Page 39 of Against the Veil (Endangered Fae #3)

Zack patted Finn’s shoulder. “Stay here with them, bud. I’ll be right back.”

A few whispered words in Eithne’s ear and she brought two Fomorian stalwarts to the containment chamber, one who looked like a giant otter with hands and the other with a hawk’s head and clawed feet.

“Murchú and Séighín have agreed to feed you, little blood stalker,” Eithne told him in her firmest ‘I’m the healer, so listen up ’ voice. “You take just what you need. Do you hear me?”

“Yes’m,” Jasper agreed in a spare whisper. His blue eyes had darkened to an unhealthy shade of red but he still managed to sound embarrassed when he said, “I don’t…I’ve never had people watching.”

“Go, dear Zack.” Eithne made shooing motions at him. “Take everyone else with you. We have things well in hand.”

“I promised I wouldn’t leave him.” Nate put his back to the wall, jaw jutting in stubborn defiance.

“Christ almighty.” Zack rubbed a hand over his forehead.

The headache was constant now. He was almost used to it.

“Fine. Nate stays. The little guy seems to trust him, so it might go better that way.” He pointed a warning finger at the moss bed.

“Jasper, you behave yourself, boy, you hear me? We’ll take care of you so long’s you stay polite. ”

“Yes, sir. Got it.”

He took Finn by the arm to steer him out since the pooka no longer seemed entirely aware of his surroundings.

The blank stare could have been deep thought, or sudden catatonia.

At one of the common caverns, festooned with colorful groupings of floor cushions, he stopped, took Finn by the arms and gave him a little shake.

“You with me, hon? You all right?”

“Asylum. In the middle of nowhere.” Finn shook his head hard and pulled Zack into a tight embrace, all his tension telegraphing through trembling muscles. “There is a memory dancing out of reach and I cannot run fast enough to catch it up.”

“If it’s in there, it’ll come. Hey, hey, it’ll be all right. We’re closer than we were, right?”

“Jasper,” Finn said on a strangled breath. “He had my Diego’s scent on him.”

“What’re you saying? That Diego was, what? Screwing him?”

Finn reared back, almost toppling them both. “What? Great Mother, no. Not that sort of scent. Simply…Diego. Where a hand had touched. Where they had stood shoulder to shoulder. It was still hard to bear.”

“Yeah. I guess I didn’t notice. All I smelled was vamp.” Sure as hell didn’t smell Lugh.

The stricken expression faded and Finn leaned in to kiss his forehead.

“What was that for?”

“An apology. Your love is lost in this as well. I have been selfish, forgetting that your pain is as sharp as mine.”

“S’okay. I’m built kinda tough.” He pulled Finn down with him and let the pooka settle, sprawled on the cushions with his head in Zack’s lap. A couple of years ago, the position would’ve felt beyond weird. Now, fae-acclimated as he was, it was just a nice thing to do for a friend while they waited.

Minky channel surfed while Kara went to the kitchen to grab them some snacks.

Her hands shook a little but she wasn’t freaked out and that worried her.

She should have been. Being in the middle of a riot, suddenly finding magic singing through her, knocking flaming vehicles from the air, yeah, she should have been a mess.

Maybe this was one of those states of denial people went into, not dealing with things when stuff was really, really bad.

Brandon flopped down on the sofa next to her, his hand automatically held out for the remote. She glared at the imperious gesture and retained a firm grip while Will settled between them. Bran snorted and the hand went away.

“Where’s Nate?”

“Downstairs. Aiding and abetting,” Minky muttered, purposefully putting on Iron Chef , which Brandon hated.

Kara sailed back into the room with a plate of crackers and cheese. “Just because he wants to keep an eye on things. Nate’s doing what Nate thinks he has to do.”

“Sorry,” Minky mumbled automatically.

“Yeah. A lot of good we’ve managed to do so far,” Brandon growled.

The deep blush as he said it, though, made it obvious he was angry with himself.

No one was mean enough to point it out. He scarfed down a third of the crackers before he seemed calmer.

“Heard you had some badass moves today, little bit.”

She shrugged. “Finn was about to get squashed by a flying hot dog cart—”

“Empanada,” Kara corrected.

“Whatever the thing was. I just kind of…did it.”

Nate chose that moment to amble in and plop down on the recliner. Mortar dust caked his hair. Dark shadows lurked under his eyes. But he still flashed his crooked, charming smile. “Hey.”

“So give,” Kara snapped. “What’s the shit-eating grin for?”

He gestured with a piece of Gouda. “Seems that Fomorian blood is like vampire crack or something. Got halfway through his meal and started babbling and giggling. At least it acted like a painkiller, too.”

