Free Pack, they keep to themselves, isolated from humans, and they feel very strongly about other Fangborn coming onto ‘their’ territory. They tend to keep Fangborn varieties segregated. In this case, the werewolves are dominant. You’ll go with Senator Knight—they know him and respect him. You’ll take Jason with you. The idea is that one of the ravens can be observing Carolina’s property while you’re in talking to the Free Pack.”
“Okay, but why me?”
“They’re curious about you, the senator said.” Gerry looked through a very messy notebook. “After that meeting, we’re all going to storm Carolina Perez-Smith’s compound tomorrow. Remember, the goal is to rescue the kidnapped Fangborn and round up whatever Order members are there—no killing, no casualties, if possible. We just want our people back, and if we can find a way to make Carolina and the Order pay for it later, so be it.”
“The rescue is the priority. Vampires will be supplying a lot of alternate narratives, but we want to keep the memory changes as slight as possible. We can’t have the Order all doing a complete turnabout, because it will let everyone else know what we’re up to. We’re just trying to contain her a bit, is all.”
There was a clamor outside, and the door opened suddenly. “Zoe,” a werewolf said. “There are two kids named Dickson who want to see you. Shall I send them up?”
“Yeah, sure.” Why on earth was this person—was her name Ryleigh?—asking me? “Kids? Who—”
Rose and Ivy Dickson appeared. “We needed to come,” Rose said.
“We felt an emptiness, and since you established that connection between us . . .” Ivy said.
“You thought being here would help?” I said.
They looked at me, acknowledging that I’d just filled in a space that was left open by Ash’s death.
“That’s totally . . . I didn’t do that,” I said hastily. “I was just trying to figure out what you meant.”
My protest didn’t convince either of them. “See?” they said at once.
“Besides, Rose said we needed to be here,” Ivy said. “She’s always dragging us around.”
“We are racking up the frequent-flier points,” Rose said.
“Okay, well, I won’t lie,” I said. “We can use you in the rescue operation tomorrow.”
“Just don’t try to give us venom or a suggestion that we forget,” Ivy said fiercely. “About Ash.”
“They kept trying it at home. Why would we want to forget?” Rose added. “Why would we not want to feel this? You wouldn’t ask someone who’d lost a limb or an eye to just get over it. We’ve lost much more than that. A third of ourselves.”
“And don’t tell us Ash would have wanted us to feel better.”
“I would never say that,” I said, shaking my head. “I hate that. ‘Oh, you’re mother would have loved this’ or ‘She would have wanted it this way.’ People say that at funerals because they can’t bring themselves to say that they like something, or that the person who died might have been unhappy at the idea of death. It’s a stupid thing to say, and if you ever catch me, you can punch me in the head.”
“Zoe’s right,” Claudia said, with a disapproving look at me that suggested she didn’t think I should be talking about punching people in the head or funerals.
I shrugged. “So we have no desire to try and jolly you up about your brother’s death. We desperately need all the help we can get.”
“No problem,” Gerry agreed. “We’ll get you a room; it’s getting crowded here, but when we are set up on Flock Island, it’ll be easier. Dan, Will and Adam will be here in a moment. Can you give us five minutes on how the provisioning of the island is going?”
“Sure,” he said.
Everyone looked at me as if I was supposed to do something. “Uh, thanks for stopping by, folks.” Apparently, I was running this meeting, and since we were finished, I was the one to dismiss it. It was another new experience, almost as unsettling to have people looking to me for guidance and authority as to deal with dragons.
“Hey, Danny? Got a quick minute?” I said as everyone was leaving.
He stopped and turned. “Yeah, Zo.” Vee stood by as well.
I was shivering as I thought about what was coming. I took their hands and pulled them close so we wouldn’t be overheard. “Do me a favor. Go. Run, now. Danny, take Vee and run as far away from me as you can.”
“Take Vee? I don’t think anyone’s taking me anywhere,” she said.
“Zoe,