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Chapter twenty-nine

Raegan

Even as early as it is when Kell and I wander into the Guild Hall, it’s still bustling with people and energy.

Dane and Aiden went off to work out the details of their plan with Harvey and Reid and prepare what they need while Jackson disappeared without a word, leaving us with some time to relax on a training day off.

A large, round table in the middle of the massive room is particularly rowdy and filled with familiar faces.

Kellan grins, spotting them and then directing us to them.

“If you’re ever alone with the Guild and in doubt, stick with Evie. Or Fabian.”

“Why not the others?”

He snickers as we come up to them, not even trying to lower his voice.

“They bring up the least amount of bullshit.”

“What’s that, Dragon ?” Silas mocks, his eyes still glued to his hand of cards.

He picks one and tosses it to the center of the table, then flicks his brown eyes to Kellan with a smirk.

“You saying something about this table of upstanding, best-you-ever-had Guild members?”

Kell chuckles, dragging one of the open chairs back and offering it to me.

“ He’s the bullshit you should avoid.”

Silas snorts, whispering not-so-quietly to Evie beside him.

“He’s just salty he lost a hundred bucks in our last bet.”

“Oh, you think I don’t know how you won that bet?” Kellan smacks his hand on the table.

The cards and drinks on it quiver, and Cassandra grabs her glass.

“Hey! Don’t get me in trouble with Yaya or Cibrina over more broken glassware!” She turns sad eyes on Fabian.

“I wasn’t even the one to break them. How’d I get stuck with the bill?”

“Probably because you’re the reason they broke it in the first place,” Silas teases.

Evie smacks his arm.

“Knock it off, or I’ll shrink your dessert.” She adds her selected card to the pile and smiles at me.

“Do you want in on the next game?”

Kellan squeezes my shoulder.

“I’m going to see what food’s out and bring something back.”

Giving him a short nod, I answer Evie, “I’ll just watch if that’s okay.” I can’t remember the last time I played a board or card game, if I ever did.

“Heyyy, Rae!” Gabe scoots his chair closer to mine.

“You can be on my team!”

“There are no teams,” Silas says, but Gabe makes a pfft noise and waves him off.

“They just taught me, but I’m no good at these.”

“Uh, okay.” He flashes me his cards, but it means nothing to me.

“Careful,” Fabian warns, his mouth full of whatever snack he’s binging this time.

He’s so big and broad he’s almost on the open seat next to him.

“Don’t show the rest of us your cards.”

“Oh!” Gabe slaps his cards to his chest, then points his finger at the others.

“No peeking! Raegan rights only.”

“Where’s Zedd?” I ask, realizing his shadow isn’t standing right behind him.

Gabriel smiles dreamily and indicates one of the long tables where Zedd’s bent over a piece of paper and scribbling something on it.

“He’s working on a new song that hit him this early morning. Inspiration struck, and bam !”—he slaps his hands together—“he has to get it out before he loses it.” He moans and drags one hand down his throat to his chest. “Uuungh, listening to that man sing is an eighth fucking wonder.” Gabe chuckles and ruffles his brown hair.

“I suppose it’s a bit unfair for everyone else, though, when his gift is involved.”

Did I know he had a gift?

“What is it?”

“His singing voice can influence emotions. He can start anything from a mob to an orgy. Or help purge sadness from people who’ve locked it away.” Gabriel pats his chest, his gaze distant.

“It’s beautiful.”

“It’s your turn,” Evie reminds him.

“Oh!” Gabe holds his cards to me.

“Pick one.”

Silas laughs, shaking his head.

“You’re never gonna win like that.”

He shrugs, still waiting for me to make my choice.

“It’s not about winning for me. I just like having fun with you guys.”

I tug on a card and he takes it, adding it to the center pile.

Cassandra makes an ‘aww’ sound.

“That’s so sweet.”

“That’s a pretty cool gift,” I comment.

As I look around the table, I think I have the gist of everyone else’s gifts.

Cassandra, healing. Evie can make things bigger or smaller.

Fabian…eats things? “What exactly is your gift again?” I direct to him, but it’s Silas who answers.

“He can eat anything. Anything . As long as it fits in his mouth, at least.” Silas plays his card and then jerks a thumb at Fabian.

“He ate an explosive once. Don’t ask how or why we were dealing with one of those, but he swallowed that sucker down like it was cake.”

I touch my throat involuntarily, grimacing.

“How…”

Fabian shrugs.

“My anatomy’s a bit different. I’ve got a long tongue like a frog, and my throat can expand to consume anything.”

