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Janco and Teegan joined them. They both wore disguises.
“You gonna finish that?” Janco asked, sitting next to him.
“Here.” Valek slid his plate over.
Janco flashed him a surprised grin before he grabbed a spoon.
“How did you find us?” Valek asked.
“I’ve been doing daily sweeps since we arrived,” Teegan said, tapping his head.
Interesting. Valek hadn’t felt any magic. “I didn’t pick up on it.”
“You’re not supposed to.” Teegan smirked.
“Can you teach me that?”
The question startled the smirk from Teegan’s face. “I don’t know.”
“Can you try?”
“Yeah, sure.”
“Good. I need to keep working on my control and learn what I can and can’t do before we take the next step.” The boy’s presence meant Ari and Janco had caught up to the twins and a Stormdancer. Valek glanced at Janco. “How long have you been here?”
Talking around a mouthful of eggs, Janco said, “Two weeks.”
“What about my father?” Yelena asked in alarm. “Did something happen?”
“No. He’s fine.” He waved his spoon. “Opal, Devlen, Reema and the twins are all fine.” Janco lowered his voice. “I’m sure they’re making heaps of spores by now. There were just too many rabbits in the stew, and we thought we’d get a head start on things.”
“Does that include securing a safe place for all of us?” Valek asked.
“Of course.”
“Then we’ll finish our discussion there.”
After breakfast, Valek and Yelena grabbed their bags from the room they’d rented. They followed Janco and Teegan to a small building a few blocks over. The place had once been a tailor shop. Bolts of moth-eaten cloth, cloudy mirrors and dusty mannequins decorated the first floor. Black curtains covered the large display windows in the front.
Alerted by the noise, Ari came downstairs. After the hellos, he carried Yelena’s bag to the second floor, despite her protests, and showed them the living quarters. Teegan and Janco followed them.
“There are three bedrooms,” Ari said as he deposited her pack in the unoccupied room. “Janco and I are in there, and Teegan has the little one.” He gestured to a door on the left.
Valek set his bag next to Yelena’s. There was a living area with a couple couches and armchairs. A few bolts of cloth and parts of a sewing machine littered the floor. The tailor must have lived here.
Janco picked up the top half of a broken mannequin. “This place went bust.”
Everyone groaned at the bad joke.
“Come on, guys. That’s a classic.”
No one agreed.
Ari turned to Valek. “Please tell me you need Janco to travel far away from here for a dangerous undercover mission.”
“Let me guess,” Yelena said. “He’s been driving you crazy.”
“Janco and boredom don’t mix well.”
“That’s ’cause the boy genius here has taken all the fun out of everything.” Janco pressed his fingertips to his temples. Talking in a falsetto, he said, “They’re doing another sweep in town. We’d better hide.”
“I do not sound like that,” Teegan protested.
“Report,” Valek ordered before they started to bicker. He settled on the couch next to Yelena. The others sat, or in Janco’s case, plopped.
Janco gestured to Teegan. “I’ll let the boy genius fill you in.”
Teegan gave Janco an indulgent look, as if Teegan was the adult and Janco the child. “I’ve been spying on the garrison with my magic. I know where the guards are stationed, where the Councilors are housed and, most important, who the magicians are and what they can do.”
“That’s impressive,” Yelena said.
He shrugged off the compliment. “Most of them have been eating Theobroma, so their thoughts are dripping from their heads.”
“Are the Councilors together?” Valek asked.
“Yeah. They’re all staying on the second floor of the barracks. Although Master Magician Bain is not there.”
“He was moved to the Krystal garrison.” Valek considered. “Can you reach Bain from this distance?”
“It’s probably too far for us to connect. Why?”
“We’re going to need to coordinate with the Masters.”
“With your help, we might reach him,” Teegan said.
Good to know. “What’s the status at the gate?”
“No need to worry about the gate,” Janco said. “We have another way into the garrison.”
The man appeared mighty pleased with himself. Valek took the bait. “Oh?”
“Heli gave us a storm orb. When you’re ready, we’ll blast a hole into one of the walls. Ka-boom!” Janco threw his arms wide.
Smart. With that much energy at their disposal, the possible uses were endless. If they had more—
“Way ahead of you, Boss. While Boy Genius and I were scoping out the garrison, Ari paid Kade a visit on the coast and picked up a few more.”
Yelena jumped up and hugged Ari. “That’s fantastic!”
The big man actually blushed.
“But once we set one of those babies off, there’s no more sneaking around,” Janco said. “We’re committed, big time.”
“Hit and git,” Yelena said.
He grinned. “Exactly.”
“We need to find a location that will limit casualties but is close to the barracks,” Valek said.
“Done,” Teegan said with a flourish reminiscent of Janco. “What we don’t know is what happens after all hell breaks loose.”
Yelena frowned at Janco.
“He didn’t learn that from me!”
“Uh-huh.”
“The next part is easy. We round up the Councilors and escort them to the farmhouse,” Valek said.
“How are you going to convince them to leave?” Teegan asked. “There are eleven of them. I can only influence three or four people at a time.”
Impressive. “We’ll wear uniforms to blend in and tell them we’re taking them to safety.”
“And when they realize we’re not Bruns’s minions?” Janco asked.
“Yelena will convince them to stay with us.” Valek explained his theory.
“I thought babies only sucked their thumbs,” Janco mumbled.
“Our child is exceptional,” Valek said, daring Janco to disagree.
He held up his hands. “Easy there, Papa Bear.”
Yelena laughed. “If it doesn’t work, we’ll fall back on plan B.”
“Plan B?” This was new.
“They’re sure to drink water that first day, so we’ll tell them they’ve been poisoned. They’ll have a week to live unless they get the antidote, which is at the farmhouse. By the time they arrive there, the Theobroma will have worn off.”
“Brilliant plan,” Valek said with a smile. “Wherever did you get that excellent idea from?”
“Shut up.”
“I love you, too.”
Janco glanced at Teegan. “I think we’re missing something.”
“It’s probably one of those lovey-dovey things,” Teegan said. “My parents do it all the time, and it’s gross.”
Laughing, Janco said, “Give it a few years, puppy dog.”
Valek considered. Once they rescued the Councilors, the Cartel would step up their attempts to find them. They would surround the garrisons with soldiers and be extra-vigilant. Therefore, they couldn’t move too soon, or else they’d give the Cartel more time to prepare. If all went well, they needed to rendezvous with the rest of the team by day fifty of the heating season, which was sixteen days away. It would take them at least six days to escort the Coun
cilors back to the farmhouse. What to do in the next ten days?
“Are you up for a field trip?” Valek asked the power twins.
“Always,” Janco immediately replied.