“Is he still feeding?” Will asked as he nibbled on a triangle of Swiss.

“Nah. All tucked in and sleeping like a baby, poor little guy.”

Brandon nudged Nate’s ankle with his boot. “So there’s a point to telling us. Or there better be after the build-up.”

Nate chuckled and slathered a cracker with goat cheese.

“Yeah, yeah. Getting there. So Sergeant Morrison, he went down there to question Jasper, that’s the vamp.

All polite of course, ’cause it’s who he is, but Jasper’s in so much pain and all ADD from needing blood, so he couldn’t think past telling the sergeant that Mr. Sandoval is holed up with his posse in an abandoned asylum. ”

“Nate, fuck’s sake. Stop enjoying yourself so much,” Brandon insisted.

“Fine. Ruin a guy’s story. Jasper remembered when he was all relaxed and happy that he’d seen a sign on one of the walls. Heersford, the sign said. Now we just have to figure out where Heersford Asylum is. Cinch, right?”

Minky already had her phone out, searching. “So we’re on a first name basis with the evil people now?” The sudden silence disturbed her. She glanced up to find everyone staring at her, Nate’s smile fading to something slightly stricken. “What?”

“Legit question, Nate,” Kara said softly.

“I don’t think that’s right…” Nate ran a hand back through his dusty hair. “I mean, Jasper doesn’t seem evil. He’s lost and scared, but I don’t think he’s much different from us.”

“Werewolf girl and pyro boy sure didn’t seem like poor, lost kids,” Kara said with a snort. “Definitely having way too much fun with the whole destruction thing.”

“Okay, Jasper did say that Lila, that’s the werewolf chick, and Magnus—”

“Magnus? You’re shitting me,” Brandon said on a choked laugh.

“No, not making this up. That’s what Jasper said pyro boy’s name is.

Anyway, he did admit those two are total jerks.

Apparently, Theo keeps them in line most of the time.

” Nate waved one hand over the other, a signal he’d gotten off track.

“Anyway, of course some of the people Mr. S. has picked up are gonna be bad. He’s looking for power, not model citizens.

But I’m willing to bet more are like Jasper. Like us.”

“Like us, but not like us,” Will said softly, contemplating the wheat cracker in his hand. “There’s one big difference.”

“What’s that, babe?” Brandon leaned forward to take Will’s free hand, the muscles in his forearm taut.

“All of them are solitary.”

Nate shook his head. “Not following. They come in packs. It’s not like they acted alone.”

“A group, yes.” Will spoke slowly as if chewing on his words. “But each on their own. Some of them tried to protect each other, true. But did anyone of us, at any time, feel them pull power together? Did they work any magic at all…together?”

He glanced from one to another until every head shook ‘no’'

Minky put her phone down. She hadn’t found a damn thing. “There’s no Heersford listed anywhere.” She fiddled with the edge of her sleeve a moment, gathering courage. “Will’s saying they don’t have…us. Like we have us. A coven.”

“Oh, please.” Brandon sat back again, setting his boots up on the coffee table with an angry clomp. “Fat lot of good that’s done us.”

Will got up to pace, his hands waving in short, precise gesticulations.

“Because we haven’t done anything about it yet.

But the dragon lord talked about it. Think about it!

Think about how we came together. How much better we all feel together than apart.

How our magic started to manifest only when we were all together . ”

“Babe, it’s just coincidence.”

“I don’t think there is coincidence with magic, Bran,” Nate whispered, staring hard at the carpet.

“We are a coven!” Will insisted, his voice trembling with the force of his conviction.

“Five of us, in the old sense. We fit!” He began to point at them in turn, Brandon, himself, Kara, Minky and Nate.

“Voice, Sight, Strength, Head and Heart! We’re more powerful than they are because they’re all alone! ”

“Um, I get why you’re Sight, Will,” Brandon began, hands spread. “But Minky as the Head? Seriously?”

For once Will didn’t back down. “Seriously. Think, Bran. Who’s always spoken for us? You. Who tries to protect us? Kara. Who is it that makes peace, who made us whole? Nate. And when we’ve needed an idea, when we’ve needed someone to think for us, it’s always been Minky.”

“Oh, come on!”

“No. Put the ego away. I love you, Bran, but sometimes you’re full of yourself. It was Minky’s idea to contact Mr. Sandoval in the first place. She’s the one who always emailed him. Minky said to use the catnip. Minky got us all to move in together.”

Minky’s mouth fell open, but she managed a squeak of protest. “I did not! Everybody agreed!”

Nate lifted his head. “But you suggested it. Will, I think you’ve got it. And if we’re going to find this place, and stop all this mess, I think we need to start…pooling our resources. Putting our magical heads together, so to speak.”