“Then he partied last night,” Ciaran allowed. It did make sense....
Sawyer’s eyes lit up. “Did you see those forest people Tobin showed us from Salem’s memory? The sprites and the fauns? Like holy shit.”
“Incredible,” Ciaran agreed. “And seeing Cern in full form.”
Sawyer gasped, eyes wide. “Yesssss! With his hooves and horns. Like, wow. Ho. Lee. Shit. He was in full old god mode.”
“And Salem,” Ciaran whispered. “The son of an old god.” He shook his head in disbelief. “Crazy stuff.”
“No crazier than octo-shifters.”
“Cephamorphs.”
“Same thing.”
Ciaran growled.
Sawyer ignored him. “Human Salem still has cat Salem’s eyes. Kind of. They’re so cool. Not quite full cat eyes when he’s human, but definitely not fully human. Yellowish with vertical irises. Whereas yours are horizontal. Like a?—”
“If you say a goat, I’ll be mad for real.”
Sawyer chuckled, but then his smile faded. “We need to tell them about Hadeom. That he asked for intel on him.” Heshrugged. “That he knows he’s here, at least. I don’t know if he knows what Salem is, exactly. He asked for all the information I had on him, but does he mean the old god part, or the Mimic part?—”
“I think we can assume Hadeom knows everything.”
Sawyer frowned again before he gave a nod. “Yeah. I think you’re right.”
Ciaran slid his hand up to Sawyer’s neck. “It’s okay, Sawyer. I meant what I said about protecting him. Aurin has chosen him, so that makes Salem part of this consortium, and I will protect them both. We protect anyone who calls Tenebrae home. This consortium, this town, are mine.”
Sawyer smiled at him. “That’s what makes you a good leader, Ciaran.” Then he made a thoughtful face. “Though just between you and me, given Salem has lived here since before Jesus played fullback for Jerusalem High, I think this town is Salem’s.”
Ciaran snorted. “Jerusalem High. Really?”
“I just meant a really long time.”
“Yeah, I got that.” He looked around the café and at Otis and Pania sitting at the far table talking with Hudson and Beau. He nodded to the empty plates and trays on the tables. “Come on, I’ll wash and you dry.”
So that’s what they did. Ciaran washed up and tried really hard not to think about what Sawyer had said. That Tenebrae was Salem’s town.
And he tried even harder not to think that Sawyer might be right.
Chapter
Seven
SALEM
Morning arrived slowlyin the new house, pale blue daylight slipping through half-closed curtains and stretching across unfamiliar walls. The room still smelled faintly of dust, saltwater, and the rain that had fallen overnight. Salem could hear the water underneath them as it lapped at the pylons.
Tobin’s old place was now theirs.
A small house, no bigger than one room, really, built on the pier so very long ago as a nightwatchman’s quarters. No human stayed here long, though... Not back then, and not now.
“There’s something wrong with the water,”they’d say.“It ain’t right. Darkness lurks down there.”
All while Salem would sit on the edge of the pier, licking his paw, smiling to himself.
And now this place was his.
