Dead Man's Deal The Asylum Tales - By Jocelynn Drake Page 0,132

me. “The kids don’t have a lot of food on hand. You mind . . .” I trailed off, giving a little wave of my hand like I was holding a wand.

“Oh,” he said, sitting up and looking around again as if taking in his surroundings. “Oh, yes, of course.” He didn’t bother to pull out his wand, but waved his hand over the table. In a second, piles of fluffy pancakes, waffles, sausages, bacon, eggs, and freshly chopped fruit appeared in platters, along with clean plates, flatware, and white linen napkins. My eyes caught on the large silver container in the center surrounded by empty mugs. Coffee. Glorious, wonderful, caffeine-filled coffee.

The kids held back, almost painful looks filling their faces as they gazed at the food. They were afraid to trust Gideon. They might have been able to create the same spell, but they were trying not to use magic for fear of being tracked. I popped a piece of bacon into my mouth before reaching for the coffee. It was like a green light at a racetrack. The kids fell on the table, piling a mountain of food on their plates in an explosion of excited chatter. Even James seemed to come alive with the promise of a warm meal.

Only Étienne held back, watching Gideon through narrowed eyes. I clapped the younger man on the back and smiled. “I know it’s hard to believe, but he is one of the good guys. Eat.” When the boy didn’t move, I turned my back on Gideon and leaned down. “He’s got his own wife and kid to protect,” I whispered for only Étienne to hear. The young man’s eyes widened as he looked up at me. He understood the risk Gideon was taking, the rules he was breaking.

“Oh, Gideon!” Sofie scoffed, jumping into the warlock’s lap. “Pancakes with sugary syrup? You should have made something healthy. These children need oatmeal.”

Gideon stared at Étienne and smiled. “Bridgette loves my chocolate chip pancakes,” he said before dropping a piece of fruit into his mouth. Étienne gave a small nod, a smile toying with the corners of his mouth as he picked up a plate and started filling it.

While the kids scattered around the room, digging into their food and getting lost in happy conversation, I leaned against the wall near Gideon and discussed both William Rosenblum’s attack and Henry Fox’s kidnapping attempt. Apparently, things were deteriorating in the Towers faster than either of us had expected. I needed to get my hands on Reave before they decided to wipe out another city in order to shake up the masses.

Gideon set his empty mug on the table and looked around the room. Kids were lounging on the floor, soft groans of fullness slipping from them as they settled into their own personal food comas. It sounded nice. I had picked a little, but my head ached and I had too much on my mind to try to put food in my stomach.

“I agree that they can’t continue to live like this,” Gideon started, sounding more than a little weary. “But I’m not sure what we can do. We can’t keep coming back here. It may attract attention and these kids need to slip away without notice.”

“They need homes. They need to go to school. They need to be around other people. Normal people with no magic,” I said, pushing off the wall to put my nearly empty mug on the table. Being around nonmagic users would teach them how to blend better. Right now every time they were startled, they grabbed their wands, which only drew attention to them.

“They can’t go home,” Gideon said firmly.

I nodded. “It’s the first place anyone would look. Their families are probably being watched already.”

“I will not endanger mia famiglia,” Paola said, lifting her chin, proving that despite the appearance of being in a carb-induced stupor, the kids were intently listening to our conversation. Others nodded at Paola’s statement, looking sad.

“I know,” I murmured, trying to smile at them before looking at Gideon again. “But I was thinking maybe a family or two that you might know could be willing to help.”

Gideon frowned at me. He knew what I was asking. I wanted him to contact other members of his little movement, see if anyone was willing to take the kids in and protect them. “I don’t think anyone I know could take all five.”

“You want to separate us? You can’t separate us!” The cry went up, followed