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Vivian rubs her head. “Callum… it’s hard to nominate someone who has been in the council when most of them are dead.

Harris and some minor members are the only ones left.

We are either left with the choice of foreign council members joining or inviting people from outside of the council.

I’ve known Orin for a very long time and would not be opposed to him taking the position.

He’s always been a very sensible man of high standing without any problematic issues.

But before we get deeper into this, our current concern is dealing with Mads’s disappearance, who took him, and if they’re targeting all of us or just Mads. ”

“Why would they want Mads?” I ask. “Is there someone who is targeting him? I can’t imagine it was a serial killer or something of the sort when so many people attacked him. It could have been whoever mysteriously killed the members of the council, but why kill them and take Mads alive?”

“I really don’t know why he was targeted,” Vivian says.

“Which is why I’m worried it has something to do with being part of the council.

I’m afraid it’s the same person who targeted your council members…

I’m just nervous that means that…” She sighs.

“Mads is a good guy. He’s a bit quirky, but he’s a good guy.

My biggest fear is that he’s young… and he doesn’t come across extremely young, which seems to fool people into believing he’s older, but he’s not going to live through something horrific happening to him.

I know there was mention of someone at the scene being shot with a modified bullet, and if it was Mads, there’s no way he’d live through it. ”

“Why would they have taken a dead body?” Marcus asks. “They want him alive for some reason, which means he has something they want. This leads me to believe that someone here at this table knows more than what they’re saying.”

No one volunteers any information, which isn’t at all surprising.

“We will continue our search for him. We are doing everything we can, but to do the best we can, we need to know anything you might know,” I say. Vivian flew across the ocean to be here but she knows nothing? Nah, there’s a reason she’s here, and I don’t think she’s here as a grieving friend.

Nothing seems to change as the council meeting goes on and by the end of it, I feel like we’ve gained absolutely no information.

I’ve just been subjected to reasons why Callum should be council head and fears about the rest of the council members being at risk.

It’s like they don’t want to deal with us but they also want protection from us.

Once the meeting is adjourned, we head outside where the VRC and Orin gather together.

“Well, that went about as well as I knew it would,” Marcus says. “They’re just a bunch of secretive assholes. All pretending to be civil while an asshole underneath it all. No surprise there.”

“You realize that until you met Finn you were also a ‘secretive’ asshole?” Alexei asks.

“So were you,” Marcus retorts.

“You two are like children,” I say just as my phone begins ringing. It’s an unknown number so I debate ignoring it, but with everything going on, it’s best to answer and not be like, “Oh shoot, I could have saved Mads’s life if I answered this call.” I accept it with a, “Hello?”

“Is this the lovely Finnigan Hayes choosing to answer my call?” Mads asks.

And while I had run the scenario that it could be Mads through my mind, I didn’t actually think it would be him.

“Give me the fucking phone,” Ender snaps in the background. “Finn, is Rylee safe? If she’s not, I will hunt you down and I will?—”

“Threatening the person before they can even answer isn’t very nice at all,” Mads says. “You do understand that, don’t you? People are more willing to go above and beyond for you when you treat them with kindness and ask them sweetly. Try it again with a dash of sweetness.”

“Finn, answer the fucking question,” Ender growls before adding, “Please.”

“Good job!” Mads praises, like any part of that was good.

“I’m just thrilled you’re both okay and… have oddly become friends,” I say.

“Have we?” Ender asks.

“Define okay,” Mads says. “We are in one piece, yes. But we are being hunted by an evil vampire and are both lacking like eighty percent of our blood. It really has been such a drain that I would love a nap. I could honestly nap right now, but Ender said I can’t nap while driving.

And then I might have accidentally hit a…

uh… let’s say… some clothes with a… uh… mass inside of them, so it’s extremely hard to see out the windshield.

And for some reason it makes me want to nap even more. ”

“Clothes with a mass inside of them? So a person, then? You’re finally admitting you hit a person?” Ender asks.

“I hit… a tree branch, I mean. A bloody one. Finnigan. I know we barely know each other, but is there a way you can get us back quickly? Just… I’m worried that if you tell the council I’m not alone, they’ll swoop in and try to fuck with Ender. So maybe discreetly.”

“Of course. Where are you?”

