“Here, I got it.” I give Aeson hers, while Gunnar takes one for himself before he claims the last remaining chair. “Thanks.” I nod to him while blowing across the top of my cup and taking a sip. “Help yourselves,” I tell the other two.
Gunnar takes a few minutes to bring Aeson up to speed on the Antonio issue, and how he has the Pixies working to track the money.
Aeson sucks in a breath; it passes her lips like a whistle. “I bet that’s not a cheap job. Pixies are known to gouge.”
Gunnar shrugs. “They’re the best with tech.”
“Have you heard anything yet?” Aeson tilts her head.
“I told them to gather everything they could and give me a report by midnight.” Gunnar glances over at the wall clock. “I’m not expecting a location tonight, but you never know; they’ve had all day.”
“Mind if I stick around until you get word?” Aeson looks over at me.
I scoff, “You don’t need to ask—you’re always welcome.” Aeson quickly scans the guys’ faces, assessing if the sentiment holds true with them, too. It’d better.
Silence falls over us; this group dynamic is new, uncharted. I’m the bridge between them, so I feel like it’s my job to span the gap—only I don’t know how to do small talk. “How about that weather?” I chuckle dryly.
Grim tilts his head. “What weather?”
Calix repositions himself on the couch. “I worked with the Io band once.” Aeson turns her head and focuses on him. “Ever met them?” Calix inquires.
“Sure, we’ve crossed paths a few times. How’d you end up working with them?” Aeson studies Calix.
“We had a rogue Thunderbird. He lost his mate, and…let’s just say shit went bad real quick.”
“I can imagine. What happened to the mate?” Aeson smooths her hand down her thigh where I know she keeps a knife. It is not the first time I’ve seen her do this tonight.
“We’re not really sure; it was several years ago. He felt her die and lost his shit. I’m not sure anyone ever found out.” Calix looks off into the distance.
“Thunderbirds are pretty high on the predatory chain. I wonder what happened to her?”
“I know, that’s why we called in Io. We needed to get him grounded to find out what happened to her and to get him to listen to reason.” Calix pauses. “We wanted to take him down without hurting him, but none of us could do it.”
Aeson sits forward a little, pulled in by the story. “How did Io manage it?”
“Shit, it took us a day to even make contact: Io is one cagey motherfucker.” Aeson chuckles at Calix’s response. “But, truthfully, I’m not even sure. I was there, and I have no idea how they got him to come down.”
Aeson rolls her lips in. “How many where there? Brownies, I mean?”
“Had to be a dozen—maybe more.”
Aeson nods her head like she has a better understanding now.
“Doyouknow how they did it?” Calix asks her.
“I could tell you, but then I’d have to kill you.” She gives him an evil smirk, which causes Calix to chuckle.
I bet I have an idea. It’s the same thing Aeson did to the witch at the warehouse, only on a much larger scale. Birds in general have acute hearing, as long as the frequency isn’t too high. I bet with that many Brownies, they were able to whisper on the wind. I don’t open my mouth to divulge my secret, though. I would never betray Aeson’s trust like that.
“What happened to him?” I question.
Calix looks down, his face sobering. “He didn’t make it. Even after they got him grounded, he ended up killing three bears. We had to put him down.” Silence falls over the group. Calix’s attempt at connecting with Aeson backfired.
“I collected them both.” Grim strums his fingers on the arms of the chair.
“Do you know what happened to her?” I whisper urgently.
“I don’t. She was far too upset for me to get any information from her spirit, but I have a suspicion now.”
