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Her smile falls. “I mean, no thank you. I will forever never know anything about the cutest kitty I’ve ever met in my life. I will live to old age, all shriveled up and hunched over and forever wonder what happened to the kitty. I will cry myself to sleep thinking of the kitty.”

Why the hell did I end up with the most dramatic child known to mankind?

“Why can’t you tell her here?” I ask through gritted teeth.

“Because I have to tell her in the kitchen ,” Mads says. “Come on, it won’t kill you.”

“It might,” I grumble, but Rylee gets what Rylee wants. “You have three seconds of our time.”

“I will use every moment of those three seconds to blow your mind,” he says as he hurries to the kitchen.

When we get there, he’s not even in the kitchen, but it doesn’t take long for him to return while holding the cat in his hands.

“Here you go! All fixed up! And they even got all those mats out for you and washed him up so he’s sparkling clean just for a princess like you. ”

Rylee gasps. Literally gasps . Her arms are outstretched, making her look like a zombie as she shuffles toward the awaiting cat.

Even though it’s clean, it’s still an ugly thing with its bent-over ear and a chip missing from the other.

Its long hair is missing in some areas where the mats had been, but Rylee seems to think it’s the cutest thing she’s ever witnessed.

Mads is smiling the entire time and even Orin looks thrilled, like he’s watching his son get married instead of Rylee reaching for that ugly thing.

Just shy of him, she freezes and dramatically pulls her hands in before turning away. “I told Ender I wouldn’t,” she says as she heartbrokenly makes her way back to me. Both Mads and Orin are looking at me like I’m a monster… which I am, but I can’t say no to Rylee.

“You can hold it, but we’re not keeping it,” I warn her.

She lets out some unintelligible sound of glee as she rushes over to the cat, gathering him up into her arms as she melts to the floor in delight. The cat is so low-key it’s just along for the ride, thrilled to have human affection and prepared to go through whatever to get it.

I jab a finger at Mads. “We’re going to have a talk in a different room. Orin, is your theater soundproof?”

“It sure is!” Orin says. “Please don’t get blood on the seats… or the carpet… what about here in the kitchen? The floor in here is very easy to clean.”

Mads grimaces before waving at the cat and child. “But I was watching this cute reunion. Come now, child, come with us. Please? What are your thoughts on allowing me to hold you… not at all like a shield.”

“Alone,” I say.

“Sounds concerning,” Mads comments. “But I’ll bite… as long as you don’t bite…”

I ignore him and head toward the theater room that Rylee had shown me last night. Once Mads is inside, I shut the door before turning to him.

“I’m flattered you wanted to have me all to yourself,” he says with a beaming smile like that could possibly make me forget my current plans.

I walk up until I’m directly in front of him and stare right into his blue eyes. “Don’t be. What are you doing here?”

“Returning the cat. As simple as that.”

“You could have sent the cat with Finn or Claude when he comes to pick up the phone, but you chose to come here. Why? You may feed all of that bullshit to everyone else, and they might believe you, but I don’t.”

He gives me a look like he couldn’t possibly know what I’m referring to. “Bullshit? What have I done?”

“You were looking for something when I stepped into that building they’d been holding Rylee in.

And you weren’t overly shocked by the bodies either.

You weren’t there long enough to have gotten over your shock of finding them dead in such an unusual way.

And instead of showing that shock, you were hunting for something. ”

“How was I not shocked? When you walked in, I was examining the deceased for signs of wounds. Was I supposed to scream or cry or something? Really, it’s not like I knew them or that I’ve never seen bodies before. I was trying to figure out how they were just… dead.”

I smile at him. “Sure you were. And that’s fine if you don’t want to tell me. But what I want out of you is the name of every single council member, US and UK.”

“Like… to send them valentines?”

My expression has to sour even more. “Yes, I’d like to send them valentines.”

Mads grins and pats my face, so I smack his hand away. “What are you going to do with all of that information?”

“Something I should have done many years ago.”

“I just… like you’re being all vague and my mind is going ‘murder,’ but my hope is like… not murder, you know?”