“I have absolutely no idea. I guess someplace in Canada? We finally managed to get out of the trees and I waved down some nice old man to ask for his phone and he was so eager to let me borrow it, he screamed and threw it at me. Weirdly, he’s long gone, so I guess that means it’s an early Christmas present. ”

“I’m sure that’s what that means,” I say sarcastically. “Get us your location and we’re going to get you home as fast as we can. Can you tell us what happened?”

“You never answered if Rylee is okay. Fuck my ‘please.’ I’m taking that back,” Ender growls.

“I’m sorry. Rylee is very much okay. She’s quite safe.”

“No one can know that she is mine, do you understand? If someone finds out, they will use her to get to me.”

“I promise we won’t let anyone know. Now what’s going on?”

They’re both absolutely silent.

“So you come to us for help but refuse to talk?” I ask.

“Possibly,” Mads says. “It’s not you, Finn. You are just the sweetest. It’s that I don’t quite… trust you.”

“So it is me?”

“Well, not you exactly. But you’re almost too nice. Like maybe you’re secretly evil. That’d be hilarious if you ended up being the bad guy!”

“So funny,” I deadpan. “Ender trusts me and you seem to trust Ender.”

“That’s true,” Mads realizes.

I sigh when neither of them apparently feels like giving up anything. “Alright, let’s first worry about getting you on your way home, and then you better start talking.”

Just as we’re nearing our car, I notice Arrington heading our way. I see him glance at Vivian before rushing over.

“I’m going to hand you off to Alexei, who will get you started on things,” I say as I pass the phone over. Alexei gets into the car as Arrington gets close enough to talk.

“Hey… I just… when we were walking up, I overheard one of you asking why Mads was turned. It said in his files that it was council approved, but oddly… there seemed to only be one council member who approved it, which was Vivian. Strangely… Mads keeps ending up places that I’m not quite sure he’s qualified to be as someone who hasn’t been in the council for long.

I’m not saying Vivian might know anything, but…

just thought I’d mention that. Vivian was adamant that I didn’t need to come, even though foreign relations is my specialty.

I have contacts all over the world, so I should be able to help if I can.

Did Mads’s phone get left behind in his hotel room? ”

“It did,” I say.

“Was there a lot of contact exclusively with Vivian?” he asks. “It’s okay, you don’t have to answer that. I’m just stating that there’s a possibility that Vivian knows something and that’s why she insisted on coming. Maybe his contacts will lead you somewhere.”

“Thank you.”

Arrington is busy looking in the direction where Vivian is standing.

“Oh! You’re very welcome. I have to go. If there are any names you don’t know and you need to run them by someone, let me know.

I’m not close with Harris, but there are a few other attendant-level council members here in the US that I speak to regularly that might even know something about it. ”

“Great, can you get me a number to contact you?” I ask.

“Of course. You have your phone?”

“I’m ready,” Marcus says as he pulls out his and types the number in. Once he’s finished, Arrington gives us a nod before rushing back to Vivian.

The rest of us get in our vehicles and drive back to Orin’s. Once there, we head inside to where River is sitting with Rylee.

“Did you find him? Please? Please?” Rylee asks, like begging will bring him back.

I kneel down and call back the number that’d called me as she squeezes her cat to her.

I’m beginning to question if the cat is even real at this point.

He’s like a rag doll for her to carry around as he lies in her arms in absolute bliss.

Has he succumbed to the idea that allowing this child to carry him endlessly is significantly better than his life on the streets and he will do nothing to offend her?

“Does he ever get tired of purring?” I ask as the phone rings.

“Nope! It’s his favorite pass time,” she says.

“It’s pastime,” Ender corrects. “Not pass time.”

Rylee freezes like she doesn’t even know how to compute what’s just happened. Then her hand reaches out for the phone like it’s a mystical item from a far-off land.

“En… is that you?”

“Are you being difficult for them?” he asks.

“I thought you left and were never coming back and I’m sorry I was bad and didn’t listen and please don’t leave me I love you so much.”

“Rylee, I’m not leaving you,” Ender says, his voice sounding so soft.

I have to wonder if he realizes he’s on speaker for all of us to hear, and if it’d bother him knowing that he sounds so different when talking to her.

“I didn’t mean to go away. I messed up and some bad guys dragged me off, but I’m headed back now. ”