Page 142 of Cold-Blooded Creatures

“You have way too much of everything,” Eislyn pointed out, emerging from my bathroom with the overflowing box together with Malaya clutching what didn’t fit in it. “But we got most of it.”

“Gedeon has a thing for his hair and Zion keeps buying me new stuff before I even get to finish what I already have.” I took half of the tubs and jars from Malaya. “Let’s hit the study first.”

We marched down to our first target, and I gulped at the ebony desk, the one Gedeon had made me fall apart on in the hall during the night of my tattoo. In front of everyone, including our friends.

“So what are we supposed to do?” Malaya asked.

“His notes. Throw them around, hide them anywhere you can. The mess is sure to exasperate him.”

Jayla was the first to unleash herself, and we followed her lead in ravaging Gedeon’s study. Climbing onto the desk, I tossed the largest pile of notes up in the air and leaped off to join Jayla dancing in the rain of them.

Eislyn and Malaya chose a more methodical approach and stuffed the sheets of scribbled-on paper under the couch, inside the cushions, and between the books filling the dark wood shelves lining one wall, adding a finishing touch to the chaos Jayla and I were releasing.

“The underground is next,” I announced, and we hurried down the stairs to the damp basement sprawling under the central building. “Take your pick.” I offered the box to the girls.

Malaya hurled a jar of lotion right at the small steel table, and it exploded, drowning everything in a citrus scent. “This is amazing.” She grabbed another tub and launched it. The glass container drew a graceful arc in the air, sparkling in the harsh light overhead, and ruptured open on the cement floor. The white liquid turned pink where the cleaners hadn’t scrubbed well enough.

Malaya was right. This was beyond satisfying. And Zion was bound to freak out at the mess. We were desecrating his torture chamber with shampoos and soaps. Their fragrance would linger in the space for days—the total opposite of the cloying stench of blood he worshiped.

“At least it will smell better now.” Eislyn nodded approvingly at Malaya’s hits.

We threw jar after jar, shrieking every time one of them shattered too close and lotions, soaps, and shampoos splattered onto us. Once our feet were slipping on the sticky ground and everything looked sufficiently coated in a mix of citrus-, flower- and herb-scented liquids, we agreed our work was done and half-climbed, half-crawled the stairs back out.

I wiped away a tear about to fall. I’d never laughed with my friends so much before.

I’d never had friends like this at all.

I hoped to never not have them again.

46

GEDEON

Ava crawled to my right and peeked over the roof’s edge at the street below. “How much longer do you think they’ll take?”

Another shining, sleek, and freshly painted silver car dropped off two green-banded boys in front of the glass entrance to the white building Kali had pointed out on Ilasall’s map as the auction site. None of the graduating schools’ young men lingered outside before vanishing behind the mirror-like sliding doors leading them to the others already gathered inside.

“My guess is twenty minutes or so before the Matching starts. The flow is going down.” I scanned our team checking their weapons strapped to the uniforms we had stolen to pass as the city guards or military, while the rest wore regular clothing to blend in as city dwellers. “We should move. Is everyone else in position?”

“Everyone is in place and ready, waiting for my signal,” Zion assured, strolling over to us and stopping a few feet away, out of view for the citizens going about their day below. “And don’t step on my operation. I’m in the lead here.”

I gave him a dirty look. “I’m in charge of the whole compound.”

He hooked his thumbs in the loops of his soldier’s uniform pants. “That includes my cock, right? Because it sure loves your authority.”

I dragged a hand over my face. This was not the time nor the place to recall memories of him—and it—doing exactly just that.

“I’m going to pretend I didn’t hear that.” Amari slipped a green wristband under the sleeve of her deep blue wool coat. “Come on, we’ve got some pretending to do,” she told Ezra, sporting a matching outfit, a standard issue outdoor clothing for those in service for the government.

Their duo was to pose as part of the escort to the Head of Welfare, who was supposed to begin the event with a speech about what a great day it was. And end it with a too-long musing about the honor of serving the city.

“We should have the cars ready in twenty.” Ezra tapped his wristband, and it flashed in green—the active state. If anybody inspected it, they would find false records Sadira and Ryder had planted in their system. “Let’s go.”

“See you later. Don’t die.” Amari pulled Ezra by his elbow through the rooftop’s exit, and the majority of our team followed them out, leaving me, Zion, Ava, and Ryder.

“Again, it’s not a good idea you’re here.” Ava expressed her disapproval as we observed our teams disperse in the street below, half of them going to hijack the cars at the back of the auction building and the rest taking positions outside all possible exits, impersonating the guards.

“Heard you the last time.” This was too huge to sit out simply because Ava and Zion demanded it. If we were successful, we could disrupt Ilasall’s way of functioning. I pushed off the edge of the roof and joined our group, running the last checks.