“That’s why my bud’s always eating. If he goes even an hour without food, he’ll get faint. He needs something in his stomach unless he’s asleep,” Silas adds.

“My gift is the best in the Guild, though. Did you like the bunker? All me.”

Evie chimes in.

“That wasn’t all you, Si.”

He ignores her, pulling seeds from his pocket and spilling them on the table.

“I control all plant-life. Trees, flowers, vines…and any properties the plant has too. Poison, sleep spores, medicinal stuff…the best, right?”

The others around the table make unconvinced sounds, and he frowns.

“What? Come on! That’s master-class shit right there. I’d bet on me any day of the week!”

“If we’re betting, then my money’s on Jackson,” Evie comments, sweeping the center pile of cards in front of her and tossing a new card down.

Silas scowls, though it’s hard to say if it’s at her statement or his loss of the pile .

“I’d bet on Aiden,” Cassandra puts in her two cents.

Fabian opens a bag of chips.

“Can’t exclude Kellan. He can outlast anyone.”

Gabriel nudges me.

“Speak up, girl. You’re the strongest.”

“I wouldn’t consider it the best gift, though.” I flick my gaze to Cassandra.

“I wish I could heal others.”

She beams at the compliment.

“Well, I could certainly use your help on some jobs if you’re interested,” Evie tells me.

“Especially cleanup work.”

Silas whips his head around.

“Hey! I’m your partner on those!”

“Oh, uh, I’m not really sure how those work.”

Evie explains, “One of the offices downstairs searches for odd jobs that would be a good fit. They do research on the requestor, vetting them to be sure they’re safe, and we’ll get paid, then print the request and post it for any of us to pick. The Guild is technically a temp agency, so there’s a form on the website for requestors to directly submit requests as well. Especially repeat clients.”

“Does everyone here have gifts?”

“Most of the ones working in the offices don’t. They all know about us, though, because they’re either family, friends, or spouses who want to help.”

“I heard some jobs get pulled from the dark web,” Silas inserts conspiratorially.

Evie waves him off. “That was when Thorne was in charge.”

“Were you guys around when he was here?” I ask, curious what they thought of him.

“Just me and Fabian. Silas and Cassandra joined soon after Aiden took over.”

“Si was causing so much trouble that Aiden had to recruit him directly,” Cassandra narcs with a sly smile.

“Recruit him?”

“That’s another office downstairs. The staff scour the internet—social media, online articles, police reports”—she gestures to Silas, who rolls his eyes— “for signs of gifted people. The second tier of recruiters goes out to offer an opportunity at the Guild. It gives them a non-destructive purpose with their gift and a place to live in a community of others like us,” Evie answers.

“What happens if they accept? They get right in?”

She shakes her head.

“Each recruiter has their own Guild business card with their name on it. They have to sign the back of it with the person’s name they’re inviting, and that has to be presented to the security desk on the first floor. That’s their ticket to an interview with Aiden or Cibrina. They work out if the Guild is a good fit for them, and then there’s a probationary period after that.”

“Oh! That’s what I’m in,” Gabe says, extending his cards to me again for another pick.

“Anyway,” she continues, “we do almost anything you can think of. Moving people is my specialty with Silas. I shrink the boxes and furniture, Silas moves them into a tub, and then we drive to their new home and do it all in reverse. Takes us less than an hour but we get paid by the job, not hourly.”

“How do you avoid people seeing you use your gift?”

“It’s in the contract that no one is present. Or we do the work when we know no one will be there, like at night.” She taps a braided metal bracelet on her wrist. “These tell us if there are recording devices in range. If there are, or even just to make sure you’re covered, you push a button on the side, and it sends a jamming signal until we’re out of range.” Evie smiles.

“That’s the gist of it.”

“Don’t forget you can’t go on a job without approval first,” Cassandra says.

“You have to show Aiden or Cibrina and get their approval, and Cibrina logs it so she knows who’s working which jobs.”

When the hell does Aiden, or even Cibrina, have time for all that?

While we’re squeezing in trainings, GE missions, and preparing for attacks?

No wonder his phone is always ringing or buzzing with messages.

“Oh. Wow,” is all I can manage.

Evie gives me a reassuring smile.

“Don’t worry about an answer now. Just know that the offer is open if or whenever you want to give it a try to see what we’re all about.”

“Thanks. I’ve never thought of using my gift for anything…productive like that.”

She shrugs.

“There’s something for everyone out there; you just have to get creative.” She pinches a cookie from Silas and tosses it at him.

“Catch.”

“Shit, don’t—!”

