“I think we do this slowly. We recruit insmall increments and in the populations that most avoid. We givethose forgotten immortals an arach, and we give them hope. And hopeis a powerful weapon that the Lord will never wield.”
“Very true,” Varo murmured.
“You want to use Lexi to do this?” Coleinquired.
Her dad’s teeth scraped together before hegrated out. “Yes.”
“Are you nuts?” Kaylia asked.
“No. We target those most hurt by the Lord,but also the ones who the Lord wouldn’t recruit.”
“Like humans,” Kaylia said.
“Sure,” her dad said.
“The humans wouldn’t survive five minutes inthe Shadow Realms,” Brokk said.
“With some of their weapons, and if they haveimmortals looking out for them instead of trying to destroy them,they’ll last longer than anyone will expect. I’m sure they’d alsobe happy to fight for a chance to be free of the Lord’soppression.”
“That’s still not going to help us much,”Varo said.
“There are others,” her dad remindedthem.
“The sirens might help,” Cole said.
“Why do you say that?” Lexi asked.
“One of them told me not to die at theball.”
“That is extremely kind for a siren,” Niallagreed.
“Then we will also try the sirens,” her dadsaid. “And maybe the zombies.”
“Holy shit!” Maverick blurted. “Have you lostyour mind?”
“They’ve been pushed aside throughout allthis and relegated to a shitty outer realm.”
“With good reason!”
Lexi kept waiting for Cole’s protests, but hedidn’t speak as he rubbed his chin and stared at the far wall.
“The zombies will turn on everyone,” Sahirasaid.
“Maybe not,” Del replied. “They’ve beenlabeled as outcasts and monsters throughout their entire existence,but they can be rational.”
“They can also be brain-eating monsters,”Niall reminded him.
“The Lord would never expect it.” Then herdad focused on her. “We find the outcasts, the marginalized, and wegive them hope. We give them an arach, atrueleader, andone whoisgood. We offer them an opportunity for a betterlife. Many would jump at that opportunity.”
“What do we do with the zombies if we win?”Maverick asked. “They can’t wander openly around others; it wouldbe chaos.”
“No, but they also don’t have to be shovedinto their hideous realm and locked away like they are now. Theycanbe rational.”
Maverick didn’t look convinced by this, andno one else looked happy about it either.
“But we will stay away from the zombies andleave them be,” her dad said.
“Good,” Brokk said, and everyone at the tablenodded.
