“Seriously, trust me. Shit, pull over and give me a minute.”
Leo pulls onto the paved shoulder, and before he can check for cars, Grayson flings open his door and sprints across the other lane.
“Shit,” Leo mutters. “Can you see it?”
“Not a thing.”
And boy, does that rankle just a teeny, weeny, tiny bit. Finn is not used to being the one not in the know, and it makes him just a little envious of Grayson—that this whole new world of knowledge is opening up, and Finn isn’t going to understand any of it.
Yes, he’ll be privy to the inner workings of the Guild today—something Weres have been excluded from for eons—but he won’t get to test any of it out for himself.
They watch as Grayson disappears into the hedge, then his hand reappears, gesturing them forward.
“Into the hedge? I feel like that Homer Simpson gif right now…” Leo says, but he turns toward the hedge anyway.
Just as Finn thinks they’re about to plow straight into someone’s garden or swimming pool, a wave of icy dread flares down his spine. Leo brakes hard to slow the car’s momentum, grinding his teeth audibly.
“Fuck.”
They push forward, and eventually, the illusion of the hedge gives way, taking the feeling of dread with it.
An open wrought-iron gate stands in front of them, and off to the side, Grayson is smiling his most charming smile at asecurity guard. When he sees them, he waves and climbs back into the car, three lanyards with passes attached in his hand.
“Fucking cool. That’s Hank. He’s the security guard, but his Affinity is illusion magic. We’re meeting Ignatius Parvolio, Magister Novarum.”
“Master of Novices.” Finn translates automatically—Latin is in any proper doctor’s repertoire.
The cobblestone drive is long and oak-lined, with branches curving up and over to form a natural archway. The canopy is so thickly entwined that it temporarily turns the bright afternoon sunshine into dusk. Beyond the towering tree trunks, interspersed with hedgerows, vast swathes of green lawn stretch toward the doors of a mammoth, three-hundred-year-old mansion.
It’s vaguely reminiscent of a cathedral, its spires reaching toward the cloudless sky, stained-glass windows glowing as if lit from within.
“Holy shit.”
Grayson says what they are all thinking. If they hadn’t realized how serious this was before, the sheer grandeur of The Guild’s home settles that keenly.
Finn recalls feeling something similar when he’d been a med student for the first time—standing at the threshold of either great success or abject failure.
Unsurprisingly, his mate’s vanilla-basil scent turns dank with anxiety.
“It’ll be okay, Grayson,” Leo says as he pulls into a parking spot marked VISITORS.
“Yeah, okay. You’re right. Nimue will make sure no one eats us alive,” Grayson says, excitement renewed. “Here.”
He tosses two lanyards into Finn’s lap and escapes the car before Finn can even read the word GUARDIAN on the front.
Oh, this is going to be fun.
“Tell me his says NOVICE.” Leo grins.
“Let’s hope so. Maybe we can play schoolmaster and student later.” Finn waggles his eyebrows before opening his door.
Finn will happily claim a new interest in role-play since Nix was returned to them. The most recent had been…nope. Not the time for that train of thought, no siree.
“Do we have to give these back, though? Because if not, then yes, please.”
Suddenly, there’s a tap on the window, and they’ve got a face full of Grayson’s NOVICE badge—confirmed in full technicolor.
“What’s taking you so long?”