The cookie grows to the size of a large dog, knocking him and his chair to the ground.

Fabian ditches his chips and leverages the cookie on the ground, taking a bite out of it.

“Thanks, Evie.”

“My pleasure. ”

“Got you some fruit, beautiful,” Kellan calls behind me.

He sets a bowl of sliced fruit in front of me—predominantly filled with strawberries—and another at the empty seat on my right.

“Cut it up myself.”

I’m still stuck on Evie’s example of playfully using her gift.

How could I…?

Kell pulls out the chair next to me to sit in, and an idea strikes.

Right before his ass hits the seat, I shoot my gift through it.

The chair disintegrates.

Kellan lands hard on his ass, a look of complete surprise on his face that I can’t help but laugh.

Silas snorts. Cassandra’s hand is covering her mouth—to suppress a giggle?

—while Evie, Gabriel, and even Fabian join my laughter.

Kellan grins. “You fit right in.”

My eyes burn at the words I never realized I’d waited my whole life to hear.

Somehow, I’m suckered into playing the next game, which involves a whole lot of screaming at each other until I hear someone shouting the same thing as me to pair up our cards.

It’s so loud, our voices echoing through the grand room, that I don’t hear Aiden approach.

I’m tugged from my chair unexpectedly.

I trip over myself to catch up with the direction I’m being pulled in, away from the table and chaos, but the hand on my arm keeps me upright .

“Can you hear me now?” Aiden purrs, his lips grazing the shell of my ear and triggering goosebumps.

Breathless from the adrenaline of the game and now him, I nod rather than attempt words.

“Good. I received a phone call you’ll want to take. But it’ll need to be in my office with the ruckus happening here.”

My breath catches.

A phone call? For me?

There’s only one person—or maybe two—it could be.

Elias or…

Portia.

Aiden drops his hand to the small of my back, guiding me to his office.

I run inside past Dane and snatch the corded phone from the receiver.

“Portia?!” A dull ringtone echoes in my ear.

Fuck. Did I miss her?

A throat clears, and I whirl around.

Aiden holds up his cell phone.

I lunge for it, swiping it from his hand and pressing it to my ear.

“Hello?”

“RAE!!! OH MY GOD! I’VE MISSED YOU SO MUCH!” Portia partly screams, mostly gushes into my ear.

My knees shake as relief leaves me boneless.

Dane pushes a chair to the back of my legs, and I collapse into it.

“Porsh! Thank fuck! Where have you been?! I’ve been trying to call you.”

I cling to the phone as if it’s her I’m actually holding onto.

“I know. I’m so, so sorry! Please don’t be mad.”

“Of course, I’m not mad! I could never…I’m just so fucking glad to know you’re okay.”

There’s a pause, which immediately raises a red flag when it comes to Portia.

My tone drops. “You’re okay…right? Where are you? Do you need me? I know someone who can get me there in seconds. Just tell me where you are, and I’ll be there.”

She sniffs.

I tighten my grip on the phone and stand.

“Portia, where—”

“I’m okay! I promise, I am. I wasn’t for a bit, but…Oh, Rae. I have so much to tell you.”

“Can you tell me now? Can I see you?”

A muffled, masculine voice comes through the speaker.

“Oh, right.” Her voice sounds further away when she says that, before it comes back just as strong as before.

“Sorry, this is supposed to be a quick call. I wanted to tell you as soon as I found out that we’re all coming home!”

All?

But that is the least important part of that announcement right now.

“When?! Wait, GE’s still around. It’s not safe—”

“Don’t worry, we’re going to help!”

That male voice speaks again, and I strain to hear it.

She makes a noise of disagreement, her voice once again distant.

“We are helping.” Pause.

“Fine, that’s what you’re doing. But I’m helping Rae when we go back tomorrow.” Pause.

“Oh, we’re not leaving tomorrow?” Another long pause.

A sigh. “Sorry, it sounds like we aren’t coming home right away, but it’ll be soon, okay? And then I’ll tell you everything, and you can tell me everything, and we can lock ourselves away from men for a night. ”

I realize there are at least two different male voices on the other end talking to her, and frown.

It’s not just Elias?

“Deal. I’m at the Tower now where the Guild is, so come here as soon as you can, or I can go to Hype.” Dane makes a sound in his throat, but I continue, “I’m just so glad to hear from you.”

“Yes! I can’t wait! I’ve really gotta go, though, but I’ll be there before you know it! Love you! Bye!”

I drop into the chair and hold the phone to my chest, eyes closed with a smile.

Finally, some good fucking news.