question. “Let’s not worry about that right now. I’m really sorry to surprise you like this. I just didn’t think it’d be safe to talk anywhere else. There’s something big going on—something that’s hurting a whole lot of shadowkind.”
I’d known that fact would override every other aspect of the situation. Ellen and Huyen were as dedicated to their cause as they were to their love of movies; they just couldn’t show off the former anywhere near as openly. Ellen pursed her lips, but she didn’t dial 911 or even tell me to take a hike, like most sane people would have.
“What’s going on?” she asked in her throaty voice.
Might as well serve up the meat of it before they lost their patience. “I’ve found out that there’s a large, well-organized group that’s hunting not just lesser shadowkind but higher as well—capturing them and keeping them to run experiments. I’ve talked to a higher shadowkind who managed to escape”—no reason to mention that I’d orchestrated that escape; one case of breaking and entering would look bad enough—“and he’s said it’s basically torture. We don’t know what they want to accomplish, but this is too huge and horrible to ignore.”
Ellen’s mouth had tightened too, but with obvious distress. “Hunting higher shadowkind—running experiments on them? Who are these people?”
“I’m not sure,” I admitted. “They’re very good at covering their tracks. That’s why I’m hoping the Fund can use our resources to uncover more information and push back. But they—they already know I’m trying to stop them, and they’ve attacked me because of that. I didn’t want to risk them tracing me to the theater. If we’re going to meet to discuss this, it needs to be someplace else, and everyone who comes needs to be careful about it.”
Huyen glanced at her wife, her tan skin graying. “I don’t know. This sounds like it might be too big for us to tackle.”
“Not if we’re smart about it,” I said quickly. “Not if we work fast.”
“What did we even start the Fund for if we’re not going to intervene when there’s a major problem?” Ellen asked.
Huyen didn’t look convinced. I sucked my lower lip under my teeth, my gaze skimming over the posters around us for inspiration.
“If anyone’s prepared to take them on, it’s you.” I motioned to the Hitchcock pictures, to the spy capers and crime dramas. “You can put all the strategies you’ve watched to good use. We’re the underdogs going up against the corrupt conspirators… Don’t turn into one of the complicit wimps who tells the heroes they’re on their own.”
Resolve sparked in Huyen’s dark eyes. “Okay, that’s quite the pitch. I’m not promising anything yet, but why don’t we all sit down, and you can tell us everything you already know.”
4
Thorn
“You went where?” Omen said. His voice had become even flatter and colder than it’d been for most of the past two days, but I’d known him long enough to recognize the crackling undercurrent of heat that ran through it. To say that he and our mortal lady were not getting along would be putting it very mildly.
Sorsha set her hands on her hips. She was always rather striking to behold, now that I’d allowed myself to acknowledge it, but I enjoyed watching her most when circumstances brought out the ferocity in her temperament. Unfortunately, recently those “circumstances” had mostly been our commander.
“They’re the leaders of the local branch of the Shadowkind Defense Fund,” she said. “If anyone can give us a hand with our investigations, it’s them. We are dealing with mortal enemies, after all. Who better than mortals to figure out what they’re up to?”
Omen rolled his eyes skyward. It wasn’t the most awe-inspiring view, standing where we’d gathered in a laneway between a glossy office building and the slightly taller residential tower beside it. A rich but bitter scent wafted from the coffee shop on the office building’s ground floor. The clientele exited through the front, though, and the tower had no balconies below the tenth floor, leaving the laneway quiet.
Which meant Omen didn’t need to raise his voice even slightly for it to cut crisply through the silence. “It’s bad enough having any mortals entangled in our affairs. I’m not interested in shepherding a whole flock of them.”
“You don’t have to see them or talk to them,” Sorsha said. “I’m the go-between; I’ll handle everything. You never asked me not to try to bring them on board.”
His eyes narrowed. “I assumed you were sharp enough to realize