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As she reached the end of the driveway, the girl stopped and smiled, but it was creepy. Her lips stretched into an exaggeration of a smile, but her eyes were blank and lifeless. She was nothing more than a puppet John was manipulating. “Hello, Grey. Hello, Clay.”
“I take it you’re John,” Clay replied stiffly. The Earth Weaver lowered his fists to his sides, and there was a tremor that ran through the ground.
Without taking his eyes off the girl, Grey blindly reached out and placed his hand on Clay’s arm. The Earth Weaver needed to stay calm. They couldn’t be the ones to break the truce. Not yet. Not until they had some useful information.
The girl turned her head toward Grey suddenly and cocked it to the side. “I’m so sorry about your eyes, Grey. That is a shame.”
Grey froze. This was more than just sending an enthralled person into their midst. There was a chance that John was actively in the child’s mind, seeing through her eyes. This was good and bad. The good was that he apparently thought Grey was still blind. He wanted the pestilent to keep that misconception. The bad part was that Grey didn’t think he could free the child of the spell without John finding out the truth.
“I’m learning to make do,” Grey said stiffly. “Why are you here?”
“I’ve been talking with the leaders of my world. They have some ideas on how we can work together to save both of our planets. I would like to meet. Noon on Saturday at the Whispering Pines Mall.”
That sounded like a horrible idea. That public location would be crowded with people. Normally, such a thing would ensure safety for his brothers, but when their enemy could control the minds of humans, turning them into an instant army, it was really bad.
“No,” Clay growled, and Grey tightened his grip on his arm.
“Why should we walk into a place where you can turn hundreds of innocent people into an army?” Grey countered.
“Because I truly doubt that you’ll allow me to bring my pestilent army in for my own protection. As long as you don’t attack me, the humans won’t even notice we’re there.”
“You’ll be alone?” Clay scoffed.
The girl cocked her head to the other side in a mechanical fashion, turning to look at Clay. “Will you allow Grey to come alone?” Her smile twisted. “I think not. But I will come alone to the mall. Grey, I will allow one companion to help you navigate the mall safely.”
“Fine. I’ll be there,” Grey said quickly before Clay could argue further. He didn’t want to miss this chance to take out John. The conditions weren’t ideal, but they still had a couple of days to make plans and prepare. He could feel ripples of anger and frustration running from Clay, but his friend kept his mouth shut. For now.
“Good. I’ll see you on Saturday.” The girl started to turn to walk down the driveway when Clay called out.
“Release the kid. As a show of good faith.”
The girl turned to face him, eyes narrowed. “I’m running low on good faith at this point. But it would be interesting. This child found on your property, surrounded by men. Kidnapping charges would certainly keep you busy for a bit.”
Grey clenched his teeth. He could wipe the child’s mind of ever meeting them, but it would potentially reveal to John that he had his full powers back. He wasn’t ready to tip his hand yet. Not if there was another option.
“Return her where you found her. Unharmed,” Grey said. And as much as it galled him, he tacked on, “Please. Enough innocent people have been hurt and killed in our war. You’ve talked about wanting to save both of our worlds. Prove it by sparing this child’s life now.”
The child’s face became expressionless for a moment, and then she nodded. “So be it, Grey. I can do that. As a show of good faith.”
She started walking, her limbs moving dully as if she were little more than a zombie. As she got a little farther away, Grey reached out again and touched her mind while holding tight to the Earth Weaver. He used Clay as a way of grounding himself as he felt along the edges of her mind. The gaping dark void tried to suck him in, but the presence of Clay and his anger kept Grey detached in a way. Within a couple of seconds, he found the root of the spell. He pushed and prodded at it very carefully. This was good. Very good.
“Grey?”
Blinking, he turned his head to look at Clay’s worried expression and smiled. “Yeah. Let’s go make some plans.”
They all trekked into the house and gathered in the kitchen. A new pot of coffee was started, though judging by Clay’s frown, Grey was sure the man would have preferred something stronger than coffee. The feeling of unease was thick in the air, but what bothered Grey the most was the silence coming from Cort. It was so damn tempting to just slip into his mind to see his thoughts, but Grey refused to give in to the temptation. Cort had a right to his private feelings and thoughts. It was for the best. His mate needed to understand the life he was now linked to, particularly since the topic of bonding had already come up.
