in a rush, like he wasn’t sure we’d make it all the way here. “Where are the others?”
“Morgan and Alice are in the car.” I wave for them to join us. The doors open and slam shut again. “Sarah is on her way with the . . . cargo.”
“Come in. All of you.” Archer leads us into his home. “Elder Keating is in the kitchen. She’s making tea.”
Alice stops dead on the front porch. “There’s an Elder here? You didn’t think that was something you should tell me?” Her expression telegraphs worry, and I can understand why.
If I told Elder Keating what Alice did to me in the hotel, if I told her the way Alice contorted my body with her magic, Keating could strip Alice of her power.
“I won’t tell her what happened tonight,” I whisper back. “Whether or not you agree to help with the raid. Though I really, really hope you will.” I motion for her to follow and trail after Archer through his home. As much as I want to say I’d do anything to recruit Alice, I won’t threaten to have her magic bound. I won’t resort to blackmail.
In the kitchen, Elder Keating stands beside the stove, pouring hot water into half a dozen mugs. She glances over her shoulder at us, giving me an approving nod when she notices Alice. “Explain everything.”
I’m not sure how much of our story Archer already told her—enough for Keating to temporarily lower the protective barrier around the town so Sarah could get in with the three Hunters—but I start at the beginning anyway. I tell them about Riley coming to the Cauldron but not knowing who he was. Even though I don’t want to, I admit that the photos I posted online led Riley to us.
“But why?” Elder Keating muses, looking more concerned than I’ve ever seen her. “Why was he so fixated on Morgan that he broke protocol?”
“Protocol?” I ask.
The Elder looks up from her tea. She clears her throat. “You said one of the Hunters was worried the others would notice they were gone. I assume it wasn’t a sanctioned mission.”
Oh. Right.
“So, why did this boy break protocol?” she asks again.
I look to Morgan. Her freckled cheeks flush pink. “We used to date. I didn’t know he was a Hunter until he tried to hurt me. And now he—” Tears fill her eyes, and she looks to me.
“He said he wants to win her back. After he’s given her the cure.”
Archer’s phone shakes violently on the counter, and we all jump. Well, all of us except Elder Keating. I don’t think anything could startle her. “That’s Sarah,” Archer says, checking the message. “She needs our help with the trunks.”
Morgan and Alice set their half-finished cups of tea on the counter and follow him to the door. I try to go after them, but Keating asks me to stay.
“Is everything all right? Did things go okay with the water protection?”
Elder Keating nods. “Things here are fine. There’s no need to worry.” She rests a hand on my shoulder. “I am so proud of you, Hannah. This mission was so much more complicated than I anticipated, and yet you still managed to recruit Alice like I asked. I hope you can take solace in a job well done.”
She smiles and slips past me into the hall, but her approval leaves me unsettled. I didn’t recruit Alice. She hasn’t agreed to help us beyond getting the Hunters here. Not yet, anyway, but I don’t want to admit I failed. I don’t want Elder Keating to be disappointed in me.
When I make it to the hall, Alice and Morgan are dragging the trunks stuffed with screaming Hunters into the house. Even with their enhanced strength, I can see their struggle as Archer and Sarah help maneuver the luggage down the stairs into the basement.
I take a steadying breath and follow.
The basement has a basic cement floor, but otherwise it looks clean and bright. About a third of the large, open space is blocked off by metal bars that run floor to ceiling. There’s a small room tucked in the corner of the cell and three mattresses strewn across the floor. The rest of the basement, the part outside the cell, is filled with shelves of potions and raw ingredients. A long table sits at the center of the room with what looks like a chemistry lab on top.
“Why do you have a cell in your basement?” Alice asks, speaking for