I nodded, and she looked disappointed. She had more faith in her father than I did.
“Fine,” she said. “I’m going to try harder to find Uriel and get the answers we need.”
“Good luck with that,” Trevor muttered. “If Uriel doesn’t want to be found, he won’t be.”
Vicky glared at him. “You got this assignment from Uriel. Are you the one leaking information to him?”
Trevor’s jaw clenched, and I put a hand on Vicky’s arm before he said something he’d regret. “Trevor’s not the source. Uriel turned everything over to Michael, and Trevor reports to your dad now. Uriel’s been planning this for a long time. He’s got his own ways to find out things.”
An uncomfortable silence fell over the table, but Trevor nodded when we locked eyes. I don’t know why I defended him. Vicky could be right, but I knew it wasn’t Trevor. Uriel was too smart to risk Michael pulling Trevor from Nick’s life. He wouldn’t compromise someone he valued so deeply to guard Nick.
“What do we do now?” Brenda asked.
Everyone looked to me, the team leader, for direction. Uriel’s prohibition made it hard to do more than maintain the status quo. Unfortunately, Nick wasn’t remaining static. “We keep a close watch on him. If he manifests his powers in a dramatic or dangerous way, we intervene. Subtly if possible, but if not, we ensure his safety and worry about how to spin it once he’s safe.”
“I suggest we keep him occupied and limit his stress,” Brenda said.
They looked at me and my cheeks got hot. “I’m more than happy to have him stay over, but he’s going to want to stay in his own room sometimes.”
“He’s right,” Trevor said. “But between you and me, we can watch him at nights. And you can help Brenda watch over him during the day.”
“Sounds like a plan,” Victoria said. “In the meantime, I’ll reach out to some of our more unconventional contacts. Maybe we can find some techniques that could help Nick without raising his suspicions.”
I wasn’t sure how you trained Nick how to use his powers without letting him know what he was controlling, but I didn’t have a better suggestion. “Good idea.”
Vicky offered Brenda a ride back to her office, leaving just Trevor and me.
“I have to get to work,” Trevor said. “But thank you for the vote of confidence. Just because I love Nick, doesn’t mean I’m not secretly reporting to Uriel.”
Nick would never accept a world that Trevor wasn’t part of, I needed to be sure he and I were at least friendly. “But you’re not. If Uriel wanted to be in control, he wouldn’t have told Michael. You’re the first person people will suspect, which gives his real mole a bit more cover.”
“Uriel set me up to take the fall.”
Pointing to the remaining pastries, “Take those and give them away at work.” I stood and grabbed my coffee. “C’mon, I’ll walk with you.”
We gathered our things, and I mulled our conversation. It wasn’t like Uriel to use people like Trevor suggested. “I don’t think Uriel set you up. A simple truth test would prove your innocence. Only a lazy investigator would focus on you first.”
“Are you calling Vicky lazy?”
I laughed because whether I meant it or not, I had. “She’s not, but she’s biased. Uriel and Michael were never close before their falling out. He always worried Michael would do exactly what he did; convince Ariel to have a child even though it would kill her. Only sheandthe baby died. Uriel blames Michael for killing her for nothing.”
“Then Nick is Ariel’s son?”
If only it were that easy. “That’s what everyone thought, but Raphael supervised a blood drive at Nick’s office, tested his blood, and confirmed the Fentons are his parents. Don’t ask me to explain it, none of us can.”
Crossing the street in silence, Trevor stopped before we reached the building. “Thank you,” he said holding out his hand. “For believing in me and for making Nick happy. I don’t care whether he’s Ariel’s son, born of humans, or fell from the sky. He’s my brother and I’ll do anything to keep him safe. I know you will too.”
I shook his hand, pleased we could do more than just get along. He’d nailed it when he said they were brothers. “Thank you for being open minded enough to accept me in your lives. It means a lot to Nick and to me.”
“I’ll watch him when he’s home,” Trevor said. “But I suspect he’ll spend more time at your place now.”
Taking a deep breath, I considered the unspoken question. “From now on, the three of us should try to do more thingstogether. Meet for dinner, take day trips on the weekend, have a party. The more of us around him, the safer he’ll be.”
“Now I’m your third wheel?” Trevor laughed, but there was a grain of truth to his remark. “You should ask Brenda’s brother Zeke to help. He and Orion are a couple and Nick met them at one of the Masterson’s parties at Zeke’s house. He likes them and you don’t get much better than Orion in a fight.”
It was a good idea. Orion was a legend, and I wasn’t too proud to ask for help. “I’ll suggest Brenda throw a party at Zeke’s and invite us. We need to meet before we suggest double dating.”
“The last party was a hoot,” Trevor said with a smile. “Let’s do it.”
