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The trouble was that the source of care was also the source of the threat. How were we supposed to reconcile that? I had no idea. All we could do was focus on making contact. On getting help and answers, and as nebulous as that plan was, it was all we had. Even Ash himself had admitted he didn't have another.
Ash wasn't the only one who didn't think I should be here. Daniel and I had a bit of a dustup about it this morning, when I'd declared my intention to watch the proceedings.
"I don't think you should do that, Maya," he'd said.
"Um, that's the plan, isn't it?"
He'd gone quiet then, shoving his hands in his pockets before saying, "The plan is for us to go and try to talk to someone. Not for you to watch the service. I think it's going to be too much for you."
I'd stared at him, unable to believe what he'd just said. Daniel might have a mile-wide protective streak, but he's never treated me like "a girl." If he had, our friendship would have ended years ago.
"What? I'm going to start sobbing and run to Mommy and Daddy? Seriously? You think--"
"I worded that wrong. I think it'll be too much for you and Corey. Watching your families grieving . . . It's going to be tough."
"I know that."
"Good. That's why I'm asking you both to hang back. Ash and I will watch. If my dad is mourning, the most I'm going to feel is shock."
"That's not true."
He shrugged. "Okay, maybe, but it's not going to hit me as hard. You know it won't. We haven't gotten along in years and I'm past the point of wishing it was otherwise. It'll upset me to see my brothers, but we're not really that close, either." He looked at me. "The point is that I'll be okay."
"And I won't?"
"I'm not saying--"
"Then don't say it. The mo
re eyes on the service, the more likely we are to spot someone we can approach."
That hadn't ended it. We'd fought. Really fought. Enough to bring Corey running, and when I told him what Daniel wanted, Corey lit into him, too. Yes, this would be hard, but we could handle it and we weren't happy with Daniel for implying otherwise.
"What are the chances one of your parents is going to wander off anyway?" Ash said, bringing me back to the present. "We're taking a huge risk here, you know."
"If you're worried, you can go wait--"
"I'm not worried." His chin shot up, eyes flashing, and I recognized the look. Probably the exact same one I'd given Daniel when he suggested I couldn't handle this. At least we had something in common.
I looked over to where Daniel and Corey were hidden in the long grass, just inside a patch of woods. I couldn't see either of them. Which meant they were well hidden. Except that I'd feel better if we had visual contact.
Ash had a cell phone. We probably should have bought a cheap prepaid ourselves. I hadn't thought of it until now. Hindsight . . .
At the rumble of tires on gravel, I looked over to see a black car pulling in to the parking lot. It had been roped off, but a man in a dark suit now held the rope as a line of black cars rolled in. They parked. Doors opened. I inched forward, wriggling to see better. My branch creaked.
"Careful," Ash said.
I stopped moving.
Mrs. Tillson climbed out of the first car, leaning heavily on the arm of a white-haired man I recognized from corporate literature as the head of St. Cloud corporation. Head of the St. Cloud Cabal, I should say. A sorcerer. Ash said all the Cabals were led by families of sorcerers. Did Mrs. Tillson know what he was? Did she care? Not right now. She'd suffered the greatest loss. Her husband--the mayor--really had died in the crash, and she believed that both her daughter, Nicole, and her niece, Sam, had perished, too.
Corey's mom was next. Chief Carling. Only she didn't seem like the Chief Carling I remembered, a petite blonde who could make her son quail with a single look and make him laugh just as easily. She looked tiny now, fragile and overwhelmed, clutching the hand of Corey's brother, Travis. He was all she had left--her husband had died a few years ago from an epileptic seizure. Was that seizure caused by sileni blood? One more thing to worry about for Corey.
Mr. Bianchi and Daniel's older brothers were in the next car. His brothers walked stiffly, side by side, gazes straight ahead. They hadn't helped their father from the vehicle. Hadn't even waited for him to get out. Just walked away, as if they blamed him for this. He followed, head bowed, like he accepted that blame, shambling along in a daze. I glanced toward the thicket where Daniel was hiding. I couldn't see him. I wished I could. I wished I wasn't up in this tree. My idea. A stupid idea. We should have been together for--
My parents stepped out of the last car. Dad first, then reaching in and helping Mom, and when I saw them, my heart stopped. I just lay there, frozen, clutching the tree so hard I dimly registered pain in my fingers, but only clutched it harder.
"Those them?"
