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When Samuel finished his account, Thorne called out to Jeannie and requested Leto to join them right away.
Leto had taken Thorne’s sister, Grace, as h i s breh, so that essentially they were brothers-in-law.
Leto arrived within the next few minutes but Endelle’s first words were, “We’ll need you in your beast-state. You, Thorne, and Samuel are headed to Third in the darkening. ” Leto’s brows rose and though he stared back from faintly astonished blue eyes, he merely nodded. With a blur of movement, he morphed into what he called his beast state, although he appeared exactly the same, just bigger.
And taller.
Samuel hadn’t seen him this close up, but even he could agree the warrior looked like a god. “Fuck,” he drawled.
“Get used to it. ” But the words came from both Merl and Leto at the same time.
“I take it this kind of thing is common on Third Earth?” Endelle pivoted toward Merl.
“It is. ” Endelle held his gaze. “So we’re really in this. ” His crooked smile spoke his compassion. “Looks like it. ” Endelle glanced at Samuel. “Bring Leto up to speed. ” Samuel laid it out, all that had happened as well as the current plan. But it was Merl who picked up the thread and gave the missing details about the wrecking squads. He explained what the warriors would be up against, how quickly the squads could move, how powerful they were, the nature of the weapons, and the odds looked pretty bad.
“What about you, Merl?” Endelle said, breaking the theme of this can’t really be done, with, “You gonna help out with this party? You got a pair of balls in those snug leathers of yours, or are you just a handsome face and all talk. ”
“Wish I could, but I’ve got a grid death warrant on my head put there by every faction involved. You’d have several squads after you the moment my signature lit up the darkening. ” Alison appeared at the doorway and called to them. “Please come back. We’ve got something going on in here. Vela’s feeling a call to the Illinois Seers Palace?” Samuel moved fast and found Vela trembling as she stood near the glass coffee table. “What’s going on?”
“Another call. ” As soon as the rest of the party entered the room, however, she addressed Endelle. “Something’s going on and it’s big and it involves the Seers Palace, the one that Greaves built. ”
“We shut it down. ”
“Are you sure?” Endelle took on her best scorpion look, ready, apparently, to take Vela apart for questioning her, but one of Thorne’s assistants arrived and spoke in a low voice to him.
“All right,” he murmured. He stood very still for a moment, his gaze stricken.
Finally, he said, “I have to check on something. I’ll be right back. ”
“Thorne, what the hell is it?”
“Let me find out what’s going on. ” He disappeared into the hall beyond.
The entire room fell silent, tense, waiting.
No one spoke.
Vela gripped Samuel’s arm. This can’t be good.
No.
He sent nothing more, just a flat ‘no’ that echoed through her mind.
She kept her gaze fixed on the doorway, as did everyone else, but grew even more anxious when Thorne’s footsteps sounded in the rotunda beyond.
She pulled the top corners of her sweater together with her free hand.
Thorne arrived on the threshold, his lips in a tight, grim line.
“Okay, what the fuck is going on?” Endelle asked.
Thorne just stared at her.
“Did one of Greaves’s former generals attack?” Endelle’s chest rose and fell, the seashells clattering softly.
“All three of them. Looks like it was a coordinated, planned assault. ”
“How many Militia Warriors did we lose?”
