“I might hold back on the Borg comparisons, at least until she’s been fully assimilated.” He sounded like he was smiling. “But if anyone can turn a suspicious witch into an ally, it’s probably you.”
The sound of rapid footsteps drifted through the closed door, and then Sabrina swung it open again and impatiently waved them inside. Once they were standing in the narrow entry hall, the door safely locked behind them, Edie didn’t waste more time on pleasantries or even a brief, nosy study of the home’s interior.
Instead, she turned to Sabrina and launched into an explanation. “Did Riley tell you what we were trying to do?”
The witch gave a brief nod. “She said you wanted to get word of the breach to authorities outside the Zone.”
“We didn’t succeed.” Edie blew out a breath. “As you’ve probably guessed by now.”
“Since we didn’t hear any sirens or helicopters, we thought you might have gotten stuck at Wall Four. Or, more likely, that you’d encountered the pack on your way out, and—well.” Sabrina’s lips pressed together, and her voice softened. “I’m glad we were wrong about what happened to you.”
Edie smiled at her. “Thank you. Anyway, after Riley told us what you saw while scrying, we decided to visit the site of thebreach, because we wanted to gather any remaining scent evidence. We also didn’t want to mention possible demon involvement to authorities without confirming it for ourselves.” Which was hopefully the nicest possible way to sayWe weren’t sure we could trust you. “You need to know what we saw and smelled there, Sabrina.”
The witch’s brow creased. “Tell me.”
While Edie explained everything, Max stood silently at her back, offering support and an occasional grunt of affirmation. Sabrina listened without interrupting, apart from a few clarifying questions.
“We intended to find you immediately and ask for your help in gathering allies,” Edie concluded once she’d shared all the pertinent information, “but we ran into a stray zombie at a moment when we weren’t paying sufficient attention, and…uh…”
The words wouldn’t come. She couldn’t skim over Max’s injuries as if they were simply another event in their series of terrible misadventures. As if seeing him near death hadn’t traumatized her and underscored how deeply she actually cared for him.
Max’s hands clasped her shoulders from behind, kneading her taut muscles gently. “I needed Edie’s help, a few hours, and a safe place to heal. By the time I regained consciousness and full mobility, the sun had set.”
“And with a pack on the loose, it was too late to find me,” Sabrina deduced.
“Yes. Exactly.” Edie spread her hands and stared pleadingly at the other woman. “Sabrina, we can’t let the zombies out of the Zone. They have to stay within the final wall. If they escape, countless people and Supernaturals will die. And even if the government and SERC were able to drive the creatures back again, assoon as officials studied the breach site, word would spread that Supernaturals were involved, and then—”
“Full-on slaughter. Apocalyptic violence.” Sabrina pinched the bridge of her nose between her thumb and forefinger. “So the government can’t be part of our containment efforts, and afterward, we can’t tell just any random official about the breach and its probable cause. We have to find someone who’s open-minded, strategic, and able to keep secrets for the greater good.”
Edie’s newly massaged shoulders slumped in relief.
Thatwemeant the witch would help them. Thank heavens.
“Also someone not connected or beholden to the fae in any capacity,” Max added.
“But first…” Edie chewed on her lower lip, her brief respite from worry over in an eyeblink. “We have to either kill the zombies or get them back to their compound and keep them there. All of them.”
Gods and goddesses, this entire plan sounded impossible. Like a fool’s errand. But they had no other choice, did they?
“Agreed.” Sabrina’s hand lowered to her side. “And at least one of us has to survive long enough to find our strategically minded, secretive official. Luckily, I think I can help with that bit. Or, more accurately, my wife can.”
Swiveling to address the shadowed loft area toward the back of the home, she called out, “Starla! Did you hear all that, sweetheart?”
“Of course.” The voice drifting down from the loft was soft and sweet. “I can start contacting our neighbors and telling them to gather here, if that’s what you need, Sabby.”
Something about that phrasing—“Your internet is working? Or your phone?”
“Everything’s still down, unfortunately.” A lovely Black woman appeared behind the loft railing, with a shy smile and a bare, gleaming head. “And I’m mostly stuck here in bed, so I won’t be able to fight or recruit help in person, but I’m a telepath. I can communicate with anyone I’ve recently seen, as long as they aren’t too far away or blocked by something solid. Like a huge, thick stone wall, for example.”
Max had been right, then. Starla was an Enhanced human, like her wife.
“Star, you have limited energy right now, and you already wore yourself out contacting our neighbors and warning them to find shelter yesterday.” Sabrina’s fists were planted on her hips, and the glare she directed up at the loft was full of pained love. “If you don’t rest today—”
“If I don’t rest today, maybe you can recruit enough people to save us all. Including me.” The telepath shook her head, lips pursed. “Sabby, if there’s a war, do you really think common humans will let the Enhanced live? We’ve cooperated with Supernaturals too many times and far too closely. An enraged gun-toting mob won’t consider us innocent bystanders. They’ll call us their enemies and slaughter every last one of us.”
A mutinous expression creased Sabrina’s face, but she didn’t argue. Her wife was correct, and they all knew it.
“I need to help,” Starla said. “And if the worst happens, I’ll somehow find a trustworthy official and tell them everything. But that won’t be necessary, because you’re going to survive this, babe. We all are.” Her narrow, intelligent face brightened with a small smile. “Honestly, most everyone we know is gone for the holidays, so I won’t have much work to do. I’ll need to take a car ride over the bridges to Zones A and C, though, so I cancontact our friends who live there without a wall blocking my thoughts.”
