Her pink hair helped her cheerful act--hard to look sad with pink hair--even if her eyes were a little pink, too.
"How are we going to save Gabriel?" "Have you ever noticed that everyone who knows Mercy eventually needs saving?" asked Mary Jo as she walked into the kitchen.
I was going to have to do something about Mary Jo.
I took another bite of French toast and put the fork down on the plate.
Sooner was probably better than later.
I stood up.
"Excuse me," I said to Darryl.
To Jesse I said, "I'm borrowing your bedroom--any complaints?" She stared at me a moment.
"No?" she said, her voice rising as if her answer were a question.
Which maybe it was.
"Your stereo is pretty effective at keeping voices from being overheard by all the werewolves in this house.
And from the noise coming from downstairs, there are a lot of werewolves here." "It's Darryl's cooking," said Auriele, sounding a little apologetic.
"I can see why," I said.
"I'd appreciate it if you would guard my plate until I come back." I looked at Mary Jo.
"You.
Come with me." And without looking behind me, I led the way up the stairs to Jesse's room.
I walked into Jesse's room and turned on her stereo until it was almost painfully loud.
The CD wasn't something I'd have chosen to listen to, but it was loud, and that was all I was interested in.
"Shut the door," I told Mary Jo.
I was almost surprised she'd just followed me up as I'd asked.
Face blank, she did as I'd requested.
"Okay.
Now, if you come over here by the window, it's almost impossible for anyone to overhear us." All the precautions weren't really necessary.
With this many people in Adam's house, no one, no matter how good their hearing was, could really listen from one room to the next-- there were simply too many conversations going on.
But the stereo made our privacy virtually certain.
"What do you want?" she asked, not moving from the center of the room.
I leaned against the wall next to the window and crossed my arms over my stomach.
It felt wrong to be in this position.
I've been a solitary person my whole life.
Even when I lived in Aspen Creek with the Marrok's pack, even then I'd really been alone, a coyote among wolves.