I shot her a grateful look. “And we won’t be meddling,” I added. “I don’t want us to stick our necks out that far—I agree that it’s not safe. Better to let the shadowkind”—and me—“handle any actual response. We’ll just be information-gathering.”
“If this is your pet project, I don’t see why you can’t gather information on your own,” Leland muttered.
To my frustration, a couple of the others murmured noises of agreement. What the hell had they joined up for if they were going to turn chicken the second the shadowkind really needed us?
I bit my tongue against asking that out loud. Thankfully, I’d said as much in politer terms to our leaders the other day, and they hadn’t forgotten. Ellen hefted herself a little higher and peered down at the rest of us. “This is the whole reason the Fund was created. We shouldn’t claim we’re out to support the shadowkind however we can if we won’t get involved when they’re in the most danger they’ve ever faced.”
“We didn’t realize we’d be up against some big, secret army or whatever when we joined,” Everett protested.
“Yeah,” said the woman who’d asked about the change in location. “Let the shadowkind deal with the info-gathering and everything else if it’s so important to them. Half the time they don’t even help us helping their own kind.”
That was sadly true, as Omen well knew. “This is different,” I started.
Leland cut me off with a scowl. “Only because you decided it is. These people have been operating for who knows how long already. If the shadowkind haven’t figured it out yet, that’s on them.”
Did he really care about the beings from our sister realm that little, or was he taking his animosity toward me out on them? Ugh, why had I ever thought this dude was worth letting anywhere near me, let alone into me?
Vivi spoke up before I had to. “Look, you just explained why it’s important that we pitch in. It’s clearer than a crystal under a cloudless sky. The shadowkind haven’t been able to figure the problem out on their own. They’re not used to mortal-realm resources and strategies. We are, so obviously we could find out some things they haven’t been able to.”
“Exactly.” I wished I wasn’t dangling from a rope partway up a wall so I could have given my best friend a hug. Put a dunce cap on me for ever thinking Vivi wasn’t up to facing off against this conspiracy. I’d gotten so caught up in trying to protect her, I’d forgotten how strong and smart she was.
Another round of murmurs carried along the wall, but this one sounded less decisive. Huyen, up at the top again, cleared her throat as she headed back down.
“As always, participation in our activities is optional. I think Sorsha and Vivian have made a reasonable case. We’ll proceed with caution, of course, but we can at least put out a few feelers. Especially—how are these people raising their money? Coming at them from that angle could reveal all sorts of things the shadowkind aren’t aware of, since it’ll be all between the organization and other mortals.”
Leland descended from his perch with a huff, but to my relief, at least a couple of the other members nodded, if hesitantly. Vivi’s brilliant grin bolstered my spirits.
“I’m going to talk to my contacts tonight,” I said. I wouldn’t mention how much more intimate I’d gotten with most of them beyond talking. “I’ll see if they know anything about the fundraising side that could point us in the right direction. You all could look through public records to check for any big events with a purpose that sounds suspiciously vague.”
“And we should all know what that looks like from our own efforts.” Huyen chuckled and soared through the air the rest of the way to the ground. “You heard her, people. That’s this week’s assignment. Let’s not let ourselves down.”
10
Ruse
“Well,” I said, peering out of Omen’s car at the farm we’d driven up to, “this place is gloom personified, isn’t it? I have to say I preferred mini-golf.”
By all appearances, the property was abandoned. The barn door hung open at an odd angle, and only weeds grew in the fields in uneven tufts, their yellowing leaves turned eerie by the moonlight. When I slipped out of the station wagon, the smells of dry dirt and old wood met my nose. A lopsided weathervane creaked as the night breeze briefly spun it.
Sorsha made a face where she’d gotten out beside me. “I see your gloomy and raise you ten creepies. But I guess the Company of Light needs the cover of darkness to do their dirty work.”
We’d been directed here by the hacker girl who now saw me as the bestest friend she’d ever had. It’d been a particularly productive session on the computer, uncovering not just this hand-off with a collector who clearly hadn’t gotten the message from the last one but also a fundraising gala happening in a few days. This Company had gotten away with an awful lot, but mostly because they hadn’t faced off against an opponent who could really challenge them. The four of us with Sorsha in the mix were basically a dream team, if I did say so myself.
The location of our current ambush looked more like a nightmare. Thorn and Omen uprooted a couple of wilting shrubs to conceal the car more thoroughly where our boss had parked it behind a shed. The meetup was supposed to happen on the far side of the barn and not for another hour, but I wasn’t going to argue against their caution. I had no desire to spend another second behind silver-and-iron bars.
Snap had ventured into one of the fields. He bent to sniff—and taste the impressions around—one of the taller weeds.
“Nothing has touched this except the wind and the rain,” he said, and glanced toward the brick house in the distance. There might have been a FOR SALE sign outside it once, but it appeared to have fallen off the wooden post it’d hung from. “Isn’t this a place for growing food?”
I came over, giving him a teasing tap with my elbow. “You’re not going to find anything to eat here, my friend. I’d bet this place hasn’t grown crops in years.”
The devourer made a vaguely disappointed sound and headed toward the barn. We’d agreed that he would test the area for any sign of past transactions. There were only so many secluded spots in and around the city—the Company had to reuse some of them, especially if they’d been operating since the time when Sorsha’s fairy guardian had been attacked.
We all stole across the field after Snap, Sorsha rubbing her arms even though there was only a slight chill to the summer night. Her gaze twitched at another creak of the weathervane.
“Doesn’t it seem a little strange that they’d arrange another hand-off so soon after the last one?” she said. “If they were bringing in new shadowkind every week, they’d have needed a much bigger facility than the one where they were holding Omen.”
“Many of them might be lesser shadowkind—smaller ones with some unusual or extreme powers,” Thorn said.
Omen nodded. “Or they could have other facilities. They certainly moved their operations from that construction site quickly enough. It took the woman quite a while to dig up the details of this one, which I wouldn’t expect if they’d wanted us to find it. But that is possible—which is exactly why we’re going to proceed with just as much care as always. Let’s see where we can place our mortal so she won’t create any catastrophes.”