But here she was, clutching her grimoire close to her chest and facing away from Campbell. Dread bubbled inside Katherine as she squeezed the ancient tome tightly.
“She can’t have the book.” Katherine became frazzled and flustered, so unlike her.
“Ooookay,” Campbell said with confusion and a hint of frustration. “It wouldn’t be to keep. Just a peek.”
“No,” Katherine snapped. “I said no.”
“Fine,” Campbell sighed.
“Sorry. It’s just a family heirloom,” Katherine explained. “Can’t just let anyone flip through the pages. It’s precious.”
Katherine’s mind whirled with protective thoughts for the pages of her new grimoire. Well, her old grimoire. An ancient book that held a powerful grip on her emotions. It was unlike Katherine. Part of me wondered if this was misdirected anxiety. I’d seen it plenty of times in the past with students during their internships.
Working under a guild master came with a lot of additional pressures, and Katherine didn’t have the most accommodating mentor. I made a mental note to reach out to Chanelle about my concerns. Since she single-handedly oversaw the interns, I didn’t want my concerns for Katherine slipping through the cracks. It was too easy to get overwhelmed when monitoring hundreds of students’ progress simultaneously.
Snowcame early this season, making the walk to school so much longer. Ben wanted to stop and play and enjoy every snowflake. And of course, he wouldn’t let go of my hand the entire time, which meant dragging me from one end of the sidewalk to the other.
“Think we’ll get any over break?”
“I don’t know.” I shrugged.
His winter break was still a few weeks out. Honestly, given how reserved he was over Thanksgiving, I figured the next holiday would be fairly the same. The only part of his break he seemed to enjoy was hanging out with Diego and Delia. That in itself was short-lived since Diaz took his family back to Texas for the holiday to celebrate with their extended family.
“I’ve never had snow on Christmas,” he said, recalling his holidays in California. “That’d be cool.”
“It’d be cold,” I replied.
Ben scrunched his face and shot me a look. Apparently, my sense of humor was unacceptable.
Once I dropped him off at school, I made my way to the Global Guild facility with the intention of completing mydebrief on Winston Cobalt. It’d taken weeks of preparation and precision work, but I’d finally pieced together all the necessary memories I needed and removed every lingering trap in his head.
Now, I just needed to go through Winston’s mind, retrieve vital intel, and pass it off to the Global Guild.
When I got to the facility, passed through the several clearance checkpoints, and reached the cell holding Winston Cobalt, Chanelle was standing outside with a big plastic bag.
“What are you doing here?”
“Lunch.” Chanelle lifted the bag. “I figured we could catch up.”
“This is a highly secured area,” I replied, looking at the posted guards who kept their attention trained elsewhere. “How’d you even get in here?”
“Oh, please.” Chanelle gestured dismissively. “Come on? It’s me. Find a list I can’t get my name on.”
“Wow.” I ushered her to the nearby breakroom I’d occasionally use when I needed to rest away from Winston’s headache of a mind.
“I haven’t seen you in ages,” Chanelle said, bringing in a large bag filled to the brim with plastic trays of sushi.
And not the grocery store stuff. She’d stopped at one of the nicest restaurants in town and gotten a little bite of everything to go.
“What is this?”
“I thought we could catch up.” She handed me a tray made for two. “Got your favorite.”
Whoa. She had too. I was never a fan of the fancy rolls with the crunchy bits or a ton of things smashed together with only athin layer of seaweed to hold them. I much preferred the classic rolls. Give me the squishy octopus, the tangy eel, the chewy clam, or the super salty roe.
“Did you ask Milo about this?”
“About what?” She stared, confused.