I grab him by the throat. “If you don’t want to die, you will tell me.”

He slides his hand over mine and it’s weirdly intimate. Like… who the fuck just gently takes someone’s hand when they’re threatening to kill them?

“Murdering me solves nothing. I would be thrilled to help you think of other ways to find answers, but my death isn’t one of them.”

“It’d make me feel better,” I say as he tries to hold my hand, which causes me to pull back. It’s wildly effective.

“But it wouldn’t make me feel better.”

“I mean… you’ll be dead, so you won’t feel anything.”

“I would have to come back and haunt you, and that won’t be fun for either of us.”

“I’ll take my chances. So talk or try your hand at becoming a ghost.”

“Can you at least tell me why you want to know the council members’ names?”

I ignore his inquiry. “You have a picture of them?”

“Yes, we’re such close bros we get weekly photo shoots. Last week we did a photo shoot of us hunting innocent humans and snacking on them. Fun, huh?” he asks. It’s all quite teasing and in turn irritating.

“Fuck,” I say as I grab him and start dragging him over to the trash can.

“What are you doing?”

“I don’t want to get blood on Orin’s floor, so I’m going to make sure your head falls into the trash can.”

“But why? You’re so angry! Do you ever feel like maybe this is why people think you’re the bad guy? Because you’re so rash?”

“I’ve never been rash a day in my life,” I growl as I grab the trash can.

“My head is certainly not going to fit in there. I don’t even have an overly large head but with the way the bin tapers down, I’m confident my head will roll right out and won’t that make more of a splash? Think of the carpet, Ender. Do it for the carpet.”

I pull the empty trash bag out of the can and yank it over his head, deciding this will suffice until he tears a hole in in it.

“Why the fuck did you rip a hole in it?”

“I couldn’t breathe.”

“You’re a fucking vampire! You don’t have to breathe!” I snap.

“You’re right. My bad. Now the blood is going to leak everywhere. I am a people pleaser, though, so if you’d like me to find a bigger bin, I’m open to it if you give me a valid reason why . Like did I hurt you in a past life? Have we been reincarnated after having wronged each other in the past?—”

“Orin’s fucking rich. He can buy new carpet,” I decide.

“Wait, wait… I do have a photo, now that I think of it. No one was pleased I took it and warned me to never take another. Let me see, let me see…”

Mads still has the bag on his head, but it must be clear enough he can see through it. It just irritates me even more, which I’m positive is why he’s doing it. I yank it off, getting a bit of hair with it.

“Ah, do you need even more hair? You already have such lovely hair, why sacrifice mine?”

“The next time you see me, I’m going to be bald,” I growl.

“I apologize. I will not say anything more about your hair or your attitude or about how I must have caused you great sorrow in the past for you to be so feisty with me,” he says as he turns his phone toward me. “That’s me in the middle.”

“Is this… is this from a fucking Halloween party?”

“Sure is. I went as a vampire. See? Isn’t it great? With the cape and the garlic necklace and the fake blood on my face. Everyone loved it.”

I snatch the phone from him and zoom in on everyone else’s faces, unsure why I have to be subjected to such a thing.

Everyone looks ridiculous dressed up in Halloween costumes like they don’t have a care in the world—like they don’t give a shit about anything but themselves.

I recognize a handful of people, but quite a few I don’t know at all.

The issue is that the person I’m looking for isn’t there.

“This isn’t all of the main members.”

Mads flips the phone around and examines it closely.

“Admittedly, I haven’t been on the council long.

These are the members I’ve met. I don’t believe there are others, but I could be wrong.

Could it possibly be someone who has left the council in the past year or so?

I joined merely six or seven months ago.

Do you have a name for me? If you tell me exactly who you are looking for, I can ask around. ”

“No. I have to go. If you touch Rylee, I will remove every single part of you.”

“All parts? Like… every part? I just feel like there are much better ways to spend your time.”

“Do not even look at her.”

“Of course not,” he says as I slip out of the room, having to trust that Rylee will be safe with Orin.