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Connor walked in, his shirt stretched to near ripping by his biceps, followed by Dice, who was always locked and loaded, even here.

“You got it?” Cookie asked.

Dice handed her a sheet of paper. “These are the ones we came up with.”

“Looks good,” she said, scanning it before handing it to me. “Remember these, too. We know they’re close to Herrick, but word is their loyalties might not be cemented.”

“Any word on future locations yet?” I said.

I had more names on more lists than I could possibly remember, but still no real plan on how we were going to get to any of them. In order to sway them, we had to get to them.

“No. Still working on that.”

“Maybe I should just show up at some of their homes?”

“Oh no,” Dice said. Connor was shaking his head, and Cookie was looking at me like I was insane.

“We stroll up to one of these people’s homes and we’ll be the dead ones. No. This has to look like accidental meetings,” she said. “We’ll figure something out. Right?” She looked at Connor and Dice.

The two of them looked at each other and shrugged. It wasn’t inspiring much confidence.

“Any plan on how to sway them when we do happen upon them?” I went back to the list, reading through the names.

“They’ll sense you’ve transitioned, and that’ll win them over.” Cookie smiled, as if this were full proof.

I chewed on my lip for a second, trying to figure out what I’d missed. “Why will that work?”

She pulled up a chair next to me, leaning her forearms on the table. “Because for the first time in centuries, there’s been someone who’s transitioned and is brimming with power. It represents a shift in the power balance.” Her eyes lit up as if she really believed what she was telling me.

I nodded, thinking this over, weighing her words and finding them a tad light. “Is any of that really true?”

“Well, you’re definitely throwing off power vibes. That’s for certain,” Dice said, then bit into a pastry left over from breakfast.

Connor shrugged, as if he didn’t care either way, and then moved to pick through whatever other pastries were left.

“Does it mean anything shifted?” Cookie asked. “Who the hell knows, but it doesn’t matter. As long as others perceive it to mean that, with a little encouragement on your part, that’s all we need.”

Considering I didn’t have a plan, I wasn’t in a place to be too judgmental.

“You give it a go yet? Take your new powers for a test drive?” Cookie asked.

They all went dead quiet, watching me.

“No. Not yet. Maybe tomorrow.” I turned my attention to scribbling the names I’d been given on the edge of the newspaper, and then found another space to rewrite them again, trying to commit them to memory. It was better than explaining how even the idea of unleashing a drop of power made me feel frozen. How was I supposed to explain to them that I’d be ready to slay Herrick when I was terrified of doing anything?

Connor dropped down into one of the chairs, his plate heaped with pastries. “I’m just not sure how we’re going to accomplish anything at this rate when—”

He grunted at the same time there were shuffling noises coming from under the table.

Connor glared at Cookie before continuing. “As I was saying, it’s going to be difficult to get to any of these people whenKadenseems sort of…” He was shrugging again.

“Stuck? Yeah, already noted,” Dice said, taking the other seat.

I’d known they were all waiting for me to get in gear, but this was the first time any of us had openly acknowledged there was something up with Kaden as well.

“Anyone know what the problem is?” I asked, seizing my opportunity.

Dice laughed and then said, “Yeah, he’s a married man now. He doesn’t know how to handle being settled down.” He laughed some more, and Connor joined him. They were carrying on like two bachelors who had watched their friend get snagged, while they’d managed to escape a fate worse than death.