we might want to have this conversation away from so many ears, especially the canine ones,” Mack said, glancing at the table of weres. The brother and sister were pair had joined the other six weres, and the sister was watching our table. Watching and sniffing. Weird.
The topic switched to where we were all from. Ashley was from upstate New York originally, although she said she’d been away for a bit, not really saying where away was.
Mack and Jetta were from Tennessee, and Ariel was from Oregon. Caeco said she was from New Mexico, which resulted in an instant question from Ashley about stores in Albuquerque.
“I never got to that city very much,” my deadly friend deflected, then headed back into the buffet for seconds.
“Damn, she’s got an appetite,” Jetta noted.
“Yeah, her metabolism is pretty jacked,” I said, then headed to the dessert table myself.
The next safe topic was college majors. Mine was an easy choice for me… computer science. Caeco was unsure but thought she might settle for biology. Ashley wanted to study folklore and history. When Mack asked her about the employment odds for that major, she just said that employment wasn’t ever going to be an issue. Jetta and Ariel were both still in high school, so they didn’t need to worry about majors for another year, even though their classes would be at the University. Mack wanted to study business. Apparently, his family had owned its own horse ranch before their parents died. He said he always liked helping his dad and maybe he’d own his own business some day.
“So you guys are hunters?” Ashley asked.
Jetta and Mack exchanged a glance before Jetta spoke. “Why don’t we head back to our rooms? We could hang out in one and get to know each other. This seems kind of too public,” she said.
“We could use our room,” Ashley suggested, Ariel nodding agreement.
“Okay, let’s go,” Mack said.
“I’ll catch up. I gotta see what Chris needs,” I said.
“Yeah, don’t worry. We’ll be interested to hear about that ourselves,” Ashley said, grabbing her plate, utensils, and glass and heading to the dish dropoff. The others followed her, but as Caeco started to grab her own dishes, I touched her hand.
“”You’re coming with me, right?” I asked.
“Chris didn’t invite me,” she said.
“Ah, but it was implied,” I said.
“I don’t think so,” she said, shaking her head.
“But, see, I do and I’ve still got more experience with this whole social scene stuff than you.”
“But I’m a much faster learner and a better observer,” she said with a smirk.
I opened my mouth for a witty retort, but I had nothing. After a second, I just nodded.
“Yeah, true, but you’re gonna have to trust me. We’re kinda of a package deal, and he knows it. After all, he and Tanya are, too.”
She shrugged and nodded, so I grabbed my dishware and we headed to